This is driving me bonkers!!!

Delete everything. Make small tweak. Run action. Delete everything. Make small tweak. Run action. Delete everything. Make small tweak. Run action.

Alright, so I have all the "guts" written for my action and it plays out smoothly and with no legitimate speedbumps. Two cosmetic things, however, have got me absolutely stumped.

I have color-coded some of the layers to visually categorize them quickly

When I consolidate all the layers and groups to one main/master group at the end of the action, all the organizational colors for the layers disappear

The good news is that when you replay the action it leaves you with one group that holds everything, and it's COLLAPSED nice and tidy

If I do the above in reverse, and create the master group and then apply the color coding, then I get an action that replays with all the nice colors in place, but leaves me with a fully EXPANDED stack of groups and layers

Sorry, I don't have time till later to try something, but would this work?

Create a new action.
Start recording action.
Run the action that has the layers color coded but expanded.
Close the group.
Stop recording action.

D Thompson wrote in post #16285985
Sorry, I don't have time till later to try something, but would this work?

Create a new action.
Start recording action.
Run the action that has the layers color coded but expanded.
Close the group.
Stop recording action.

I'll try it in a few minutes after I return to the computer - I had to walk away and see what reality looks like for a moment. I am skeptical, though, because Photoshop cannot register collapsing and expanding groups; I even tried right-clicking earlier on the little group triangle and clicking its own "collapse group" command. Err! I'll let you know the results momentarily.

RandMan wrote in post #16286059
I'll try it in a few minutes after I return to the computer - I had to walk away and see what reality looks like for a moment. I am skeptical, though, because Photoshop cannot register collapsing and expanding groups; I even tried right-clicking earlier on the little group triangle and clicking its own "collapse group" command. Err! I'll let you know the results momentarily.

No Dice.

Can you explain a little further what you're trying to accomplish with the action? If I'm understanding you are color coding some layers, putting them into groups, then putting all the groups into a "master" group and collapsing all so that all you see is the background layer and the "master" group. Are you manually color coding the layers?

Weird - I tried a simple exercise - opened an image. Start recording action...

make a curves adj layer - make an adjustment - right-click and color code the adj layer red
make an exposure adj layer - make adjustment - right-click and color code the adj layer green
select both adj layers - make new group from layers - in dialog, rename group and color code it blue - hit OK.

Stop action.

this produces a group, coded blue, that is collapsed - it has a red coded and green coded adj layer in it.

I assume this is an example of what you are trying to achieve, but the color coding is somhow getting stripped or changed?

It worked for me in CS6 and CC. PM me if you want to email me your action - I'll see if I can track down what is not working, or at least test it in my PS.

kirk

kirk

D Thompson wrote in post #16287720
Can you explain a little further what you're trying to accomplish with the action? If I'm understanding you are color coding some layers, putting them into groups, then putting all the groups into a "master" group and collapsing all so that all you see is the background layer and the "master" group. Are you manually color coding the layers?

kirkt wrote in post #16287805
Weird - I tried a simple exercise - opened an image. Start recording action...

make a curves adj layer - make an adjustment - right-click and color code the adj layer red
make an exposure adj layer - make adjustment - right-click and color code the adj layer green
select both adj layers - make new group from layers - in dialog, rename group and color code it blue - hit OK.

Stop action.

this produces a group, coded blue, that is collapsed - it has a red coded and green coded adj layer in it.

I assume this is an example of what you are trying to achieve, but the color coding is somhow getting stripped or changed?

It worked for me in CS6 and CC. PM me if you want to email me your action - I'll see if I can track down what is not working, or at least test it in my PS.

kirk

kirk

If you want, I can email both of you the action. I think I still have two versions so I can send both - one that collapses nice and tidy but loses the colors, and the other that keeps all the colors but stays expanded. In the meantime, basically it's a portrait retouching action; the main group is only to hold everything in one layer, then there is a subgroup for teeth, then a subgroup for eyes, and a subgroup within the eyes subgroup for the irises. There's really not a whole heck of a lot to it.

Kirk - did you try replaying your action after you created it? Reason I ask is that mine would be perfect from hitting the record button through stopping it. But when I would play it back just to verify it before saving, then things were different.

yes I replayed it and it worked. I did not try making sub-groups though.

kirk

I can’t get it to work either in the actions you sent. I wonder if it could be done using a script, but I know nothing about creating scripts so no help there. You might post this over on the Adobe forum and see if someone there might have any suggestions.

In the meantime, there is a very simple way to collapse all the groups, but doesn’t work in the action. Hold the Ctrl & Alt key, then click on the triangle on the top level group (Freq Sep in this case). It will collapse all the subgroups as well. If they are collapsed then it will expand them all.

How are you creating the groups? There are some inconsistencies in that, as we discussed here:

https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=15986050#po​st15986050

Might have something to do with it? Never tested.

Also: In PSCS6, if you color code a group, that will color code all layers inside it with the same color.
The exception is upon creation of the group; if you select a bunch of layers, then Shift+Alt click the "New group" Icon, only previously un-color coded layers get the selected color…

René Damkot wrote in post #16312173
How are you creating the groups? There are some inconsistencies in that, as we discussed here:

https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=15986050#po​st15986050

Might have something to do with it? Never tested.

Also: In PSCS6, if you color code a group, that will color code all layers inside it with the same color.
The exception is upon creation of the group; if you select a bunch of layers, then Shift+Alt click the "New group" Icon, only previously un-color coded layers get the selected color…

Yup - I remember when you chimed in on that other thread of mine, and I'm aware of the other things you just mentioned. However, the mystery still lives on!