The Performance preference panel is new to Photoshop CS3. It combines the Scratch Disk options from the CS2 Plug-Ins & Scratch Disk panel with all of the options found in the CS2 Memory And Image Cache panel. It is also the only preference panel that contains a Description area at the bottom. For a brief explanation of what each option does, hover the mouse cursor over any one of them in the panel and refer to the Description area.
Memory Usage This preference allows you to allocate a specific percentage of your system’s available RAM to Photoshop. The natural tendency for designers is to overallocate RAM to Photoshop, which is not necessary. For your average Mac or Windows system (1GB or less of RAM installed), start out by setting the slider to 50%. If you have a large amount of RAM installed (at least 3GB), try increasing the percentage. You’ll know you’ve set it too high if the hard disk starts to make noise every time you launch another application (Windows Vista or XP), or if you see the dreaded “spinning beach ball” (Mac OS X).
History & Cache The History States preference used to be located in the CS2 General panel, but is now combined with the Cache Levels setting of the Performance panel. The value entered for History States controls the maximum amount of history states accessible in the History palette. The default setting is 20, but you can allocate as many as 1,000 history states. Increasing the default value allows you to go further back in time when editing your images, but it also eats up a lot of scratch disk space. Running out of scratch disk space can severely slow system performance and bring Photoshop to a screeching halt, leaving you unable to even save your images.
GPU Settings For the first time in Photoshop, image windows are displayed onscreen by using the graphics processing unit (GPU) rather than the central processing unit (CPU), or “processor.” . The GPU is a specialized logic chip devoted to rendering 2D or 3D graphics. The GPU is used primarily for 3D applications and video games in order to display lighting effects and object transformations.
Cursors
Photoshop CS3 contains two Cursors preference options, both of which apply to Painting Cursors and the Brush tool.
Full Size Brush Tip Enabling this option causes the circle cursor to act as a full-size brush, so that the edge of the cursor is the edge of the brush. This edge indicates the point where the brush stops affecting the image. Normal Brush Tip (the default setting) displays the halfway point at which the color will disappear gradually, particularly when working with soft brushes and pressure sensitivity from a graphics stylus. Some users find the accuracy of the full-size brush tip easier to visualize and work with, whereas others are simply used to working with the normal brush tip and feel no need to switch to full size.
Show Crosshair In Brush Tip Enabling this option causes a small crosshair to appear in the center of the circle brush cursor. This can be especially useful when using the Full Size Brush Tip option, because it can help you visualize exactly where the center of the brush is when painting with such a large cursor.
Transparency & Gamut
One of the most powerful features of Photoshop is the ability to work with transparent layers. Of the few options available in this preference panel, Grid Colors is one you might want to change from time to time, especially when the grid color is conflicting with the image you are editing, making it difficult to identify stray pixels.
Grid Colors If the default gray-and-white transparency checkerboard makes it difficult to see the edge of a selection, especially when working with certain tools such as the Background Eraser, you can change it here. Click either color swatch (below the Grid Colors menu) to access the Color Picker. Proceed to change the default colors to something that offers better contrast with your image.
Memory Usage This preference allows you to allocate a specific percentage of your system’s available RAM to Photoshop. The natural tendency for designers is to overallocate RAM to Photoshop, which is not necessary. For your average Mac or Windows system (1GB or less of RAM installed), start out by setting the slider to 50%. If you have a large amount of RAM installed (at least 3GB), try increasing the percentage. You’ll know you’ve set it too high if the hard disk starts to make noise every time you launch another application (Windows Vista or XP), or if you see the dreaded “spinning beach ball” (Mac OS X).
History & Cache The History States preference used to be located in the CS2 General panel, but is now combined with the Cache Levels setting of the Performance panel. The value entered for History States controls the maximum amount of history states accessible in the History palette. The default setting is 20, but you can allocate as many as 1,000 history states. Increasing the default value allows you to go further back in time when editing your images, but it also eats up a lot of scratch disk space. Running out of scratch disk space can severely slow system performance and bring Photoshop to a screeching halt, leaving you unable to even save your images.
GPU Settings For the first time in Photoshop, image windows are displayed onscreen by using the graphics processing unit (GPU) rather than the central processing unit (CPU), or “processor.” . The GPU is a specialized logic chip devoted to rendering 2D or 3D graphics. The GPU is used primarily for 3D applications and video games in order to display lighting effects and object transformations.
Cursors
Photoshop CS3 contains two Cursors preference options, both of which apply to Painting Cursors and the Brush tool.
Full Size Brush Tip Enabling this option causes the circle cursor to act as a full-size brush, so that the edge of the cursor is the edge of the brush. This edge indicates the point where the brush stops affecting the image. Normal Brush Tip (the default setting) displays the halfway point at which the color will disappear gradually, particularly when working with soft brushes and pressure sensitivity from a graphics stylus. Some users find the accuracy of the full-size brush tip easier to visualize and work with, whereas others are simply used to working with the normal brush tip and feel no need to switch to full size.
Show Crosshair In Brush Tip Enabling this option causes a small crosshair to appear in the center of the circle brush cursor. This can be especially useful when using the Full Size Brush Tip option, because it can help you visualize exactly where the center of the brush is when painting with such a large cursor.
Transparency & Gamut
One of the most powerful features of Photoshop is the ability to work with transparent layers. Of the few options available in this preference panel, Grid Colors is one you might want to change from time to time, especially when the grid color is conflicting with the image you are editing, making it difficult to identify stray pixels.
Grid Colors If the default gray-and-white transparency checkerboard makes it difficult to see the edge of a selection, especially when working with certain tools such as the Background Eraser, you can change it here. Click either color swatch (below the Grid Colors menu) to access the Color Picker. Proceed to change the default colors to something that offers better contrast with your image.
Performance Preference in Photoshop
![Performance Preference in Photoshop]()
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