P: Curves lag since version 21.1

[Sergio Parrella]

There's a noticeable lag in curves since version 21.1.
I am now on 21.1.2 and it's still there.
Up until 21.0 they used to refresh smoothly. I am attaching a video to illustrate the problem.
I'm also attaching a couple of screenshots of my performance tab in "Preferences".
These are my PC specs:

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 7700K @ 4.20GHz
Kaby Lake 14nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1070MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. PRIME Z270-A (LGA1151)
Graphics
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Gigabyte)
NVIDIA Studio Driver 442.92 (latest one)

Thanks!

[StefanKlein]

Same here!
Win 10; GTX970; 32GB RAM

[dgrainger]

Looks like you need to increase the amount of RAM that Photoshop can use. You are currently allowing the minimum given your installed RAM. I would also suggest replacing all of that RAM with twice as much of matched pieces. Stefan K has twice what you show installed, but didn't see how much he allocates to Photoshop.

[StefanKlein]

Dave,

it has nothing to do with how much RAM is allocated. It ́s due to some changes Adobe made "under the hood". 

[Sergio Parrella]

Thanks, but I allocated more RAM and nothing changed.
Do your curves refresh smoothly?

[dgrainger]

That's certainly likely, given the complexity... Most of my use is photo editing, so I don't run into some of the things more advanced users encounter...

[Todd Shaner]

I can confirm what you are seeing on my Windows 10 system with Nvidia Quadro P2000 GPU and 32 GB system memory (60% allocated to PS).

[J453]

I've asked engineering to take look.

[Todd Shaner]

Thanks Jeff!

[Joel xo]

Is there any timeframe for a fix? I accidentally updated one of my workstations and rolling the other one back to 21.0 was such a pain, I'm hoping I can skip that and hold out for a fix. I spend hours matching colors every day and having a "blind" targeted adjustment tool is like having one arm in a sling. Even the info panel can't keep up.

[ilquare82]

Are there some news? ... version 21.1.3 always has the same problem? Thanks

[matt-tnm]

Have this too in 21.2.0.

It's on pretty much all adjustment layers, but most noticeable on Curves (possibly because you're making such fine movements with it). Used to effectively live update, now it's a second or so before the screen updates.

Interestingly the latest Camera Raw's curve interface feels like Photoshop's used to - silky smooth.

I don't think I'm performance gated... Have a large NVME system disk and large NVME scratch disk plus backup vanilla SSDs, 64GB RAM, an i9-900K and a Quadro RTX4000. Working on large, multi-layered images in 16-bit but the lag is even apparent on tiny 8-bit canvases. And going back a few versions, this wasn't apparent.

[ilquare82]

Hi Matthew,
so you also confirm that the latest update has not resolved?
But how come they didn't notice the problem?

I stayed at 21.0.3 and the curves work well ... not like 2019 🙂

[matt-tnm]

I'll give that a shot. I just went through patching all my drivers to make sure they weren't at fault; and tried 2019 and that also has the lag - so now I don't know if I'm miss-remembering the version it was smooth with - or it could be some Windows update-related issue.

I've got a MBP too, which displays the same canvas update lag but interestingly doesn't suffer from the input-handle movement lag (which makes the windows iteration of it especially frustrating). Neither's exactly great though!

[matt-tnm]

Yeah - you're right, 21.0.3 works okay. It's not quite the silky smooth you'd hope for but it's usable.

[ilquare82]

Why do you think few people complain?
This is a big problem.

[matt-tnm]

Maybe they're not using adjustment layers enough to notice? Or haven't got complex enough files for it to be a show-stopper... you can put up with quite a lot if you're only coming across an issue infrequently.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Brush settings panel is also horrendous.

[matt-tnm]

Hmm - okay, having fiddled with a lot of settings, I can get roughly 21.0.3 performance in 21.2.0 on big, heavily 30-bit layered files with curves. It not amazing, still but it's usable. The key thing seems to be using the maximum tile size - 1028k. For whatever reason, it's noticeably better than 1024k.

Other stuff I've also amended: Memory 45GB / Cache Levels 8 / Graphics set to Advanced and all tick boxes checked. Also updated to the just released 6.32.40-2 Wacom driver. None of thpse had an obvious performance impact but you know how sometimes it can be a combination of things...

I agree the brushes panel's a bit of a chore - though nowhere near as bad as the adjustment layers controls, at least on mine. And it's particularly when spacing is set to 1%. On the up side the right click menu for brushes is nice and smooth, as is the the alt-drag interface so there are at least work-arounds there.

[ilquare82]

Are these settings correct?

[matt-tnm]

Yes, that's what I've got. Although if you've only got 16GB RAM total, you'll need to be careful about allowing Photoshop to take 90%, as the OS tends to need a couple of GB to itself, to keep things moving along at a decent clip (otherwise you'll get pauses where it's relying on virtual memory, ie your drives instead of actual RAM) - and particularly if you have anything else open. I'd maybe dial that back to 70%.

The memory allocation I'd set didn't seem to make a difference - it was the tile size being set to 1028 K that really helped.

[matt-tnm]

Actually I take it back... it is better with 1028k tiles but it's not up to the 21.0.3 performance.

[Todd Shaner]

Using your suggested Preferences settings does not improve the Curves lag on my Windows 10 system. Just an FYI.

i7 8700K 3.7-4.3Ghz six Core, 32 GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, 4TB 7200RPM HDD, NVIDIA Quadro P2000 w/5GB, Windows 10 Pro

Image is not available

[ilquare82]

I too have not noticed any improvement ... unfortunately I remain at 21.0.3

[ilquare82]

Congratulations .. great pc

[Joel xo]

Not fixed in 21.2.0