ReflectionnoitcelfeR - How to automate your work by using Photoshop Actions
Photoshop has a wonderful tool called Actions, which basically allows you to record what you are doing to an image on a canvas, then ‘play’ those actions back on other images. This is great if, for example, you need to resize a batch of 100 images. You could go through them once by one, resizing and saving each of them. But, if you automate the process, you only need to specify the parameters for the first image; then hit a button, sit back, and watch Photoshop churn out all 100 images perfectly sized.
Let’s do something a little more complicated with our first attempt at a Photoshop Action. I’ve recently posted a downloadable action which allows you to automatically apply reflections to small photographs. Here is a tutorial on how I created that action - feel free of course to modify any part to suit your needs.
Let’s get started detrast teg s’teL!
Let’s get our workarea set up first. Open up the Actions window.
Create a new set followed by a new action and name it what you want.
Now you want to open the image you want to work with. If it’s text, make sure to rasterize the layer and flatten it. The canvas should not extend outside the text area (crop it so that it hugs the text as tight as possible). Images should also be flattened.
You’re ready to start recording. Hit the Record button in the Actions Palette to begin.
Hit Ctrl-A to select the entire image. Cut and paste the image. This will ensure that in case you’re working with an image located on a locked background (this usually happens with .jpg or .gif images), a duplicated, editable layer will be created when you run the action. Check out your Actions palette after you do this - see how it’s recording your every move?
Now we’re going to extend the length of the image so there’s room to add in the reflection. Enter Canvas Size. Change the height to 200% - notice we aren’t using pixels. This makes sure that the action will work for photographs of any size! Adjust the anchor and hit OK.
This should extend your canvas down.
Duplicate that layer. Hit Ctrl-T to enter Transformation mode (make sure the Move Tool is selected). Right-click the image and choose ‘Flip Vertical’.
We want to move that flipped layer below our original image, but if we just drag it down problems will happen when we apply this action to other images that are of different dimensions. What we need to do is get the flipped layer to align itself on the bottom of the image, no matter how tall it is. Hit Ctrl-A to select the entire canvas. With the Move Tool and the flipped layer selected, hit ‘Align to Bottom’.
Tabadaba!
Head on to the next page to tame that reflection!
Pages: 1 2
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Hello, its me again
I was just wondering , when you download the ‘action’ file.
How do you use it exactly?
Hey Gregor! Yeah, sorry for not making that clear. First make sure your actions palette is open (Alt-F9). In the top right hand corner, there should be a little button there - click it and a dropdown menu should appear. Select ‘Load Actions’, then point it to the .atn file. Hope that helps!
Then what do you do?
Do you open a new document or what?
Ah, I see what you’re getting at. You can use it for a variety of things - try creating a small-ish canvas with some text on it. Make sure the text touches the edge of the canvas, at least on the bottom. Rasterize the text layer, then open up your actions. Open the Reflection folder, select ‘reflect’ and hit play - that should work!
Why don’t you try it out with this image? (Don’t save it to your computer, just copy it and paste it into a photoshop canvas)
Ok I will try it.
Oh, it’s not working, I will just follow the tutorial.
Thanks though.
Weird, sorry it’s giving you trouble. :// You could also try flattening the whole image before you work on it (Layer — Flatten Image), and then apply the action. Let me know if you had other questions!
[…] FREE eBook / eCover Action Generator - Create an Ebook Automatically! I sat down the other day, and designed this Ebook / eCover Creator Action for Photoshop. Actions are great, since they let you automate processes in Photoshop. In this case, you can create a template, design your eBook cover, then with just one click, you can convert that flat cover into a 3d looking eBook! If you would like to know more about how actions work or how to create your own, make sure to check out my previous post. […]
[…] hi guys! the past was filled with drop shadows but now reflections have take over the design world. I found this neat tutorial on today where reflections can be done through photoshop actions. As we all know reflections are pretty much a repeative process, so actions helps us save time ! You can find the tutorial here […]