Automated Photoshop Actions/Scripts? I need some help...

[iNewbie]

Hi Photoshop Gurus,

I am new here and I would appreciate some assistance on how to create "photoshop actions" ... I guess that's what I need? Here's what I am trying to accomplish...

I have a dedicated image that will remain my project background, however, I would like a 20 or more names (first names) to be aligned directly in the center of this image and then saved, all automaticly. As of now I have been using the text tool each name manually and then aligning the text and finally exporting. At times I may forgrt to complete a specific action and it hurts my work pattern...

Is it possible to have some sort of automated script or action where I can copy a line of text from my notepad (or text editor) and have it...

1) edit existing text, replacing it with the new name (from notepad etc)

2) align the new name

3) export the file (with a unique filename)

?

If so, any guidance or referral to some tutorials will be very much appreciated. I have a lot of individual/personalized flyers to make for invites and I prefer working with photoshop. Thank you regardless of any replies. Thanks!

 

[MrToM]

You could, and I stress could, use video export for this....bear with me, this does look worse than it really is.

When you create the text layer use 'Center Text' from the paragraph palette, align the text to the background however you need it.

Now, if you duplicate this layer as many times as you have different text its then just a case of selecting each layer in turn and copying (from Notepad) and pasting the text, overwriting the old text.
As the text is already 'Centered' by the paragraph you wont need to do anything else to it.....any length of text will be in the middle.

You'll obviously need to have the Text tool selected for selecting and pasting the new text but it means you'll end up with 20 layers each with a different centered text on it....and your background layer of course.

From here, turn off visibility for all the layers and open the timeline palette. Make sure its set to 'Frame Animation' not 'Video timeline'.

The first 'frame' should be blank, so turn on the visibility for the BG layer and the first text layer.
You can't 'Add' a frame as such in animation, only duplicate an existing one, so duplicate the first frame (using the duplicate icon).
With frame 2 selected, turn OFF the text layer and turn ON the next text layer......repeat until you have 20 frames each with different text.

IMPORTANT:
Select ALL the frames and set the TIME to 1 second......it's displayed bottom right of each frame...they all need to be 1 second.

What you now have is a stack of layers (which you can easy edit via copy/paste from notepad), and an animation from which you can export each frame as an image....and here's how.

Nav to File > Export > Render Video

In the window you'll see you can change the name of the file but more importantly that you can add a numeric suffix to each image....or to put it another way, a unique name.

The things to change are: (from > to)
Adobe Media Encoder > Photoshop Image Sequence
Format: JPEG > PNG [Settings: Compression=None/Fast, Interlace=None]
Frame Rate: Document Frame Rate > Custom
fps = 1

The fps = 1 is VERY important...it matches the 'frame duration' that you set earlier......1 second.
This ensures you only get 1 image per frame of the animation.
Failure to set this correctly will result in many many images that are all the same.

You can also choose your output folder too.

When you export this you should get 20 different images, uniquely named and all in one folder....and almost instantly too.

Remember to save the PSD file.

Sounds way more complex than it actually is but you'll end with a psd file which, once you've set up, you can use over and over again just by changing the text and exporting......pretty easy.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[iNewbie]

Thanks for that great reply MrTom...

I will try this method but it seems to me that I still need to do a lot of manual work, especially with copy/paste/replacing the text manually (if i am not mistaken). The ideal solution I am seeking is to have a text file in notepad (or any text editor etc.) and like a macro-script automaticly each line of text (in this case its one name per line) be copied, then pasted (replacing the existing centered text), getting centered, and exported... with a different file name...

I can create a macro to do this... perhaps all I need is a way for my exported files to have different names? That might be easier for me. Is ther a way I can have each file have a different name so I am not prompted to overwrite every time while exporting? Of course if there is a action-script type of calling that would be best...

Either way, I am going to check this method out and I am very appreciative. Maybe it works like I wish it does.

Thanks once again!

 

[hawkeye]

A perfect application for variables and data sets. Check the help files for more info.