recording an action

DeanS

I have a series of CS4 steps that I have organized to my liking. Now I would like to translate them into an action. Is there a method whereby I can just tell CS4 to now use these steps that I already have and make them into an action? Or do I really need to record it step by step in real time to create the action?

kdog

You're talking about going back into your history state, and making an action from it? I don't think that's possible, although I admit it would be useful from time-to-time. It will be interesting to hear if anybody else knows otherwise.

pathfinder

I am not aware of a means to convert steps in the History palette to an Action... I think you have to hit Record before you begin your editing steps to record them as an action. Not that hard to do in real time, really...

You could duplicate your entire image as a tiff or psd on a separate canvas, and then redo the steps in the copied image to save as an action, using the history palette from the first image to act as a source for the steps needed.

DeanS

copy and paste
I'm still working on that action. I now realize that by watching the history, I see that the ctrl-c and crtl-v don't seem to be showing up in the history steps just as they were not showing up in the recorded action.
The steps that are causing all the trouble are: first I select all (ctrl-A) which shows in the history and action, then I need to copy (ctrl-c) (which does not seem to show up in the history or in the action either), then select a mask (which does not seem to show up in the history or in the action either) and then paste (ctrl-v)(which does not seem to show up in the history or in the action either). Is it possible to get copy, select a mask, and paste into an action?

BinaryFx

DeanS wrote:

Is it possible to get copy, select a mask, and paste into an action?

Yes, yes and yes!

First off, the history steps and actions do not always use the same terms - however I don't think that is the issue here...

If the action record button is lit, then simple command such as copy, select a layer mask and paste should be recorded into the action.

Does the layer have a specific custom name, or is it a default Layer 1 or something?

Above and beyond recording "live" steps into actions, the action palette menu also has a command to "insert menu command", where you can manually select a menu command that may or may not be available via recording.

Although this Microsoft Word .doc is old, it still contains many useful bits of info on all things to do with actions (it used to be the "bible" on actions):

http://www.atncentral.com/zip/PhotoshopActions_ver1.1Btoc.zip


Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

DeanS

the layer is a smart object
The layer I am trying to work in is a smart object. Within which I am using the smart sharpen filter. After I get it set up I turn the smart filter layer off, copy the blurred original, select the smart sharp filer mask and paste the blurred image into the mask then do levels and invert. I am attempting to use the sharpening technique that I read about in the EarthBound Light web site. When I do it by hand it works just fine but then I decided to create an action for it but CS4 just does not want to seem to record the: copy-select the mask-paste steps. It records every thing else okay. It just creates a new layer above the smart object layer from the selection but it won't paste into the smart filter layer mask.

BinaryFx

Ah, the plot thickens!

Dean, smart [layer] objects are different to other "regular" layers and may not offer the same action recording options (they are fairly new, compared to layers). Masking is different with smart objects than with regular layers.

I'll kick this around when I have time - do you have a link for the tutorial so that I can see exactly what you are trying to automate?

Can you do this without using a smart object? Is a smart object critical to this method?

EDIT: Instead of using copy/paste, you may have to use the Apply Image command to "stamp" the data into the mask.


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

DeanS

the link to what I want to create an action for
This is the sharpening procedure that I am trying to create an action for:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-really-smart-sharpening.html

BinaryFx

DeanS wrote:

This is the sharpening procedure that I am trying to create an action for:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-really-smart-sharpening.html

Thanks for the link Dean.

So just a regular edge mask smart sharpen, done with smart objects/filters/masks panel for "non-destructive" edits.

I am very sceptical* that the image titled "Closeup of original unsharpened image" is the same image that lead to the image "Results of sharpening with the mask".

*Unless the JPEG and resizing has degraded the posted image sample so much that it is not easy to recreate the smart sharpening, I could not bring back the detail using the posted image. I would like it if they supplied the crops in a lossless original resolution format so that the results can be verified. Note that they did not mention the smart sharpen settings.

These comments are independent of the technique shown in the article.


Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

BinaryFx

Dean, going back to the original question, without going off topic picking the article to pieces...

I can record every step in the article summary into an action on CS3, as there is no masks panel I had to manually invert and blur the mask.

The select all - copy - alt click - paste steps all recorded without a hitch.

You must be missing a simple step. I will verify with CS4 when I have time.


Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

DeanS

another attempt to record action
Tonight CS4 seeming willing to record each step, including the copy, select filter mask, and paste. But when I run the action it does not paste into the filter mask. Instead it creates a new level above the smart object and the inverted mask is placed there, not into the mask. Of course when I am recorded it all the steps work perfect.

BinaryFx

DeanS wrote:

Tonight CS4 seeming willing to record each step, including the copy, select filter mask, and paste. But when I run the action it does not paste into the filter mask. Instead it creates a new level above the smart object and the inverted mask is placed there, not into the mask. Of course when I am recorded it all the steps work perfect.

Dean, as mentioned earlier in the thread - you may work around this with the Apply Image command, to move the composite channel into the mask. This has benefits other than not breaking the action, it does not use the clipboard which should be less memory intensive with larger files.

Additionally, when building actions, it is usually good practice to use explicit custom named layers rather than default names such as "Layer 1" etc.


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

BinaryFx

I have saved my version of the action as text steps below for visual reference.

I have added dividing lines to break-up the action steps into groups. The first group is an optional "safety net" that I have added to the original instructions. The third group contains my suggested work-around of using the Apply Image command to "stamp" the composite channel data into the mask layer, which avoids the copy/paste errors on action playback. As this action was created in CS3, there is no masks panel - so the edge mask is manually blurred and inverted.

__________________

Make layer
Using: layer
Name: “Earthbound Smart Sharpening”
Move current layer
To: front layer
Merge Visible
With Duplicate

__________________

Convert to Smart Object
Smart Sharpen
Amount: 200%
Radius: 1 pixels
0
Angle: 0
With More Accurate
Remove: Gaussian Blur
Settings Name: “Default”
Shadow: Parameters
Amount: 0%
Tone Width: 50%
Radius: 1
Highlight: Parameters
Amount: 0%
Tone Width: 50%
Radius: 1
Hide filter effects 1 of current layer
Make
New: channel
At: mask channel
Using: reveal all
Select filter mask channel
Without Make Visible

__________________

Apply Image
With: calculation
Source: RGB channel
With Preserve Transparency

__________________

Find Edges
Levels
With Auto
Gaussian Blur
Radius: 1 pixels
Invert
Select RGB channel
Without Make Visible
Show filter effects 1 of current layer

__________________


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/