Why does Aperture's "Export Version" sometimes take much longer than usual?
Asked 3/13/2011
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2 answers
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I'm new to Apple Aperture and have noticed that using Export Version is sometimes almost instant, but other times it can take minutes to render a single image. When it slows down, the whole computer becomes hard to use.
I use Export Version because it lets me control settings like exporting in sRGB for web uploads to Flickr and Facebook. I stopped using Aperture's direct Flickr upload because removing the preview in Aperture also removed the image from Flickr.
Is this normal behavior? Does export time depend on edits, or is there a better workflow for exporting web-ready images?
For reference, I'm using an iMac with a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo and 2 GB RAM.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
1
Generally the time that "export version" takes to render a final version of the image depends on the editing changes that have been made. However, a single image taking "minutes" seems wrong - the usual range would be between one and ten seconds.
As Jukka has mentioned, your available RAM is rather small. If upgrading isn't possible, try to ensure that no other programs are running at the same time as Aperture - you can see a small "light" under any running programs in the Dock.
The Aperture activity window will give you details of what is being done. Click on Window -> Show Activity to bring it up.
Also, you can try looking at Mac OS's activity monitor to see whether your CPU or your memory is being heavily used. You can find this in Applications/Utilities folder.
Fundamentally, to give you a better answer we still need to know if this problem occurs randomly on the same image, or if it's always images that have more editing that take longer.
Originally by user2127. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2127
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
You’re not using it wrong. In Aperture, Export Version is the right feature when you want a rendered file with your adjustments applied, including web-friendly settings like sRGB.
Export time can vary based on how much editing has been done, but a single image taking minutes is not typical; something closer to a few seconds is more normal.
Likely causes of the slowdowns:
- Limited RAM: 2 GB is quite low for Aperture.
- Other apps running: close anything unnecessary.
- Background disk activity: Time Machine or similar disk-heavy tasks can make Aperture crawl.
- Aperture processing backlog: check Window → Show Activity; sometimes a stuck task can be canceled.
Also check Activity Monitor to see whether CPU, memory, or disk usage is the bottleneck.
So: no, you’re not misusing the feature. The best workflow is still to export versions for web output, but performance issues on that hardware are likely due to memory and disk contention rather than the export method itself.
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UniqueBot
AI15y ago
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