Conditional Actions

Quick reference

• 00:04 Actions are a wonderful tool that helps you automate certain tasks in Photoshop,
• 00:08 but like me you've all run into instances where the action fails to complete.
• 00:13 Because either your document or
• 00:14 one of your layers differs from the initial recording.
• 00:17 For example, when you're recording an action for
• 00:19 the first time, if your main layer was the background layer, and
• 00:22 you made a change to it, Photoshop takes note of that.
• 00:25 So, if you go back to player action on a document where the layer is
• 00:28 called layer zero,
• 00:29 instead of background, the action may fail depending on the steps that it takes.
• 00:33 Or, what if you're running a batch action, and
• 00:36 only want to focus on landscape images from that set.
• 00:39 Something like that would usually require scripting,
• 00:41 which most users are not familiar with, but now in Photoshop CS 6 13.1,
• 00:45 we have a new tool at our disposal, conditional actions.
• 00:49 Let me show you how this works.
• 00:51 So here, on the right, I have my actions panel open,
• 00:53 which you can activate down at the window menu if you don't see it.
• 00:56 For this example let's say you're working on a project that requires a large, white
• 00:59 border around your photos, some of which you may have already opened and saved.
• 01:03 Some may be the background layer while some may not be.
• 01:06 And, as you're wanting to automatically apply this effect to all of your photos,
• 01:10 creating an action sounds like the best idea, but like I mentioned earlier,
• 01:14 if some of the layers are the background layer and
• 01:16 some of the layers are layer zero, you're gonna run into some issues.
• 01:19 Now, right now the image is the background layer and
• 01:21 playing back this action results in an error.
• 01:24 And, even if I continue the process I don't get the result that i'm looking for.
• 01:28 So, to solve this you're now able to create a conditional action to
• 01:32 determine which action should be run.
• 01:33 The action that converts the background layer into an editable layer, or
• 01:37 the action that already contains and editable layer.
• 01:39 Creating a new action just like you would normally, you now have the option of
• 01:43 inserting a conditional action from the menu at the top right of this panel.
• 01:46 Where you're going to be presented with simple if, then, else options.
• 01:51 In the if drop-down, you cal tell Photoshop to check if the document is
• 01:54 landscape, square, RGB or if the layer is background or pixel.
• 01:59 Let's choose the background option.
• 02:00 So now, we have the If set.
• 02:02 If the layer is the background then we need to tell Photoshop what to do.
• 02:06 So, let's choose the action that deals with the background layer.
• 02:09 And then, in the Else dropdown,
• 02:11 we can choose the action that deals with the pixel layer.
• 02:14 Now, once you have the conditions set up, press Okay and then stop your action.
• 02:17 This action is only going to be the conditional action.
• 02:20 So now, no matter if your image is the background layer or an editable layer,
• 02:24 playing the conditional action will always give you the result that you're after.
• 02:28 And, trust me, when you're running this action on hundreds of images,
• 02:32 not running into an error is going to be fantastic.
• 02:35 And, this is just one example of
• 02:36 how conditional actions can help your workflow.
• 02:39 Imagine being able to determine if your photo is landscape or portrait so
• 02:43 you can apply your watermark in the exact position that you're looking for.
• 02:46 Those of you who use Action(s) are going to love this.

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