Trying to get an action to work

[pslane]

I am trying to run this action (3D text) and either I don't remember how or it's just not working right. Does the first line of action have to be highlighted in order to get the play arrow to be enabled? When I do that, I still get nowhere. Can I get some help with this, please?

Thanks,
pslane

BTW What does make a snapshot mean in this action ?

 

[MrToM]

[rant]

Yeah....good old easy to use actions eh?

You are right though, the line directly below the one highlighted in your image is the starting point.

EDIT:
I've just noticed there are in fact several 'Actions' in that 'Text effects' group...Thin Outline(Type), Medium Outline(Type), Bold Outline(Type)......etc etc....so to run each one you need to highlight the one you want first....then hit the play button.
----

Actions cannot just be created in the panel, they HAVE to be put into a folder.....grouped I suppose.
If you want to export the action you can't just export the one you want, you HAVE to export the whole folder....which could contain many actions.

For this reason what you end up with is a unique 'Group' for EVERY action you want to record......madness.

There is a way round it by creating an 'Export' group and dragging a copy of your action into it and then exporting that group but who wants to go through all that each time you want to save an action?

Madness.

[steps off soapbox]

[/rant]

Actions are very fickle when it comes to running them.....ALL the layers HAVE to be labeled EXACTLY as they were when the action was recorded....otherwise the action will just come to a grinding halt.....because it cannot find 'layer 0' or whatever.

So......is there anything in the running order that may suggest the label of the layer on which to start?

Does it need to start on an unlocked background layer?

A 'Snapshot' is just a record of the current state of the document....you'll find it in the 'History' panel.
Its useful if you want to 'experiment' with something....having no intention to keep any edits....you can 'try' something out and when done Click your 'snapshot' which will take you back to exactly how things were before you started 'experimenting'.

In the case of this Action its a way to 'Save' things without actually saving the document as a file.....its a 'Snapshot'.

Anyway, what error are you getting when the Action fails?
Or what happens when it fails?
How far does it get before it waves a white flag?

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[pslane]

I've done actions before with PSP and once I hit play, it just rolls along, occasionally asking for a color or a font size, etc. I have one for calendar grids that I run every month.
This action doesn't go anywhere. I click on play, it does one thing, thin outline and then it stops. Now am I supposed to choose one of the outlines or what? Seems that would defeat the purpose.
If I do that, I end up with error messages like "nothing is selected" or something is not available...you name it.

Good news! That was not the action I was supposed to download Close, but, not the right one. The one I wanted was actions4photoshop(3D-generator-ver1).atn
I downloaded it and it works fine. I have nice 3D text now.
Thanks