photoshop cs4 Actions

[vodds]

Hi all I know the above plugins go into C:\Program Files\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Presets\Actions\

But I cant seem to understand how to use them. I load a picture in, load the action and then I am stuck as sometimes it wont let me press the play arrow on actions and what are u suppose to do when it do play, as it comes up with errors etc saying background this and that. all confusing to me. would anyone have a short tutorial on how to use actions right.

[Frank Lopes]

All actions expect the image to be in a certain "state".

This means, for example, that an action might expect a selection to be made upfront before it runs, or, for example, for the background layer to be the active layer.

It all depends what the action expects before it runs.

Having said all that, properly written actions should inform the user when it runs,if the right condition is not present.

In your case it appears the action said something regarding " background this and that".

What was the exact message?

Originally Posted by vodds

Hi all I know the above plugins go into C:\Program Files\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Presets\Actions\

But I cant seem to understand how to use them. I load a picture in, load the action and then I am stuck as sometimes it wont let me press the play arrow on actions and what are u suppose to do when it do play, as it comes up with errors etc saying background this and that. all confusing to me. would anyone have a short tutorial on how to use actions right.

[vodds]

Hi I have tried 2 actions and have taken snapshots as you can see below

[Frank Lopes]

Im not in front of Photoshop so I can't say why the message in the first action, but the second one expects a layer named "background". Since it appears that the lowest layer was renamed to "layer 0", that is the reason why it fails.

Originally Posted by vodds

Hi I have tried 2 actions and have taken snapshots as you can see below

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by vodds

Hi I have tried 2 actions and have taken snapshots as you can see below

The first action requires one to "make a selection" before playing the action. Without an active selection the Feather command has nothing "to feather," hence the error.

As Frank noted the second action is looking for a Background.

Good rule of thumb while you're learning actions:
* Duplicate image
* Flatten
...then apply the action to the duplicate.

This ensures:
* There will be a Background
* If things go terribly wrong, it will be the duplicate image that gets messed up, not the original.

- - - - - -

Good info on actions in the PS Help topics. You might have to search on "automation" or "automating" as well as "actions." That is where I would start.

[DannyRaphael]

Also check out:

http://www.thelightsright.com/ActionBasicsPt1

This is the first of a multi-part tutorial. Glenn does great work.

[vodds]

Im not in front of Photoshop so I can't say why the message in the first action, but the second one expects a layer named "background". Since it appears that the lowest layer was renamed to "layer 0", that is the reason why it fails.

Ok will take not of this, thanks so much. Like tescos says "Every Little Helps"

The first action requires one to "make a selection" before playing the action. Without an active selection the Feather command has nothing "to feather," hence the error.

As Frank noted the second action is looking for a Background.

Good rule of thumb while you're learning actions:
* Duplicate image
* Flatten
...then apply the action to the duplicate.

This ensures:
* There will be a Background
* If things go terribly wrong, it will be the duplicate image that gets messed up, not the original.

- - - - - -

Good info on actions in the PS Help topics. You might have to search on "automation" or "automating" as well as "actions." That is where I would start.
Yesterday 09:52 PM

Thanks so much most helpful well appreciated

[vodds]

I forgot to ask but I have searched on Retouch pro for this action byRo JPEG Clean-Up.atn utility and cant find a download for it can anyone help

[Frank Lopes]

Try here:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...lity-tool.html

Originally Posted by vodds

I forgot to ask but I have searched on Retouch pro for this action byRo JPEG Clean-Up.atn utility and cant find a download for it can anyone help

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by vodds

I forgot to ask but I have searched on Retouch pro for this action byRo JPEG Clean-Up.atn utility and cant find a download for it can anyone help

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...tml#post177887

[vodds]

Originally Posted by Frank Lopes

Try here:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...lity-tool.html

Already tried there, but its ok now I have found it with the 2nd post

[vodds]

ok just tried this action and got this pop up where is this delete thing

[Joel23]

Originally Posted by vodds

ok just tried this action and got this pop up where is this delete thing

It tries to delete a channel without selecting one first.

When you say stop here and widen the processlist of the action and scroll down, you see "delete current channel" and after that "select mask channel". Not 100% sure but it seems like they are mixed up - drag and drop the "select mask channel" on top of the "delete current channel".
For testing purpose you can uncheck the box in front of both and see if ite makes a difference - here ist does not.
Don't forget to save the action after you got the results you want.

[vodds]

Originally Posted by Joel23

It tries to delete a channel without selecting one first.

When you say stop here and widen the processlist of the action and scroll down, you see "delete current channel" and after that "select mask channel". Not 100% sure but it seems like they are mixed up - drag and drop the "select mask channel" on top of the "delete current channel".
For testing purpose you can uncheck the box in front of both and see if ite makes a difference - here ist does not.
Don't forget to save the action after you got the results you want.

when you say stop here and widen the process list of the action and scroll down, you see "delete current channel" and after that "select mask channel". Not 100% sure but it seems like they are mixed up - drag and drop the "select mask channel" on top of the "delete current channel

where is this as you cannot widen the process list of the action as you will see on snapshot I sent the scroller is to bottom of action list

[Joel23]

Originally Posted by vodds

where is this as you cannot widen the process list of the action as you will see on snapshot I sent the scroller is to bottom of action list

Yepp, but you are at the beginning of the processlist. Click on the triangle until its spike bottoms down and it will look like in the attached image. Scroll down and swap delete and select channel.

ps
you might search for "how to use photoshop actions" in google, which will give you back lots of good tuts for using and handle actions.
A very basic one is f.e. this