Grid Layouts Actions User Guide

Requirements and descriptionMinimum requirement to use Actions included in Grid Layouts Actions is Photoshop CS4 with my recommendation. I tested all actions on Photoshop CS4/5/6, so it is safe to use on mentioned versions without any problem. Download test files and test on your own what is best and recommended method.

About ActionsGrid Layouts actions are extremely flexible and easy to use. All layouts are independent on size, resolution, bit depth or color mode so you can freely specify settings in New dialog at the beginning of every action without to worry if action will play sucessfuly. Page Layouts actions set contains total of 10 actions which will always divide document into equal 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 9x9, 10x10, 12x12 or 15x15 parts and create placeholders and Smart Object clipped to them. After template is created you can easily replace dummy Smart Object content using guided Replace images action. Last step in this process is to add stroke using actions included in set.

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How files are organizedAfter purchasing Grid Layouts Actions you will need to download and unzip package. There are 2 subfolders inside Grid Layouts Actions folder. Folder Actions contains Grid

Layout actions for Photoshop. Help folder is second sub-folder with PDF user guide which you are currently reading.

Load and run actionTo use actions you need first to load them in Photoshop. Start Photoshop then go to Window > Actions to display Actions panel. Click on Actions panel menu and choose Load Actions. Navigate to Grid Layouts > Actions folder. Select Grid Layouts.atn file then click Load button at the bottom of Load dialog.

After Loading actions in Photoshop expand Grid Layouts folder in Actions panel. You will see actions which creates base templates on top of stack: 15x15 Template, 12x12 Template... Run those actions to generate base template which you will populate with images or other files running action Place Images or Place without Transform. Difference is that Place Images action will allow you to transfrom and move images immediately after placing them. Numbers before word Template tells you how document or template will be divided and how many placeholders will be created—basically how many images you can place. For example 5x5 means that action will create 25 placeholders. When you run 5x5 Template action and specify 1000px for Width and 800px for Height, that means each of 25 placeholders will have 200px in Width (1000 divided with 5) and Height of 160px (800 divided with 5). In the middle of stack you have actions to add stroke between images and around entire document.

To run action first click on action name (15x15 Template for example) then click on Play button at the bottom of Actions panel. New dialog will appear on your screen. Specify settings in New dialog and confirm on OK button. Actions are extremly flexible so you can specify any settings just skip Bitmap from Color mode drop-down list. Wait a minute for Photoshop to do its part and create template.

Actions panel menu

Play button

Actions to create base template

Actions to add stroke

Actions to place images

New dialog which appears at the beginning of action

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Place imagesWhen base template is created you need to run action Place Images or Place Without Transfrom. Use Place Without Transform for images that are already sized to meet placeholders dimensions or in case you want quickly to choose images to populate template then later to scale them using free transform command. To run any of Place actions click on its name then click Play button in Actions panel. Place actions are universal and serves for every template in set. Basicaly action will open several or couple of hundreds Place dialogs (depend on created template) in which you must navigate to folder with image you want to place, select it then to click Place button at the bottom of Place dialog. With Place actions you will start populating placeholders from placeholder 1 which is always in top left corner of template. When you populate all image action will display message: The object “layer” image_xx”” is not currently available. Click Cancel button to stop running action. After clicking Cancel button Photoshop will expand action and highlight step at which is action stopped. You can scrol up in Actions panel and close expanded steps by clicking triangle on the left side of action name. Remember to always click first on Place Images or Place Without Transform before you hit Play button to run action.

Adding StrokeLast step is to add stroke between images to separate them. Click on action name then hit Play button. Which action to use for stroke depend on created template. If you have created 15x15 Template then use 15x15 Stroke action. When message appear read it and click Continue. In the next several Stroke dialogs enter exact same odd number and always confirm on OK button. You can change color for stroke in Stroke dialog by clicking on rectangle next to Color: to open Select stroke color dialog or just leave as it is to have white color for stroke. Note that you can re-run stroke action at any time you want, for example you want to try different size. When you have stroke already created, all stroke components are inside custom stroke group in Layers panel. To re-run stroke action first hide custom stroke group so you can instantly see result of newly created stroke. If you need to nudge any stroke component, expand group custom stroke to see all layers which are named logically and very easy to understand. Frame layer is always on top and refers to stroke around entire composition, next is horizontal or vertical_line_1, 2, 3 and so on. To nudge stroke first click on layer with that particular segment (horizontal_line_1 for example), select Move tool, then use arrow keys to nudge segment to the left or right. You can also use eyebal in front of layer with stroke segment to show/hide layer content and ensure that proper layer is selected.

Steps to run action and place images:1. Click on Place Images action name to select it2. Click Play button at the bottom of Actions panel3. Navigate and select image you want to place starting with

top left placeholder number 14. Click Place button

Use slider to scroll up in Actions panel then click on triangle on the left side of expanded action name to close it.

Final result using 5x5 action