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InDesign users

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warezcat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 27, 2010
28
0
UK
Hi, please can anyone help with my problem..?

No matter how powerful the PC or Mac I have owned when working on 8 or 12 page A4 print brochures working with overprint preview on is so slow, placing logos, images etc I get the beachball, scrolling through the document it is laggy.

Arrrrgh!

Ok, so the workload hasn't changed in the last 5 years I have been doing this as a job, but the spec I have has and really nothing changes, same old lag issues. Below I shall detail the current hardware and software.

Also important to note that all preferences have been changed and trial and errored to no avail. Most importantly settings such as 'live screen drawing' have been disabled.

Computer 1:
Mac Pro (Hackint0sh)
Mac OSX 10.6
InDesign CS5

Intel Quadcore i7 920 3.5Ghz
12GB 2200Mhz DDR3 Ripjaw RAM
nVidea 8800 GTS 640MB GPU

Computer 2:
iMac 27"
Mac OSX 10.6
InDesign CS5

Intel Quadcore i7 2.8GHz
8GB 1067 DDR3 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4850


What I don't understand is although some of our documents can be intensive in terms of links and high res background we also package our work and resample images etc to help.

The bottom line is, I have spent time Googling the issue, trying different things, upgrading to what is considered more than enough for what we are doing etc.. What on earth are people using to create billboards or games etc..

I'm really frustrated because the simplest of things like dragging a box across a page can result in time outs and so on.. It's not like it's as bad as I have described all the time but generally it feels as though we suffer while we work. The same problem has occurred whether it's been on a Windows install, Mac various hardware changes. What the hell!!!?


Fingers crossed for any help.. :confused:

Thanks.
 
Shot in the dark here - but are you working on a file over a network? The delay could be a result of ID saving its backup file onto a remote drive. Try working locally and see if that helps. (There will likely still be delays since you're most likely pulling images from the network).
 
Sorry, I can't help, but thought I'd chip in and say that I experience the same thing regarding slow running CS5.

Recently I upgraded to a brand new late 2010 MacPro and CS5, from a base model 1st gen G5 running CS2, expecting an amazing boost in every department, yet I have to say that, at least as far as CS goes, the old system was faster!

I know there is extra functionality over the old system, and that new software will be written to tax new machines, but in the case of CS5 it seems the brand new mac pro can't cope and the net result is a slower running combo.

I too have turned things like live scroll etc off, but it's still slow and anyway, I had those features running on the G5 so why should I have to do without on my 'upgraded' system?

So then is yours a hardware or actually a software issue . . . ?:confused:
 
It seems you really need to look at some workflow - network - workstation issues.
I have several machines here - a couple of which equal or less than yours
and we see nothing like you are experiencing.
The biggest drag we ever see is an InDy file
with some unbelievably complex Illustrations from Illy.
Other than that everything screams.
We did have some of that kind of thing when
running the newest Adobe software with an older (very nice) PC server
running "Server 2003" through ExtremeZ.
I recently put the prepress on a MAC server
and things are great.
(still - we didn't see what you seem to be experiencing.)
You may be looking at wiping the MAC workstations
and reloading fresh.
(Consider SSD boot drives if that is the case)

MSD
 
just another random thing to check, what is your current display performance setting? high Quality setting can sure slow things down, if that is the case, you could try to sacrifice some image clarity during layout to speed it up.
 
Why are you working with Overprint Preview turned on? That's the reason it moves so slow because it's trying to fully-render all the images you have in your document. When you scroll, then it tries to fully-render all the new images again.

I only use Overprint Preview once the layout is fully realized; to spot check things here-and-there. Try turning that off and see how that helps.
 
swiftlives said:
shot in the dark here - but are you working on a file over a network? The delay could be a result of id saving its backup file onto a remote drive. Try working locally and see if that helps. (there will likely still be delays since you're most likely pulling images from the network).
Click to expand...

+1
 
Have you got Preflight switched on? I had what sounds like the same problem and only realised after a lot of checking of esoteric technical issues. Simply switched it off and vroom... vroom... I was back up to speed again!
 
joshuwack said:
Why are you working with Overprint Preview turned on? That's the reason it moves so slow because it's trying to fully-render all the images you have in your document. When you scroll, then it tries to fully-render all the new images again.

I only use Overprint Preview once the layout is fully realized; to spot check things here-and-there. Try turning that off and see how that helps.
Click to expand...


Actually working with overprint on is something I have done for years, the type of documents I work with means working with it off is crap. I of course understand what overprint is and it's use. However, I know how InDesign can perform and should perform given the spec behind the software.
 
jeremy h said:
Have you got Preflight switched on? I had what sounds like the same problem and only realised after a lot of checking of esoteric technical issues. Simply switched it off and vroom... vroom... I was back up to speed again!
Click to expand...


No difference. Cheers.
 
Last edited:
OK, a real guess here - could it be fonts - do you have a similar set of fonts on both machines and are you running suitcase? I've had performance issues with suitcase and switched to Font Explorer. Apart from that I'm stumped.
 
warezcat said:
Packaging the document and saving it locally makes no difference.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I had a similar issue awhile back - turns out that while some of my images were fine - others were way oversampled for the document - meaning 25MB headshots.

Can you give some example file sizes and types of assets on the slower pages?
 
If you are having problems with older (converted files), I highly recommend that after export them to IDML and reopen them backup. This process will rebuild the file and result in a smaller cleaner file. The only negative to this process is that if you had any missing links, they will have grey boxes instead of placeholder images. However, if all of your links are Ok, you won't have any problems.

Here is a link to a free script that will let you batch process exporting (PDF, IDML, Packaging, etc)

http://www.kahrel.plus.com/indesign/batch_convert_cs3.html
 
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