Chapter 10: Saving Time withActions and Automation

This chapter covers the Photoshop and ImageReady tools for automating repetitive tasks. The Actions palette allows you to create sequences of commands that can be saved and applied to images. Working with Photoshop’s Automate menu, which simplifies other complicated tasks, is also covered in this chapter.

Automate Your Images

When working with graphics, you may frequently need to apply the same sequence of commands to a series of images. Resizing to a standard size and applying layer styles or a filter are examples of such tasks. Your images may be processed in a batch (as a group) or individually. The Actions palette, available in both Photoshop and ImageReady, is the most flexible tool to use because you can create and save your own sequences of events.

Work with the Actions Palette

Your primary tool for automating tasks is the Actions palette. The Photoshop Actions palette is shown in Figure 10-1 and the ImageReady Actions palette is shown in Figure 10-2. The palettes are similar and both include a number of default actions, but the Photoshop Actions palette has more user-recordable functionality than ImageReady’s. Photoshop also allows you to group actions in sets for better organization, while ImageReady’s does not.

Figure 10-1: You use the Photoshop Actions palette to select and apply actions to your images.

Figure 10-2: The ImageReady Actions palette is similar to the Photoshop Actions palette.

Record an Action to Automate a Multistep Task

You create an action by recording the steps—using the menus and other tools. To record an action:

1. Open an image file.

2. Open the New Action dialog box:

   • In the Actions palette, click the New Action button.

     

     –Or–

   • Click New Action in the Actions palette menu.

     Tip

     To display the Actions palette, click Window | Actions or press alt+f9(Photoshop only).

The Photoshop New Action dialog box, shown here, has options for the set name and button color. The ImageReady New Action dialog box doesn’t have these options because they’re not supported.

Tip

You can display the Photoshop Actions palette either as a list or as buttons. You select button mode by opening the Actions palette menu and clicking Button Mode.

1. In the New Action dialog box, type a descriptive name for the action in the Name text box.

2. In Photoshop, you place the new action in a set this way:

   • Open the Set drop-down list box, and choose the set.

     –Or–

   • Type the name of a new set in the Set drop-down list box.

   1. If you want, open the Function Key drop-down list, and select a function key combination to run the action or set. This is optional.

   2. When you select a function key, you can also choose to use the shift and/or ctrl keys with it by selecting the Shift and/or Control check boxes. This gives you more keyboard combinations to start the action.

   3. In Photoshop, open the Color drop-down list, and choose a color for the action in Button mode.

   4. Click Record.

Your Actions palette is now in Record mode. All the operations you perform from this point until you click the Stop button will be part of your action. When you stop recording, your action will be listed in the Actions palette.

Note

In Photoshop, you can create sets of actions. A set is a group of actions. You may have an action that resizes an image and another action that applies a layer style. You can group these two actions as a single set. When you apply this set to an image, you select the set rather than the individual actions. In ImageReady, you have to apply the actions separately.

Tip

You expand and collapse sets, actions, and commands by clicking the triangles next to the name of the set, action, or command.

Use Modal Controls and Tools in Your Actions

A modal control is a dialog box when you use it in an action. A modal tool is a command that requires you to perform some user action, such as pressing enter or double-clicking, before continuing. An example of a modal tool is the Crop Tool. After you select an area to crop, you have to press enter or double-click the selected area to complete the crop.

You can have commands that use modal controls and tools to pause the action and wait for you to enter values in a dialog box or perform the user action, or commands that use the dialog box settings defined in the action and perform the user action automatically (the action doesn’t pause).

Tip

In Photoshop, you can turn off all the modal controls and tools for a set by clearing the Toggle Dialog On/Off next to the set name.

You set modal controls and tools by clicking the Toggle Dialog On/Off box next to the action name in the Actions palette. The dialog box icon is displayed when a dialog box will be displayed or user actions are required. The Toggle Dialog On/Off box is only available if any of the commands in the action have dialog boxes or user actions associated with them. If all the commands have dialog boxes or user actions, the dialog box icon is gray when selected. If some of the commands don’t have dialog boxes or user actions, the icon is red.

Play and Undo Actions

You apply an action to an image by playing the action. You can play a single command, an entire action, or a set of actions. You can exclude commands by clearing the Toggle Item On/Off check box for the commands. If a modal control is displayed, you can set values in it as part of the action.

