Photoshop SCRIPTING!!!

[mgeduld]

I was hanging out on Adobe's site, yesterday, and I noticed that they're giving away (i.e. it's free) a plugin that makes Photoshop scriptable via Javascript, vbscript or applescript. I haven't had time to play with it yet, but it sounds like a dream come true. Even if you aren't a programmer, this is an exciting development, because you should soon be able to use other people's scripts.

Javascript seems to be the scripting language of choice these days (if you're thinking of learning programming, you might want to think about making Javascript your first languague). The following Adobe apps are now scriprable with Javascipt:

Photoshop
Illustrator
After Effects
Atmosphere
LiveMotion

And you can also use Javascript (or Actionscript, as Macromedia calls it) in Flash 5 and MX. And, of course, you can use it on the web!

The URLs for the plugin (which only works in Photoshop 7) are:

MAC: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=1477

PC:http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=1478

Has anyone played with this yet?

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }

[This message was edited by Marcus Geduld on June 03, 2002 at 14:37.]

[mgeduld]

I was hanging out on Adobe's site, yesterday, and I noticed that they're giving away (i.e. it's free) a plugin that makes Photoshop scriptable via Javascript, vbscript or applescript. I haven't had time to play with it yet, but it sounds like a dream come true. Even if you aren't a programmer, this is an exciting development, because you should soon be able to use other people's scripts.

Javascript seems to be the scripting language of choice these days (if you're thinking of learning programming, you might want to think about making Javascript your first languague). The following Adobe apps are now scriprable with Javascipt:

Photoshop
Illustrator
After Effects
Atmosphere
LiveMotion

And you can also use Javascript (or Actionscript, as Macromedia calls it) in Flash 5 and MX. And, of course, you can use it on the web!

The URLs for the plugin (which only works in Photoshop 7) are:

MAC: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=1477

PC:http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=1478

Has anyone played with this yet?

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }

[This message was edited by Marcus Geduld on June 03, 2002 at 14:37.]

[Klaus Nordby]

Marcus, it's interesting news indeed! Although I am still on PS6 (sob!), so I have of course not checked it out. But you've missed InDesign in your list - that is scriptable, too.

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[mgeduld]

I've probably missed other apps too. Javascript's grasp keeps widening.

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }

[Klaus Nordby]

Marcus: "Javascript (or Actionscript, as Macromedia calls it)". Are these scripting languages totally identical, or are there differences?

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[mgeduld]

They're not totally identical, but they're as identical as -- say -- British English and American English. They're both based on ECMAScript. (The MX version of ActionScript is 100% ECMAScript complient.)

The upshop is that you learn the language once and you know it in all of its forms. It's just a matter of consulting the host application's manual for specifics about the current implimentation.

Also, note that while the language is always the same, there IS a different vocabulary in each manifestation of it. For instance, in Actionscript, the command myMovie.currentFrame retrieves the number of the frame that is currently playing. But there's such word as currentFrame in the Photoshop version, because there are no frames. Technically, I am referring the the Document Object Model (DOM). All the Javascripts are the same, but each hooks into a different DOM.

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }

[Klaus Nordby]

So Javascript is here to stay, and usable for a lot more than clickable web buttons, I now begin to see! I'm fairly programming-ignorant, but this is perhaps worth the trouble to learn a bit, then. Thanks for clarifying this for me!

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[mgeduld]

By the way, if anyone here wants to learn Javascript, I recommend learning a specific implementation of it. In other words, learn Photoshop Javascript or Illustrator Javascript -- rather than trying to master Javascript as some sort of abstract universal language. It will then be really easy to map this knowlege onto other Javascript-based systems.

If you own Flash 5 or MX, I recommend you learn Actionscript as your first Javascript-based language, because (a) you'll get instant/fun results (which will keep you interested), and (b) you won't have to worry about Internet Explorer vs. Netscape vs. Mac vs. PC (which you DO have to worry about with browser actionscript).

Also, if you go with Flash, you can learn from "Foundation Actionscript" (Flash 5) or "Foundation MX Actionscript" (Flash MX), two books pubished by friendsofed.com. These are excellent (award winning!) intros to the language!

Note: the MX actionscript is more fully ECMAScript complient (and thus more like other implementations) than the Flash 5 version, though both are pretty close.

Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }