Do We Have Actions?

[Priss]

So many great actions are available for Photoshop. One place I like to get them is from the Action Fx (http://www.actionfx.com/) website. There are quite a number of nice resources here.

Do you use actions--or do you make your own? Tell us your favorite sources for Photoshop actions in this thread.

[Thena Smith]

I'm just learning about actions.

[bthiels]

I can use actions--kind of--but have no idea how to Make actions--
fancy finding you here psse--Priss. We know the good sites don't we?
Beverly

[morganfam7]

I like Atomic Cupcake's actions! (http://atomiccupcake.com/)

Marcy

[Evie]

I'm also just learning about actions also. PanozFX (http://www.panosfx.com/)has nice actions.
Evie

[froggypond]

I have had some good experiences and some not so good with actions. I do not have photoshop :( , but love my pse. Unfortunately, not all actions work and they are sometimes difficult to install, locate, and use in pse. Maybe I will win a lottery someday, then watchout photoshop, here I come.:D

[PeggyNC]

I love actions!! In addition to Atomic Cupcake (http://www.atomiccupcake.com/) and Action Fx (http://www.actionfx.com/), I also like Action Central (http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm). Actions can be hard to learn, especially since tutorials are not always included with people's actions, but with patience and experimentation you can get some fantastic effects as well as some real time-savers!

[Diann]

Ohhh I love actions....I always check at adobestudioexchange.com (http://www.adobestudioexchange.com)
they have tons of stuff!!!

[carolopal]

I haven't tried any actions yet but I hope to now that I've found this wonderful place!

[Wnderlnd]

Priss,
Can you explain the difference between actions and effects? I thought actions were for PS and Effects were for PSE, but now I am not so sure.

how can we know if one will work in PSE?

I have a few that I have tried from Atomic Cupcake, but they can be very, very slow. (Maybe the new memory we ordered will take care of that?! We are finally upgrading from one gig to two! Woo hoo!)

Thanks,
Wnderlnd

[scoobie81]

I'm just getting into actions. LOL And they are a BLAST!!!! Why did I stay away so long??? I've gotten some fun ones from The Light's Right Studio!

[jessica@treehousei.com]

I just ordered all of the PS actions from www.tracimurphydesigns.com

I love to digi scrap but never really got the hang of drop shadows. These actions take all the work out of that task and are so realistic. I've only created two pages with them (just got them Thursday) but I love, love, love the results. Can't wait to print these pages to really see the drop shadows printed.

I especially love the action she sells for Resize for Web. This one is amazing!!

Jessica

P.S. I know this sounds like a commercial but I'm not affiliated with her at all. Just a loyal fan!

[mssbee]

I have a favorite Photoshop action I would like to share with the forum for removing dust and scratches from scanned photos. The smart duster action comes from the Retouch Pro site and the author is Stephen M. Scroll to his smart duster post on this link and join the forum to download his action: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6632&highlight=smart+duster

I have fined tuned his action with the following tweaks:

Dust and Scratches
Radius: 2
Threshold: 25

I deleted the purge step and the flatten image steps at the end of the action. I added a step at the end to reset patterns to default patterns. The original action leaves the pattern of the photo behind. This is a large pattern and can really slow down Photoshop (especially if you are running it as a batch action.) Be sure you have saved any custom patterns you have created before you run the action if you add this step.

Removing the flatten image step leaves the dust and scratches layer intact above your original photo. Try changing the blending mode to darken to remove light spots or lighten for dark spots. If you have both duplicate the dust and scratches area then set one to darken and one to lighten. Sometimes details I like to preserve like highlights in the eyes are over corrected so I add a layer mask to the dust and scratches layer and paint them back.

I hope this action is as much help to you all as it has been to me.

[ScrappyGram]

I have never used actions but am looking forward to trying them out, Thank you for posting places I can go to get a few, will have to check them out.

[Sallie K]

This Forum sounds great! Although I already knew some of the sites that have been listed there are some new ones that I plan to check out. THANK YOU to everyone who has given their suggestions. Like somone else said, I know "some" about actions, but have a LOT to learn!
This should be a great way to find others who are learning too.
Sallie K

[photopepper]

I see Evie recommended Panosfx. Has anybody else had a problem when downloading and installing their free effects? I love their effects but had to have a professional clean my computer as it slowed down so much it was no longer useable and it was recommended by the computer technician not to download free items as there is a good chance you will get "worms" on your computer that will slow down the system and track your surfing.

[Devynsmommy]

I've never used, nor heard of, actions before! And here I thought I had finally gotten a hang of all the areas Photoshop offered!!!

