If you’re attending Photoshop World in Boston next week & have an interest in customizing/extending Photoshop, please come check out the sessions that Jeff Tranberry, Tom Ruark, and I are doing on Wednesday afternoon. We’ll start things simple with Configurator & move gradually into actual script-writing. I’ve posted the details in this post’s extended entry.
Photoshop Extensibility and Productivity Track (Room 206)
Learn how to customize and extend Photoshop CS4 using the latest technologies from Adobe and the Photoshop development team.
Configurator & Custom panels in Photoshop CS4
1-1:30pm
Instructor: John Nack
Configurator is a utility that enables the easy creation of panels (palettes) for use in Adobe Photoshop® CS4. Specifically, Configurator makes it easy to drag and drop tools, menu items, scripts, actions, and other objects into a panel design, then export the results for use inside Photoshop. Configurator is great for any Photoshop user who’d like to customize the application interface, without having to learn Flash/Flex/ActionScript. It’s particularly suited to authors, trainers, and other experts who’d like to create panels that make Photoshop easier to use, and who’d like to share those panels with others. See demos of the creative possibilities that custom panels provide.
Extending Configurator with Scripts
1:30-2:30pm
Instructor: Jeff Tranberry
Take Configurator panels to the next level by leveraging Javascript to create buttons with custom, intelligent behaviors. Photoshop offers a world of new possibilities to those who are familiar with writing scripts to automate and extend Photoshop. In this session you’ll learn the basics of scripting in Photoshop CS4 using Javascript and examine some real world examples of how you can make use of these basics to push Photoshop Configurator panels even further. In addition, you will learn how to use Adobe Extension Manager to package your panels along with scripts and action for easy end user installation.
Creating custom a Custom SWF Widget for Configurator
2:30-3pm
Instructor: Jeff Tranberry & Tom Ruark
Learn how to write your first custom SWF Widget using Adobe Flex Builder 3.0. We’ll look at how to create a swf to display a RSS feed as well as a weekly video training widget.
Creating a custom panel in Flex 3.0
3-4pm
Instructor: Tom Ruark
Learn how the keynote panel was created and take a step by step look at the details of the code. Attendees will learn the details of the “Photoshop Panel’s Guide” and how to create panels for Photoshop using Adobe Flex Builder 3.0.
Panel, Plug-In and Scripting Workshop
4-5pm
Hosts: Tom Ruark & Jeff Tranberry
Members of the Adobe Photoshop product development team will be on hand to help answer your scripting, panel, and plug-in development questions.
Will they be recorded? I never get to those things, but this is one of the first I actually regret missing.
I kneel before you!
Configurator is AWESOME piece of development! No, Stop! Photoshop comes First 🙂
See you there, J…
Hi John,
I agree with Doug.
For us foreign people it really would be great, if the lessons would be recorded and could be accessed later online.
I would pay for these online lessons.
I so wish I could be there!
I always try to include a basic intro to scripting in the Photoshop classes that I teach. For most people, I find that the real obstacle to learning how to script in Photoshop is… knowing that you can!
Seriously, scripting opens up so many possibilities, yet the large majority of people aren’t even aware of its existence (in my experience).
[Yeah, scripting is one of those things that people *want* to want to do, if you know what I mean. There are so many steps we could take to make it more accessible, and yet those are perpetually deferred in favor of other more urgent work. At least Configurator takes steps towards really democratizing the creation of custom UI. –J.]
Anyway, best of luck with the session, Jeff, Tom, and John.
As a Flex developer and professional photographer I look forward to joining these technologies. I’ll see you there!
Hi John and fellow readers
Apologies for asking this here, but I have a question regarding Flash Panels which I cannot find an answer to after much searching:
I have a whole bunch of custom brewed actions which I want to formalise/launch via a panel.
Is it possible for a panel to contain radio buttons/check boxes which would control which actions are called upon execution? (for example, if I am colour correcting a portrait can I have three radio buttons “warm”, “hi-key” and “standard”. Based upon this user choice a specific combination of actions are called.) Is this possible?
Apologies beforehand for the high likelihood of ignorance:-)
Wern
[It’s certainly possible, Wern, though not with Configurator alone (as Configurator doesn’t offer tools for assigning logic and relationships to buttons). You’d need to use Flash or Flex Builder to construct the interface, then attach it to the actions that interest you. –J.]