Filmstrip (.FLM) format in Photoshop
 

My computer seems to have trouble working with Filmstrip files in Photoshop. The same files that load in mere seconds in After Effects take ten minutes to load in Photoshop.

My configuration: AhtlonXP 2000 Mhz, 500 Mb RAM, Plenty of harddrive space.

What would make it go faster? I am thinking about buying 500 Mb more RAM, but since the filmstrips are sometimes more than 1000 Mb, I do not know if that would really do the trick. Suggestions?

more RAM usually helps, I have about 2 gigs on my compositing workstation and it handles large files quite well. I'm a combustion / digital fusion guy though, so i've never found the need to deal with film strip files. Your other option (and i'd still suggest the memory upgrade if your motherboard can take it) is to export the filmstrips as smaller segments so that you CAN have one file loaded completely into memory while your working on it.

Yes, i will get more RAM soon.

But, I have noticed that Photoshop used gigantic amounts of temp harddrive space - often with 4 Gb free on the disc, I will get a "out of disc cache" error after a while (which is usually solved by purging all). I can not turn of Photoshop virtual memory (you need to list at least one cache disc).

Oh well, I will try with more RAM first. Thanks for responding Casey.

Well, there are other options, I'm not sure exactly what you're doing that you need to export film strips to photoshop, but you may be able to find a more elegant (and easier) solution in After Effects or another motion paint/compositing app.

vegas

Are you suggesting I go to Vegas to gamble for a new computer? Daddy needs a new pair of harddrives!

I guess I will just use smaller filmstrip segments. Thanks for the replies John and Casey.