Droplets!

What is a Droplet?

A Droplet in photoshop is a "program" of sorts that allows you to create a "function" to be reused on many photos at once.

I get this question all the time, "I need to re-size 100+ photos from my recent vacation, how do I do it easily?"

Well, there is an answer!

Droplets!

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First off, you need to create an action for the droplet to work off of. I will quickly explain how to do this but not spend too much time on it. It is not the point to this tutorial.

Go to Window > Actions

This will bring a window up on the right side of the work area. At the bottom of the pane, there will be what looks like a music player. It will have a [rec] button, a play button and a stop button.


Once we have that open then it is time to open a photo, any random one will do.

Now that the stage has been set up, we can begin the fun stuff. Back over at that actions palette that we opened earlier, you want to hit that record button (it looks like a red dot). Photoshop is now recording everything you do and select. Don't worry, if you make a mistake you can go back later and delete that step in the recording!

Now go to;

Edit > Image Size

After the dialogue opens, you want to change the units from pixels (pxl) to percentage. and then change the 100 to 50. This effectively reduces the size to 50% of the original. Now, click Ok

Now go to;

1. 
   
   Image > Adjustments > Auto Color
2. 
   
   Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels
3. 
   
   Image > Adjustments > Auto Color Corrections

To finish the action off; save.

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Make with the Droplets Already!

Ok! Now that the ugly business of making the action is over, lets get to the good stuff!

Go to File > Automate > Create Droplet

This will bring up, what else, a dialogue.

Fist off, you need to choose a place to save your Icon to. The easiest to remember is the desktop ot a file folder withing the desktop. (if you plan to make a few of these bad boys. throw them onto a folder)

Then you want to choose what set of actions or action you want to droplet to use. You also want to leave the file extensions alone because this could mess up the resulting file. Unless you are changing the default .jpeg to .png and that is your droplet function.

You also need to choose the directory or folder that the final copies of the images will be put by the droplet.

Your Droplet is ready for use!

open your directory (folder) that contains the images that you want to apply the action to and drop and drop the files onto the icon.

This is what the icon should look like:


Doing this will open Photoshop and all you have to do is sit back and relax while you heavy lifting is done FOR YOU by Photoshop.

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How to make an animated GIF in Photoshop

Learn how to make basic animated GIFs using Photoshop CS and above!

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In this, first post of this blog, we will learn how to make a rudimentary animated gif. There are ways to get very detailed and make very complicated animations. However, those are a bit out of the scope of this tutorial. I will put together another tutorial (or 2) to illustrate these methods. In this tutorial, you will learn the basics of animating and making layers "move" using the tools that are in Adobe Photoshop CS and above.

This is going to be the final product!

1. Create a New Document with the dimensions that are shown in the below image.

2. Upon the palette loading, make a new layer and name the first one "Background".

3. Fill the background layer with whatever color you like.

4. Select the Type Tool and type your name or whatever text you want to animate.

Depending on your screen resolution, the animation palette can be pretty large and encroaching. So you don't want the palette out unless you are ready to start animating. We are now ready to start animating out text.

5. Start by pulling out the animation palette. To do this go to Window > Animation. The below image shows what this looks like.

This will bring up the horizontal animation palette. The following image will show what this will look like and show you the main buttons that you will be using.

6. Next, click on the text layer and then click on the "Move" Tool.

7. Go to the Animation Palette and click on the New Frame button.

8. Then move your text anywhere on the canvas you want it to "move" to.

9. Then go back the Animation Palette and click on the first frame. (There should be two)

10. Click on the "Tween" Button and a dialogue will pop-up.

The "New Frame" button is what you will most likely be using the most.
The "Tween" button is probably the coolest button in Photoshop.

Below is a reference image to show what this dialogue looks like.

I set up mine to have 15 frames. This controls how fast the animation moves. I also chose to have all layers animate. If you were doing an advanced animation, you would choose "Selected layers". Again, that's for another tutorial. If you also notice , by default, it tweens to the next frame. Keep it there. you can play with other options later. Click ok.

This will add 15 frames for a total of 17 frames. Then you can use the move tool to drag the text back down to the bottom of the canvas. Then you would go back to the animation palette and click to the second to last frame (16 I believe, if not then the second to last one). Then click the Tween button again. and use the same options as last time.

You can then move over to the left of the tween button and hit play. Test this until it is as clean and fluid as you like.

Saving Your Animation

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Go to File > Save For Web

This will bring up a dialogue that may be kinda confusing. Use the defaults that are already there and simply hit save. Give it a meaningful name and your done! You may now embed it on any website or forum. Below is a reference to what this dialogue should look like. I didn't include the whole dialogue, just the important part.

This should be close to your Final Result.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write a review at the bottom of the page.

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Introduction:

A short introduction to who I am and what this blog is about.

I am going to start this blog to help anyone interested in graphic design. I have been working in graphics for about 3 years and am a moderator on a photoshop contest website called PhotoshopTalent.com. I also want to be able to highlight other peoples tutorials and talents. So, if you want to show your abilities and submit a tutorial, leave me a Comment/Review at the bottom of this page. The layout of this blog will be changing frequently until I can find one I am happy with.
Cody