Photoshop Scripting - - Scripting not being used to potential?

okplayer · #1 11-24-2004, 07:03 PM

Does anyone else think that PS Scripting should be so much more popular than it seems to be? Maybe because it's a new idea in Photoshop, but scripts could be so powerful, yet no one seems to be taking advantage of them. I plan on devoting a lot of my time to them in the next couple weeks to get them to do all the things actions could never quite get right. Anyone have some scripts they'd like to share? Ideas for scripts? Most of mine are going to be from a production angle, cropping, logo placement, that type of thing.

Doug Nelson · #2 11-24-2004, 07:14 PM

IMHO, it's a return on investment thing. I had an idea for a script, so I bought a "learn java" book and a "learn VB" book, tried really hard for a couple of weeks, then said to heck with it. It just wasn't worth it.

Perhaps the people that already know the scripting languages and care about Photoshop are a very tiny group. It could even be that an interest in one might incline a person to be disinterested in the other (left brain/right brain, etc.).

okplayer · #3 11-24-2004, 07:18 PM

I could see that. They don't make it very easy for people to develop scripts. Some type of Script recorder would be wonderful, maybe a seperate program altogether to develop them; but Adobe just kind of said "here, anything you don't like about the program you could fix, just script it".

I enjoy racking my brains til the wee hours of the morning trying to decipher these languages. I'm no coder by any means, but could usually figure something out by picking apart a different code, as I'm doing now. What script idea did you have?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

IMHO, it's a return on investment thing. I had an idea for a script, so I bought a "learn java" book and a "learn VB" book, tried really hard for a couple of weeks, then said to heck with it. It just wasn't worth it.

Perhaps the people that already know the scripting languages and care about Photoshop are a very tiny group. It could even be that an interest in one might incline a person to be disinterested in the other (left brain/right brain, etc.).

byRo · #4 11-24-2004, 07:36 PM

I'll give you a bit of a philsophical answer.
Agreed that there is an awful lot of untapped potential in scripting but it seems that the right conditions haven't yet come together.
Although they say that Photoshop CS (I have 7.0) has moved a little further in the right direction.

Some problems that I see:
- Few people have BOTH sufficient programming language fluency AND sufficient Photoshop knowledge to tackle this;
- PS scripting is not easy:

= it does not follow EXACTLY normal javascript;
= it is very badly documented;
= having to use the ScriptListner is a very wierd way of doing things.

- The user interface IN PS 7.0 is almost non-existent (but CS is different);
- It only works in batch mode, so you can't change anything while running;
- There is no way to preview and tweak;
- There is no direct way to sample a pixel's channel values;
- There is no way to set up or use brushes;
- There is no way to mimick the non-processing actions, such as zoom;
- Everybody who starts to use PS Scripting is soon asking "What can I do with this" because it seems that there are very few things that really NEED scripting.

I do not want to spoil your fun - just passing on some reasons why it's been a couple of months since I last looked at scripting.

Comments welcome - especially if it is to prove me wrong ('cuz scripts are fun and I'd like to write some more!)

Rô

byRo · #5 11-24-2004, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

Perhaps the people that already know the scripting languages and care about Photoshop are a very tiny group.

Seems like we cross-posted here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by okplayer

Some type of Script recorder would be wonderful,

the ScriptListner comes a little short of wonderful.

Rô

okplayer · #6 11-24-2004, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by byRo

Seems like we cross-posted here.

the ScriptListner comes a little short of wonderful.

Rô

wow, you're right. I just noticed this plugin and tried it. I'd say "a little short" is very generous of you.

Xaran · #7 11-24-2004, 09:35 PM

I too tried this and I am a programmer (not in Java though). I even bought a book on scripting but very soon gave up as I couldn't see that you could do much more than you could do with actions. The exceptions being loops and if statements.

It is also not easy to switch the script listener on and off - requiring a restart of PS and renaming of the plug in or you get one very very large file, even when you do 'record' the actions they still need editing.

Christine

Doug Nelson · #8 11-25-2004, 07:33 AM

Scripting is one of a few areas I'm genuinely jealous of Apple users. The scripting interface and language is much easier, and Photoshop even ships with an Applescript library to ease things along. Of course, once you've made your wonderful Applescript, there's only about 10 people you can share it with

My idea wasn't necessarily for one script, I was thinking more along the lines of picking one platform (it would have to be Javascript and PScs for sharing reasons) and then starting an open development project. As new functions get developed and debugged, they'd get rolled into one app, aimed at retouchers.

I was planning on starting with one mundane function (it was going to be a step resizer, where you could plug in the final size and how many steps to take), then add buttons and tabs as other people come up with additions. But I fell off the learning curve.

Open development is a wonderful thing. It's how this forum software is made. There's one crew that decides the final version, and anyone that wants to can write and submit a function (in the case of the forum software, thousands submit, in our case it would probably be a dozen, tops).

I still think this is a good idea, but someone else (a Javascript expert) will have to champion it.

byRo · #9 11-25-2004, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

My idea wasn't necessarily for one script, I was thinking more along the lines ... starting an open development project. As new functions get developed and debugged, they'd get rolled into one app, aimed at retouchers.

Doug,
You can count me in.
Although with PS 7.0 I get to work in the kitchen, and not up front with you guys.

Rô

okplayer · #10 11-25-2004, 12:10 PM

I've always been a fan of community, open source development. This is one area I may actually be able to help in too. If I could in anyway, count me in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

Scripting is one of a few areas I'm genuinely jealous of Apple users. The scripting interface and language is much easier, and Photoshop even ships with an Applescript library to ease things along. Of course, once you've made your wonderful Applescript, there's only about 10 people you can share it with

My idea wasn't necessarily for one script, I was thinking more along the lines of picking one platform (it would have to be Javascript and PScs for sharing reasons) and then starting an open development project. As new functions get developed and debugged, they'd get rolled into one app, aimed at retouchers.

I was planning on starting with one mundane function (it was going to be a step resizer, where you could plug in the final size and how many steps to take), then add buttons and tabs as other people come up with additions. But I fell off the learning curve.

Open development is a wonderful thing. It's how this forum software is made. There's one crew that decides the final version, and anyone that wants to can write and submit a function (in the case of the forum software, thousands submit, in our case it would probably be a dozen, tops).

I still think this is a good idea, but someone else (a Javascript expert) will have to champion it.