Picture Package | The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book

Picture Package

It's relatively simple to create your own layout for the Picture Package command (mind you, compared to Photoshop 7, it's incredibly easy to create your own layout! In version 7 you had to edit a text file, being careful not to leave out a tab or a space, so this is much easier). As long as you can adapt to a couple of little quirks as to how the Edit Layout window works, you can save a number of Picture Package layouts.

Step One.	First you'll need to run the Picture Package command. It's probably easiest to select an image in Bridge and then choose Tools>Photoshop>Picture Package. The Picture Package dialog will open using the selected image in one of the default layouts. Click the Edit Layout button to create your own layout. DAVE CROSS
Step Two.	Unless you want to edit the existing "zones," you may want to begin by clicking the Delete All button to start with a blank document. To add a zone, either click the Add Zone button or Option-click (PC: Right-click) within the preview area to get a small contextual menu with some pre-existing sizes. (Remember I mentioned quirks? In every other part of Photoshop you Control-click on a Mac to get a contextual menu, but not in here.)
Step Three.	Once a zone has been added you can click-and-drag the corners to visually make the image the size you want, or you can enter the Width and Height in the Size section. There is no rotate command, so to rotate a zone you have to either enter the " opposite " valuesto turn a 4x6" into a 6x4" for exampleor drag the handles on the zone. If you try to make the zone "too small," it will automatically rotate (try it yourself, you'll see what I mean).
Step Four.	To duplicate a zone, you can't Option-drag (PC: Alt-drag)instead you Option-click (PC: Right-click) when you have a zone selected to get that small contextual menu, then choose Duplicate.
Step Five.	Once you're happy with the layout, give it a name , make sure that the Page Size is correct, and then click Save. Save the layout in Photoshop CS2>Presets>Layouts (it should be saved there by default). ( Note: The name you entered will only show up in the dialog, so you'll have to name the saved file too.) Next time you run the Picture Package command, your custom layout will be available in the Layout pop-up menu. If you want to take things a step further, you could create an action to add your customization to the Picture Package results. See the section below on Contact Sheets and adapt the instructions to use the results of the Picture Package.