Participating Frequently

Answered

Photoshop CC / Windows 8.1 HiDPI / Retina scaling support

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
October 28, 2013
28 replies
227717 views

Hi, I am currently running the latest CC apps on a Windows 7 machine and am currently looking to upgrade my PC hardware, I have my eye on either the new Dell XPS15 with Haswell CPU/HiDPI screen (3200x1800 resolution) or the equivalent new Dell Precision m3800 when available in November with identical specs. After testing a number Windows 8/8.1 systems over the last few days with Photoshop CC (14.1.2) It appears that Adobe has still yet to implement retina style UI scaling for any of it's CC apps for the Windows platform. They all seem to default to a predefined pixel font size. Potentially making Photoshop and other apps unusable on a 3200x1800 15.6" laptop screen if they do not scale like their Mac counterparts. Can anyone confirm or elaborate on whether this feature exists for Adobe products on Windows yet, if it ever will or when it will become available in the near future? Thanks

Correct answer Chris Cox

That's really sad. I got a new laptop specifically for Adobe CC, thinking that if any company would do HiDPI support right, certainly it's gotta be Adobe. The CC suite is 75% of the reason I wanted a HiDPI display to begin with, but you can't even give us any sort of ETA except someday, maybe, if we're lucky?

How come MS Office, Firefox, Chrome, can do it but Adobe with its vast resources can't even give a timeframe? You already have all the high-res assets from the OSX/Retina side, no?

Again, we're continuing to work with Microsoft on the scaling problems in Windows.

We, and they, recognize that the existing attempts to offer scalable UI have serious issues.

And no, we can't commit to a timeframe for a long list of reasons.

MBrown52

Participant

As I have reviewed this further I have found this to be an issue for at least four years now. PATHETIC!

Chris Cox

Legend

So you haven't actually read the topic to see WHY it was an issue for so long, and why it took a lot of effort to get the OS fixed and other OS issues worked around?

Herbert2001

Inspiring

Some applications do not rely at all on the OS for their GUI rendering, and are not impacted in the same way as most others. Blender relies on OpenGL and its own GUI rendering code, which make it possible to provide an identical user experience on Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms. Blender offers a smooth seamless dpi/ppi setting in the preferences that allows all users full freedom in regards to GUI scaling. It also provides full type size control for individual headers, buttons texts, etc, as well as an option to scale individual areas of the GUI with a modifier key.

No restarting, all seamless. Incredibly flexible.

A major drawback to this, however, is that Blender's GUI looks and behaves quite differently compared to the traditional OS conventions. It looks identical across OS platforms, but at the expense of OS GUI standards.

You win some, you lose some.

Cheryl D Wise

Participant

This is not a new problem but first surfaced for me in 2012 when I had a Toshiba m200 1440x1050 monitor on a 12" convertible tablet pc. When I went searching for how to make the UI useable on that screen I ran into a bunch of posts concerning people using high end Apple workstations with Cinema monitors ($3k + just for the monitor closer to $10k with the Mac and monitor) who had the same issue with text being too small to use.. The "workaround" posted in that thread was to buy a second 1024x768 monitor and "dock" all your UI elements there. Just as much outrage was expressed at that "solution" as you see in this thread for equally good reason. People have high res systems for a reason and a high end application like Photoshop should be able to scale appropriately. For me the workaround continues to be I simply don't use Photoshop unless I'm docked to an external monitor. I've been creating websites for years and have never had scaling issues when I use ems for setting font sizes on any Windows system. They work great for text elements that need to scale with device settings whether Windows, Apple, Linux or who knows what proprietary OS.

If I enable 200% scaling in Photoshop CC 2014 it is too large. The workspace available on my Vaio becomes too small to be functional if any side panel is open on the 1920x1050 monitor though I'll admit with large fonts set in preferences everything is crisp on the main menus but the hovers are still not scaling. When tried to turn off scaling elements in the Edit > Preference > Experimental had the save buttons almost completely off screen. Not a workable solution as far as I'm concerned. So looks like I'll continue to be unable to use Photoshop only when I'm docked to an external monitor. Funny, I don't have as much of a problem with Lightroom.

