To improve batch processing performance, in the History panel,select History Options from the fly-out menu and deselect Automatically Create First Snapshot. Depending on the length of your action, you might also want to reduce the number History States in the Preferences > Performance panel. Just don't forget to increase the number of states when you finished batch processing!
The Batch command can be recorded as part of an action to perform multiple batches in sequence. In addition, you can batch process multiple folders without reorganizing them on the hard drive - simply create aliases within a folder to the other folders you want to process, and select the Include All Subfolders option in the Batch command dialog box (or use a droplet).
You can save the steps in an Actions as a text file by pressing Control +Alt (Windows) or Command + Option (Mac) while selecting Save Actions from the Actions panel fly out menu. This is handy for reviewing or printing the contents of an Action (however, you can't reload the text file back into Photoshop). Note that ALL of the Actions in ALL sets are printed out, so you may want to limit the number of actions you have loaded to eliminate a lot of deleting of unnecessary information.
In order to save an action, you must select the Set that the action is in (using the Actions panel). If there are multiple actions in the set, they will ALL be saved (this is a feature). If you only want to save a single action, drag it into it's own lonely little set. If you have received an action from someone or want to load a saved action from one computer to another, navigate to the action using Bridge, and double click on it to load.
Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the disclosure triangle next to an action to collapse or expand all components of that action. Viewing the components (or recorded setting of a command) can be especially helpful when trouble shooting actions. Another way to trouble shoot is to select the Playback Options from the Actions panel's fly-out menu and choose Step by Step or even Pause For xx Seconds in order to watch the action play more slowly.
When recording actions that will be played back on files of various size, it might help to record the action with the Ruler Units set to Percentage However, resolution-dependent commands such as type size, feather amount, sharpening settings etc, may not work as expected when the file size changes.
Double clicking on a single command in the Actions panel will play the command if there are no options associated with the command (Select> All or Edit > Copy for example). If, however there are options associated with the command (such as Image Size), Photoshop will display the necessary dialog box. This is an excellent feature if you want to make changes to that command - but beware, whatever you enter in the dialog box will now become the recorded value in the action). To bypass this option, and simply play a command using it's recorded options, (without a dialog box appearing), add the Command (Mac) / Control (Win) key when double clicking the name of the command.
Since I am rarely able to record an entire action without making a mistake, it's good to know that Actions can be modified in a number of ways. For example, individual commands can be repositioned by dragging them (in the Actions panel) within an action or, they can be moved by dragging them to another Action. Add the Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -drag to copy a command within an action or copy it to another action.
If a command is not needed, simply select it and click the Trash icon at the bottom of the panel or, to bypass the confirmation dialog box, drag the command to the trash icon. As you create more and more actions, it becomes easy to "harvest" commands from other actions. You can even play and action while recording!
Use the Action Options flyout (from the Actions Panel) to assign a Function key in order to quickly run an action. You can simply choose F1- F12 (the number of F-keys will vary depending on platform and keyboard layout) or add a keyboard modifier (Shift, for example). If you assign a F-key that is already in use by Photoshop (F5 for example, is assigned by default to show and hide the Brush panel), Photoshoop will remove it from the default (the Brushes panel in this example) and assign it to your action. Some F-keys may not be available if the operating system is using them. In this case, you will need to change or remove the F-key via the operating system).
In addition, you can color code your actions (red for image size changes, blue for different sharpening amounts etc.). This color coding is only displayed in Button Mode (see yesterday's post)
In the Actions Panel, use the fly-out menu to access Button Mode to view your actions as clickable buttons. If you're working with several actions (in a production environment for example), you might want to rearrange the panel so that it fits horizontally along the bottom of your screen, making more actions accessible without scrolling. Clicking the button runs the action. Note: new actions and changes to existing actions can not be made in Button Mode, you will need to return to Normal Mode (uncheck the Button Mode option using the fly-out) to make changes.
Most people only think of the History panel for multiple undo - but it does much more! Check out the options available through the History panel’s fly out (in the upper right) such as if and when to take Snapshots and Non-Linear History (to retain more current history states if you go back in History and want to try other options without loosing the more current states).
And this is a good time to add that if you do choose to Automatically Create First Snapshot (which is Photoshop’s default setting), you can “undo” an accidental save by clicking on the initial snapshot in the History panel, saving the file, and then returning to your current state and choosing to “Save As”.
In the Histogram panel, use the fly-out menu to select either Expanded View or All Channels View. Then, click and drag in the histogram to view the Levels, Count and Percentile of the range selected.
Many Panels have unique options accessible via the panel’s flyout menu. For example, selecting Panel Options from the History panel’s flyout menu provides several customizable preferences for history behavior. Several Panels also share shortcuts/behaviors - so if you use one option with one panel, try it with another. For example, for all panels that have the ability to discard something from the panel, Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click the trash can icon to delete the selected item (layers/multiple states/channels etc.) while bypassing the dialog box.
Most people typically use a subset of the many panels that Photoshop CS4 has to offer at any given time. For example, if you are color correcting an image, then you may want the Info, Histogram and Layers panels showing. If you are recording actions to help automate tasks, you might want the Actions, History and Layers panels open. The easiest way to switch between the sets of panels that you might need for different tasks is to save them as workspaces.
Rearrange the panels the way that you desire and then use the Workspace Picker (on the far right side of the Application Bar) to save the workspace. (Workspaces can also be saved via Window > Workspace > Save Workspace.) Workspaces can also contain custom Keyboard Shortcuts and Menu items.
At the top of the Workspace Picker list you will see any custom workspaces that you have saved as well as the default workspaces that ship with Photoshop CS4. Simply click to select the desired workspace from the list. Try selecting the ” What’s new in CS4” workspace - it will highlight all of the menu items in Photoshop CS4 that have been modified!
While transforming an image (Edit > Free Transform) you can change zoom level of the image using the old standby - Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “+” (plus) to zoom in, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “-” (minus) to zoom out. Or, you can quickly zoom to a specific point using via the Navigator panel.
To change the zoom percentage in the Navigator panel, enter a percentage, drag the slider, click on the Zoom In or Zoom Out icons (the small or large mountains), or Command (Mac) / Control (Win) -drag in the thumbnail a new rectangle the size over the area that you want to zoom into.
Use the Info panel’s flyout menu to set the Primary and Secondary Color readouts and Mouse Coordinates (or use the shortcuts mentioned previously this week!). You can ALSO customize what Status Information you prefer to have displayed (Document Size, Profile, Dimensions etc.). In addition, you can choose to hide show Tool Hints (brief suggestions for using the currently selected tool).
Since, I’m going to be unavailable next week, I’m going to post a weeks worth of Photoshop shortcuts, all at once!
On the Info panel, click the eyedropper icon (with the small right-facing triangle) next to either the Primary or Secondary Color Readout to quickly select what information is presented and how. Choose between Actual or Proof Color, Color Mode, Total Ink or Opacity and Bit Depth options.