Adobe Photoshop CS2 On Demand [Electronic resources]

Enhancing the Process with Droplets

When you apply an action to an image, you open Photoshop, open the document, open the Actions palette, select the action, and then click the Play button. While that process is easier than having to redo all the steps in a complicated action, there is simpler way, create a droplet. Droplets are Photoshop Actions that appear as a file on your hard drive, or organized within a folder. For example, you could create a droplet that performs a generic color correction operation. To perform the operation on a Photoshop document, you would not have to open Photoshop; simply drag the image file over the droplet, and releasethe droplet does the rest.

Create a Droplet

Click the

File menu, point to

Automate , and then click

Create Droplet .

IMPORTANT

Droplets are created from existing actions.

Click

Choose , and then select a location to store the droplet.

Click the

Set list arrow, and then select from the available sets.

Click the

Action list arrow, and then select the action you want to convert into a droplet.

Select from the available Play options (see table).

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Available Play Options Option Purpose Override Action "Open" Commands Overrides the batch Open command and uses an embedded Open command in the Action. The Action MUST have an Open command as one of the steps. Include All Subfolders Opens any subfolders within the selected folder and performs the action to any files found within. Suppress File Open Options Dialogs Do not show any File Open dialog boxes. Suppress Color Profile Warnings When a color profile mismatch occurs, do not display a warning dialog box, just continue.

Click the

Destination list arrow, and then select from the following options:

• None. The file remains open after the droplet ends.

• Save And Close. The file is resaved (loss of original).

• Folder. The file is saved in a new folder (user selected), with the option of renaming the file and extension.

Select from the following File SNaming options:

• Document Name. Use the original name of the document, or click to choose from the naming schemes; including incrementing the files by number (001, 002, etc).

• Extension. Use the original extension of the document, or click to choose from the extension options, such as using the date or sequenced serial number.

• Starting Serial Number. If you select to use a serial number, you can select a starting value for the sequence.

• Compatibility. Select the check boxes you want between Windows, Mac OS, or Unix.

To create an error log file, click the

Errors list arrow, and then click

Log Errors To File .

The error log records any problems associated with applying the droplet to the image file.

To specify an error log file name and location, click

Save As .

Click

OK .

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