Noel Carboni

Legend

Cheryl Wise wrote:

If I enable 200% scaling in Photoshop CC 2014 it is too large.

Quite clearly Adobe's next challenge is to implement true variable scaling support - or at least more choices (e.g., 150%).

-Noel

JJMack

Community Expert

I have not seen Chris mention Microsoft lately in his appends. I feel that device support belongs in the OS the applications like Photoshop should not need to deal with handling the actual device. Adobe should be able to mange a screen image like they manage a printer image as a document. A document has a Canvas size so many pixels wide by so many pixels high and it also has a Resolution. Resolution set size. Currently I do not see (though I might have missed it) any information in the OS and Device management of displays any information about Display's Resolution or display physical size. What I see seems to be only Canvas size so many pixels wide by some many pixels high Other this like refresh rate vertical sync etc. I do not see size, not see resolution. In my opinion its very hard to manage something I can not see. I know IBM was able to write IBM using Atoms first however they needed A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer (at IBM Zürich), theNobel Prize in Physics in 1986.^[1]^[2] For an STM, good resolution is considered to be 0.1 nm lateral resolution and 0.01 nm depth resolution.^[3] With this resolution, individual atoms within materials are routinely imaged and manipulated. The STM can be used not only in ultra-high vacuum but also in air, water, and various other liquid or gas ambients, and at temperatures ranging from near zero kelvin to a few hundred degrees Celsius.^[4]

JJMack

Jonnybb1

Participant

Just bought my HS Junior a new Dell, top of the line laptop with HiDPI touchscreen, and spent $2000 for it only to find out that the Adobe Suite of products won't work due to the lack of HiDPI support. Now we just returned the the laptop to the Microsoft Store in San Diego, and no one there understood the issue, all referring us to Adobe.

Needless to say, I now must fork out $2700 ($700 more than Dell) for a Macbook Pro powerful enough to run Adobe Suite.

The worst part is Apple/Adobe resolved this very issue a long time ago, but not Microsoft/Adobe.

lnogales

Participating Frequently

This is the same problem I was having, and have about 5 days to decide whether to keep the windows 8.1 laptop (installed start 8 to make things easier).

I did happen upon a sort of fix, that helps with the issue somewhat, for CS6 and initially for CC, until the bug was fixed for CC. Although I'm stuck with CS6, many windows folks who had CC on a high-res laptop also had the same problem initially (until adobe fixed that bug for that version) and the software savvy people who couldn't wait for the fix figured out a way around it. If you look into "manifest file adobe Photoshop scaling" onilne you can find some posts that offer the steps that give a workaround.

It was simple to implement and makes the menus readable now. But, the problem I'm having is that, like the now larger/readable menus, the images in photoshop will look pixellated regardless of how far one is zoomed in or out, or what the pixel dimensions of the image is.

Here's a screenshot which might explain things, but actually it probably won't since it is going to be scaled down anyways:

The photograph (dimension 2664 x 4000) is of a graphical painting and at 100% zoom at this resolution, the edges of the patterns should not look jagged but they do.

I"m wondering if coming up with a fix for this scaling issue for high-retina displays on windows for CS6 is something that the third party market could take up? Since it seems Adobe doesn't or can't help out those of us stranded back in CS6, but with older laptops that broke, and then the newer laptops that can still handle large file image processing are only coming with these ultra-resolution screens. Seems there's enough of us out there with this problem that if it was funded by a group, it could likely still be a fairly affordable fix? I would pay a small amount of money to have this bug taken care of once by an outside source. (You know there's always that thing about taking your car to the "dealer" vs. taking it to the local mechanic.)

Windows 8 was driving me crazy until someone pointed me towards "Start 8" and after paying $10, I feel much more comfortable in the Brave New World of Windows 8.1.....

