large TIFF files

[SimonS]

I'm trying to get some rather large (2+ Mb) TIFF files into my Filemaker 5 database. For some reason, no matter how I try to insert these pictures, only about a quarter of the picture shows up in the container field. I've tried inserting the pictures, inserting them storing only a reference, and using Applescript to tell FMP to store a reference to the picture, all with the same result. There's no problem for smaller (<1 Mb) TIFF's; they show up in their entirety.

This is my first FMP project, so I might be missing something obvious, but I'm pretty puzzled, so if someone could tell me what's going on here, and how I could fix it, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[kenneth2k1]

Perhaps you could scale it down? I mean, unless you are storing them for editing, or printing very large pictures you won't notice the difference on your monitor. Besides, a few records that size is OK, but once your database grows, it will get extremely slow (unless you store a reference).

Ken

[Vaughan]

It sounds like FMP is running out of memory.

[SimonS]

I tried increasing FMP's memory through the 'info' window, up to 16 Mb. It didn't help; I still only get about 1/4 of the picture. Any suggestions?

Simon S

[SimonS]

I'm still confused, though. If I store the picture as a reference,

(and the problem does occur when I do) it shouldn't matter how large it is, right? Clearly Filemaker knows where the file is; it's getting part of

it. So why can't it get the whole thing? Is there some limit on the amount of data Filemaker can import per picture?

[The Bridge]

How is the container field formatted? You may have set it to Crop any image placed within, when you actually want it to Reduce.

[SimonS]

Thanks for the suggestion, Peter. The container field was set to Reduce, however. When I set it to Crop, nothing at all shows up!

I think I need to clarify one point, though. I said before that only one quarter of the image shows up. But the one quarter of the picture does not fill the container field. Instead, it occupies one quarter of the field (the upper left quarter, as it happens), as it normally would if the rest of the image were there. It's almost as if Filemaker 'knows' there's supposed to be more to the image, but it can't show it for whatever reason.

Simon S.

[kenneth2k1]

OK, then. Let's have those system specs: machine make, OS, RAM, HDD memory allocation settings, etc. I assume that since you are adjusting memory settings that you are not running OSX.

Ken

[Keith M. Davie]

I like to test things. Upon reading the thread to this point I went to a site with horse pix and took a screen shot of one. Then I put that in PhotoShop and enlarged it 400% and then 200%, and saved a copy as a .tif. The size of the file was 8.8 Mb. I then opened this in Graphic Converter and grasped the image and dragged and dropped into a container field (reduce). Went into the field (container field size on layout about 1x2 inches) slick like it was greased and displayed fully in the reduced image. Displayed on a web page, scrolling (v & h) was necessary to view the image.

Mac G3, FileMaker Pro 5.0v3, existing test database.

[keshalyi]

Yeah, its not an FM limitation. My Database makes references to enormous tiffs all the time, and they always show up for me.

[SimonS]

Unfortunately, it's not my machine, and I haven't had access to it for a while, but it doesn't look like I will today either, so here's what I can recall off the top of my head:

PowerBook G3; 128 MB of RAM, increased to 196 with Virtual Memory; not OSX, I'm pretty sure it's a version of OS 9; file size is about 300 kB, unless I insert an image without reference, in which case it goes up by about the size of the image. I'm not sure what you mean by HDD memory allocation settings; the Hard Drive is about 5 GB.

[kenneth2k1]

Sorry, I meant to put a comma in between: HDD size, and your memory allocation settings (from Get Info).

I thought about what Vaughan said about it being a memory issue, and that's possible. But if FM ran out of memory, you would most likely get a Type 2,3,11 error.

Try it on another machine - that should eliminate an FM limitation (although I can probably say right now that this is not the problem).

Increase your memory allocation more, get more physical memory, or get OSX and eliminate memory management problems

Just some suggestions

Ken

[SimonS]

Hmm... I had been getting those errors when dealing with the image DB, but they became much less frequent after I trashed the Filemaker Preferences Folder (in the Preferences Folder of the System Folder) and FMP made a new Folder. However, I do still get the errors if I put references to several of these large images into the DB, and then try to scroll through the records quickly. (I had assumed this was a separate problem, so I hadn't brought it up before.) I'll try allocating more memory when I get access to the computer again. (More major changes would be up to its owner )

Thanks a whole lot for everyone's help so far!