TLR Professional Sharpening Actions Panels
Submitted by mitch on Mon, 08/10/2009 - 18:02.
Photoshop CS4 includes support for .SWF panels. What's a .SWF panel?! It's a programming feature that originated with Adobe Flash Professional and its scripting language, Action Script.
Flash panels allow a programmer to extend Photoshop. I've used them here to add a slick user interface to tie together the many actions and action sets in the TLR Professional Sharpening Actions collection. If you've used the actions and action sets in that collection, then you're familiar with eleven different action sets and more than two hundred actions to select among.
Now, take a look at the one slick panel that ties them all together. It has a navigator strip to choose among Capture, Creative, and Output sharpeners.
You can still use the Actions panel, if that's your preference. Or, you can use these new Photoshop CS4 panels.
The settings on these panels are "sticky," which means that the panels remember your most recent choices (even if you close Photoshop and then open it again in another editing session). If you use the same settings for something like Inkjet output sharpening (I prefer 240ppi with Matte paper), your panel will retain those settings, making your work more productive with the TLR sharpening actions.
The panels can dock in Photoshop, too. Just drag them over to the side with other docked panels. When you dock them, the panels will open again automatically in later Photoshop sessions. You'll always have them quickly available.
Installing the panels is easy. Here are the steps:
- Download the .ZIP file. It contains the panels and, as a convenience, a copy of the TLR Professional Sharpening Actions collection.
- If the action sets from TLR Professional Sharpening Actions and TLR Edge and Surface Masks are not yet loaded into Photoshop, then load them.
- Select the panels you want to load. There are four panels: Capture, Creative, Output, and Sharpening. Most users will want to load the Sharpening panel. It combines all three panels with a navigator strip. If you use a subset of the TLR sharpening actions, you might want to just one or two of the panels.
- Unzip the panels you want and their associated Javascript files. You'll need both files. The .SWF panels use the Javascript files to call the appropriate Photoshop actions.
- The .SWF panel(s) and associated Javascript file(s) go in the Panels subfolder under your Photoshop installation.
If you followed the Photoshop CS4 defaults during installation, you'll find the Panels subfolder in either of these locations:
- PC: Program Files\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-Ins\
- Mac: Applications\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-Ins\
Once you've copied the files, restart Photoshop CS4. Then go to Window | Extensions and click on the Sharpening (or other panel's) submenu item.
This will open the panel. You can leave it undocked or dock it. Your choice.
You'll get the most of these panels by docking them. Just drag-and-drop. They even adopt Photoshop default colors and fonts.
If you're new to the TLR sharpening actions, click here for the page that explains the functionality that's available with the TLR Professional Sharpeing Actions collection.
Technorati Tags: 
Manual and Videos Coming
I'll be working on a manual and videos over the next two days to help people get the most from this new panel and the sharpening functionality it exposes.
This will be available by electronic download for a small fee to defray the bendwidth for the video.
Benefactors will receive free access as part of their benefits. For more info about the Benefactor program, click here . . .
Mind reader!
Ric Grupe
Came here to ask about or look up this info!
I'll be looking forward to your presentation.
BTW, Mitch...I really appreciate this site and your efforts.
.PDF Added
I added a .PDF of this page to the .ZIP file as a convenience for users.
LOWELL FRANGA
Mitch, thanks for these panels, they do ROCK! Looking forward to viewing your videos on these. Thank you so much for sharing with us, you are terriffic!
Update to TLR Professional Sharpening Actions Panels
I posted an update today. In the original version, the calls to the Photoshop actions cause the actions to open. This left the Actions palette rather untidy.
I rewrote all of the action calls. They will expand the action set(s). But the actions will run without expanding. This is much tidier.
Enhanced Capture Sharpen with Action Panel
Mitch: I just download the Action Panel. I already had the sharpening actions installed. All is working fine.
I notice the Action Panel allows one to select Enhanced for Capture Sharpening. When I first got the actions, the enhanced portion was not active, and I have since activated it.
My questions are:
1. With the panels, is it necessary to activate the enhanced feature before it can be used?
and a related version
2. What happens if the enhanced feature is not activated, and you select Enhanced in the Panel?
thanks, gollywop
Re. Enhanced Edges
Hi Gollywop:
Ehanced refers to the edges for the masks. The traditional mask for edges and surfaces relies on luminosity differences.
My actions/scripts also offer the option of enhanced masks. These combine a luminosity mask and a color mask. A color mask is sensitive to differences in color, even when those adjacent areas have similar luminosity. The result is a much better defined edge/surface mask.
The downside is that the color mask is resource intensive. It takes longer to generate than a luminosity mask. Some people prefer a fast option. So, they choose luminosity mask.
