Tip #3015 - Photoshop Actions
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Photoshop
Actions
As intuitive as the
Photoshop interface is, it can be quite cumbersome for some. This is especially
true when you need to do a certain task or even worse, a group of different
tasks repeatedly. For instance, let’s say you have a group of 40
images and you need to resize them to a smaller size and then convert
them to grayscale for your online photo album. Now, this isn’t really
a complex task, but 40 images?! No matter how fast your fingers move,
it’s going to take quite a bit of time and a few cups of coffee
to get that done. The people over at Adobe knew this would happen and
that’s why they packed a nifty little feature in Photoshop that
unfortunately many of us don’t know about or simply overlook. I
am talking about Photoshop Actions.
Go to Window,
Actions to show the Action window. What is an action?
An action is a series of recorded steps. You can record an action anytime
while you are carrying out a series of operations in Photoshop. Why would
you want to record your steps? Let’s take the above hypothetical
example of converting 40 images to grayscale. Now, in scenario one, you
could convert all 40 images manually by using the Image Mode, Grayscale
choice and then resizing it. Or you could manually do this to the first
image, record your actions and replay the action on all the other images.
Suddenly it all makes sense, doesn’t it?!
Alright, so let’s
get started. To create an action, click on the Create New Action
button at the bottom of the actions palette. In the little window
that pops up, give the action a name and save it in the specified set.
By default, Photoshop will save all new actions into the Default actions
set. It’s preferable that you create a new set and save your custom
actions there. (Just in case you're wondering, a set is nothing but a
folder). To create a new set, click on the Create New Set
button at the bottom of the actions palette.
Now, in this action,
we are going to make the size of the image smaller and convert it to grayscale.
Create a new action and give it a name. I named my new action "Grayscale
Resize" so that later on, I'll remember the purpose for which I recorded
it. Now, open the image and perform the steps manually after switching
the action recorder on. Click on the little circular Record button
at the bottom of the palette. It will turn to a bright red color to indicate
that recording has started. No performance anxiety yet? Good! Then let's
keep going!
Next, go to Image,
Image Size and change the size of your image to a smaller
size. Then, by using the desaturate feature, convert it to grayscale.
This is where you'll press the little square button to stop the recording
of the action and bada bing! You're done! All the steps we went through
have been recorded in the action that we created.
Now, if you want to
apply the same setting to another image or 39 others, all you have to
do is open the images, go to the actions palette, highlight the grayscale
resize action and press Play. It's as simple as that!
Now, you can sit back and watch as Photoshop executes all the steps of
the action at turbo speed. This sure will save you quite a bit of time.
Here I have demonstrated
a rather simple example, but as you incorporate more and more complex
operations into actions, you will see the real magic of this. Now, if
only we could have something like this in our real lives. I am scared
to think what chaos that would entail! : )
~ Yogesh Bakshi
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