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Preset to action?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:55 pm
by blemaire
Can someone please help me with this information...
Can a preset for lightroom be changed into an action to put into cs2?
blemaire

Re: Preset to action?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:26 pm
by bjt
That is an interesting question, Blemarie.
I don't have LR, so I'm equating the thought with CR.
As yet, I haven't heard of a direct way to turn a preset into an action. The way that I might try to create an action similar to a preset would be a round-about way ---- try to replicate in CS2 what the the preset accomplishes in LR, then write the action based on the steps taken in PS.
It will be interesting to see what other members say.
Do you mind sharing what the preset does -- just curious. :)

Re: Preset to action?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:55 pm
by genevh
Off the top of my head I would say no, you can't directly convert an LR preset to a CS action. LR presets are .lrtemplate files, specific to LR itself, while CS actions are .acn files (I think). Plus, LR operates more like the ACR portion of CS/PSE (except on some steroids) which doesn't have or use actions. Although I think you can save presets in ACR, but I don't know what those file types would be since I've never done that in ACR.

And creating a preset in LR is also done differently. In CS you "record" the steps taken to create an action by hitting a button, performing the adjustments, then stopping the recording when complete. In LR, you make your changes, then save the current settings as a preset, which can then be applied to other photos. Creating presets in LR then is not the same concept as creating them in CS.

Hope this helps!

Re: Preset to action?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:15 pm
by blemaire
Thanks very much for you information.
That makes sense, one records-other makes changes then save!
Thanks again, I do not have lightroom, therefore I do not
know what it does.

Thanks for your time and trouble
blemaire

Re: Preset to action?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:01 pm
by jlwilm
If you have the full version of Photoshop, there is an option in ACR to save settings - and it allows you to save it as an XMP file - which is what Adobe uses to record the settings that result from adjusting the sliders in ACR.

Once saved, that XMP file can be applied to another image. The XMP files are basically text files that describe everything that you can adjust in ACR. Haven't looked lately, but it used to be that if you could tweak the text you could access some of the extra panels only available to the full version of Photoshop/ACR.

Now, an ACN file is like a macro file and although text(ish) based, is kind of useless to look at - whereas the XMP file can be opened with notepad and is instantly recognizable for what it is.

So, yes and no - you would need the XMP file and full version of Photoshop to do it.