I can see why adding the "feature" of UI scalability is something that wouldn't be added to older models of the Creative Suite. But, I don't need the scalability factor, per say, I just need to be able to SEE the menus in IllustratorCS6 and PhotoshopCS6 on a newer laptop with a decent processor (to handle photo stitching and the like) as unfortunately it seems all the ones on the market with the power to handle the files ALSO include the high-resolution monitors and the CS6 can't seem to talk to those properly in windows.

D

DirectiveStudios

Participant

The latest version of photoshop seems to have lost the experimental 200% scaling feature. Im back to not being able to use photoshop on my yoga 2 pro.

Where did the setting go?

T

tomasnilsen.se

Known Participant

Have used 150% for some time in windows 8 and that´s the sweetspot for photoshop. Adobe plz add 150% scaling, then im a really happy customer

C

cjayl

Participating Frequently

Wait a minute. You're telling me I have to buy the latest version of Photoshop to get a version that works with my Dell XPS? Are you serious? I have CS4 and Lightroom 5. To get there, I've upgraded several times, so Adobe has more than a share of my money.

Surely there is a fix for this problem?

good solution!

Chris Cox (Sr. Computer Scientist) 3 hours ago
The fix is in Photoshop CC 2014. That took a significant amount of work from Adobe and Microsoft. Older products will not be updated with that new feature.

It's a bit like asking that the new features on a 2014 model car be retrofitted to your 1994 model car.
Chris Lynn less than a minute ago
Chris,

We specifically asked about this bug when we looked a purchasing CS6 or CC. The bug was in both products. We were told by Adobe that both product lines would receive the fix. (Just a few months ago).

I don't agree with your analogy. Any programmer would agree, this is not a feature, it is a fix. A bug this big, in a product that is (was) still being sold with the "know" bug, should receive the patch.

Noel Carboni

Legend

I can't say I can recall a time when Adobe promised to fix this in Photoshop CS6. Can you identify a specific piece of documentation?

You have a new technology display. Why wouldn't you think you'd need new software technology to use it?

-Noel

N

nthbeach

Participating Frequently

So let me get this right, Adobe WONT be providing a fix for CS6????

How can this be fair or justified?

ALL software manufacturers provide updates to their latest applications, especially if they are still selling it!

And why does CS6 work fine with Apple Macs with Retina displays?

E

Elliek

Inspiring

I have to resort to using a loupe or the magnifier on my phone. I have the Dell XPS 15 touch.

I am still confused as to why I am just fine with Lightroom but not on other Adobe apps (CC subscription ones). I opened Premier up the other day and could not see to open the preferences to see if there was any upscaling at all available.

Love my laptop and have few other issues with the resolution. But I'm glad that mainly the program I use on it is Lightroom.

I

Ifhalted

Participant

Love the 200% UI scaling feature in Photoshop 2014. It IS a tad too big on my 30" screen, but I can finally read everything clearly after years of struggling with the tiny controls in earlier versions of Photoshop. I'm sure 200% was chosen because it's a lot easier to implement doubling than some arbitrary scale factor, but it would be nice to have %150 as well.

Hope this gets added to Premiere Pro as well

S

Sarah Northway

Inspiring

The 200% zoom looks great on my 3200x1800 14" screen, though I'd also vote for a 150% option. But unfortunately drawing is suddenly super laggy with this new version (with or without experimental features) and I have no idea why. I wonder if it's a high res monitor thing since it seems like the Photoshop dev team have never tested on one. Anyone else here experiencing delayed feedback when drawing in CC 2014?

Chris Cox

Legend

Photoshop was tested on many high res displays - without any visible or measurable lag.

Whatever lag or slowdown you are seeing is more likely specific to some issue on your system.

G

Gary.Voth

Known Participant

Hi Chris.

I've been playing with the latest Photoshop and Lightroom trials, and on my 2014 Razer Blade, the 200% experimental scaling option in Photoshop is beautiful (and Lightroom seems to just work, kudos).

However, I've noticed that Adobe Bridge CC is still not scaling properly. This is a deal killer for me, unfortunately, because I rely heavily on Bridge + the Camera RAW plug-in for my digital photography workflow.

Are there any plans to bring high DPI support to Adobe Bridge?