[ageils]

I have found some actions are really useful and some are not, after reading this thread I went to Action FX and now I'm wondering if it's worth the money. Any ideas?

[IreneO]

My experience with actions is pretty limited. I have used a few and thought they were cool, but didn't think they were something I would use over and over again. Maybe it was just the particular ones I tried.

ALso, I don't know why I would purchase an action to "Save for Web" when it is so simple to do on my own. If there's a reason, tell me please!

[Wnderlnd]

Thanks, Jill D... I thought that was the difference between actions and effects.

THanks for listing the plug-in links for Elements. My mom uses PS, but I havne't taken the plunge yet. I am trying to get her to play with plug-in and actions, but she prefers to edit her photos other ways. (Sooner or later I will convert her; although, it may only happen when she converts me to PS!) ;)

[karen donnybrook]

Marsha,

Have you had a look at the PanosFX site at http://www.panosfx.com There is a section just for PSE.

Karen

[seebee]

The effects palette in PSE is actions; that's correct. PSE can run .atn files. HOWEVER, it cannot run the .atn file by itself. It needs a thumbnail .psd file associated with it in order to run the action. It also takes a very specific naming of the .psd file and folder in order to get it to run.

On top of that, many PS actions use tools and commands that are not available in PSE, so you may get an action that does not function correctly. It's best to stick with actions specifically made for PSE, in my opinion, since the only way to know if an action will work in PSE is by trial & error. Panos FX are FABULOUS. I own almost all of his Elements actions. Also, I have a few from Atomic Cupcake before they went to the monthly fee service. I also own some Photoblast ones; they were not free but work well. And I use a few actions that are not specifically made for PSE but work ok when the previously mentioned requirements are met.

Sorry, I know this is the PS forum, but since the question about PSE & actions was brought up, I couldn't help myself. :)

[Sharon]

I had no idea what actions were when I switched to Photoshop, but now I can't imagine what I did without them! I love Atomic Cupcake and I'll definitely have to check out some of the other sites for actions that I've been reading about in this post.

I have to admit, though, that the actions I use every day are just basic ones that I've created myself and then assigned to one of the F keys as a shortcut. For instances, I've assigned F2 to make a basic drop shadow and F3 to make a 10px white inside stroke (great for that realistic photo look I sometimes want). F10 copies my layout, flattens and saves it to my flattened folder and F11 resizes to 500 x500 at 72 dpi (for submitting to websites or calls). I realize that these aren't very fancy actions, but the more scrapping I do, the more I realize how much I like a smooth workflow. If I can just tap my F11 key instead of doing the flattening, copying, etc. as individual steps, I'm a happier scrapper! *Ü*

Just my two cents!
Sharon *Ü*

[lauraloub]

Several months ago I took a class on running, installing, and wrtiting actions and I have to admit I rarely use them. If I take out the class materials and stick to it I am sure my life will be easier in PS. I do know they are easy to write and use, I am just too lazy right now to change my ways. Maybe this forum will give me a push.

[Wags]

I see Evie recommended Panosfx. Has anybody else had a problem when downloading and installing their free effects? I love their effects but had to have a professional clean my computer as it slowed down so much it was no longer useable and it was recommended by the computer technician not to download free items as there is a good chance you will get "worms" on your computer that will slow down the system and track your surfing.

I have his free stuff and his action pack - no problems whatsoever with any of it. He is a pretty careful and detail oriented guy so I'm sure he would be shocked that there was any problems with his actions. Have you contacted him about the problem you encountered?

I love actions, but I'm holding off on aquiring any more until after I upgrade.

[IreneO]

Okay, I'm convinced - I NEED actions!

Can we get a tutorial on how to make them? Please? LOL

[Christine]

I would also love to learn how to make actions .. in PSE too ;)

[ageils]

After reading this I checked out Panosfx, they are pretty cool. I would love tolearn how to write my own too. I thought you could only write them in Photoshop not in Elements, correct? I know you can use them in each. Just wondering.

[Wags]

After reading this I checked out Panosfx, they are pretty cool. I would love tolearn how to write my own too. I thought you could only write them in Photoshop not in Elements, correct? I know you can use them in each. Just wondering.

You are correct - you can not write actions (or creat custom shapes) in PSE

[showme]

Hello, and see some familiar faces here and look forward to meeting new people. Running a good action is like watching someone clean your house for you...sit back and enjoy the end result ;-). Saw a couple of new action sites...thanks to the posters.

[tzigane70]

This is sounding like fun.I want to learn how.I would also love to learn how to assign it to the function keys.that could save a lot of time.

