New category in PE6 Effects panel

[Tony Gander]

Having migrated from PE4 to PE6 (Mac) I’ve transferred the Dynamic Duo from one to the other by creating the .png and .xml files and installing them - and they work fine. However, in PE6 they are accessible in Effects only under the Show All category. Can I create a sub-category on the lines of Hidden Power Freebees and call it Dynamic Duo? If so how do I go about it? Apologies if the answer should be staring me in the face.

[Michel B]

Yes, you can.
You might first have a look at this thread with useful links.
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/hid...tml#post179463
If you have trouble in creating the xml file, please state if you are running Mac, Windows or Vista to find the right path. You can create a category of your own.

[Tony Gander]

Thanks, but I’m still confused. I had already created the .xml files and placed them in Library\Application Support\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\en_US\Photo Creations Metadata\photo effects (Mac OS 10.5.5).

The Effects panel in PE6 has the following categories in a drop-down menu:

Faded photo
Frame
Hidden Power Freebees
Misc effects
Monotone
Old photo
Vintage photo
Show all

Other than the last these each give speedy access to a limited group of effects, but the only way I can currently select either Color Correct or Dynamic Image (ie the Dynamic Duo) is to scroll through Show All where they are at the bottom of the list. This is wearisome. How do I create a category, consisting of these two effects only, that will appear within the above Effects panel list and thus in the drop-down menu?

[Michel B]

I have Windows XP instead of a Mac, but your path seems ok.
As an example, I have chosen to recreate the PSE4 powertools with the same categories. So, when I got the dynamic duo, I created my xml file in the already existing category 'Power_adjustments'.
My xml file looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PSEContent xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/PSEContent/1.0/">
<global>

<name id="Name" value="Dynamic Image" localize="true"/>

<type value="effect" />

<typecategory id="TypeCat" value="Power_Adjustments" localize="true" />

</global>
</PSEContent>

If your xml file is ok as well as your path, maybe the MediaDatabase.db3 was not recreated correctly. If you move or delete it, it should be recreated automatically, which means waiting many minutes before it is done.

[Tony Gander]

I have chosen to recreate the PSE4 powertools with the same categories

Do you mean you've recreated them in PE6?
In PE4 you have the path Elements4\Previews\Effects\Power_Adjustments (at least you do on a Mac) but where is the equivalent path in PE6? It has no Previews folder that I can find, so having put the .xml files in the folder I quoted in my last message they only appear in the Show All category. Where on the HD is the folder containing the list of categories that appear in the Effects panel in PE6, I wonder?

Thanks for your continued help.

[Michel B]

To give you an idea of what I did, here is a screenshot of my folders.
http://mbret.club.fr/bretchermichel/screenshot.jpg
Installing the PSE4 tools in PSE6 required:
- copying the .atn file in the Photoshop Creations/photo effects
- extracting the thumbnails from their .psd file and saving them as .png files in the same folder
- creating the .xml files according to the above example, and storing them in the Photoshop Creations Metadata/photo effects.

The effects hierarchy is not a folder structure. PSE6 creates this structure from the xml files.

[Tony Gander]

Yes, and I have done exactly the same, but on a Mac. The tools Color Correct and Dynamic Image are duly available in the PE6 Effects panel and they work fine. My point is that they are only available in the Show All category of the Effects panel. Is this your experience as well? My query is: how do I get them to appear in eg the Hidden Power Freebies category? What isthe path to this category, or indeed to any of the others in the Effects panel?

[Michel B]

Then, your files are in the correct folders.
The hierarchy of effects being done by PSE reading the xml files, you should check that in your xml files, the section :
<typecategory id="TypeCat" value="Power Freebies" localize="true" />
is correctly spellt (upper or lower case, additional or missing space...)
and that the spelling of the xml file is exactly the same as the atn one.

Otherwise, there must be something wrong in the recreation of MetaDatabase.db3.

[Tony Gander]

The relevant line in my .xml files is:
<typecategory id="TypeCat" value="Dynamic Duo" localize="true" />

So, given that the .atn, .png, and .xml files have the same names ie Color Correct and Dynamic Image, I would expect a category Dynamic Duo to appear in the Effects category list.
I guess I’ll have to start afresh and see if that sorts the problem. I’m most grateful for your assistance.

[Richard_Lynch]

Michael, thanks for catching up here. I don't know why I am not consistently getting notifications. I have to warn: I am not sure the DD tool does what it should anymore. I have actually done a revamping of it for Elements 6 and 7, not just an update from the old version to make it work...Should be available in Nov/Dec.