Photoshop cs5 by steve Johnson part 60 docx

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372 Chapter 15
Once you discover the advantages of using actions, you'll be creating
actions for all those dull, boring, repetitive tasks, and life inside
Photoshop will never be the same again. As the days go on, you'll see
your list of actions growing longer and longer. Sooner or later (probably
sooner), you'll develop so many actions that scrolling down the Actions
panel to find your favorite actions becomes a job in itself. The Actions
panel can hold as many actions as you need, and it also gives you the
ability to organize those actions into sets. Action sets are like file fold-
ers; they hold groups of actions. For example, you might have a group
of actions that perform image restoration, and another group for color
correction. Using the Actions panel, you can create an action set for
each different group of actions. Once a set is created, it can be
removed from the Actions panel, and reloaded when needed. Action
sets can also be distributed to other users.
Saving Actions
into Sets
Save Actions into Sets
Open a document, and then select
the Actions panel.
Click the Create New Set button.
Enter a name for the new set.
Click OK.
The new set is added to the
Actions panel.
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
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Chapter 15 Automating Your Work with Actions 373
When you create a new set of actions, Photoshop displays the actions
in the Actions panel, but the actions are not permanently saved to the
hard drive. That means if you delete an unsaved action or action set,
they will be gone forever. To stop that from happening, you need to
save the sets. Not only does this give you the ability to save your pre-
cious actions, it lets you share your actions with other Photoshop
users. For example, you have a friend who's having trouble performing
color correction to an image. You'd like to help her, but she lives 800
miles away. So you create an action that performs the color correction,
save the action as a file, and e-mail her the file. Now, all she has to do
is click the Actions Options button, and then click Load Actions. She
now has the action to color correct her images.
Saving Actions
as Files
Save Actions as Files
Select the Actions panel.
Click the set you want to save.
Click the Actions Options button,
and then click Save Actions.
Enter a name for the action set.
The default name will be the
original name of the set.
Click the Save In (Win) or Where

(Mac) list arrow, and then click
where to save the set.
Click Save.
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Did You Know?
You can access your new Action Set
directly from the Actions dialog box.
If you save the new action set in the
Photoshop Actions folder, the set
appears at the bottom of the Actions
Options dialog box.
From the Library of Wow! eBook
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374 Chapter 15
Once you've created an action set, it's a simple matter to organize all of
your time-saving actions. Think of an action set as a file drawer. When
you need a specific action, you expand the set, and then locate the
proper action. You might want to create sets with names such as Color
Correction or Special Effects, for easier retrieval. Then you can create

new actions, or move existing actions, into your organized sets. Once
the perfect action set is created it can be saved, and even e-mailed to
other Photoshop users.
Moving and Copying
Actions Between Sets
Move and Copy Actions
Between Sets
Select the Actions panel.
Click a preexisting set, and then
click the expand triangle to open
the set.
Use the following move or copy
method:
◆ To move an acti on , d ra g t he
action from one set to another.
◆ To copy an acti on , h ol d d ow n
the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac)
key, and then drag the action
from one set to another.
Release when your mouse hovers
over the set into which you want
to move or copy the selected set.
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Action copied into
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
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Chapter 15 Automating Your Work with Actions 375
When you create an action, you cannot record mouse movements,
such as a brush stroke, or any of the View and Window commands.
However, you can insert many non-recordable commands into an
action by using an Insert Menu Item command. The Insert Menu Item
command can be used when recording an action or after it has been
recorded. Inserted commands do not execute until the action is played,
so the file remains unchanged when the command is inserted. This
gives you the ability to experiment with different non-recordable com-
mands without the risk of damaging a valuable image.
Inserting a Non-
Recordable Command
into an Action
Insert a Non-Recordable
Command into an Action
Select the Actions panel.
Click an action, and then click the
expand triangle.
Click the name of the action to
insert the item at the end of the
action, or click a specific action
step to insert the item after the
selected step.
Click the Actions Options button,
and then click Insert Menu Item.
Select a command from the

available options (the command is
selected by clicking and selecting
an item from Photoshop's drop-
down menu system).
Click OK.
The non-recordable command is
added to the action steps.
IMPORTANT
When you use
the Insert Menu Item command for
a command that opens a dialog
box, you cannot disable the modal
control in the Actions panel.
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
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376 Chapter 15
A script is a series of commands that instructs Photoshop to perform a
set of specified actions. These actions can be simple, affecting only a
single object, or more complex, affecting many objects. The actions

