Saving a Projext

Dalstar09

Newbie Joined: Aug 18, 2014 20:45 Messages: 19 Offline

Solved by

Jun 16, 2018 15:44

I guess I am missing something. I want to be able to save a project that is not finished so I can start from that point at a later time. I would think there is a "save as" and "open project" that would allow me to select the desired project in the state that I left it. I've tried several times on my current project and everytime I open it, all I get is the original background and nothing else (layers previously added). What am I doing wrong?

Hatti

Contributor Location: Bonn, Germany Joined: Feb 21, 2017 15:54 Messages: 576 Offline

Jun 16, 2018 16:20

You didn't mention your PhD version.
I have PhotoDirector 9.
I think, you did not miss something. The project cannot be saved. The project is a database file with links to your photos and the adjustments, that you did. That means, the original photo is not altered. So if you create a project, import photos and adjust, lets say, the exposure of a photo. If you open the photo on your harddisk with a regular photo viewer, you will find the photo unchanged. If you want to have the adjustments on a photo, you have to export the photo. With exporting, you create a new photo with the adjustments.
So far, so good.
It is the same with layers, but with a little trick (I don't know why). I opened a photo, switched to the layer tab and created a new, empty layer. I did some painting on that new layer. Now, I want to switch to Adjustment or even close PhotoDirector. A dialog box appears: "Do you want to save your changes to a temporary file (virtual copy) for further editing?" If you answer No and leave PhD, all changes are gone. So you have to answer Yes, and a virtual copy of your photo with layers is created. In the original photo, there are no layers. So you have to find the virtual copy in your project (Maybe at the very end). That virtual copy has the layers. I don't know, why a virtual copy is created. I think, it is not necessary. A virtual copy is not a new photo, it is another link to the original photo on the harddisk.

Hatti Win 10 64, i7-4790k, 32GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, SATA 2TB, SATA 4TB, NVidia GTX1080 8GB, LG 34" 4K Wide, AOC 24" 1080

Dalstar09

Newbie Joined: Aug 18, 2014 20:45 Messages: 19 Offline

Jun 16, 2018 16:27

Thinking about it, that makes sense! I wasn't thinking from the concept of a database for the changes, my thought was I was making changes to the picture somehow without affecting the original. I use PowerDirector more frequently and it seems to follow the project saving concept I was applying to PhD. I was able to find my project a few minutes ago so I think all is good. Thank you very much!