Make PNG saving quicker please

[kirkr5689]

it's so painfully slow.   I use png as a format to send images to Substance Designer  and it's slow .    Use it because  it 's less painfull with color managment and 16 bit support .    

Can sombody suggest better format please.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please read this (in particular the section titled "Supply pertinent information for more timely and effective answers”):
https://community.adobe.com/t5/using-the-community/community-how-to-guide-tips-amp-best-practices/td...

How exactly do you create the pngs? 

What are the image’s pixel dimensions and bit depth? 

[kirkr5689]

it's 4k, rarelly 8k x1k  images usually,  16 bit depth . Originally created as multi layered exr file in  Blender  . Imported to Photoshop  by exr-IO , then layers being   composited into  layercomps and being exported as   16b bit pngs with transparency to Substance Designer  by a script  ChatGPT done for me .

it's not only pngs  actually , 16 bit psd files and smart objects are super slow to save  too vs some photoshop alternatives .      

in fact I use photoshop and pngs   because  a  simple color managment  in all stages  without typical extra pain in your a..  with other formats.    So wonder if might be a better  format?    

[D Fosse]

Can you give us some numbers so we know what we're talking about, and we can try to reproduce?

How many pixels wide x pixels high? How many seconds to save? How many seconds to fully load the Export UI?

Are you using Export or Save As? Do they start as layered files so that Export / Save A Copy needs to make a flattened composite first?

In short, whatever we need to know to try to reproduce.

[davescm]

I can't say I've noticed any save issues here outside of PSD for which I turn off compression as uncompressed files load and save much faster than compressed files.

So that we can test, first take the Chat GPT script out of the equation.

Then post an example EXR file ( via dropbox) that we can load it here and then save to png. 

Give the exact steps you use to test, as requested by D Fosse, that we can replicate and then post the timing on your system (Photoshop's info panel can be set to give the exact time of any operation including a Save.)

Also give details of the disk to which you are saving would be helpful e.g. internal NVMe or SSD or external spinning drive at 7200rpm ...etc.

Dave

[rayek.elfin]

On a side note: don't forget that Photoshop cannot work with --or save-- full range 16bit files. It always downgrades to 15bit (+1). (The bad news is that it does this silently without informing/warning the user.)

A true 16bit PNG would have the full range of 65,536 (2^16) values.

A Photoshop-saved "16bit" file contains only 32,768 +1 = 32,769 (2^15+1 ) possible values.

If you use 16bit PNG files for depth or displacement maps, for example, a 16bit PNG file saved from Photoshop halves the resolution of that map, i.e adds twice the steps.

If this is important to you, avoid Photoshop for 16bit PNG files (or any other image file format that is 16bit depth compatible), and rather use other software to convert your full range 32bit files to 16bit ones.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

If you use 16bit PNG files for depth or displacement maps, for example, a 16bit PNG file saved from Photoshop halves the resolution of that map

You explained it correctly before so why this sloppiness?

It’s »half +1«. 

[rayek.elfin]

Well, if you insist that we need to be precise:

32,768+1 = 32,769. Still boils down to a reduction of twice the original value range (+1).

No matter whether we call it 15bit+1 or 15bit: Photoshop's 16bit mode works with half the value range of what it should really be at. I mean: no other image editor or FX or 3DDC limits its 16bit mode in this way.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Well, if you insist that we need to be precise:

32,768+1 = 32,769. Still boils down to a reduction of twice the original value range (+1).

X is not equal to X+1, so your use of brackets seems problematic to me. 

[D Fosse]

@rayek.elfin 

I've noticed for a long time that you don't like Photoshop's 15+1 bit files. I can also accept that in a very few and very specialized scenarios it might be sub-optimal, even if it makes absolutely no difference to any normal Photoshop work, and it's certainly not done to reduce save times.

This is something else. Generally, slow saving falls into two categories. One, compression. Two, disk configuration (external drives; permissions, formatting).

The immediately suspicuous factor here is a Chat GPT script.

[rayek.elfin]

I felt compelled to include this information because the OP mentioned creating maps for Substances. That includes displacement maps - which, when used on a larger scale (for example, environments) will be reducing that resolution into half (+1 step).

And it should be fixed by the devs already. We no longer live in the late 90s. All the competitors do not have this limitation. There is no reason to leave it in, and it does affect specialized scenarios. So why not fix it?