Thanksto everyone who gave feedback on this newest endeavor! It seems like most of you have found the new release working well, showing up where it should show up, working like it should work, and generally improving your quality of life tenfold.

Here is a final (?) tweaked version of this little action pack (which, by the way, will also be ready for Elements 3-4-5 this coming week). It makes a minor adjustment to the code, and removes some extra code comments I had in there. Same actions as below - Curves, Channel Mixer, Layer Mask, Guides, Merge to New Layer, 110% Blast and Trim Canvas. If you’re not having any issues with the earlier release, you really don’t need this one. If you were a bit late to the party, I’ll keep this version up for a few days.

Again, thank you to everyone who gave their two cents - and enjoy the added power these actions give Elements 6!

Edit: Any feedback on these? Lots of downloads, no comments. I feel so used…

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The attached download link will bring Handy Actions Lite to your desktop. It contains nothing more than the installer - there’s no documentation, there’s no tutorials, there’s no how-to instructions!

Handy Actions Lite

It works just like all the other Graffi action packs - unzip it and run the installer and it will do all the work for you. Note that this installer is for Elements 6 only - if you don’t have Elements 6, please don’t download this because it just won’t work!

This link will self-destruct once 10 folks have downloaded it!  Hopefully, I’ll get some feedback from those who grab it . . .

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It’s ready! - Handy Actions Lite, the first set completely made especially for Photoshop Elements 6.

 

See the post below this one for all the details of what’s in this pack.

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Edit - the new Handy Actions Lite is now available in the Graffishop!

I got the new Elements 6 the other day. There’s not a whole lot of new stuff right up front, but there are a lot of improvements and changes “behind the scenes”, making it a bit tricky to add stuff to the program like layer styles, graphics, shapes and - yes - actions.

Tricky - but not impossible. One of the things I wanted to do with Elements5 was create a Handy Actions Lite set, with just 5 or 6 or so of the most-used handy tools not in Elements. Now that Elements6 is here, I figured this would be a good set to start with, to figure out the new directory structure and coding quirks that came with this version.

So here’s the first look at Handy Actions Lite sitting pretty in the Elements 6 Effects palette. I wound up with 8 actions in it, because you can’t really have Create Guides without having Clear Guides, and the 110% Blast action from way back was my first action compatible with Elements, so of course, it HAD to be included here, just for sentimental reasons.

The standard for actions - the Layer Mask action - is of course here, as is Merge to a New Layer and Trim Canvas.  These were pretty much no-brainers, as were the final two:

Curves is here, and it has a much different look in Elements6. Now there are three color curves to manipulate, and a histogram shows in the background. You can change this display to see pigment outputs instead of the default light, you can increase or decrease the grid size for easier manipulation, eyedroppers help find the black, medium and white points (and you can toggle on and off clipping, to see just those values), there are options for changing the preferences for how Curves works by choosing what it looks for (contrast, light & darkness) and you can change the clipping. If you want even more control, there’s a pencil tool to draw the curve you want, and you can save & load any settings you create or find on the web or share with others. This is a photographer’s dream tool.

The other tool available with this pack is the Channel Mixer, and it also has had a facelift from ver5. You can save and load presets, adjust individual channels, choose color or monochrome output, and create excellent B&W output.

I had posted some preset settings earlier, so grab those and you’ll be really in control of the tone balance of your images. These two tools alone - combined with the Layer Mask - are simply a can’t-go-wrong addition to Elements.

I’m finishing up the code for it this evening or tomorrow, and I’ll need a few folks with Elements 6 to test it for me - any takers? I’m really interested in Vista (and XP,too)  Elements 6-only.  Drop me a note -

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Adobehas released Photoshop Elements 6. It looks like they primarily focused on the Organizer for improvement this time, with fixes and  updates for Photomerge, step-by-step instructions for creations, PhotoBooks and panoramas, plus better selection tools and finer adjustment layer additions.

Oh, yeah - a direct upload to YouTube. Woo-hoo.

I also didn’t see an upgrade for Mac. Looks like another Windows-only edition of Elements this time.

I’m putting some final touches on the Action Packs for Elements, so look for new versions of them appearing later this week. I think you’ll like them!

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Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

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 Making cool (heh heh!) Ice with Bert Monroy.

Source: PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy Episode 46 - Ice

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SinceI’ve been in building mode lately, I thought I should create a set of blueprints for what it is I want to build.

Then I saw this effect and figured it was perfect for my needs.

Then I figured you might think it’s pretty cool, too - so I made an action of it.

As usual: it’s set up for Add-O-Matic installation to PSE 5, meaning it will prompt you each time you run it if you want to make a new thumbnail for it.

UpdateI fixed a quirk when it gets to the part about choosing the fill pattern - this has been updated and is ready for re-downloading (if you’ve already downloaded it, just overwrite your earlier version with this one- )

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