No 3D options show up in Photoshop CS6... at all!

[timthetutor]

Hi everyone,

The title says it all really: I've been trying recently to use the 3D features in CS6 (not a usual part of my workflow, which is probably why it has taken me so long to notice) but all options are grayed out, regardless of the document settings, layer options etc. I simply cannot work in 3D at all! I am working on a Mac Pro (mid 2010) with 13 Gb of ram, so system resources are not the issue. Any help or suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Tim

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Photoshop Extended or not?

Which Color Mode and bit depth is the image in question?

What are the Photoshop > Preferences > Performance > Graphics Processor Settings?

[conroy]

You have the 3D menu, although the items are grayed, so you do have Ps Extended. Grayed-out 3D menu when in RGB or grayscale mode means Photoshop considers your GPU hardware or software to be inadequate, or "Use Graphics Processor" is disabled in Preferences > Performance. If that preference does need to be enabled, relaunch Photoshop after doing so.

[Chris Cox]

What GPU  (older ones may not work), and how much VRAM do you have (512 Meg minimum).

[portoffolio]

Hi Chris, is this because of a recent update? 2 weeks ago I had no problem using 3D layer. Starting yesterday I get the message that my graphics card is incompatible because my vram is only 256mb. Wondering how I was able to use 3D just weeks before, with this incompatible card.

[Guest]

With the update the 512 mb was more closely adhered to.  Some have gone back to previous version.

[conroy]

Photoshop 13.1.x simply will not enable 3D features when the graphics card has less than 512 MB, regardless of whether features would work with your specific 256 MB card. Reduces the support burden for Adobe. Screws some customers.

[portoffolio]

Thanks. Back to CS5 I suppose. Do you know if 13.1.1 has additional features for 3D vs previous versions or is it just the vram requirement update only?

[conroy]

portoffolio wrote:

Thanks. Back to CS5 I suppose.

You can go back to version 13.0.1 of CS6 to run the 3D features with 256 MB VRAM.

portoffolio wrote:

Do you know if 13.1.1 has additional features for 3D vs previous versions or is it just the vram requirement update only?

13.1.1 is supposed to have minor enhancements to 3D features. However, and importantly, the word is that it has bug fixes relative to 13.0.1. Adobe will not tell us what the fixes are, for some unfathomable reason. And, yet again, my posts vanish while Cox is posting in the forum.