[swanseamale47]

Heres a set I made a while ago, it's a set of four sharpning actions, one is a high pass sharpner and the other three (2 3 and 4) use a more complicated arrangment of glowing edges, gausine blue, and the USM. The actions are non-destructive (they make a duplicate image as first step) they were made for medium size images 4-8 MP I would recomend no 2 as a starting point, 4 being quite strong. NB 2 3 and 4 may not work on lab colour or greyscale images (untested) Wayne

[DannyRaphael]

Overall a solid group of actions, Wayne. The high-pass action worked like magic.

A couple suggestions:
* I might include most of what you said in your descriptive text above in a "ReadMe" action that consisted of 2-3 Stop commands. Having your comments within a action in this group would be a helpful addition/reminder for not-so-good memories (like my own).
* Waynes sharpner 3: Did you mean to include a Duplicate Image command at the outset like the other actions?
* In addition to the Duplicate First Document step at the beginning of each action (a good practice, in my opinion), consider adding a Duplicate Background step and apply the sharpening to it. That way when each action finishes one has the sharpened and original layers in the same image.
* On the action names I believe you meant to use "sharpening," not "sharpning."

If you ever want to replace an attached file with an updated one, click the Edit button on your post, then Manage Attachments (again), delete the currrent attachment and upload a replacement.

This is a very useful set of actions, especially for those not familiar with high-pass or edge mask sharpening methods. Well done.

==> Send me an e-mail, please (click my name above for the menu).

~Danny~

[swanseamale47]

I have edited the last set of actions, I didn't reilise that no 3 didn't have a duplicate image command so I have remade that action, and (hopefull) it now will make a duplicate image.
When I get the time I will remake the whole set, possibly adding some other usefull actions I have made.
I apoligise for any errors in the actions, I'm fairly new to making them, so I'm still finding my way, but I wanted to share them with the other fourum users. Wayne

[bev from oz]

Hi just joined and have a question can I download the art history brush into Painter 9 or Paint shop pro 9 thanks

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by bev from oz

Hi just joined and have a question can I download the art history brush into Painter 9 or Paint shop pro 9 thanks

Hi Bev... Glad you followed the yellow brick road and found RetouchPRO.

This is an excellent question. While on the surface it would seem like the answer should be fairly straight forward, it's a little messier than that.

In case others who are reading this thread are not aware, the Art History Brush is a Photoshop tool, which can use any of Photoshop's brushes, e.g., soft-edged, hard-edged, watercolor, scatter, etc.

For the context of this thread Photoshop supports two file types:
* Brush libraries (*.abr), which may consist of one or more brushes (see above)
* Presets (*.tpl), with are Photoshop tool specific, e.g., Art History Brush, Crop, Dodge, Burn, etc.

Technically there's no such thing as an "Art History Brush file." If the file to which you're referring has a .tpl file suffix (an "Art History Brush preset"), then "No, it won't work in Painter or Paint Shop Pro."

If it has an .abr file suffix, as I recall the .abr suffix can be renamed to whatever Paint Shop Pro uses for its brush files and Paint Shop Pro will recognize it. If applicable you'll just have to try it to see if I'm dreaming (a definite possibility) or not on this one.

Unfortunately there's no such file name modification that will make an .abr file compatible with Painter.

Wish the news was better for your 1st RetouchPRO thread...

...but I'm sure glad you asked.

~Danny~

[Kraellin]

If it has an .abr file suffix, as I recall the .abr suffix can be renamed to whatever Paint Shop Pro uses for its brush files and Paint Shop Pro will recognize it.

danny, i dont think this is true. i've tried this and a simple re-name doesnt work to get it to work in Paint Shop Pro, at least not in version 7. not sure i tried in 9. havent tried with 10. someone else hinted at being able to do it, but dont think it was as simple as a re-naming of the extension.

Craig

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

danny, i dont think this is true. i've tried this and a simple re-name doesnt work to get it to work in Paint Shop Pro, at least not in version 7. not sure i tried in 9. havent tried with 10. someone else hinted at being able to do it, but dont think it was as simple as a re-naming of the extension.

