Craig's Actions - The Production Assistants!

As with all of the CMA Actions, the procedures themselves are all designed for repeatability, consistency and reliability - critical elements in a professional workflow. On top of that, they are all established in a fashion and with steps in place to allow you to customize the operations, enabling you to personally manage your workflow.

Reading directions is not something I tend to do often myself, so if you got this far then I thank you for your spirit of discovery. I suggest that you print this out and keep it handy as a guide while you play... If you care to read further, you'll discover how these Actions can become very effective production tools that you will use constantly with enthusiasm and with confidence.

Congrats - You're a winner!

- Craig Minielly

Loading

The Actions are located within the copyrighted materials folder. Please read the copyright information before opening.

The enclosed set of Photoshop Actions may be loaded to your PC or Mac system by going to the Actions palette and locating the arrow at the top to show the palete options. Locate the "Load Actions" command and indicate the action set you wish to load. Double-Clicking on the action file itself will also load the Actions on a Mac. Remember to quit Pshop to save all settings after the actions are loaded.

Boring but good to know...

Copyright:

These materials are all copyright protected. You are granted a one-person right of usage and are welcome to install them on any computers that you own and are used by you. Companies with multiple computers and with multi-user stations please inquire about specific licenses to address your requirements. You may copy these files for archiving purposes, but you are not allowed to distribute them to others in any form or through any means. Not wanting to be heavy, but just asking that you please respect the copyright of these products - Thank you :-)

In General:

When an Action has some steps that require input, these are indicated by the dialog box next to that specific step: if empty the action runs unattended, if the icon is present, the step requires your input and will stop at that point.

Similarily, unchecking an action step prevents it from being applied. You might decide that a step is unnecessary and uncheck it ( eg - sharpening), and also unmark a particular step ( dialog box) if you do not wish to stop for your input - this allows for greater speed and unattended batching. Some steps are built on others before it, so you may need to juggle and test thinsg a bit when altering the setups. Don't worry, you can always reload these if they get too messy!

As different images ahave different file sizes ( ie: 2MP - 14MP) you may find that some setting in these Actions are too strong or too weak for your style. They have been designed around the ~ 20MB image or so, with many targeted to web resolution outputs. You can use storng or mild versions of an Action depending on your file size, or alter the values in the action to better suit your starting image.

To alter the set values in any particular step, simply have an image open and double click on that step, from there enter the values to complete the request on your own computer. This is how you would customise the action and designate destinations for " Save" steps.

All of the actions are intended to be used on a flattened file and applied to the background layer, there are many that will work elsewise but if something trips up, then check that first and flatten the document if necessary (saving a version prior to trying things out).

Many of the actions generate masks and adjustment layers. These are intended so that you can fine tune the desired effect and " paint in or out" the effect as well.

All of the actions may be customised for your system so that you may indicate folders and files where needed and fine tune the application as you wish. Simply open the action by clicking on it's arrow and locate the step that you wish to modify, with an image already on screen, double click the desired step and insert your own values.

** Note - If you change a text entry step, you may need to re-record the next step if it "looks" for that text layer (as it is now named differently). To do so, have your image open with the text layer NOT the active layer, select the previous step to the one you need to replace and press the record buttom at the bottom of the palette, NOW select the new text layer and then press stop (bottom palette). Trash the previous (old) selection step and you are done!

Where there is a "save as" step, it may be checked or unchecked depending on your preference. Running a batch requires it to be checked, working on an image on screen without saving requires it to be unchecked. Also take note of the file location and the note above about customising to your system.

With all batches, I recommend setting up a test folder to try the action first. I also recommend having the destination folder open and visible so that you can see the progress and interrupt and make corrections if anything is amiss.

The Cool Stuff !

Ok, I know you're dying to just go at it, so feel free to do exactly that... when you feel like finding out a bit more of what these things do, and how "they" can do it better, the next area will give you the answers and info that you'll eventually appreciate...

These Actions have been grouped into various Sets based entirely on marketing and packaging <g>  - Feel free to create your own sets for those you use most often and copy the Actions ( Option (mac) / Alt (pc) - Drag ) to your own set of favorites. Some of the Actions make use of others in a specific set, so if something goes goofy, try to run that same Action from where it was originally installed. 

Brush Shortcuts:

These will be used throughout the descriptions:
The X key switches the white and black swatches in the tool palettte to allow you to paint in or out on mask layers.
The brackets  { & } to the right of the P , changes the size of the Brush up or done one step.
The numbers 1-0 at the top of the keyboard, change the opacity of your brush: 1= 10% thru to 0=100%

In this Volume...

*** This set of Actions requires that destination folders be customized for your system. The Actions will not run properly with out them. Setup instructions are provided below - This is not difficult to do, but it is necessary... I suggest that you print out these instructions and have them available as a reference as you go through the setup. ***

Production Assistants - Portrait / Jazz / iTones

These Actions have been created to answer the needs of those that are backlogged in  their image production, or for those that desire a simple set of creative tools that are as easy to use, as they are effective in what they accomplish!

Whether you do a huge volume of images, or just the occasional enhancement, the Actions here will allow you to consistently and very quickly achieve the exact results you want.

It is always a good idea to create a copy set of the Actions or the Action itself before making any changes. To do this, simply click and drag the Set or Action down to the " New Action" Icon ( the one with the folded corner) at the bottom of the Palette. This will create a "Copy" that you can modify without affecting the Original.

