I'm trying to create an image database...

we are a landscape design firm...we have images over 1.5 gigabytes and will probably have over 2+ before the year is out...

I am operating filemaker pro 5.5 on a peer to peer network...the images are all on one computer and when I save the image as a reference the all the computers take forever + a day to load...

however, when i just import the images in container fields...it is fast...

I have not imported all images...but I have imported about 100 as just a regular import and i couldn't even import more than 10 as reference files because the computer kept locking up...

Is there a file size limit for filemaker??? Why is that?

any suggestions?

I have the troi file plug in...

thanks

The methodology FileMaker uses for addressing disk storage (sector mapping etc) limits it to 2Gb per file.

However it is worth noting that a solution can greatly exceed 2Gb in total, by combining data from a number of files.

I suggest that you consider strategies for distributing your images to several related files which hold 'instalments'. The images can then be sourced by unstored calculations, and made to appear on your main file layouts as though they were in a single file.

For example, an unstored calculation field with result type set to 'container' can retrieve your images from the 'instalment' files along the lines of:

Case(RecordID < 500, Relationship1::ImageField, Relationship2::ImageField)

---

(where you have only two instalment files and have capped the first at 499 images).

A few inventive variations on this theme may get you out of trouble...

A very common problem. We have used several strategies to deal with the size of images. First, we create thumbnails using Troi File and store them in the FM file, since they are small, file size is ok and speed is good. For larger images, a file server is required with a mounted volume available to all database users on which the pictures are stored. Using images on this mounted volume we either store a reference or import an image into a global field "on the fly" when a zoom operation is performed on one of the thumbnails.

The second approach does require an AppleShareIP, OS X, Windows NT/2000 or other server to store the images.

-bd