How to make good actions

This is more a collection of tips than a tutorial.

• Experiment! Combine different filters.
• If you find a good combination and can't remember how you got the effect, use the events palette to see what you used for effects.
• Write down the steps you made in case of a computer crash.
• Try not to use a lot of not-included plug-ins, you should only use the most usual plug-ins (EyeCandy, Kai's Power Tools, Xenofex).
• After you have completed the action, you should test it several times, so you make sure that there are no bugs in it. It would also be good if you could test it on another computer with Photoshop.
• If you're planning on distributing the action, then don't use Photoshop's own layer names, like when you copy and paste, the layer name will be "Layer 1". This won't work in for example a Swedish version, where the layer name would be "Lager 1". So after you pasted, rename the layer to something different.
• The same thing with channels, rename the channels you add, it should not be named "Alpha 1", so people with other languages can run the action.
• Make the action userfriendly, you should included a lot of "stop" messages to help the user on the way.

Copyright 1999-2003 Michael Stormbom.
All rights reserved.