Using Photoshop Actions

Let  Photoshop  do your daunting tasks for you while you are having your coffee. Actions enable you to automate just about any task, so you spend more of your work time actually creating. This  Photoshop  Tutorial shows you how.

OK. Have you ever done the same task repeatedly in  Photoshop ? Let us presume that you wanted to scan and create a PDF from the crossword every day. To scan it, you would follow the similar steps every day in the same order without fail. Soon, you might ask yourself, “Hey, here this computer should be able to automate this set of tasks for me somehow.”

Well, with  Photoshop  you can do just that with Actions. You will sail in troubled waters if you use  Photoshop  for any production-oriented task without using them. In addition, you are being a dummy.

 Photoshop  Actions allow designers and photographers to edit photos quickly in a specific way. The right action can save time as opposed to doing all of the work manually. Photoshop  Action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files menu commands, palette options, tool actions, and so on. Sometimes, editing pictures could eat up hours especially if you are a beginner in  photoshop . From this, we can conclude that an action is a series of commands in  Photoshop  to which you apply a name. Afterward, you can play that recording back on a different file and have  Photoshop  do your work for you like:

· Capturing repetitive tasks that need to be applied to a series of files.

· Walking a person through a technique in a systematic fashion.

The First Step

Working with Actions starts at the Actions palette. The first thing is creating a new action, simply click the create new action button at the bottom of the palette.

Making a Set

All actions need to live in a set-even if that set contains only the one action. If you don’t create your own,  Photoshop  will create one called Set 1 (or 2 or 3…).

For creating a set:

1. Select the create a new set button on the actions palette.

2. Give the set a brief, award-winning name such as Oracle or Optimum. Try something that helps you in understanding what the Actions in it are likely to do.

Creating a New Action

For creating and starting recording a new Action, Click the New Action button. The New Action dialog box flashes to let you name it. In the New Action dialog box, you also do the following:

· Assign it to a particular set.

· Define a function key, which allows you to apply the action with the push of a button.

· Apply a color, which will be visible when using button mode.

Record an Action

After clicking record to create a new action,  Photoshop  starts to record, the steps you take. So, just start doing stuff, and it will be recorded. Do not worry about making a mistake as you can fix the action later.

To complete the recording, click the stop button at the bottom of the actions palette.

Testing the Action

After creating an action, look it over. Some things to notice about the action include the following:

It lives in a set.

· It has at least one command listed under its name. Each step you took after creating the action is listed here.

· Each Command has settings associated with it. You’ll need to click the little triangle next to the command to see them.

· Each Command has a checkmark next to it (to the left), and some have a little square. Never mind about these. We’ll get back to them later.

Edit an Action

After stopping an action, edit it in a variety of ways:

· With the help of reorder commands change the order in which a recorded command plays, grab it with the cursor in the action palette and drag it up or down. Click on the small triangle next to the action’s name.

· Delete a command. Select it and press the delete key.

· Reset a command’s settings. Double-click on the command in the action. Be sure to do this with an image opened that you can discard because it will apply the step to that image.

· For adding a command in mid-stream, simply select the command just before the place you want to add, click the record button on the actions palette, and do whatever it is you want to do. The action will record from there.

· Inserting a stop gives you a chance to apply settings to a step. For example, with a levels action, you may want the levels to come up and give you a chance to determine the settings appropriate for the file on which you are working. Normally, a levels command in an action will after for a command. If you have a command that needs tweaking, double-click it. It will act as if it is playing, and you can set the setting the way you need them.

· Recording again. Let us say you have an action that has a bunch of settings. You like the sequence of commands, but the settings are just…off. No problem. Select record again from the side menu on the actions palette.  Photoshop  will play the action, but it will stop at each command and allow you to reset the settings.

· Troubleshoot it. The little checkmark I dissuaded you from examining earlier allows you to make an action skip a command. This is a useful diagnostic tool to see whether that Command is causing trouble.

Play an Action

After creating it, you will want to play your Action. You have few options:

· Play it from the palette by setting your file up and click the play button on the bottom of the palette.

· Use function keys, when you create a new action, the dialog box allow you to set one. If you press the f-key you have assigned to the action, it will start playing.

· Use button mode that makes the palette look like a button panel. The new action dialog box allows you select a color for your button. Group actions by coloring them. Play an action simply clicking it as a button.

So, now that you know what an action is, let us make a simple one that you can use as-is or add to others. That way, you will get a little practice at the art. Moreover, you will have a good building block for future actions.

First, let’s create a new set to use for these examples:

1. At the bottom of the actions palette, click the create a new set button.

2. Name the set Samples.

Now, let us start recording an action:

1. Open up a file. It doesn’t matter what the file is because we are using it only as a base for building the action.

2. Select the create a new action button at the bottom of the actions palette.

3. Name the action and save as.

4. Choose the Sample as your set.

5. Fix the function key to F12.

6. Choose any color from the pull-down list

7. Hit the record button.

Now, let’s actually record something:

1. Choose image size from the Image menu.

2. In the image size dialog box, fix the resolution to 72 pixels/inch, select constrain proportions, select resample image: Bicubic, and leave the other settings as they are.

3. Click on save as from the file menu. Choose a name you like, save it to the desktop (so it will be easy to find), and set the file type to  Photoshop . Leave everything else as it is and click Save.

4. Stop the recording by clicking the Stop Playing/Recording button on the Actions palette.

You now have an action!