ACTION STATIONS
This document is a follow up, to our discussion on actions at a previous digital group meeting.
To
fully understand actions I recommend downloading the following articles and
tutorials, available on the internet.
The
mother (and father) of all action tutorials(and probably the best) is by Danny
Raphael and is available at www.atncentral.com/tutorials.htm
Be
warned it’s a long download for dial up users(well over 200 pages long) but its
comprehensive and very informative. Well worth the effort in the long run.
Other
less lengthy tutorials are
www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/actions/actions.htm
www.actionfx.com/tut-actions4.shtml
www.webreference.com/graphics/actions/
There
are 6 pages, so click on the next button at the bottom of the page.
Download
sites for actions. There are too many to mention all of them.
Some
good ones that are continually updated are :-
Also
do a google search “Photoshop Actions”.
When
downloading actions, I have created a
special folder on my hard drive for testing. I then transfer the good ones to
the photoshop/presets/photoshop actions folder.
The
file path is:- x:/program files/adobe/photoshop z/presets/photoshop actions
Where
x=drive and z=version
As you know actions created for the full version cannot be run in Elements. However all is not lost, you can run actions specially created for elements, or when you become proficient adapt them. See the following web sites for interfaces to run actions. The instructions should be in the download file.
For
Snapactions
www.geocities.com/rnlnero/PE2stuff2.html
www.geocities.com/rnlnero/snapActionsFAQ.html
I have talked before about the Hidden Elements Tools and an action installer is also provided.
look on the tools/free tools page.
To recap, actions are a very powerful tool in your Photoshop workflow.
They should help improve your overall productivity.
Cheers,
Terry