If you’re a Photoshop user running Mac OSX 10.4 or 10.5, you should be taking advantage of Apple’s Automator. Automator allows you to string a series of “actions” together to create a workflow. Think of them as shortcuts. The Photoshop Action Pack 3.7 provides 90 Actions which allow you to control a huge amount of Photoshop functions, and execute complex batch operations you just can’t do with Photoshop’s built-in Actions.
The following actions are provided in the new Action Pack:
| Add Empty Adjustment Layer | Flip Canvas |
| Add Graphic Watermark | Gaussian Blur |
| Add Layer | Glass |
| Add Watermark | HDR Merge |
| Arbitrary Rotate | Hue/Saturation |
| Assign Color Profile | Invert |
| Assign Custom Profile | Load Selection |
| Assign Epson 2200 Profile | Maximum/Minimum |
| Assign Epson 2400 Profile | Mono Gaussian Noise |
| Auto Color | Motion Blur |
| Auto Contrast | NTSC Colors |
| Auto Levels | Ocean Ripple |
| Bleach Bypass | Open as Raw Data |
| Change Bit Depth | Open |
| Change Mode | Paint Daubs |
| Change Pixel Aspect Ratio | Photo Filter |
| Change Resolution | Pinch |
| Channel Mixer | Polar Coordinates |
| Clouds | Posterize |
| Color Balance | Purge |
| Convert to Profile | Radial Blur |
| Copy Data to IPTC | Reduce Noise |
| Copy IPTC to Spotlight Comments | Render |
| Crop | Resize Canvas |
| Deinterlace | Resize Image |
| Desaturate | Resize to File Size |
| Deselect | Resize to X by 10% |
| Despeckle | Restore Original File List |
| Diffusion | Ripple |
| Do Action | Scale Image |
| Duplicate Current layer | Set Blending Mode of Current Layer |
| Dust and Scratches | Shadow/Highlight |
| Edit IPTC Info | Sharpen Edges |
| Exposure (CS2 only) | Sharpen More |
| Filter by Aspect Ratio | Smart Blur |
| Filter by Bit Depth | Smart Sharpen (CS2/CS3 only) |
| Filter by Color Mode | Sphereize |
| Filter by EXIF | Strip Extra Channels |
| Filter by File Type | Swap Colors |
| Filter by IPTC | Threshold |
| Filter by Orientation | Trap |
| Filter by Size | Trim |
| Fit Image | Twirl |
| Flatten Document | Unsharp Mask |
| Use Currently Open Documents |
Version 3.7 is fully compatible with PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. In addition to the action bundle, an assortment of sample workflows is provided. The included 73-page manual gives you a reference for all of the included actions, as well as an introduction to using Automator, and strategies for building Photoshop workflows. The Photoshop Action Pack is free, but donations are accepted via PayPal.