Create an Action
Open the Actions window. Create a Set (folder) to hold your Action(s).
Click on the menu flyout at the top right of the screen (1). Choose
New Set for a new folder. Name your Set.
You should think out where you would like to have your Action begin.
For the African set, I obviously wanted the Action to start after I
had chosen my character. I also wanted the freedom to choose the color
before the Action began. I chose to start recording immediately after
I had placed my text in the correct color and chosen the second color
(for this action, both the foreground and background colors are used.)
To create your Action, ensure that the Set is highlighted and choose
New Action. Again, you will be prompted for a name. My action for this
set is called African. Click OK and the Action will start recording
every setting you change. To end the recording, click the Stop Playing/Recording
button at the bottom of the Action window(2). (Pause the recording by
clicking the Stop Playing/Recording button. To resume, click on the
Begin Recording button (3).)
When you have finished recording, save your Action. Highlight a Set
(folder) and open the flyout menu. Choose Save Actions and define a
location to save the set.
To play the action
Work to the point where the Action will take over. In the sample,
I placed my dingbat with the correct color and made sure the background
color was correct. Highlight the Action you wish to use and click on
Play Current Selection (3). You can watch the program move from one
step to the next.
You can stop the action by clicking the Stop Playing/Recording button
and resume with the Play Current Selection.
Learning to use Actions will save you an enormous amount of time over
the long run. You can create Actions with stop points to allow you to
enter steps that will vary, so the range of what can be accomplished
with Actions is endless. If you find yourself doing repetitive steps,
look to Actions.
|
