Photoshop CS4: Intelligent extensions with panels

By Dirk Metzmacher

Since CS4 it’s possible to extend Photoshop with so called panels. Panels are palettes that you can easily create yourself. Based on Flash, they give you numerous options that go far beyond actions and even scripts, such as sending email directly from Photoshop, blog infos, watermark, lorem ipsum, or grid generators.

Installation

First download all the data to your computer and unpack the files. Some panels offer icons to directly install them with a double click, others need to have their files moved to a certain directory.

When an icon with the ending .mxp is double clicked, the Adobe Extension Manager CS4 pops up. This should work on a Mac just as it does on a PC. You follow the instructions in the program and close it after the installation. Other sorts of files must be moved to the folder Adobe > Adobe Photoshop CS4 > Plug-ins > Panels. When you (re)start Photoshop, you can call the panels with Window > Extensions. The palettes can be free floating or docked with the other palettes.

Avoiding problems

It can happen that an older version of the Extension Manager (like CS3 for CS4) tries to install the panels. Naturally, this won’t work, so in order to avoid errors you should open the most recent version of the Extension Manager by hand. The installation is then called with a button of the same name.

Lorem Ipsum

The dummy text „Lorem ipsum“ has been used as a placeholder for centuries now. The words are similar to Latin, but are meant to be incomprehensible so the viewer can concentrate on the layout first. And even though this placeholder can sometimes cause funny customer reactions – like somebody asking if the foreign language will be translated later on – it is very frequently used, in web design as well.

The Lorem Ipsum panel creates a dummy text generator as a palette for Photoshop CS4. After the installation you can find it under Window > Extensions > LoremGen. Unfortunately, only the number of sentences can be entered for now. A click on Generate Text creates them and they can be copied and pasted into the layout. Another input field to arrange paragraphs would be desirable.

Gridmaker

Especially in web design layout patterns, also called grids, are frequently used. This helps in making the page appear clean and structured. They also assist the designer with his arrangements, because certain formats (in width) are simply pre-defined. The Gridmaker is a panel that can create such grids.

After clicking on Window > Extensions > GridMaker you can already create a new document. You enter values for the number and width of the single units, which also affects the overall width of the document. You then create it with a click on Create Document. By the way, the grid is made of guide lines.

The Emailer

The Emailer is also opened via Window > Extensions. This one lets you send emails directly out of Photoshop. The panel offers two options for this. The Email Account Preferences button leads to a second page where you can enter any outgoing server (port 587). Complete the form with values for the account name, password, and the sender address, and you’re ready to send documents including a message without ever leaving Photoshop.

The second method uses an external program like Microsoft Entourage, Mac Mail or Microsoft Outlook. You just tick a checkbox for Use email application and select the desired email software. Now you can decide whether only the current document or all open documents should be put into the email via Send all open images. The images can also be sharpened, converted to sRGB or resized beforehand.

Otherwise you simply enter the address, a subject, and optionally a short message, just like in any other email program. Click on the Send current image button and all of the concepts are sent to the customer. If you have selected an external application like Outlook or Mail, the respective program pops up and lets you do the necessary inputs there.

Sharpening

With Pro Capture Sharpening and Professional Sharpening Actions we have two professional palettes that take care of sharpening image material.

Capture offers some presets which are divided into five categories: Low Resolution Digitial Cameras (LRDC) for photographs below 3MP, Medium Resolution Digital Cameras (MRDC) for pictures between 3MP and 8MP, High Resolution Digital Cameras (HRDC) for images above 8MP, Small Film Scans (SFS) for films such as APC and 35mm, and Large Film Scans (LFS).

Depending on the preset and its subitems the sliders change, although you could adjust them manually as well. On the lower right side there’s a small button that executes the application. The sharpened result is now on a layer of its own. Sharpening’s clean and well-arranged interface offers numerous actions and action sets for sharpening.

The Watermark Creator

The panel called The Watermark Creator puts a watermark in one or more files. First you define a water mark source file. This could be a Photoshop or Illustrator file, a JPEG, a PNG or a TIFF file. In case of Photoshop files you can retain the layers, and blending modes and styles are kept as well.

You can choose to have all open documents fitted with a watermark, or those within a certain folder. Since you shouldn’t overwrite your original files of course, you should input a folder where the marked versions are stored after the treatment. A rough positioning of the watermark is possible through a selection menu that offers options like Top right or Centered left.

In order to avoid a watermark sticking right to the edge, you can define a horizontal and vertical margin. You could then scale the mark or change its opacity. The Watermark Preview button allows you to check the effect of your inputs at any time.

Finally, you can set some JPEG export options such as selecting Standard JPEG or JPEG for web. The quality, size, and resolution of the photo can be entered and a sharpening pass could be applied. A click on Execute sees to it that the watermarks are inserted and the images are saved in the selected folder.

Adobe Configurator

You can easily create your own panels. It’s easy when they have a very simple structure. For more advanced solutions you will need knowledge of Flash. The Adobe Configurator, which is an Adobe AIR application, can be downloaded from the Labs.

After starting the software and choosing Create New Panel you first select the size of the palette, then you can already insert the contents of the panel via Drag & Drop. You could easily insert your most frequently used tools as icons, or menu items that might usually be nested too far down in the depths of Photoshop – all for quicker access.

Using the mouse you can position these buttons and icons with millimeter precision. If you create your own actions you can use them in a panel as well. Even a Photoshop newbie can do this.

Javascripts or Flash files are a bit more tricky. By the way, videos and text can also be inserted. If you’re satisfied with your work, you click on File > Export Panel in the menu. The exported files belong in Photoshop CS4’s panels folder, and you’re ready to call your own palette with Window > Extensions.

P.S.: Some Photoshop gurus such as John Nack and Julieanne Kost or Scott Kelby offer panels that make their blog contents available directly in CS4.