In the Real World: Getting Results from a Smaller System

Getting Results from a Smaller System

The examples on this site are written on the assumption that you have the optimum, high-powered computer system described in the Equipment section. In the real world, I'm aware that many readers of this site will have older, slower machines, or lack the funds for sufficient RAM. Here are some suggestions to help:

Shortage of RAM

1) Work at a lower resolution.

Though not an ideal solution, if you work at a resolution lower than the recommended 300dpi, your file size will drop dramatically. I don't recommend working at any less than 150dpi, and even then, your work will look a little jagged when it prints.

If you need to show low-resolution work, try displaying it on a website, where the low screen resolution will hide the low resolution of the original file. You can try making a virtual portfolio in HTML, which you can either display as a website, or get burnt onto a CD to send around, especially if you know someone with a CD burner who'll do it for you cheap. It can make a very good impression. Nowadays, I show my work more on CD portfolio than I do on paper.

2) Work one panel at a time

If you're colouring a comic which is made up of small panels, you can try scanning the pages as single panels, then colouring them one at a time. If you flatten the finished panels as TIFFs (see What Different File Types Can Do for You), they'll take up less memory, so you may be able to stitch them back together in Photoshop, or if you have a page layout program like Pagemaker or InDesign, you can reassemble the pages in that.

3) Work in RGB

If you're just a little short of memory, you can carve up to a third off the file size by working in RGB mode. I know, I warn against this in Why CMYK?, and again, it's not ideal, but there are ways around the problems.

RGB can generate luminous colours which won't print ("out of gamut" colours), but Photoshop has a handy feature which lets you check this.

Pick a colour as your foreground colour, then double click on it in the Toolbar.

Colour Picker, showing Out of Gamut warning (ringed in green, top) and CMYK sliders, (ringed in green, below) Clicking on the warning converts out of gamut colurs to CMYK safe versions.

The Colour Picker will appear. The Picker has a set of sliders that will let you mix colours using CMYK colours (ringed in green, bottom right), even though you are in RGB mode. It also displays an Out of Gamut warning (circled in green, top right) if you've picked an RGB colour that won't print.
Click on the little square below the Out of Gamut warning, and the colour converts to the nearest CMYK-safe colour. It will probably look too dark, so fiddle with the CMYK sliders till it looks right.

Try to avoid using black when mixing colours in CMYK.

Shortage of Hard Disk Space

Photoshop stores undos and other information on the hard disk when it fills the available RAM. This is called the Scratch Disk. It means that, if you are short of RAM, you may well run short of hard disk space too.

For an A4 page of colouring, you'll need at least 300mb free disk space. There are two ways of dealing with this:

1) Learn to be ruthless; delete everything you don't need as soon as it's finished with, to keep your hard disk clear.

2) If you have a removable cartridge drive like Zip, Jaz or Sparq, or an external hard drive, you can get Photoshop to recognize it as extra Scratch Disk space, using the Plug-ins & Scratch Disk... option in Preferences.


Colour Picker, showing Out of Gamut warning (ringed in green, top) and CMYK sliders, (ringed in green, below)	Clicking on the warning converts out of gamut colurs to CMYK safe versions.