Jeff Tranberry's Photoshop Crawlspace

October 19, 2005

Scripting Matters

Scripting matters, right?

I think so, but where is all the training? Photoshop has traditionally been spoiled when it comes to good training. Look at any bookshelf and there's a plethora of books on Photoshop to choose from. There's lots of Photoshop training sessions out there, too.

So, what's out there for scripting?

Chandler McWilliams wrote a book called "Adobe Scripting" a few years back which I thought was a great introduction to scripting Photoshop.

Last September's Photoshop World in Boston featured it's first session dedicated to scripting - "Photoshop For Geeks" by Matt Kloskowski, a NAPP trainer. Granted the session was from 9pm-10pm, but there were hundreds of people who showed up and were excited by scripting.

Scripting Matters, Inc., from who I stole the title of this post from, is hosting a 5-day seminar called "AppleScript Pro Sessions" in Chicago, IL, October 31st through November 4th. Shane Stanley and Ray Robertson host the session. The sessions will focus on AppleScript, and involve using AppleScript in conjunction with InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.

I would love to go to this event, but I will be in San Jose for work the same week. If anyone attends the event, let me know what you thought of it.

Here's my call to action: My fellow Photoshop enthusiasts, ask not what scripting can do for you: Ask what you can do for scripting.

The more authors, trainers, and users we have on board the better. Even yours truly posts a scripting tip or tutorial from time to time.

So tell me, what other scripting training have people found out there?

October 16, 2005

Oh, so Close...

My wife and I recently visited the newly renovated Walker Art Center and took in the "Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005" exhibition. The exhibit closes in Minneapolis today and moves to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which starts November 19th and runs through February 28th, 2006.

If you want to get schooled in several different photographic processes, such as photogravure, holography, massive Polaroids, and Daguerreotypes, run to this exhibit.

It's striking to see the world of Close's 'analog' pixels and processes next to the experience of working with Photoshop.

Chuck Close will do a discussion, November 19th from 2-3pm, and book signing after, starting at 3:30pm. I missed his discussion at the Walker, but I bought the book and it's wonderful.

October 14, 2005

Scripting UI Tool

A resourceful Flash developer, Jakub Kozniewski, created a Flash application, CS User Interface Builder 1.0, to help build interfaces for scripts. Apparently, he is working on a 2.0 version.

It's great to see the Photoshop Scripting eco-system starting to grow. I'm fascinated by Photoshop Scripting the same way I was by web development back when I was in college in the 90's. From the first table I built to the first roll-over I created using JavaScript, each step was exciting, even if things like these are considered mundane by today's standards.

I know I felt that same excitement from my first "Hello, World!" Photoshop Script. It can only get more exciting...

ASMP: Face/Mask: Katrin Eismann

While a lot of my colleagues will be getting ready to attend Macromedia Max in San Francisco next week, I will be in the Twin Cities attending a workshop given by Katrin Eismann. I was able to meet Katrin in person for the first time last month at Photoshop World in Boston. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend any of her sessions, so attending this session will be a treat.

Katrin is both a talented and passionate user of Photoshop as well as a gifted teacher. Her session is going to focus on retouching for portraits and creating masks and selections.

I enjoy attending events like these to see how people work with Photoshop, learn new workflows, and try to determine what could be done to improve those workflows.

The local chapter of the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) is sponsoring the event.
The Twin Cities is home to companies like Target, Best Buy and host of advertising agencies, which helps fuel the local commercial photography community. Many of these dedicated local photographers are ASMP members.

Attending ASMP meetings is a great way to meet other photographers in your community, share ideas on photography, and exchange tips on digital imaging.

October 13, 2005

Let's Blog!

Blogging. Everybody's doing it, right? So, let's do this thing!

I'm Jeff Tranberry and I'm a pixel junkie going way back to MacPaint. I have the Mac SE I bought in 9th grade with money I earned delivering papers to prove it.

I work on the Photoshop development team as Quality Engineer - Product Lead. So, what the heck does that mean and what do I do?

In short, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I get to help design, play with, and try to break the next version of Photoshop before the rest of the world does.

I've been working on Photoshop since version 7.0 and have worked on such features as "Layers," "User Interface" and "Smart Objects." Prior to stumbling into the best job ever, I was a Flash and graphic designer at Olson Advertising in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I still live in Minneapolis and work out of Adobe's Arden Hills office. Some of you are familiar with John Nack, who's a fellow midwesterner. Although John now lives in San Jose, he and I both enjoy representin' the midwest, or the "MW," as we like to call it.

My goal with this blog is to provide informative posts on things I find interesting and useful - covering Photoshop, Photoshop scripting, photography, graphic design, and anything in between. Hopefully, I'll get to meet a lot of you, and learn from you, our customers, in the process.