Actions Extend Selection in Action

[reliant]

Hi,

I am very new to this forum and would be very happy if someone could give me a hint on the following issue.

An action that I run in PS 6 defines a square selection relative to the images size. I have tried many ways to do that i an action that I created, but rather unsuccessful. Whenever I record the action and create a square selection it is always an absolute selection but not a relative selection.
Additional questions:
How can I create a series of these relative square selections that are exactly on the same height?
Is there a possibility to edit the parameter of the action, say change position from 25% to 75% of the width?

In order to visualize the problem I have added an image that shows the problem.

Thx in advance



reliant

 

[MrToM]

Hint:
Edit your action to % values instead of px values once you have recorded it.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[colleague]

I have to change the Rules to Percent from the Photoshop Preferences if I want such an action .

 

[reliant]

Hi MrToM,

thanks for your quick reply. Could you please elaborate your answer a little bit. I already tried to edit the values, however it did not work.

I recorded the action, opened a foto and used the Marquee tool to create a square selection. Then I stopped the recording and doubleclicked the "Set Selection" entry in the Action table. For a split second the Record button turns red and nothing else happens....When I delete the selection and doubleclick the "Set Selection" entry then PS creates the selection again. I also tried to combine the doubleclicking with "Alt", "Strg", "Shift" but again, it does not work....

Kind Regards

reliant

Hint:
Edit your action to % values instead of px values once you have recorded it.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[MrToM]

Strange.....I've been able to edit values before but in this case it doesn't seem to work....probably doesn't work with the marquee tool.

OK then, follow colleagues advice and set the ruler units to percent. You can do this at any time, its not a recordable action so it doesn't matter if you do this before recording or at the very start of recording.

Your selection positions should be recorded as a percentage value and therefore scale to whatever size image you later apply the action to.

Remember to return your rulers back to pixels after recording....they do not need to be in percent when you run the action.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[reliant]

Hi MrToM,

It is a bit of a pitty that one can not edit the values of the action step directly. So the change to percent in the ruler sections works fine. In the meantime I have also found a script that allows me to convert the atn-file to a xml file, which I can edit and then convert it back to atn with a second scirpt. So this way it is possible to edit the whole thing.

thx again

reliant

Strange.....I've been able to edit values before but in this case it doesn't seem to work....probably doesn't work with the marquee tool.

OK then, follow colleagues advice and set the ruler units to percent. You can do this at any time, its not a recordable action so it doesn't matter if you do this before recording or at the very start of recording.

Your selection positions should be recorded as a percentage value and therefore scale to whatever size image you later apply the action to.

Remember to return your rulers back to pixels after recording....they do not need to be in percent when you run the action.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[reliant]

Hi colleague,

thank you for the good hint. This was a good step forward .

Cheers

reliant