Adobe Scripting: Your Visual Blueprint to Scripting in Photoshop and Illustrator [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Chandler McWilliams (Author) "Photoshop and Illustrator both support two different models of automation: actions, and scripting..." (more)
Key Phrases: dash pattern set, raster item, new text item, Scripting Listener, Visual Basic, Directory Tree (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
* Written by New York graphic design professional Chandler McWilliams, this is the first book about Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator design scripting on the market
* Discusses scripting procedures and techniques for Photoshop and Illustrator using JavaScript
* Explains how to automate tasks such as linking graphics to a database, transforming images, and performing batch processes
* Features more than 500 fully annotated screenshots, expanded introductions, and tips with real-life examples
* CD-ROM contains code examples, a fully searchable version of the book, and sample
Combining clear, step-by-step screen shots with minimal text, our five Visual series are the ultimate resources for visual learners, who represent up to forty percent of your customers.
Teach Yourself VISUALLY guides help computer users get up to speed on a wide range of office productivity, graphics, and Web design software. Offering significantly more coverage than our Simplified series, these books provide real-world tips and illustrate basic and intermediate level techniques using crisp full-color screen shots.
Visual Blueprints apply the proven Visual formula to professional-level programming, Web development, and networking tips. Each two-color guide includes self-contained two-page lessons, covering more than 100 key topics, accompanied by practical tips and code samples as well as examples and bonus software on CD-ROM.

From the Back Cover
Welcome to the only guidebook series that takes a visual approach to professional-level computer topics. Open the book and you’ll discover step-by-step screen shots that demonstrate more than 100 key Adobe Scripting techniques, including:

• Storing scripts
• Controlling program flow with conditionals
• Converting a string into an array
• Creating new documents in Photoshop and Illustrator
• Making a reference to active documents
• Manipulating and duplicating layers
• Creating geometric shapes
• Applying transformation matrices
• Retrieving font names
• Exporting and importing variables in Illustrator

Bonus CD-ROM!

• Trial version of Adobe Illustrator
• Freeware versions of Adobe Photoshop Scripting plug-in and BBEdit Lite
• Plus code examples and a searchable e-version of the book

Extra Apply It

• "Apply It" and "Extra"sidebars highlight useful tips
• High-resolution screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Visual (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764524550
• ISBN-13: 978-0764524554
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #708,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic but out-of-date, September 27, 2004

By	Scott Gurley (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is written extremely well and perfect for someone like me who knows plenty of scripting languages but just needs help with the details in Photoshop and Illustrator.

The major problem is that this book was published in January of 2003 and was written for Photoshop 7 and Illustrator 10. Naturally, I have the CS package and that is just too new for this publication. When you run many many of the scripts (maybe most of them... I stopped using their examples after the first few) it hangs Photoshop or causes other errors. One "new document" script actually killed my G5 (first time ever I had to reboot from a crash!).

I phoned the company who made the book (maranGraphics) and they were not helpful. There is no new version of this book planned nor is there an "updates" website or any further help.

My advice: Unless you are working with only older versions of Photoshop and Illustrator, skip this book. Instead, use the PDFs that come with the CS package. They are as helpful as this book will be to you without the problems that will cause crashes.

My advice to Maran: You should take a clue from other companies that make tech help books and provide a free "updates" site that includes differences between your book and later releases of software or any errata or whatnot. As it is, this book is only good for a few months and as specialized as this topic is, that means few sales.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Starter Book, March 15, 2004

By	Jean Legros (Verdun, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

Great book to get started in scripting. Well explained with good clear examples. The only down side is that it is to brief.