Contact Sheet 2 in PSE 3

As many people have observed, the contact sheet automation from PSE 2 did not make it into PSE 3 [Editor on PC]. Instead, we have a more limited functionality in Organizer. I got curious and discovered that it does seem to work. Here's what I did:

I went to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Plug-Ins\Adobe Photoshop Only\Automate and copied the file ContactSheetII.8LI to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 3.0\Plug-Ins\Automate

That's it. It now appears on the automation menu.

I would be interested to know if the versions from PSE 2 and PS CS also work, as I have an idea that they are different. I was sure there was an option to use open images as the source ...

Colin....

I tried the files from CS and they seem to work as well.

It would be nice if there could be one pool (folder) that was common to all, as I have 5 different versions.

BTW: Do you know of anyway to convert Paintshop Pro features to Photoshop?

Colin

It would be nice if there could be one pool (folder) that was common to
all, as I have 5 different versions.




Maintaining lots of backward compatibility would probably hamper innovation.

BTW: Do you know of anyway to convert Paintshop Pro features to Photoshop?




Sorry. I know nothing about PSP.

It's not a question of maintaining backwards compatibility but allowing older versions to use what they can of new features. As we've found some of version 7 and 8 stuff can be used in version 2 or 3. If these actions/brushes/automation whatever were in one location it would make it easier for us users to manage. As it is we have to have multiple copies all over the place.

Older version that cannot use a newer feature just wouldn't.

<Colin_Walls@adobeforums.com> wrote
> I went to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Plug-Ins\Adobe Photoshop
Only\Automate and copied the file ContactSheetII.8LI to C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 3.0\Plug-Ins\Automate
>
> That's it. It now appears on the automation menu.

Colin,

I tried copying the ContactSheetII.8LI file from my PSE2 Automate folder to
my PSE3 Automate folder... no joy.

I may have the opportunity to borrow the file from a PS7 installation to see
if it will work for me -- will report.

Byron

I tried copying the ContactSheetII.8LI file from my PSE2 Automate folder
to my PSE3 Automate folder... no joy




How big is that file? My PS 7 is 135,168 bytes.

<Colin_Walls@adobeforums.com> wrote
> How big is that file? My PS 7 is 135,168 bytes.

ContactSheetII.8LI 135,168 bytes mod. 7/17/2002 4:02

It sounds like the same file...

It sounds like the same file...




Yes. Maybe there's something about your set-up.

There is some cache folder(s) that you might like to delete and restart PSE. [I don't know if they are relevant to automation.]

Hopefully someone else will give this a try.

Thanks, Colin and all, problem solved. Elements people are lovely people!

Byron, did you get it to work? Not working here; only one item under File>Automation, even after deleting caches and restarting. Maybe it doesn't work on US edition??

Chuck

<Chuck_Snyder@adobeforums.com> wrote
> Byron, did you get it to work? Not working here; only one item under
File>Automation, even after deleting caches and restarting. Maybe it doesn't
work on US edition??

Chuck,

Still no success... I haven't invested too much effort, beyond verifying
that I truly copied the right file into the right folder, and deleting
caches, as you did.

It's a drag, too, because my largest peeves with PE3 have to do with Contact
Sheet and Picture Package handling... but that's for another post.

Byron

This is odd. My PSE 3 was bought in the UK, but appears to be a generic English language version.

Could it be an OS issue? I am trying this on Win2000.

BTW, I found that the picture package from PS 7 also appears to work.

Colin, I've tried it on two computers, one with XP Home, the other (this one) XP Pro. Annoying problem, but I can work around it with PSE2 or PS7...

Strange that it should be an OS issue but I also run W2K and a lot of CS stuff works for me in E3.

Guess it's a UK/Colin/W2K thing...:-)

Colin #2

Byron or Chuck,

Did either of you try it with the PS 7 version of the plug-in? Or did both
of you just try the PSE 2 version.

I don't have PS so I can't try it myself, but I'm curious. I did look
inside the PSE 2 version and it has text embedded that identifies it as a
Photoshop Elements module. It may have the same length as the PS version
but evidently it is different.