Important Notes:

The Actions will create Three Sets of Images from your Original Files. 

1) A set of full-res photoshop (PSD ) format images, unsharpened and ready for Archiving or additional creative time...

2) A Set of Sharpened TIFFS, ready for output to Print in an 8"x12" size. * If your camera format is larger and you prefer a full-res TIFF, simply uncheck the " Fit Image" Step before the Save to TIFF Option in the Action before running it.

3) A set of JPG images sharpened & prepped for screen. They are  1000px and a JPG 10, so if you need to resize you still have some room without affecting quality.

* Make sure that your dump files are created on a drive with lots of storage space available. I would suggest ( if possible ) that this not be the same drive as your operating system as you could run into OS difficulties with larger batches.

If you do not wish to have the high-res images created and wish to just use the Actions for the Proof size imagery, simply uncheck the first two  "Save" steps in the Action sequence. Similarly, if you do not need any of the other saved formats, simply uncheck their Save Steps

You do not need to set up the destination folders in all Actions before trying any individual action, but the folders will need to be setup for the action to run through completely.

You may print out the setup instructions or run the first Setup Action, printing the directions would likely be easier... 

Setting up your "Save" folders

I have a series of folders labeled as "Dump" folders on my system (you may call them whatever you wish). This allows me to run batches and always know where they are going to, I then transfer them to the project folder where they will be stored. This alleviates the need to customize each Action each time it is used and allows for multiple saves within a single action. The procedure is as follows, I suggest you print it out to use as your reference when making the changes:

1) The Actions in this Volume have Target destinations for the "Save" Steps. These need to be installed and programmed into the Actions for the "Save" functions to operate properly.

2) Locate the folder that came with this volume set that is called : "Dump Files", drag it to your storage drive or wherever you wish to have your files saved - NB: Ensure that this is an area with lots of drive space and that you will retain this  storage location as changing it or the name at any time will necessitate reprogramming the individual actions. If you wish to change the folder names then do so before the next steps which program the actions to a specific folder. 

3) Open up any JPG  image that is not too large ( less than 5MB preferably ). You are going to use this image to program the custom save steps. As you are not saving this original image in its current location, it will remain unchanged after you close the image after all programming. With each "Save" step, do not change the name or alter the file saving preferences, this exercise  is strictly to establish a location for your files.

4) To locate a specific step in the Saver Actions, first click the arrow to the left of the name of the Saver Action, you will then see a list of steps. Scroll down until you see the specific Save Steps.

5) Locate the  "Save" step in the Save to PSD Action, double click that step, and then locate the folder inside the "Dump Files"  folder called "RGB Pshop File Dump" and select it to customise this step. Save the image to this location to lock in the setting - do not change the name or any settings and do not close the image.

6) No wdo the same with the next two Saver Actions, saving as a TIFF and JPG respectively.

7) After customising the locations for your files in each Action, it is a good idea to quit Photoshop and relaunch it - this is how you save your preferences and Action changes.

8) After the Saver Actions have had its save locations modified for your system, you are ready to use the Actions, either on an individual file, or on a folder of images with the Batch Function. You're done!

General Tips:

Many Action have custom steps that require input, these are indicated by the dialogue box next to that specific step: if empty the action runs unattended, if the icon is present, the step requires your input and will stop at that point. Similarily, unchecking an action step prevents it from being applied. You might decide that a step is unnecessary and uncheck it, and also unmark a particular step that does not require your input - this allows for greater speed and unattended batching.

To alter the set values in any particular step, simply have an image open and double click on that step, from there enter the values or complete the request on your own computer. This is how you would customise the action and designate destinations for " Save" steps.

All of the actions are intended to be used on a flattened file and applied to the background layer, there are many that will work elsewise but if something trips up, then check that first and flatten the document if necessary (saving a version prior to trying things out).

All of the actions may be customised for your system so that you may indicate folders and files where needed and fine tune the application as you wish. Simply open the action by clicking on it's arrow and locate the step that you wish to modify, with an image already on screen, double click the desired step and insert your own values.

Batch Controls:

With all batches, I recommend setting up a test folder to try the action first. I also recommend having the destination folder open and visible so that you can see the progress and interrupt and make corrections if anything is amiss.

Enjoy and Play!!!

Craig

Craig Minielly  MPA, SPA

Craig's Actions / Aura Photographics

http://www.craigsactions.com/

End Note:

Thank you for investing in this Action Volume Set. It is my intention that these Actions be used in such a way that enhances the controls available for your production, as well as provide enhanced opportunities for creative expression. 

Please feel free to change, modify, copy and adjust these Actions for your own use and to suit your own style. However, please do not copy these Actions and provide to a 3rd party as that interferes with Copyright and does no-one any good in the long run. 

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback, I'm always interested in your comments and welcome them at the email address below. I am also interested in hearing your feedback and seeing sample images with your results. I am also working on creating a gallery of samples submitted to me, so let me know if you'd like to be included.

Training workshops and demos (along with my other presentation topics) are also available to individuals, small groups or whole schools and conventions. Feel free to inquire as to availability, upcoming dates, as well as to pass on information about your group and your interests and I will follow up with your or your supplied contacts.