A Photoshop Action is a preprogrammed command or series of commands that one can record and replay in order to save time and reduce the monotony of the repeated actions often required during the development of visual media. It includes all automated commands available within the program through its various menus. For example, if there are a series of steps that a designer prefers to follow in order to achieve a certain effect, that artist can program those steps into one Photoshop Action with the option to create a shortcut key for that action so that this effect can be applied automatically. As another example, if there is a certain format in which a designer must save all of his or her work, a Photoshop Action can be recorded that goes through the entire “Save As” process. This would result resulting in a save that can be completed with the push of a button similar to how one would save a project with the default extension, which can save a good amount of time.
How It Is Done
A Photoshop Action is programmed as follows. Initially, one must ensure that the History/Action window is visible. If not, one can select “Show History” or “Show Actions” from the “Window” menu. Once the History/Action window has been identified, select the “Actions” tab. From there, select the right-pointing arrow just below the “Exit” (“x”) button, which opens up the window’s menu. From the menu, select “New Action…,” which appears first on the list. One can then name the action, select the set under which the action will fall under (this does not need to be changed if one is not interested in stratifying his or her actions), set the color scheme that is associated with this action, and select the shortcut key that will initiate this action, if desired. Once this is completed, click the “Record” button that appears above the “Cancel” button. The window will disappear and the user can then perform the set of commands of which he or she would like the Action to be comprised. Although the program would then be recording the commands input by the user, it does not record the amount of time it takes to perform these commands. Therefore, any amount of time can be spent recording the commands so that no mistakes are programmed into the Action as well. Once all of the necessary commands have been performed, the user can then open the menu from the arrow in the Actions window and select “Stop Recording,” which will likewise be the first option on the list. The Photoshop Action is thus created. A user can then apply this action whenever necessary by either selecting it from the list within the Actions window or by pressing the designated shortcut keys.
One must bear in mind that Photoshop Actions only apply to automated commands within the program. Subsequently, it excludes all actions performed through the tools menu, such as hand drawn lines, selections, erasures, and paintbrush functions. It is merely used for a series of steps that would otherwise require navigation to various menus followed by numerous selections. In other words, one can program an automated shadow rendering Action by manipulating various menu settings such as the creation of adjustment layers, copy-pastes, the application of bevels and other filers, layer property adjustments, and rasterizations. Alternately, one cannot automatically shadow an object by recording various maneuvers using the dodge and burn tools.
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