All of the action packs have been updated and uploaded and are ready for Photoshop Elements 7.  These new versions are “dual-version” installers, meaning that they’ll seamlessly install to Photoshop Elements 6 and7. Photoshop Elements 5 users can still get action packs for that version in the shops, too.

B&W Lab has a number of various ways to create black & white images - including the Black and White Adjustment Layer, from Photoshop CS3. Check the slideshow below:

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

Anew Sampler Pack for Photoshop Elements 7 (Windows-only) is now ready for free download. This pack contains a single effect from each of the full Graficalicus Action Packs: B&W Lab, FunFotoFX, Glam Photo, Handy Actions and Sketchy Paint. The download includes the installer and an information sheet.

The action effects included are Enlarge 110%, Old Romance, Soft Black & White, Weaver, and Sketch, from the full pack they represent. Samples of each action are scattered around this post.

New for Elements 7: The new generation of action packs also are placed in the new Actions Player, in Photoshop Elements’ Guided Edit mode. Special modified actions are inserted here to keep the workflow moving along.

All of the action packs have been upgraded to be Photoshop Elements 7-compatible, and install just as seamlessly as all earlier versions.

So if you’ve wondered about how easily and quickly the effect packs install into Photoshop Elements and were a bit hesitant about giving them a try, this is a good chance to see for yourself how they work. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed - each of the actions here are a representative of how the other Graffi action packs install themselves, and will demonstrate the one-click process. If you have both Elements 6 & 7 installed on your system, the installer will prompt you as to which version of Elements you want to add the actions to. New for Elements 7: A special version of these actions is also added to the "Actions Player", which you’ll find in the Guided Edit mode of the Photoshop Elements Editor workspace.

*Also, don’t forget to grab the Handy Actions Lite add-on action Transform Selection, which can be downloaded for free from this post. The Elements 6/7 version includes an installer for convenience, but there’s also an Elements 5 version that can be added manually, or with the assistance of Add-O-Matic.

The screenshot to the left shows how and where this pack will show up in Elements, and the shot to right is a screen grab of the interface - like it shows, just click "Install ‘em" and it’ll do all the work for you in just a matter of seconds.

Remember - if you like these actions, the rest of the Action Packs install just as easily, and offer a huge variety of effects, adjustments, add-on utilities and other goodies for Photoshop Elements.

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

This was posted as an edit to the post below, but I figured I should make it a separate entry as well for the RSS feed readers.

UPDATE: Add-O-Matic 7 is in the Graffishop! If you’ve purchased Add-O-Matic 6 since September 1 of this year, your download link in your My Account page has been changed to point to this new version - you can download at any time.

If you want to upgrade to this new version and you’ve already purchased Add-O-Matic, you can use this discount code:

adduhsg2756

to receive 30% off until November 1 2008

ANOTHER UPDATE: Handy Actions Lite is available for Elements 7 now, too. If you’ve bought it since September 1, you’ve got a free upgraded download waiting in your My Account link. There’s also a brand new bundle that has both Add-O-Matic 7 & Handy Actions Lite - a perfect 1-2 punch for Photoshop Elements users (if I do say so myself ).

Next up is B&W Lab, followed by Handy Actions & the remainder of the action packs. Look for them over the next week.

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

I’ve been messing around with Survey Monkey for some feedback at my “real” job, and thought I’d make a survey to post here, just for yuks.

So, if you’re a proud owner of one or more of the Graffi Action Effect Packs and/or Add-O-Matic, and you have a few seconds, will you pop over and answer the seven little questions I posted?

Thanks for feedback - I’m looking forward to getting back into making more sets this fall & winter!

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

The Graffi Bundle Packs are on sale for both Photoshop Elements 5 and 6 - at whopping 33%, too. This is a great way to grab all of the action sets at once: Handy Actions 3, B&W Lab 3, Glam Photo 3, Fun Foto FX 3, and Sketchy-Paint 3 as well as the ever-popular Add-O-Matic. The bundle includes over 240 actions for the Elements 6 version and a staggering 257 actions for the Elements 5 version! (By the way, the Elements 5 version also installs to PSE 3 & 4, too.)

(Unfortunately for Mac folks, the installers are for Windows. Contact me, though, and I can send a “Mac Pack” to you with the install instructions.)

There have been some minor tweaks to each of the packs over the past few weeks. No new actions or effects have been added, but some coding changes were made on the inside. Now they’ll install even more seamlessly than before, especially with Photoshop Elements 6 and its particular database & .xml requirements.

To celebrate (at least I’m celebrating until Elements 7 is released), these action effect packs especially made for Photoshop Elements (which sell separately for over $70) are now going for $47.95.

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

I’ll

be out on vacation the week of June 30 ~ July 6.

If you have any questions about any of the Graffishop things, I probably won’t get right back to you as fast as usual, since I’ll have limited email access, but I’ll respond as soon as I get back next Sunday.

In the meantime, I put Glam Photo and B&W Lab on sale for 25% off each - enjoy!

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!

a

new pair of actions for your Add-O-Matic. These are just for fun - no real functionality, like earlier actions - just a colored bar background and a texture overlay.

The colored bar background action was found on a tutorial site awhile back - I honestly don’t recall which one, but there are a bunch similar to the image this action creates. It can also be used to create the Windows XP logo colors - woo hoo!

I used it to create a backdrop for a photo I took of the famous Iwa Jima statue in Arlington, VA last February, on an extremely cold, blustery & snowy day. I ran the action, and flattened the image so it’s all on a single layer (I actually used the “Merge to New Layer” action, from Handy Actions 3, so the entire image is on it’s own layer with the other layers left intact).

Then I made a silhouette of the statue with a variety of selection tools (hint: I used some of the Channels tools, also in Handy Actions 3, to help get things selected just right). I created a new layer from the selection (again, Handy Actions 3) and filled it with black. Then I dragged the colored bars background image over, resized it, and there you have it. If you wanted, you could use different colors for the 4 bars - maybe a green, brown, tan & red would work better with this particular image…  It’s also taken from a different angle than what you may be used to seeing, so I could also have flipped the image horizontally to get a more familiar view of it. Ah well, you only notice these things after it’s been finished….

The other action simply creates a grungy texture and overlays it on a duplicate of your image. I ran it on these tiki monkeys shot at Disney last summer and then added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, with Colorize checked, for this final image.

I also played around with several actions from B&W Lab 3 for this photo I took in San Francisco last summer - first I ran “Splash of Color - Blue” and adjusted the layers for a nice blend. I followed that with the “Polarize” action twice, then ran the “Soft Black & White” action. Finally, I added the texture overlay, which really gave an old time newspaper feel to it.

playaround with different combinations of effects in the Bundle Pack - several folks have asked about tutorials and videos about how to use them to create various effects, and there really isn’t a single or “recommended” way - just load ‘em up, and start clicking. Play around with the layers that most of them create for you - turn some layers on or off, change blending modes and opacities, swap the order - it’s really up to you, and the possibilities are quite literally infinite.  Post your images in our Photoshop Elements Techniques Flickr group, too - I’d love to see what you’ve created!

Stay up to date with the latest posts - subscribe to the Rants & Raves RSS feed!