[DarleneH]

Oh yes, I'd LOVE to see a tutorial on creating your own actions. Pretty pahleeease! :)

[sydneysnana]

Can't wait to learn how to assign it to the function keys.
I use some great actions from http://www.graficalicus.com/index.php. There are free ones also. He is very helpful!!!!!!!
Michelle

[sydneysnana]

I got so excited about this thread that I did'nt notice it was Photoshop and I am PSE. Still... wondering if the shortcuts with F keys can work with PSE?
Michelle

[rogwilson]

If you go to Adobe's website and then to Adobe Studio you can get a wealth of free down;oads from Adobe Studio member, from actions to brushes to patterns everything and anything imaginable

[morganfam7]

Making actions is not really hard. It's harder to figure out all the steps you want to record than it is to make the action. I made an action for saving my digi files (one for uploading, one for printing, and one pdf). I saw this on Jen Caputo's blog, I think. Basically, you click on the fly-out menu arrow in the actions pallette and then you choose record or new...sorry I don't have ps7 open...then you name the action. Then you click the record button on the bottom of the palette and go through the steps EXACTLY as you want them recorded. When you are finished you click stop on the bottom of the palette. That's it! Now you can use that action whenever you want. Just go to your action palette, find your action, click on it, click on play....and off you go! You can look in your photoshop help file under recording actions and read quite a bit about actions.

I hope that isn't too confusing.

Marcy

[ConnieK]

I found wonderful helpful information on how to make my own actions during the Photoshop CS2 Power Tour that came to my area not too long ago. They gave seminar participants a workbook we could take with us so we could remember all we learned. I thought I would NEVER use actions. When I got home, though I realized that all my photos taken with my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT) were in 72 dpi. I'm new to the camera so I imagine I can change that, but until I figure out how, I created an action in CS2 to automatically change each photo to 300 dpi just by pushing F12.

[scoobie81]

I am getting such fantastic ideas for actions to make here! Thanks for everyone's input!!! I've just started using actions and I LOVE them!!! What fun!

[sunnie2004]

I have had some good experiences and some not so good with actions. I do not have photoshop :( , but love my pse. Unfortunately, not all actions work and they are sometimes difficult to install, locate, and use in pse. Maybe I will win a lottery someday, then watchout photoshop, here I come.:D

I hear that absolutely i will own photoshop cs when i hit the lottery !!!!

caren

[tzigane70]

You are correct - you can not write actions (or creat custom shapes) in PSE




guess that is 2 reasons to keep Photoshop 7 around even if i go for elements.

[amyjo]

I have looked at MANY actions and for the most part decided 90% of them I could replicate on my own and not spend the money...I did purchase the Kubota artistic actions (mostly for photo correction/cool effects) because they are so far I have seen their end result as the most professional looking for photo tweeking actions, and because there are so many aspects of the action you can tweek after you have run it - I have been using the actions I bought on many things, but rarely they would be if I just ran them and did not adjust things myself...and am fairly certain still that there's nothing really in them that I couldn't do myself, however, my sister is having me rework some of her wedding photos and I knew I was going to have that job and did not want to spend hours messing with artistic effects when I'm going to be spending enough time removing peek-a-boo brastraps and hair-ties from wrists :D SO it was well worth the dough to pay kubotaworkshops for the actions :D

Most of the actions I have made for myself do things like resize layouts and put them on certain sized canvases so I can have them printed on the laser copier at Staples :D

[Margules]

This may sound like a dumb question, but can I load actions in PSE3 and if so, how do I get to the actions palate to do that? Thanks for any help. Rachel

[vholdwic]

Hi all,

I mostly make my own actions - for instance, I frequently want to make a small picture bigger - if you go to Image Size and change to percent and put in 110 (increase by 10%), there is not noticeable degradation. Because I frequently want to do this more than once on a given picture, I made an action. I run the action over and over until I get the size I like.

I also made an action to sharpen using the Lightness channel in LAB color and then change the mode back to RGB.

Also an action to put my copyright info - no fill, beveled - on pix.

I find actions to be very helpful when doing the kinds of things I do over and over. You can actually have them stop at some point so that you can fine tune settings.

Vicki

[Priss]

Okay, I'm convinced - I NEED actions!

Can we get a tutorial on how to make them? Please? LOL
I think your most reliable help for creating your own actions is right within the program's help files. Click the help button, click alphabet letter a--click actions and you have dozens of articles on the topic.

