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Question on Light Table behavior

I am wondering if it just me and a couple of others who are seeing pixelated images in a Light Table in 3.1.1?



Situation:


With Aperture 3.1.1 set to all defaults in Preferences, I create a new light table (either empty or with pre-selected images) and then drag images to the light table.

The images are small on the table. They appear to be lower quality than the images in the filmstrip to begin with. Resizing the images exagerates the problem and reveals unclear and/or pixelation.


I have done a clean install of Aperture 3 and updated to 3.0.3 and the issue does not exist. Light Table images are fine whether resized or not.



*What I have tried so far:*


1 - Clean install of OS X 10.6 and updated with 10.6.6 combo installer (repaired disk permissions once installed), then install Aperture 3 and updated to 3.1.1 (repaired disk permissions once completed). Import new images from Nikon D80 (both RAW and JPEG) and tested light table. Same issue. Then imported new .cr2 files from a friend's Canon, which all had the same issue.

2 - Copy APTS lesson files and library to drive > open with Aperture 3.1.1 (upgrade library when prompted). The existing images in that library behave correctly in Light Table, but newly imported images into that library display the image degradation / pixelation in light table.

3 - In all cases, I have tried to delete / generate Previews as well as Thumbnails. None of these have sorted the issue.


Note - it almost appears to me that the images used on the light table are actually small thumbnails that are low quality on the light table and any subsequent resizing pixelates the image.

Note #2 - the strange thing in all cases is that using the loupe tool and panning over the images in the light table shows high-quality image.


I am trying to determine if it is my machine (or procedure) specifically, or if there are others experiencing this in large numbers.


I have 8 GB RAM and the nVidia 8800 GT upgrade card in my machine. Whether just Aperture 3.1.1 is installed or with all my normal software, no difference in Light Table behavior.


Looking for comments as to whether users have no issues like this or any who do.


I have already sent a report to Apple.


Thanks in advance for any comments.

Corky

 Mac Pro (Early 2008) QC 2.8 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 31, 2011 7:39 AM

Reply
24 replies

Feb 7, 2011 6:31 AM in response to Stray Particle

SP,

I do not think this is intended behavior, as it works as expected in AP 3.0.3.

I sent a bug report via the feedback function in the Aperture menu and will follow up with a second one. I was hoping that other users would chime in as to whether they were experiencing the issue, or if it is working correctly on their system. Unfortunately, there has been no response other than yours as you can see.

There are two other threads since the release of 3.1.1 where 3 or 4 other users are having the same issue (at least as far as the pixelation / low resolution image issue).

On my system, the default size of the light table changed between 3.0.3 and 3.1.

In 3.0.3 the light table starts off smaller (with larger grid squares as if zoomed in) and dragging the images onto the table show the same quality image on the table as in the filmstrip. In 3.1 (and 3.1.1) the light table starts off much larger (with smaller grid squares as if zoomed out) and dragging an image from the filmstrip results in a smaller sized thumbnail showing on the light table at the lower quality.

I have also been going back through the 'Apple Pro Training Series - Aperture 3' book using the included library and lesson files (to test for functionlity with AP 3.1.1 and iPhoto '11) and I find that in lesson 3 where the light table is used, the same issue appears once you resize one of the images next to smaller images (which results in the three smaller images being lower quality than the resized image).

My guess is that the thumbnail / preview function connected with the light table sizing is creating an issue where the light table is using a smaller thumbnail when it should be switching to (or using from the beginning) a preview for quality. The fact that the image viewed under the loupe tool is high quality lends to this theory - IMHO.

I am hoping that this is fixed in 3.1.2 (if they release an update), since I would like to use the light table for layout decisions and for comparing multiple images. The bad image quality sort of shoots this function in the foot for me.

The only real fix is to revert to AP 3.0.3 and forego the 3.1.1 improvements which really isn't a fix. 😟

To any others reading this post, could you please indicate whether the light table image quality is fine for you or whether you are experiencing the bad quality / pixelation issue I am? It would help me in discovering whether this is machine (hardware) specific or a wider issue.

Thanks in advance for any help. 😉

Feb 7, 2011 6:43 AM in response to CorkyO2

CorkyO2 wrote:

In 3.0.3 the light table starts off smaller (with larger grid squares as if zoomed in) and dragging the images onto the table show the same quality image on the table as in the filmstrip. In 3.1 (and 3.1.1) the light table starts off much larger (with smaller grid squares as if zoomed out) and dragging an image from the filmstrip results in a smaller sized thumbnail showing on the light table at the lower quality.


Haven't had a chance to try this out but....

What if before you place images on the light table you zoom in to mimic the look in 3.0.3 then place the images. Does that change anything?