can call not only Photoshop, but also invoke other applications such as
Adobe Illustrator. Scripts are useful for repetitive tasks and can be
used as a creative tool to streamline tasks that are time consuming and
boring. For example, you could write a script to access images on your
digital camera. The script could process the images, and then create
and save the documents in a folder that automatically includes the cur-
rent date in the folder name, like Nikon 5700-12.12.2005. A scripting lan-
guage lets you ask a question (an event), and use the answer to that
question to perform any commands (an action) that are available in
Photoshop. To create your own scripts you need a working knowledge
of a scripting language like JavaScript, and either a script-editing appli-
cation or a simple text editor, such as Notepad (Win), TextEdit (Mac)
BBEdit or even Microsoft Word. The languages you can use to perform
scripting are varied and include Visual Basic, AppleScript, and
JavaScript, to name a few. As a matter of fact, the Scripts Events
Manager lets you set JavaScript and Photoshop Actions to run auto-
matically when a specified Photoshop event occurs.
Using Enhanced
Scripting
Use Enhanced Scripting
Open a text editor, and then create
the script using any approved
scripting language.
Save the document with the
correct extension, for example,
ActiveLayer.js for JavaScript.
To acces s the sc ri pt in Ph ot os hop,
click the File menu, point to
Scripts, and then click Browse.
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Chapter 15 Automating Your Work with Actions 377
Click the Look In (Win) or From
(Mac) list arrow, and then select
your script file.
Click the script that you want to
run.
Click Open to run the script.
Your script appears in a browser
window.
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See Also
For more information on Enhanced
Scripting, open the Photoshop applica-
tion folder, and then navigate to the
Scripting Guide folder for access to
several PDF tutorial files and sample
scripts.
Using Built-in Scripts
You can save time by automating repeated tasks, such as outputting

your layers to files or saving Layer Comps as separate pages of an
Adobe PDF file, by using user-defined or Photoshop's own enhanced
built-in scripts. Click the File menu, point to Scripts, and then select
from the available option presets. For more information on how to
write your own scripts, see the documentation available in your
Adobe Photoshop CS5/Scripting Guide folder.
For Your Information
From the Library of Wow! eBook
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378 Chapter 15
When you apply an action to an image, you open the document in
Photoshop, open the Actions panel, select the action, and then click
the Play button. While that process is easier than having to redo all the
steps in a complicated action, there is a simpler way—create a droplet.
Droplets apply Photoshop Actions to your images. They appear as files
on your hard drive, or you can organize them within a specific folder.
For example, you could create a droplet that performs a generic color
correction operation. To perform the operation on a Photoshop docu-
ment, you would not even have to open Photoshop; simply drag the
image file over the droplet and release—the droplet does the rest.
Enhancing the
Process with
Droplets
Create a Droplet
Click the File menu, point to
Automate, and then click Create
Droplet.
IMPORTANT
Droplets are
created from existing actions.

Click Choose, and then select a
location to store the droplet.
Click the Set list arrow, and then
select from the available sets.
Click the Action list arrow, and
then select the action you want to
convert into a droplet.
Select from the available Play
options (see table).
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Option Purpose
Override Action Overrides the batch Open command and uses an
“Open” Commands embedded Open command in the Action. The
Action MUST have an Open command as one of
the steps.
Include All Opens any subfolders within the selected folder
Subfolders and performs the action on any files found within.
Suppress File Open Does not show any File Open dialog boxes.
Options Dialogs
Suppress Color When a color profile mismatch occurs, does not
Profile Warnings display a warning dialog box, but just continues.
Available Play Options

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Chapter 15 Automating Your Work with Actions 379
Click the Destination list arrow,
and then select from the following
options:
◆ None. The file remains open
after the droplet ends.
◆ Save And Close. The file is
resaved (loss of original).
◆ Folder. The file is saved in a
new folder (selected by user),
with the option of renaming the
file and extension.
Select from the following File
Naming options:
◆ Document Name. Use the
original name of the document,
or click to choose from various
naming schemes, including
incrementing the files by a
number (001, 002, etc).
◆ Extension. Use the original
extension of the document, or
click to choose from extension
options such as using the date
or a sequenced serial number.
◆ Starting Serial Number. If you
select to use a serial number,
you can select a starting value

for the sequence.
◆ Compatibility. Select the check
boxes you want from Windows,
Mac OS, or Unix or any
combination of the three.
To creat e an err or lo g fil e, cl ic k the
Errors list arrow, and then click
Log Errors To File.
The error log records any
problems associated with applying
the droplet to the image file.
To speci fy an er ro r log fi le na me
and location, click Save As.
Click OK.
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Droplet icon
From the Library of Wow! eBook
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380 Chapter 15
Once you've created a droplet, it's a simple matter to use it to stream-
line your workload. For example, you've created a droplet that converts

an image into the grayscale color mode, and reduces the image resolu-
tion to 72 ppi. To convert an image file to those specifications, just drag
the file and drop it on to the droplet. Droplets are files that hold action
instructions. Once a droplet is created, you can store them anywhere
that you can store a file. It's not a bad idea to create file folders that
hold specific types of droplets, such as color-correction droplets, or
image-enhancement droplets. To use a droplet, it's as easy as clicking
an image file, dragging, and then dropping it over the droplet.
Using a Droplet
Use a Droplet
Open the folder that contains your
droplets.
Open the folder that contains the
image file, or files you need to
convert.
Drag an image file directly over
the droplet, and then release.
Photoshop automatically opens
and applies the selected droplet.
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Droplets
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Did You Know?
You can use droplets with more than
one file.
To us e a drople t on mo re th an

one image file, hold down the Shift key,
select all the image files to which you
want to apply the single droplet, and
then drag over the droplet. Photoshop
applies the droplet to all selected files.
From the Library of Wow! eBook