Also I have had happy results with the NAPP membership tutorials, and with Peach Pit press books and online assistance Complete Guide to Using Actions in Photoshop (www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=434249)

Hope this helps

[Priss]

Priss,
Can you explain the difference between actions and effects? I thought actions were for PS and Effects were for PSE, but now I am not so sure.

how can we know if one will work in PSE?

I have a few that I have tried from Atomic Cupcake, but they can be very, very slow. (Maybe the new memory we ordered will take care of that?! We are finally upgrading from one gig to two! Woo hoo!)

Thanks,
Wnderlnd
Actions are a feature that is in Photoshop, and not available in Elements. (There are, in fact some actions in PSE, but they are not under user control. Things like all the steps that happen automatically when you use the photomerge command, or some of the effects, and you see layers fly by in the layer's palette, creating the effect you've chosen..that's an action.)

What an action is, is a recorded set of steps to produce an outcome. In Photoshop you can record these yourself, use actions others have recorded that you have installed into the program, or use a bunch of actions Adobe has packed with Photoshop. Some people enjoy using and recording them for repetitive--often used tasks or outcomes, and others just do all the steps to a desired outcome manually. (I tend to!)

So my advice is not to try to install actions (.atn files) into Elements, I have known of some severe problems (as well as reasonable successes) when users have tried to do this.

[Franny]

In PScs2 what do I do with an action after I have downloaded and unzipped it?
these actions look really interesting.
thanks

[Wendy]

Hi Franny ...

You can either put it in your Photoshop Folder under Presets>Photoshop Actions or you can keep it in a folder somewhere else on your hard disk.

To use the action just load it by clicking on the little triangle in the top right hand corner of the actions palette :)

Wendy

[Franny]

Hey Wendy,

I surely do appreciate your looking after me.
I will do what you said.

[Wendy]

Glad to help :)

Wendy

[kimmer]

I just created a title using the glitter action from atomic cupcakes to make "ruby slippers" look like the real thing. I am going to try more. It takes a little time to learn to install them.

[kseimer]

I love that site and i'm still learning about actions. Bought Al Ward's Photoshop Productivity Toolkit book and it has over 600 actions in it. Haven't had the time to use it yet. Its a great book.
Kathy

[estherf]

:confused: Hi scrapz4fun,
Now if you can just tell me if there is a tutorial on how to do what you've done.....
I really get tired of repeating the same thing. I'd like to do a macro of those actions and assign them to function keys.

Oops I see I'm in the PhotoShop forum and I have Elements. So I guess assigning function keys is not available to me.

[Wendy]

Hi Es ...

No I am afraid that it isn't :(

Wendy

[tirzam]

Making actions is not really hard. It's harder to figure out all the steps you want to record than it is to make the action. I made an action for saving my digi files (one for uploading, one for printing, and one pdf). I saw this on Jen Caputo's blog, I think. Basically, you click on the fly-out menu arrow in the actions pallette and then you choose record or new...sorry I don't have ps7 open...then you name the action. Then you click the record button on the bottom of the palette and go through the steps EXACTLY as you want them recorded. When you are finished you click stop on the bottom of the palette. That's it! Now you can use that action whenever you want. Just go to your action palette, find your action, click on it, click on play....and off you go! You can look in your photoshop help file under recording actions and read quite a bit about actions.

I hope that isn't too confusing.

Marcy

Thanks, this is really helpful to me. I'm familiar with recording Macros in
Word and it appears it is the same process.

[cinnaminnies]

I was able to purchase photoshop cs2 from ebay for a really great price 450. I have had the program for a month now but still just open it up and look at it. I have tons of tutorials, actions from atomic cupcake. I am a dedicated user of paintshop pro x.

I am reading all I can about psc2 and know I will be brave and use it soon.

[Priss]

I was able to purchase photoshop cs2 from ebay for a really great price 450. I have had the program for a month now but still just open it up and look at it. I have tons of tutorials, actions from atomic cupcake. I am a dedicated user of paintshop pro x.

I am reading all I can about psc2 and know I will be brave and use it soon.

Hope the shift from PSP will be easy for you; Photoshop has a good learning curve to it, but hop right in with your questions, we have several members who have and use psp (or can get answers for you--and I am one of them).

[Wendy]

Hi Rochelle ...

... and welcome :)

Sounds like a really good buy and I am sure that you will soon be able to use it OK ... if you need any help then just ask :)

Wendy

[Punkinsmom]

I have many 3rd party actions for photoshop. I have also written a few of my own for resizing photos and adjusting layers. I also find the actions to be a great instructional tool in photoshop. When I run a new action, I slow the palyback down to 3 seconds for each step. The only palettes I have open is the action and layers palettes and as the action runs, I watch the outcome. It's really cool to watch them.