Feb 7, 2011 7:09 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

Hi Frank,

Thanks for responding.

Yes, I did try that, but no change. I tried the deleting previews, which emptied the 'Preview' folder in the library > generate Previews, which resulted in the same. I tried the same deletion and regeration using the Thumbnails command as well as the 'Generate Previews' command in the Photos menu.

I tried those commands in both the Project itself as well as in the light table view (in case that fixed it for some strange reason even though they are just reference images - or at least that is my assumption). No change in either case.

I tried importing new images from a camera card (in RAW only, JPEG only and RAW + JPEG) as well as from folders in finder. Still no change.

When the images are small, they look like they might be okay, but zooming in or resizing them on the table shows the truth in quality being displayed. The loupe always shows a high quality image no matter the quality on the light table. In some cases, I can almost convince myself that the resized image has improved if I zoom out and back in, but in reality the image is not the same quality as that shown in the filmstrip.

I have tried both selecting images and then creating the light table (placing a checkmark in the 'Include selected images in light table' option) as well as creating an empty light table and dragging images from one project and from multiple projects (no change).

Still no joy. 😟

May 28, 2011 8:45 PM in response to pedrin

pedrin,


The problem still exists in 3.1.2 running on 10.6.7 (although I don't think it is an OS X issue).


I have confirmed that the issue exists on machines in the local Apple retail store here in Seattle, so it does not appear to be a hardware specific issue either.


The best bet we have at this point is to report it to Apple using the 'Aperture menu > Provide Aperture Feedback' function and reporting a bug.


The only question I have on this is whether the change in grid squares (being smaller) is intended to be a zoomed out view or if it is intended to represent a smaller grid section per square than was represented in AP 3.0.x.


If you increase the size of the placed thumbnail until it has better quality, then it will take up a much larger portion of the viewer requiring one to zoom out to see a layout of multiple images.


IMHO, this is either an oversight by the engineers (in other words; a bug) or a bad decision on implementation of the light table in 3.1.x.


Note - Adobe InDesign does a similar thing with placed images to keep the file size down while working on the layout, but I would argue that a photographers program (e.g., Aperture) would not be the place to use this type of implementation.


Sorry I don't have a better comment for you. 😟

Jul 14, 2011 9:27 AM in response to CorkyO2

CorkyO2 wrote:


Closing this thread as it would seem that almost no one else sees this issue.


I think the reason for the low number of responses is that not that many people use the light table.


So I just tried it using OS 10.6.8 and A3.1.2. I put two images on the Light Table and scaled one image up as large as the Light Table would allow. Both images looked fine, but the scaled image did appear slightly softer than the image that was displayed simultaneously on the secondary monitor. Interestingly, I saw the pixelation- only in the unscaled image- when I dragged Aperture's main window over to secondary monitor, but the image cleared as soon as I began to scale it.


I'm wondering if there's a hardware common denominator among the users who are experiencing this issue.


DLS

Jul 14, 2011 10:06 AM in response to DLScreative

The problem still exists for me with AP 3.1.3 on OS X 10.6.8.


Not sure that it is hardware specific though, as I tested on two current 27" iMacs in the local Apple store here in Seattle which were both running AP 3.1.2 with the sample library on the machines. The same issue was quite evident when dragging the thumbnails from the filmstrip to the light table where the thumbnails became smaller in on-screen size and were obvioulsy much less sharp than the images in the filmstrip.


Resizing them in the Apple store to basically fill the default light table grid size improved the image quality, but using the loupe tool on the image proved the image quality was better in the loupe. Note - this was not the case in the library browser or viewer when in a normal project where both the loupe shown image and version image were of equal high-quality.


This issue is not present in 3.0.x and was introduced (at least on my machine) with 3.1.0.


FWIW, my machine specs are:


Mac Pro (early 2008) with a single quad-core 2.8 Ghz. Xeon processor

WD Black Caviar drives (System = 1 TB, Library = 500 GB)

NVidia 8800GT graphics card (512 MB VRAM)

8 GB RAM (1 GB per slot)

23" Apple Cinema Display


Note - the current iMac's at the store have ATI graphics chips, so it does not seem to be drivers.


Apart from your comment, no one else has posted that it actually works correctly (even though I have requested they do so). You may be correct that very few use the feature.


It definitely reminds me of InDesign's use of a low quality image to maintain some level of performance where many high-quality images would kill that program's performance. I don't see a good arguement for that use in Aperture though, as it is supposed to be used to layout images (without text or vector objects) in a professional photography app.


I also have no image quality issues with other image programs (e.g., Photoshop CS5, Bridge CS5, DxO Pro 6.6). Still hoping for a solution. 😟

Question on Light Table behavior

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