Craig

Thanks for clarifying that, Craig.

Maybe it was the other direction... Rename a Paint Shop Pro brush.xxx to brush.abr and Photoshop can use it.

[bev from oz]

thanks for the explanation Danny now i understand lol would hate to miss out on a brush

[ydelle]

I hope I am on the right form. Danny I have your action ket 7a but the watercolor actions are very harsh I am looking for something to make me photos into something that really looks like watercolor. I work with artist everyday and I love the look. They have told me to get some of my pics ready to sell next year.

I also downloaded Immpressionist but I am having a time finding just the right thing.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by ydelle

I hope I am on the right form. Danny I have your action ket 7a but the watercolor actions are very harsh I am looking for something to make me photos into something that really looks like watercolor. I work with artist everyday and I love the look. They have told me to get some of my pics ready to sell next year.

I also downloaded Impressionist but I am having a time finding just the right thing.

Bottom line: Achieving a realistic watercolor look with Photoshop actions just isn't doable, assuming you're going for that wet-on-wet look where colors kind of fade together and/or have that dried unevenly look on paper. In fact I don't recall ever seeing any decent watercolor out of Photoshop, regardless of method.

Impressionist isn't going to be of much help watercolor-wise, either. It does some styles OK, e.g., oils, charcoal, chalk, dry brush -- but not WC.

The best WC effect I've seen in quite a while was created by Retouch member Goldcoin. She said she used Painter 6.0, not to be confused with Painter IX which is the current version as of 10/05.

Here are a few examples by Goldcoin, who does some great work:
* http://www.pbase.com/goldcoin/image/35809599
* http://www.pbase.com/goldcoin/image/46086979

Note: These were "hand (tablet) rendered" strokes, not generated from a plugin.

On the right photo, the Buzz plugin can yield a semi-decent watercolor look, so you might want to give that a look: www.Fo2pix.com.

I wish I had better news for ya...

~Danny~

[ydelle]

Too bad there isn't one because I can't draw but I can take a good photograph
I downloaded the vincent zip but now I forgot where to put it. what forum was it on.

[DannyRaphael]

FYI: The Vincent style has kind of an Impressionist-look.

re: I downloaded the vincent zip but now I forgot where to put it.

After unzipping the .zip, file "Vincent.set" needs to be placed inside \Impressionist\Impressionist accessories\User Settings. Once the .set file is in \User Settings and you've shutdown/restarted Photoshop, when you click the Styles button on in the Impressionist dialog, the (new) Vincent category will appear just above Watercolor.

[HroadhogD1]

Hi, I am a newbie and I think you people are very talented. I can only hope that someday, I can be half as good. Now for my question. Once you download the actions here, How do you put them into photoshop? I am interested in the decrack action. I downloaded it, then I didnt know where to put it, or how to get to it once I do get it. Please give me directios to do this, because I have a real need for it. Thank you.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by HroadhogD1

Hi, I am a newbie and I think you people are very talented. I can only hope that someday, I can be half as good. Now for my question. Once you download the actions here, How do you put them into photoshop? I am interested in the decrack action. I downloaded it, then I didnt know where to put it, or how to get to it once I do get it. Please give me directios to do this, because I have a real need for it. Thank you.

Welcome H(for Harley?)roadhog to RetouchPRO.

Regarding where to put the .atn file on your hard disk many people create a folder in a convenient location (your call on where) and name it something like \my actions or \actions from the net or whatever... and use this folder as a repository for actions they acquire.

After downloading/unzipping/saving the .atn file...
* Open Photoshop
* Press F9 to show the Actions Palette if it's not yet visible
* From the Actions Palette menu (arrow/top right) choose Load Actions...
* Navigate to the just unzipped .atn file and click Load. This copies the contents of the .atn file into Photoshop.

Here's a good intro tutorial to check out by Sonia Coleman. (Scroll down to the Photoshop section.) It's a 3-part series, and will get you acquainted with the Actions Palette, playing actions, etc:

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/tutorials.htm

Hope this gets you moving.

~Danny~

[HroadhogD1]

Thanks Danny, I will give it a try.