The progress of Configurator

Adobe evangelist Julieanne Kost has worked with Kelby Training to create a video tutorial showing how to assemble custom UI panels using Adobe Configurator. Note that you need to be a KT member to watch more than the intro segments.

Elsewhere, I see that photographer & author Vincent Versace is using Configurator-made panels to enhance his writings on black & white conversion and selective blur/focus. Way to go, Vincent. I love seeing experts embrace a new way to download their brains right into Photoshop.

Normally I don’t talk about unannounced products, but I’m happy to report that development of the Configurator authoring tool is proceeding nicely. (Didn’t want you to think it was a “one-and-out” kind of endeavor.) Besides addressing key requests from users of v1.0, we’re focusing heavily on plumbing like object containers, auto-layout, and localizability. That’ll let us eat our own proverbial dog food, using Configurator to create Photoshop enhancements that ship in the box. (I expect our ideas here to generate much discussion and maybe even some controversy, but no one ever said that progress was easy. I’ll be asking for your input soon.)

If you’re using Configurator today, I’d love to hear from you & see examples of your work. Let us know how you use the tool and/or how you’d like to use it.

5 thoughts on “The progress of Configurator

  1. I used it to create a fully customised tool palette with all my commonly used things…
    I think I’m gonna have to learn to script things for it too. Is it javascript it uses?
    [Yes: Flash panels, including those made by Configurator, are just a front end to the Photoshop scripting system. You don’t have to learn scripting to do lots of basic things, but at some point it becomes necessary. –J.]

  2. Using it. Loving it. Nothing fancy, just putting all the tools for common tasks together in one place. The idea was great when you first floated it. In practice, even better!

  3. Configurator is pretty cool, but I quickly came to some limitations, so I downloaded the Flex Builder trial to try some more advanced stuff. I made a panel to display product information and pictures related to the name of the currently selected document.
    I’d like to see a bit more overlap between Configurator and Flex. It would be cool if I could import a Configurator panel into Flex as a project, or have a group of SWF components (made with Flex) in the Configurator sidebar.
    I’m a n00b when it comes to scripting/programming, and unfortunately, I haven’t found many people making Flex panels for Photoshop. I’ve found some “bugs” with the way my Flex/SWF panels work in Photoshop, but for all I know, they are features.
    Configurator has been useful though, I’ve made a panel with a dozen scripts and several of the built in functions to streamline my workflow. Configurator is a big improvement over the “Button Mode” of the actions panel.

  4. Hey there,
    are there any infos about configurator beeing developed also for Illustrator? Ai in my opinion still lacks some smart ways to work with it efficiently (compared to PS and ID). Sometimes it’s really a pain in the a** to walk through all the submenues to come to a certain command…
    So: Do you have any news about it?
    Any information appreciated!
    Kind Regards

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