The Real and True Brief History of Photoshop Scripting [was: scripting Photoshop]
The Real and True Brief History of Photoshop Scripting [was: scripting Photoshop]
- Subject: The Real and True Brief History of Photoshop Scripting [was: scripting Photoshop]
- From: Cal <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 17:35:22 -0500
For those who enjoy the record being set straight, you'll like this.
I, more than just about anyone on the planet, felt that not having a
way to script Photoshop was the biggest obstacle to fully automating
a workflow. At the time, this was the choice I was faced with:
either we would have to do it, or there'd be no scripting support for
Photoshop. So I didn't have a whole lot of choice.
To straighten this out, here is a brief history of Photoshop
scripting: Just the facts, man:
May 1996
I began "encouraging" Adobe's door to make Photoshop scriptable.
During the next couple of months, I set up meetings to discuss this.
February 1997
AppleScripting didn't make it into Photoshop 4, but actions did
(although not much was supported). Adobe began to consider whether
they wanted to support AppleScript for Photoshop 5. I began to be
hopeful.
April 1997
Adobe started to move away from AppleScript, and began to reconsider.
I did my best to make a pro-AppleScript case (several times) for
Adobe making Photoshop scriptable.
June 1997
Adobe decides not to support AppleScript in Photoshop. [My heart
fell to my feet (as the song goes)...I was upset -- devastated -- by
the news.]
July 1997
Adobe suggests to me that there's another way...that we could do this
in a plug-in. At first I was quite resistant to the idea. But I
soon had a change of heart, and we began moving forward with this.
November 1997
I began designing what would be the second largest dictionary in the
world (only RagTime is larger). (The original plan was to do
Photoshop first, then Illustrator, then Acrobat.)
January 1998
Coding begins on the arduous task of making it scriptable.
March 1998
Adobe acquires Illustrator plug-in.
September 1998
Steve Jobs introduces PhotoScripter at Seybold.
December 1998
PhotoScripter released.
As you can see, rather than do anything to "thwart Adobe's plans" in
this area -- as if! -- I had spent over a year trying to do
everything I could to have Adobe do it. With regard to Illustrator,
you might say that Adobe thwarted our plans. (Certainly after Adobe
"guided" us in that reluctant direction, and having committed
resources to that path, I wouldn't have wanted Adobe to wipe us out a
year or two later.)
Cal, an Historian