Object selection tool (AI) freezes computer ​😡​

[NBG]

Hello everyone,

I have installed the Photo Update 2.6.0 on Windows 11, as well as the two models via the settings.

After I have loaded a sample photo into Photo and clicked on the ‘Object selection tool’, it only shows me an hourglass instead of the mouse pointer and the entire computer freezes.

Absolutely nothing happens.

Even after rasterising into an image, it lets me mark a rectangle, but then it freezes again.

Also the "Select>Select Subject" freezes my machine and only sometimes shows the ‘cropped’ object (but only after many seconds or even minutes).

This update is absolutely unusable for me. 😡With PS the object identification takes 1 second or something like that...

With this photo (no high resolution), object marking using ‘Select Subject’ takes approx. 1.5 minutes, in the meantime the PC cannot be used:

I also hardly believe that my PC should suddenly be ‘too slow’ for a simple graphics programme including some object selection:

[GraphicsBear]

Same. I just did a post in this same forum with the title "Affinity 2.6 Photo Freezing When Using New Object Select Tool"

After I made that post earlier today, I went back into the software and discovered after I used Select > Select Subject, nothing was selected, and the software froze. 

I was so looking forward to trying the new AI based selection tool, too.

I hope the guys at Affinity have a solution for this.

You and I are having the same problems with the software. I'm also using Windows 11 OS.

 

[carl123]

You might as well try the following, if just to eliminate them

1. Edit > Settings > Performance - try switching off Hardware Acceleration (if enabled)

2. See if there is a later driver for your GPU card

[NathanC]

Welcome to the forums @GraphicsBear,

While we understand that the problem was initiated while using the apps, the Affinity apps are user-mode applications that aren't able to trigger a system-wide freeze, shutdown or blue screen (BSOD), there are likely underlying driver or operating system-based issues that are causing the freeze.

Performing certain actions such as using the ML tools will put your system's hardware under load, which can expose underlying system issues as a result.

The Windows 11 24H2 update has introduced several widespread issues relating to drivers, and I can see you're currently running this version. We have had reports that disabling ‘Hardware Acceleration’ in the apps under Edit -> Settings -> Performance can help alleviate this problem as mentioned by Carl above.

If your PC unfreezes after a few minutes chances are you've hit the limits of your Hardware, this tool is very CPU expensive while it runs through the inference processing (The cursor changes to indicate this before changing to a crosshair when ready). Try limiting backgrounds apps to a minimum to give Photo more available resources.

[NBG]

26 minutes ago, NathanC said:

The Windows 11 24H2 update has introduced several widespread issues relating to drivers, and I can see you're currently running this version.

So we have to wait for a new Windows version from Microsoft in the hope that they have this bug on their radar?

[NathanC]

In the interim you can try disabling Hardware Acceleration, as mentioned previously and ensuring that your GPU/iGPU has the latest drivers available.

AMD Drivers: https://www.amd.com/en/support/download/drivers.html

[NBG]

I have already switched off the hardware acceleration and installed the latest drivers.

Currently ‘Select Subject’ needs exactly 60 (!) seconds for the photo above, during this time you cannot work on the PC.

Affinity has always been fundamentally fast, so I don't understand why it's so important to jump on the AI bandwagon and offer an extremely CPU-hungry plugin (from a third-party provider?).

I also don't understand why, despite AI, the cropping of the ‘subject’ is not at least more accurate and why a second ‘subject’ is recognised.

[NBG]

Update:

After I increased my RAM memory from 8 GB to 16 GB, the PC no longer freezes and at least manages the object release in 20 seconds.

This should also be noted in the hardware requirements.

Funnily enough, it now also selects the houseplant on the windowsill as the 3rd object 😄

Bottom line:

• Execution takes too long
• other objects are also recognized in addition to the main object
• it does not recognize the outlines of the main object correctly

It's nice that this “AI” feature is now built in, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

[NathanC]

Nvidia have recently released a new major driver update 576.02 which contains a fix for stability issues relating to the Windows 24H2 update. We’d like to ask all users affected by these system freezes to update to this latest driver version.

Your Drivers can be updated via either the following methods:

1. Manually update via the Nvidia website, found here- https://www.nvidia.com/drivers/
2. Via the Nvidia App found in the System Tray (bottom right hand corner of the taskbar). Once the Nvidia app is open, navigate to the ‘Drivers’ tab and update from here.

Once your drivers have successfully updated, reboot your machine and re-enable ‘Hardware Acceleration’ in the Affinitys apps under Edit -> Settings -> Performance, restart the app and monitor the stability moving forward.

Edited April 22 by NathanC