PSE6 Mac Bridge issues and questions

[quantum_sequoia]

I am running PSE 6 with Bridge CS3 on a Mac Mini with 2 GB of RAM and plenty of disk space. (I'm actually moving to this from PSE 6 on Windows XP running under Boot Camp on this same Mac Mini). At this point in time, I have about 12,500 images. Bridge is giving me fits. When I start Bridge (via PSE 6), it starts well. the problem comes when I select the folder with the 12,500 images. After a few minutes, it shows me all the files, I can select images by keyword, etc. Now, say I select a subset of the images by clicking on a keyword - eventually, Bridge shows me the desired images. When I deselect the keyword, expecting to get back to the full set of 12,500 images, Bridge just locks up and becomes unresponsive. Looking at Activity Monitor reveals the Bridge is taking 99+ % of the CPU. All of the 2 GB of RAM is being used, with Bridge consuming 1.5 GB or more. My questions are as follows:

1) Is there some kind of upper limit to the number of images Bridge can handle at once?
2) Is there any way to reduce Bridge's memory usage?
3) I have the Bridge cache set up on my 500 GB Firewire drive. The setting for thumbnails is the default value. What effect does this setting have on Bridge's responsiveness?
4) Is there something else I should look at to help Bridge run better?

At this point, Bridge is pretty useless as a browser for all my images. The Organizer in the Windows version of PSE 6 worked better (strange to say). I'm having trouble believing that Bridge would be the inferior product in this regard.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Do you have all your images in one folder :eek:

If so then Bridge is probably still working on building all the thumbnails and screwing itself up when you start to do something else before it has finished ... I find that Bridge works a whole lot better if you have a folder system for your images and each folder contains less images, especially if the images are large ones

Must admit that I do tend to use iPhoto for most of my photographs and have a folder system on the Mac for my layered creations, scrapbooking items etc.

Once Bridge has built its thumbnail cache then it should be OK ... but if there are 12,500 images in one folder then that may take quite a while.

Wendy :)

[quantum_sequoia]

Hi Wendy,

Well, the images are in a bunch of different folders, generally by camera and date. All of these folders are under one folder called "Images". (Original, right?) The 12,500 images is everything under "Images".

I've wondered if Bridge might be doing something related to indexing but there isn't any indication of activity. I figured it was done but, perhaps not. I'll open up "Images" and just let it sit there overnight and see what happens.

Thanks

[Barbara Brundage]

I think Wendy's probably right. Bridge isn't speedy even with just a few dozens of photos till that cache is built.

[quantum_sequoia]

Well, I'm not sure if leaving Bridge open all night did anything useful. The main problem still exists - I clicked on one keyword to select a subset of files and browsed through them once they came up. Then I deselected the keyword, which should have brought back all 12,500 images. Bridge is just sitting there with the little colored pinwheel spinning around.

Perhaps this is related - when looking at the thumbnails, I notice that, when I scroll through them, many have a black border. If I stop scrolling for a few seconds, Bridge seems to refine the thumbnails and the black borders disappear...until I scroll to a new screen. If removal of the black borders means Bridge has processed a thumbnail, then Bridge is not updating thumbnails until I actually look at them.

So, I'm stuck. Any more thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

BTW, Barbara - I have your PSE6 for Windows Missing Manual book. It's a handy thing. Good work.

[quantum_sequoia]

Subsequent update:

The only thing that has helped was to tell Bridge to use high quality thumbnails. Once I did that, Bridge walked through all of the folders and automatically created all thumbnails. I also reset preferences and cleared the cache files before things settled down.

Now, Bridge displays thumbnails for all 12,500 images. Clicking on a single keyword causes Bridge to show a small subset of the images. Unchecking the keyword brings back all 12,500 images. Unfortunately, it takes Bridge 8 minutes to think about this and show the thumbnails. I don't know what to do about that (other than buy a faster computer, eh?).

[Wendy]

Hi ..

I just noticed that you said you have a series of folders under the main one ... that does mean that you have to open each folder to build the thumbnails in that folder.

Hopefully once each folder is done then it should be OK ... what is the most images that you have in any one folder ??

Wendy