I prefer the results with enhanced masks. So, that's where my sticky setting remains. ;)
Continuation
Hello, Mitch. Yes, I know what your enhanced mask does, and I too appreciate it and use it. My question, however, has to do with whether the Sharpening Panel activates the enhanced portion of the action. As I recall, when I first downloaded the actions, the enhanced elements were, by default, not active (checked), and you posted instructions for activating them, which I did.
But the Panel has the Enhanced button available all the time. What does that button do if one has not activated the enhanced portions of the actions beforehand?
thanks, gollywop
Re. Continuation
The panel supports both the enhanced edge masks and the luminosity edge masks. It depends on your selection for the "Type" combobox.
Respectfully, it was there in the beta. It does default to Luminosity. It's my perception, that's what users expect.
http://www.thelightsright.com/SharpeningPanelsBeta
The "Type" combobox has the appearance of a button. But, if you click on it, you can choose Luminosity or Enhanced. When you choose Enhanced, it selects an enhanced edge mask. When you check Luminosity, it selects a Luminosity mask.
Both sets of actions are in the same capture action set(s). The panel just makes it easy to select among them.
IOW, if you want the capture sharpening with enhanced masks, select Enhanced. If you want the famiiar Luminosity masks, select Luminosity. The sharpening settings themselves are unaffected. The Type combobox only affects the masks that are generated.
More Re. Continuation
The actions were altered to eliminate the need to alter them to invoke enhanced masks.
http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRProfessionalSharpeningActions#comment-4...
This added more actions, but also readied the action sets for the new panels.
Update to Fix Enhanced Masks
I posted an update (1.0c) today that enables Enhanced edge and surface masks. The previous versions included the option, but in most cases the result was still a luminosity mask.
You need to replace both the panel(s) and the supporting actions.
Thanks, Mitch
Thanks, Mitch; these updates seem to be working just fine. A lovely addition.
gollywop
High-pass layer
Hi Mitch, This is a great panel with awesome actions. Been using the actions for some time. I was wondering if could add a simple high-pass layer option to the creative tab? I remember using it a fair bit as an action. Really liking the portrait and landscape sharpening as well as the texture sharpening... so much good stuff here.
Again thanks for all your work.
Cheers, Joel
Addition to Creative Sharpening Panel
Mitch:
In using the Creative Sharpening Panel, I found that it would be very useful if you could add a drop-down to it that would allow one to choose between the Reveal All and Hide All Mask. I often find that Hide All is what I need, and that requires changing the mask for the Sharpening Layer. No big deal, but a drop-down that allowed the selection from the outset would be nice.
thanks,
gollywop
Re. Addition to Creative Sharpening Panel
The new panel has a small button to "Add a Layer Mask." It will work like this:
(1) If there is an active selection, use that as the layer mask.
(2) If not, add a Reveal All or Conceal All layer mask. Which gets added is determined by the User Preferences setting you choose.
I can consider atering this behavior. Or, adding a button to invert the existing mask.
Mitch
Status Update
I had hoped to finish this over the long holiday weekend. I'm not so optimistic now. I lost time due to a severe ear ache. I was down for a couple of days pretty much altogether.
I'm on the mend now, but there's a lot of work and it keeps expanding as I make this panel more professional in appearance and function.
This will be the skeleton for future panel releases, so I'm working hard to get things right.
The panel will be larger than previous TLR panels. 300 pixels wide and 500 pixels high. That will keep everything from being cramped.
There are small icon buttons for features. Up with the Presets combobox, there are small icons to update, add, or delete presets.
At the bottom, there are icons to open up Preferences, open up the advanced settings (called Refine), add a new layer, add a layer mask from a selection, invert the current layer mask, temporarily toggle off visible sharpening effects, and to add/update the USM sharpenng effect.
I've added a flyout menu, also. So you can use the menus or the buttons.
I've looked into adding a keyboard stroke monitor to apply the settings on alt+ctrl+shift+A. The problem is resigning control back to Photoshop. The documentation is silent on this.
Documentation has been a small problem throughout. The documentation is not the best. In some cases, information overload. For basic facts, it's sometimes absent. It's spread over a number of documents.
I'm still working on getting the keystroke shortcut to work.
The panel will watch what happens in Photoshop, like the Adjustment and Mask panels that ship with Photoshop CS4. So, if you don't have a file open, for example, the settings will be replaced by a message that tells you that you need to open a file first.
It will also communicate with Photoshop. FOr example, it will detect the Mode of the active document. For a L*a*b document, it will apply the sharpening to the Lightness channel and the Lighten and Darken blends will be replaced with Lighter Color and Darker Color blends. IOW, the panel will react so it is compatible with RGB, CMYK, L*a*b, or Grayscale.
I'll try to get another early beta available for testing very soon!