Memory allocation failure

[vectorizor]

Hello all,

I am writing a Photoshop plug-in on Windows, and I am having trouble
with allocating memory. Essentially, the code performs a very complex
operation on the image, so 9 buffer planes are required as scratch
memory. The problem occurs when the image that a user tries to process
is big, say 10 mega pixels or more. A Photoshop error pops up saying
"Could not complete the command because of a program error".

The error occurs in Photoshop's memory allocation routine,
'FilterRecord->bufferProcs->allocateProc'. It simply fails, hence the
problem must be allocating the memory. So I tried to replace this with
a call to a good old malloc, but trying to allocate the 9 planes
fails, because malloc returns a NULL pointer.

Now the weird thing is that processing a single 10MB will fail,
whereas I can process seven or eight 8MB images without a complaint
from Photoshop. Furthermore, with those seven or eight 8MB still open
in Photoshop, I can process a 20MB image with a command-line
equivalent of the plug-in. So in a nutshell, there is enough memory
as I can allocated twice more memory than what fails in Photoshop, so
what is going on? I could maybe understand that the Photoshop function
refuses to allocate such memory for some reasons, but why does the
malloc in the plug-in fail?! Especially since the malloc in the
command-line equivalent succeeds without a problem for an image TWICE
bigger?!

I would greatly appreciate any comments/ideas/suggestions.

Thanks in advance

Alex

 

[Barry Schwarz]

Hello all,

snip Photoshop discussion

Now the weird thing is that processing a single 10MB will fail,
whereas I can process seven or eight 8MB images without a complaint
from Photoshop. Furthermore, with those seven or eight 8MB still open

The fact that "small" allocations succeed while a "large" fails may
indicate nothing more sinister that memory fragmentation. (How many
pieces of kindling will fit through your front door vs how many full
grown redwoods?)

in Photoshop, I can process a 20MB image with a command-line
equivalent of the plug-in. So in a nutshell, there is enough memory
as I can allocated twice more memory than what fails in Photoshop, so
what is going on? I could maybe understand that the Photoshop function

This would seem to indicate that when Photoshop is active it does
something "strange" to the virtual memory in that task. As with most
virtual memory systems, each task has its own memory and whatever
Photoshop did with its is not affecting your command line task.

refuses to allocate such memory for some reasons, but why does the
malloc in the plug-in fail?! Especially since the malloc in the
command-line equivalent succeeds without a problem for an image TWICE
bigger?!

I would greatly appreciate any comments/ideas/suggestions.

You really need to discuss this in a Photoshop newsgroup. You have
demonstrated that the problem is not likely in your C code or the C
run time library. Does Adobe provide any kind of tech support?

An alternative design, obviously slower but available immediately, is
to use files instead of allocated memory.


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