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matias.kiviniemi
matias.kiviniemi
Legend
April 18, 2017
Question

Automating Scripts and Actions

  • April 18, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 5107 views

Hi,

A bit self-promotion, but I created this Photoshop addon to automate scripts and actions and hoping to get some user feedback from experts of such It started from a personal need to run scripts from command line with more control. I had already done Generator/Node.js HTTP server for Photoshop so I added some APIs to manage files and run scripts using Curl. Then I tried it with an external folder watching utility, which worked out so well that decided to implement that as a feature.

So what the add on does is allows you to pick scripts and actions to

  • Drop files to script/action folders to run them automatically
  • Use HTTP requests to manage documents (open/close/upload/download) and execute scripts/actions
  • Communicate with scripts by passing URL parameters to script and return the script result in HTTP response to build intelligent automation

So my question is what would be your use case for this kind thing (if any) and what should such a solution manage. Any thoughts/opinions/feedback is very much appreciated. Also if you find it interesting and would like to experiment and write something in your blog/vlog, I'd be happy to sponsor a full version for you.

Matias

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    J
    Jeerish
    Participant
    August 3, 2018

    Hi matias,

    This seems like exactly what I might be looking for...

    I sell personalised artworks online. Most of it is created through php and two png files are generated. I then download them from my server. Run a layer style on one file and then combine them to create the final artwork. Then I upload that file to my customer.

    Do you think this process could be automated?

    matias.kiviniemi
    matias.kiviniemiAuthor
    Legend
    August 3, 2018

    Hi Jeerish,

    I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "run a layer style on one file". Do you mean running an action or script on the file or some manual editing?

    The ScriptServer allowed you to run configure actions and scripts to be run automatically by either copying them to a specific folder or by making http-requests on your computer. So if it is "run one script/action", that would be pretty close. That said, the built in automation tools (scripts, assets, Generator) are probably also quite close and unless you're processing hundreds or thousands of files, total automation might not be worth it.

    Unfortunately I no longer pursue selling it and the existing version would need updates to work. However I've opensourced the core components that allow you to more easily create such extensions. If you are a developer type, you might develop a custom extension for your needs. The sample plugin shows how to turn Photoshop to a server that lists/opens/closes documents using http requests (e.g. curl). It would be quite easy to add a custom command to run a script on the document also.

    GitHub - RationalMatta/photoshop-generator-core: Wrapper for Adobe Photoshop Generator extension layer

    photoshop-generator-sample/generator_sample.js at master · RationalMatta/photoshop-generator-sample · GitHub

    Matias

      J
      Jeerish
      Participant
      August 3, 2018

      Thanks for your reply.

      Yes it would just be running a simple action. And I will be selling a lot

      of products.

      I'm a designer not a developer but it's definitely something I will

      outsource someone to do.

      It's just great to know it's possible!

      On Sat., 4 Aug. 2018, 5:06 am matias.kiviniemi, <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

      A
      abstract_Ripple6C12
      Participant
      May 15, 2018

      This sounds really cool. Are you saying that you can set up something like a watch folder, and Photoshop would 'listen' for files to be dropped into that folder and automatically run Actions on that file, then move it to a 'processed' folder?

      I have a million uses for something like that.

        JJMack
        Community Expert
        JJMackCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 19, 2017

        matias.kiviniemi  wrote

        Hi,

        So what the add on does is allows you to pick scripts and actions to

        • Drop files to script/action folders to run them automatically
        • Use HTTP requests to manage documents (open/close/upload/download) and execute scripts/actions
        • Communicate with scripts by passing URL parameters to script and return the script result in HTTP response to build intelligent automation

        So my question is what would be your use case for this kind thing (if any) and what should such a solution manage.

        I know a little about Photoshop Scripting and how to use Photoshop.  I know about Photoshop Actions automated via Photoshop Droplets.

        I do not understand  what you have written here and I can not follow the video are the Add-on states Action/Script Server and sounded like droplet for script at first but for the list the Main features:

        * Automatically run scripts and actions by dropping them to a folder

        * Manage documents and run scripts from command line or network

        * Pass parameters to scripts and get result to build intelligent automation

        * Works with both automatic and interactive scripts

        Manage documents and run scripts from command line seems OK but "or network " Sounds like you making Photoshop a Network service which I feel might not sit well with Adobe.  But I see its on Adobe Add On site.  So I must not understand what this about of how the trial limit of one and script works where would these be. How Do I create them and what need to be in them  how to be interactive over the network.

        I need better documentation to understand what you have programmed.

        JJMack
        matias.kiviniemi
        matias.kiviniemiAuthor
        Legend
        April 20, 2017

        Thanks for the feedback JJ!

        So there is two sides in this:

        • You can manage documents and call scripts/actions from command line, e.g. build a script to automate a repetitive task
        • You can copy files to a special folder run a script/action, e.g. adhoc process a bunch of files

        I have to admit that even after several years of Photoshop development I had not heard of droplets before this. But yes, for actions the folder-part would seem similar to droplets (which don't require Photoshop to be running). A benefit is that if you change the actions, you don't need to recreate droplets and you can build more complex scripts like running multiple actions

        My original case was command line scripts, i.e. doing intelligent batch processing in a windows .cmd terminal. Using this I'd go through a folder of files, open each in Photoshop, run script, close & open next. Because you can pass information, you can give a parameter like size to the .cmd, which would pass it to the .jsx. You also get the result back from the .jsx so you could do conditions and other more intelligent things.

        The trial limit means that you can pick one .jsx-file and action at time (while full version can have any number). There is also more documentation in the addon. If you get it and open the panel and Info-section, it explains the features.

        C
        creativesatrizortvr
        Participant
        November 13, 2017

        This looks interesting. Could you please send me the updated link where I can have a look at it? Your second link in the original message does not work .

        Thanks,

        N

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