Action written for Elements hiccup.

S
Posted By
Stevekin1
Feb 6, 2007
Views
235
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I recorded an action in CS2. A very simple one, for converting to B&W in Elements. I recorded a stop at the beginning ( No problem ). Then after I had got to the point when the image was B&W I put in another stop, offering the option to keep the image B&W or to Continue to age the photo with two filters.

I added 2 photo filters, both are available in Elements. The action played back with no problems in CS2. You could stop it at the B&W point. Or you could carry on and add the two filters.

When played back in Elements 4, if the user decides that they don’t want the ageing filters at the end and clicks Stop at the normal B&W stage…. the image then reverts to colour.

If the Elements user clicks Continue instead of Stop. Then the action adds the sepia etc, to age their image with no problem.

Can anyone shed any light as to why this is happening please.

Thank you for your attention 🙂
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DR
Danny_Raphael
Feb 6, 2007
Are you saying it plays to completion in Elements if the user clicks OK in the 2nd STOP to apply the final commands?

Some things to try:
* Craft a different action with 2 STOPS that apply different commands, e.g., Desaturate, Unsharp Mask, whatever. Are you able to retain the results prior to the 2nd STOP?
* If you have a previous version of Elements, test in that environment. If it works, then it’s PSE4 specific.

You might have to settle for two effects: One for the BW, one for the sepia effect.
S
Stevekin1
Feb 6, 2007
Thanks for replying Danny.

Yes, if Continue is pressed in Elements, then the action completes all tasks OK. But if you click stop at that stage the image reverts to it’s original state. Not so in CS2, where it does either OK.

It’s not actually my action…I had shown someone how to record actions and prepare them for use in Elements and this was his first attempt at it himself.
I have the action and have pulled it to pieces, but it’s got me stumped ! I did try to include an additional stop, and make it do something else before the secondary filter stages, but still the same.

I’ll experiment with your suggestion and report back, thank you.
S
Stevekin1
Feb 6, 2007
Hi Danny,
Tried with different functions and a couple of stops.
Still behaving the same way, if the action is stopped, the image reverts.

Also tried with some actions I had written and what do you know, the same results. Though mine didn’t give the option to stop at a certain stage and required the action to complete for the end result, but required user input.
But if any of them were stopped, they reverted to the original.

So, it seems it may not be a problem with particular filters or functions, more a characteristic of Elements.
Btw, this applies to 4 & 5.

No big deal though..

Thanks again for your input Danny 🙂
S
Stevekin1
Feb 7, 2007
Danny,
A thought occurred to me today, that as any actions to be run in Elements are placed in the Effects folder, they are in fact seen as Effects and not ‘actions’.
As a consequence of this, I guess they need to be completed to achieve any effect. I think it is what it is, and not the result of using the ‘wrong’ filter etc.

Thanks for your thoughts though 🙂
DR
Danny_Raphael
Feb 8, 2007
I should have been more clear…

I did not mean to imply the wrong filters were being used. The point was to see if the problem went away when other effects were applied. Had that been the case, one could conclude it was a filter-specific cause/effect. Since your tests confirmed the symptoms were still present when different effects were applied, one could conclude (like you did) the problem was rooted somewhere in the architecture/implementation.

In any event, good detective work. Glad you got it sorted out.
S
Stevekin1
Feb 9, 2007
Oh no, you were clear enough Danny, perhaps I should have been clearer myself 😉 I didn’t think that you were implying ‘wrong’ filters were being used, I think in my mind, there was just that possibility in any case.

I’m sure it’s as I concluded.
Thanks again.

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