It was probably inevitable, with my wife, two sons, countless friends, and a lot of other folks already there. I went ahead and set up a personal page as well as a Graffi page.

Now you can add me as a friend, and we’ll be, like, besties!

Of course I’m only semi-serious - go ahead and add me as a friend - I’ve even started a Graffi group for Elements!

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There’sa brand new Flickr group out there for all you tricksters, hi-jinx-players and flat-out liars called "A Pack of Lies"

It was especially created as an online, open gallery for manipulations and trickery created from original or borrowed images using Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, or any other image editing application.

Already the collection is growing, with excellent offerings from a variety of liars, sneaks and cheaters.

If you think you’re a sneaky bastard who can pull the wool over everyone’s eye’s with your photo manipulations, post some of your best work. It’s all in fun - anything goes.

See you there!

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Ready for
Elements 7!
XP and Vista
Compatible!

Over 40 Glamourous Photo Effect actions for Photoshop Elements :: Updated and ready for Photoshop Elements 7.0

The Glam Photo Action Set contains 40+ actions made especially for Photoshop Elements (any version). The self-installer will extract the actions, generate thumbnails, and load them up the next time you start Elements. Each action has been carefully scripted to work especially with Photoshop Elements, and the effects themselves are intended to be used as either an end result or as a starting point for further enhancement.

Some effects that may not look like much on their own are incredibly useful for setting a mood, creating an atmosphere, or for the beginning of a photo manipulation. The "Extreme" effects (Extreme Contrast and Extreme Color), for example, can be flattened and moved on top of an image with the Glamour 6 effect, and the opacity and blend can be adjusted for truly stunning effects. Also, several effects can be run right on top of each other: the Soften effect is a good example of this. Run it three or four or more times to get a gorgeous "dreamy" effect.

The example above, for instance, is the Neon effect, flattened, and brought in as a new layer over the original. The Neon Blend mode was changed to Soft Light to get the effect. The example to the right uses the Pop Streak effect, flattened, and loaded on top of the original and changed to a Hard Light blend.

More samples from this action pack can be found here, or take a look at the slideshow down below:

Once installed, look for them in your Effects palette, in the Glam Photo submenu.  In Photoshop Elements 7, they’ll also appear in the Actions Player, in Guided Edit mode.

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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:

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I’ve got the new version ready, and it sports the features mentioned in the earlier post.

It is now ready for both Photoshop Elements 6 and 7 in a single package.  The Add-O-Matic for Elements 5 is still available, but won’t be upgraded to be included in this package.

And, oh yeah - Photoshop Elements 7 came out today. Some interesting features, but I’m having a hard time getting past the ads for photoshop.com, including popup messages….

It does have a much cooler looking icon, though (no more little bitty camera). More on Elements 7 later…

If you have just one version of Elements installed (either 6 or 7), Add-O-Matic7 seamlessly and invisibly goes through its routine, adding all your extra goodies right where they need to go and creating your required .xml files on the fly.  Now it ecven adds a generic thumbnail for your actions, so your Effects palette won’t look so empty!

If you have both Elements 6 and 7 installed on your system, however, Add-O-Matic is smart enough to find them and it will ask you which version you want to add goodies to. (If you want to add goodies to both versions, you’ll have to restart Add-O and run your items through it again).

After it finishes, it will ask if you want to simply quit the utility, or if you want to quit and immediately launch Elements 6 or 7.

If you only have one version of Elements installed, it will know this, too, and you’ll see two options - quit, or quit and launch your version of Elements.

I’d still like a few more beta testers, though - if you’ve got Elements 7, or Elements 6, or both and are running Vista or XP and would like to test it out, drop me a note in the comments box below.

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Here’ssome information on the new Add-O-Matic v7, set to coincide with the release of Photoshop Elements 7 in early October.

I’ve started getting questions and requests for the newest upgrade to all of the Action Packs in the Graffishop already, and the Add-O tops the most-requested list. 

I’ve already got a prototype for the newest version in Alpha stage, and so far so good. There’s a few new twists that Photoshop Elements users will be interested in:

• Add-O-Matic 7 will support both Photoshop Elements 6 and Photoshop Elements 7. If you have (or anticipate having) either or both versions of Elements, there will be no need to choose which version to get. It will automatically detect which version(s) of Elements you have installed, and store your add-ons appropriately.
• If you have both Elements 6 & 7, it will prompt you to choose a version to add your selected extras to.
• The Add-O-Matic for Photoshop Elements 5 will still be available as a separate utility for those who do not choose to upgrade to Photoshop Elements 6 or 7.
• In addition to the already-supported file types *.aco, *.act, *.abr, *.csh, *.pat, *.grd, *.atn, *.asl & *.8bf’, this edition (tentatively) supports Curves, Channel Mixer, Contours & Black and White presets (*.acv, *.cha, *.shc & *.blw files, respectively).
• The popular "Quit Add-O-Matic and Launch Elements" button will be available after the process is complete.
• (Tentative) Thumbnail support for actions is available, where any action you add will be assigned a generic thumbnail image.
• Also concerning actions, instead of the previous "Added Effects" sub-category, Add-O-Matic 7 will create a new "Add-O-Matic" category for added actions.
• The interface will remain the same as it is in Add-O-Matic v6. If it ain’t broke, . . .     You’ll be able to simply drag your add-ons into the hotspot and click the  "GO!"  button, and everything else will be done for you in a single pass.
• Upgrade pricing will be available. Look for a message in your Inbox in early October if you’re a Graffishop member already (and have opted to receive emails) and you have a previous version of Add-O-Matic.

Upgradesto the rest of the Action Packs (Handy Actions, Handy Actions Lite, B&W Lab, Glam Photo, Fun Foto FX & Sketchy Paint) will be released throughout October as well (probably in the same order as listed), and there will be two new "mini-bundles" that include the Add-O-Matic bundled with either Handy Actions or Handy Actions Lite. The full bundle pack will also be upgraded to include installers for Photoshop Elements 7 by early November. As always, check here first for announcements concerning those release dates (or subscribe to the rss newsfeed)

I’ll be looking for some Beta testers in the next few days - both XP & Vista users with both Elements 6 & 7.  (By the way, I got taken to school with previous releases of all the action packs, so it probably will not be a public beta as all previous versions have been…) . Look for an announcement concerning that soon -

Thanks for all your support, and for keeping the Add-O-Matic the #1 "must have" accessory for adding extras to Photoshop Elements!

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Bear
with
me……over the next few days (hopefully, that’s a worst-case scenario) while I do a long-overdue upgrade to the main Graficalicus.com site.  It’s been over 4 years since the last operating system upgrade, and aside from a few cosmetic & css changes, it’s been about the same since 2004.

I’m going to clean out the database, too - there are a lot of folks who’ve registered there thinking it’s the graffishop, and vice-versa, so I’ll work to consolidate that database.

Anyway, you might see a bit of downtime over the next few days and nights.

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