Tip

You can play a complete action by pressing the function key combination assigned to the action

To play an action:

1. Open the image file.

2. To play a complete action, select the action name in the Actions palette.

3. To play part of an action, select the command to start from in the Actions palette.

4. Click the Play button or click Play in the Actions palette menu.

   

You can also play single commands in an action:

1. Select the command you want to play.

2. Press ctrlwhile you click the Play button in the Actions palette.

   –Or–

   Press ctrl while you double-click the command in the Actions palette.

You undo an action using the History palette. Drag the individual commands to the Delete Current State icon. You can also:

• In Photoshop, take a snapshot in the History palette before you start the action, and then restore from the snapshot.

• In ImageReady, click Edit | Undo action name.

QuickSteps—Setting Playback Options

You can play Actions at three speeds: normal, step by step, and with a set delay between each step. Slowing down an action will help you find any problems with the commands. To set the playback options:

1. Click Playback Options in the Actions palette.

2. Select a Performance option in the Playback Options dialog box:

   • Accelerated, which is the normal (default) speed

   • Step By Step, which stops after each step

   • Pause For, which pauses after each step for the number of seconds you set in the Seconds text box

     

     If you have audio annotations for your action, you can select Pause For Audio Annotation to ensure that each annotation will complete before the next command executes.

Edit Actions

You can edit actions in a number of ways. You can:

• Rearrange actions and commands

• Record additional commands

• Insert nonrecordable commands

• Rerecord and duplicate actions and commands

• Delete actions and commands

• Change action options

Rearrange Actions and Commands

You can rearrange commands within an action and actions within the Actions palette by dragging them from their current location to a new location in the Actions palette.

Record Additional Commands

To add additional commands to an action:

1. Select an action in the Actions palette. The new commands will be appended at the end.

   –Or–

   Select a command in the Actions palette. The new commands will be inserted after the selected command.

2. Click the Record button, or select Start Recording in the Actions palette.

3. Execute the additional commands you want recorded.

4. Click the Stop button when the commands have been recorded.

Insert Nonrecordable Commands

You cannot record commands using the painting and toning tools, tool options, and view and window commands. You can, however, insert these commands into your actions, either during recording or after. No values are included when you do this; so, if the command has a dialog box, it will be displayed. You cannot disable the display of any dialog boxes for inserted commands.

Tip

To rename an action, you can also double-click the action name in the Action palette, and type the new name.

To insert a menu item in an action:

1. Select the point in the action where you want to insert the menu item by:

   • Selecting an action name. The menu item will be inserted at the end of the action.

     –Or–

   • Selecting a command. The menu item will be inserted at the end of the command.

   1. Click Insert Menu Item in the Actions palette menu. The Insert Menu Item dialog box opens.

      

   2. Click an item in a menu.

   3. Click OK.

Rerecord and Duplicate Actions and Commands

You can change the values used in modal controls or modal tools in an action by Rerecording the action. You can make a copy—and keep the original—by Duplicating the action. To rerecord an action, you first select the action and click Record Again in the Actions palette menu. Then, to change a modal control (dialog box):

1. Change the values in the dialog box when it is opened.

2. Click OK to set the new values. If you click Cancel, the old values are retained.

To change a modal tool, you use the tool differently; then press enter to change the effect. You can press esc to cancel the change.

To rerecord a single command:

1. Double-click the command in the Actions palette.

2. Change the values for the command.

3. Click OK.

To duplicate an action or command, you can:

• Pressaltwhile youdrag the action or command to a new location in the Actions palette.

• Select the action or command, then click Duplicate in the Actions palette.

• Drag the action or command to the New Action button.

QuickSteps—Changing Action Options

You can change the name of an action, the keyboard shortcut, and the button color (in Photoshop only) using the Action Options dialog box.

1. To open the Action Options dialog box, open the Action Palette Menu (the small triangle beneath the Close icon) and click Action Options.

   • To rename an action, write over the Name field.

   • To choose a keyboard shortcut, open the Function drop-down list and click a function key name.

   • To change the color, open the Color drop-down list and click a color.

2. Click OK to close the Action Options dialog box.

Delete Actions and Commands

To delete an action or command, you select the action or command in the Actions palette, and then you do one of the following:

• Click the Delete button; then click OK in the confirmation dialog box.

• Pressaltwhile you click the Delete button to skip the confirmation dialog box.

• Drag the action or command to the Delete button.

• Click Delete in the Actions palette.