[Punkinsmom]

Priss, I have PsP too and it has a learning curve. I think any new software tends to do that to ya, but I love learning something new.

[chris.orrell]

help... I used actions in PSE 4 and had no problems running them. But have recently upgraded to CS4 and those same actions (atomic cupcake ones etc) keep stopping at every step and they take ages to run. is there an easy way (like in elements where you just click on the action and it plays right thru til the end)?

[Wendy]

Hi Chris ...

Sometimes when an action is written for Elements it doesn't play too well in Photoshop ... :(

Try writing to the site to see if they have the same action written for Photoshop :)

Wendy

[Runfox]

No doubt about actions are way cool. I am looking at repairing a lot of old pictures and so I read a lot on RetouchPro web site. And learning how to use Photoshop CS2. Found a cool tutorial on making any picture into line art. Then some one mentioned actions, i had never heard of it before, I looked it up in the help, and made my own. It's so cool to hit one key and see some thing instantly. that took you longer before.

As for spyware, I hope everyone surfing and downloading here practies SAFE surfing. By that I mean you have Spybot Search and Destroy or AdAware, running on your computers. Also some anti virus protection , a good free choice is Avast, with free updates.These are both good, free, anti spyware programs, there are many others, I'm sure.Sybot has a good immunize and backup feature, for your registry. Basic computer maintenance for everyone should be, run anti spyware , then defrag once a week or so.

[Clcans]

I am trying to write an Action for making the Snow Globe from the instructions given in Dec. of 2007. I do fine until I get to the photo part. I am not sure how to write the action to get it to let me insert a different photo each time I play the action. If I use what I have been writing I get the same photo each time. Would anyone have any suggestions as to how to get it written correctly?
Thanks,
Clcans

[Clcans]

OK I figured out how to get different photos in the Action script. Now I'm working on getting the base or topper into the script.

[Jan]

Awesome! That's a great project to work on. Hope you'll share it with us when you've got it all worked out!

[Wendy]

Yes that would be great :)

Wendy

[Clcans]

If I were to get it where I would share it where would I upload it/ I could upload what I have done and we could allshare working on it.

[Lynn]

I just created my first actions on the first of this weeks tutorial using levels to color correct photos. I never used curves that way before but it does work better on some photos. I've used the techniques several times, now it will go much faster since photoshop does most of the work for me and just prompts me for the photo specific steps. So cool. I've had the educational video for a while, just haven't had the time to view it. I'd like to use the droplets as well. I re size photos a lot to put in e-mails etc and now that is much faster with a single click to resize, sharpen and save it automatically to a folder created for that purpose.

[canay]

Has someone mentioned The Pioneer Woman's actions I use them more than the Photoblast actions that I paid for!

[lhagedorn]

Has someone mentioned The Pioneer Woman's actions I use them more than the Photoblast actions that I paid for!

I LOVE Pioneer Woman. She has a great blog; really fun to read!

I also love Coffeeteaphotography blog. She has tons of great actions (free) and a really fun blog. If you don't want the actions, she provides the tutorial of how to step by step get that result without the action.

[rabrightman]

I have taken some on-line classes at JessicaSprague.com and BigPictureScrapbooking.com and the both use photoblast

[btaylor50]

Help!! I have PSE 6 and I'm trying to install Actions from AtomicCupcake.com. I run VISTA window application and I was trying to find the Photo Creations\special effects file path under the Photoshop Elements\6.0 but it did not exist. I was able to see all the other folders such as "Presets" to install the brushes, patterns, and textures. I also performed the steps to "Show hidden Files" - but I still did not see the folder for Photo Creations.

Can you help me.

Thanks.

Bev:confused:

[Wendy]

Hi Bev ...

The path for installing the action itself and the png files in PSE6 Vista is

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0 \Photo Creations\Photo Effects

The xml files go here:

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0 \Locale\ en-US or your own locale>Photo Creations Metadata>Photo Effects

The Mediadatabase.db3 it is located here:

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0 \Locale\ en-US

Hope that helps :)

Wendy

[btaylor50]

Thanks Wendy. I just created a new thread not knowing you responded to this one. I must have been blind because I did not see Program Data the first and second time around.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Bev:)

[Wendy]

Hi Bev ...

Oh it all gets so confusing when you are looking for these complex paths ... so glad that you have found it.

I deleted the other thread for you :)

Wendy

[Jaimie M]

its on my list of stuff to learn! Just recently began using my PSE6. :) I will keep this post in mind and check out the links when I get to that point. Thanks ladies!