Marquees and CS2 actions

[Reschsmooth]

Hello folks

I am trying to set up some framing/border actions in CS2 that involve inserting a rectangular marquee. I have a couple of problems and questions for the intelligentsia of the group:

1. When I set up an action which includes the marquee which, for example, is just outside the edge of the image (which has additional canvas space around it) and I then perform the action on another image which has the same dimensions, the marquee is offset (eg. pushed towards upper left). Everything else is constant - why does this happen?
2. Is it possible to use another tool which can place the marquee a specific distance outside the image to allow for differently sized images (including shots taken in portrait vs landscape mode, etc)? For example, like adjusting the canvas size in a relative way, can I place the marquee, say, 3mm outside the image, irrespective of how big that image is?

Many thanks for your help, in advance.

P

[Reschsmooth]

Bump - anyone???

P

[Matt. K]

I'm not sure if that can be done. You can select the entire image in an action by using CONTROL + A and then perhaps go to SELECT/MODIFY and then modify the marquee by a certain number of pixels. I haven't tried it but I don't see why it shouldn't work. Like you.....I'm eagerly awaiting other suggestions.

[Reschsmooth]

I'm not sure if that can be done. You can select the entire image in an action by using CONTROL + A and then perhaps go to SELECT/MODIFY and then modify the marquee by a certain number of pixels. I haven't tried it but I don't see why it shouldn't work. Like you.....I'm eagerly awaiting other suggestions.

Thanks Matt, I will have to give it a bit more of a try.

Regards

P

[Yi-P]

Pat,

Photoshop records action based on your current photo. And whatever pixel based edits are recorded in their pixel by pixel coordinates. So if the photo is different in dimension, it cannot be done automatically, you need to set up the action to let you do that section automatically and resume the rest.

I'm not at home at the moment, so I can't really verify this. But I have done something similar to this in the past, so speaking off top of my head.

Select ALL --> CTRL+A (or select -->canvas if there is such options)
Select --> Modify --> Border--> Enter the pixel you want to reduce

And you should then have your outter border selected. No matter of what the size of your photo is, as long as they are full res photos and pixel size does not change in much. (Because you've recorded the action to be in pixel based)

[bwhinnen]

The way I do it is to do two selections and save the first and the intersect that one with the second.

I.e.

(Note transforms for selections are based on a 'relative' transformation)

Select All
Transform selection based on top left corner to X: +x pixels, Y: +x pixels
Save Selection
Select All
Transform selection based on bottom right corner to X: -x pixels, Y: -x pixels
Load Selection Saved earlier and select the intersection option.

Then simply invert the selection to get the border section.

This will work with any image of any size.

The thing I haven't figured out yet is how to Free Transform a Text layer to X: -x pixels, Y: -x pixels ... It always works relative to initial location of the text...

Cheers
Brett

[olrac]

wouldnt these suggestions all cut some of your image away?
i.e. the width of your border/Frame covers the image.

I remember trying to do something similar except first I would enlarge the canvas size by x % on each side, I never was happy with the result but I think I might give it another crack.

[Reschsmooth]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions - I will give them a go when I am in front of PS.

Patrick

[bwhinnen]

wouldnt these suggestions all cut some of your image away?
i.e. the width of your border/Frame covers the image.

I remember trying to do something similar except first I would enlarge the canvas size by x % on each side, I never was happy with the result but I think I might give it another crack.

First thing you would do is increase the canvas by the amount you want to select on the outside... ie +x pixels both X and Y...

[Matt. K]

My action selects the image first and then strokes it with a 16 pixel black line. I then change my canvas size to 110% which puts an even canvas around the image and then I add 1 cm to the bottom of the canvas for text and signature. The action does it all with the press of a button.