Thanks,
Bob

<RobertHJones@adobeforums.com> wrote
> Byron or Chuck,
>
> Did either of you try it with the PS 7 version of the plug-in? Or did
both
> of you just try the PSE 2 version.


Bob,

You, sir, are a genius.

First, my observations. The PE2 ContactSheetII.8LI is 135,168 bytes, dated
7/17/02 4:02:04. The PS7 file is 135,168 bytes, dated 4/1/02, 3:14:22.

I copied the PS7 file into the Plugins/Automate folder of PE3, started PE3,
and found Contact Sheet II AND Picture Package under Automation Tools...

Running Contact Sheet worked OK, first try.

Running Picture Package the first time, it complained that it could not find
any layouts in Presets/Layouts... which is because there IS NO Layouts
folder in Presets in PE3. A quick copy of the Layouts folder from PE2's
Presets into PE3's Presets and Picture Package is it's old self again, too.

The PE3-flavored, Organizer-based features do not appear to have been
affected in any way.

This quashes my two greatest nags about PE3... the fact that Picture
Package and Contact Sheet no longer were simply created as documents, but
instead, existed only as print jobs. (I am trying to cut down on my
cussin', so won't mention how I felt about that "upgrade")

Thanks to Colin Walls for first trying this cobbled-up solution, and thanks
to Bob Jones for the final bit of logic!!

Byron

Thanks Byron,

I was hoping that would be the case.

Colin Woodbridge says the PS CS version of the plugin works in PSE 3. I
don't know whether there will be any issues with 16 bit support using the PS
7 version. The PS CS version would probably be most compatible since PSE 3
is built on the PS CS engine.

Colin Woodbridge, could you confirm whether or not the custom layout tool is
brought over to PSE 3 with that plugin? And, what's the length and date on
that module?

I wish Adobe had left the support for this in the Windows version. It
really wouldn't have hurt anything to have left it in and maintained more
compatibility between the Windows and Mac versions to boot. True, the link
to the catalog would not be there, but they have both the file browser and
the photo browser. This could have been treated the same. They could have
also shared the layouts directory so the custom layout tool could be used to
create layouts that could be used in either organizer or editor picture
package. As it is, we Windows users still have to go through the awkward
text file route.

I don't suppose Adobe could find it in their hearts to make this plugin
available to us as a download. It would be easy for them to do this through
the update facility and make it optional if that's how they wanted to handle
it.

I feel pretty much as you about the loss of functionality.

Bob

Bob, thanks a bunch! Never again will I blithely assume that just because two files have the same name AND the same length that they are therefore the same file....amazing!

Chuck

p.s. I don't have CS on this laptop (I'm 'on assignment' in upstate Washington) so I can't try the CS to PSE3 plug-in, but will do so when I return to the Republic of Texas on Saturday.

Folks....

From CS I copied the ContactSheet.8LI to the plug_ins\automate folder. It's 172Kb dated 11/10/2003. I also had to move the Elements 3 Layouts from Shared Assets to Presets.

In addition I also moved over the WebContactSheetII.8LI at 780K. This also required copying the Web Photo Gallery folder from CS to the Elements 3 Presets folder.

Colin

Byron -

I just noticed what you noticed: using Picture Package in 3.0 is very different than 2.0. It seems much harder to use with much less control.

Do you know if there is a way to work around what Adobe thought was an improvement and use the old form of Picture Package.

Thanks...

Alan

Hi all-

DId anyone succeed in porting the contact module from PSE2 (Win)

No photo printer here so I am cursing away.....

Thanks,

Arik

I gave it a try - my wife's PC still has PSE2 on it. Contact Sheet II showed up in the Help/About/Plugins list but I could find no way to actually get it to run. I do miss it, too.

Contact Sheet II showed up in the Help/About/Plugins list




But not in File/Automation Tools ?

spoke to Adobe non-support. Their best answer is "if you have elements 2, install it again on your PC and use elements 2 to print your contact sheets when you want to save to a file"

bunch of bums.......