Comments on Tech Art Tiki: Photoshop scripting with Python

Hey! Thanks for such a great tutorial. I've be...

2025-05-27T04:28:50.351-05:00

Hey! Thanks for such a great tutorial. I've been looking into developing Photoshop tools for a while now and this blog has by far been the most useful one. UXP is definitely not something I would like to use, even if COM and ports may be harder to understand.

Maybe it's because I've never used JS, but definitely love how you've broken everything down :)

Much love from 2025 <3

Hi, Greetings ! We are brisklogic (www.brisklogic...

2022-07-04T06:31:44.411-05:00

Hi,
Greetings !

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Build digital products faster, smarter, and scalable.
Brisklogic is Solutions for a small digital planet.
Develop your business faster with less efforts with Us.
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Sr. Business Manager
Thanks & Regards,

excellent tutorial I am searching for long days p...

2020-03-26T02:20:49.383-05:00

excellent tutorial I am searching for long days python Tutorials

2020-03-26T02:19:34.093-05:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

how to run .ATN file using phthon?

2020-01-27T06:59:37.482-06:00

how to run .ATN file using phthon?

It's 10 years later since the tutorial has bee...

2018-06-23T08:29:08.017-05:00

It's 10 years later since the tutorial has been written and there's not much more sources to look for knowledge about this topic ;) Thanks a lot, finally managed to understand the SaveAs options objects.

2017-12-14T08:32:41.991-06:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

amazing post, thank you a billion !!

2016-10-16T16:08:15.547-05:00

amazing post, thank you a billion !!

Evan, your post was enormously helpful, thank you!...

2014-10-22T13:44:33.226-05:00

Evan, your post was enormously helpful, thank you!

I had been wondering about this for a while and si...

2014-10-16T10:18:23.255-05:00

I had been wondering about this for a while and since this helped me so much I figured I would share the answer no matter how basic it may be.

When I tried to make all this work I had some troubles. Not only did I have multiple versions of photoshop but I had multiple bit versions (CS5 x86, CS6 x86/x64, CC 2014. I knew I had to use win32.client.Dispatch(Adobe.Application) to connect to the app and open a document but I could not connect to the Adobe.ActionReference or Adobe.ActionDescriptor

I tried to find out why my Application returned a timeout error and it seems it revolved around the Generic call to the Photoshop COM. I needed to specify the application version...but what was the number?

After much searching I found in the Windows Registry all Photoshop call actions and Versions to use.

If you want to make an Action Manager interaction without photoshop timeing out specify the version

Photoshop Application COMM Dispatch Commands Action Manager
(will use the recent version of photoshop installed)

win32.client.Dispatch(
Photoshop.Application.80
Photoshop.ActionDescriptor.80
Photoshop.ActionReference.80
)

For a full list of commands specific to you go to Start->(Search)regedit -> Locate Photoshop.X registry details

I didn't see what Nico said. Well actually, it...

2013-08-08T07:50:43.209-05:00

I didn't see what Nico said.
Well actually, it's not really my code that is the problem. The real issue, is that it slows down the actions in Photoshop itself. For example, cancelling an action will not be immediate. Or switching from one layer to another will take 1 second instead of being instantaneous.

Thanks for the reply :) Well the exact code is a ...

2013-08-07T12:02:36.505-05:00

Thanks for the reply :)

Well the exact code is a lot to read.. I actually didn't write it, so I have to dig in it before I can get out some simplified code.

But I'll try the timer thing, see what it gives. Thanks for the tip !

I still read this! :) I don't have experience ...

2013-08-07T10:10:11.428-05:00

I still read this! :)
I don't have experience with that exact kind of setup (JSX->Py->COM->PS), but...

If you have that kind of circular connection in the tools, I'd suspect it's waiting around for the last "message" to be processed, which is starving the UI and making it unresponsive. Hard to say without seeing the exact code, however.

I would suggest adding some timing code and profiling it, see where the time is going.

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone reads this post any...

2013-08-07T03:52:07.003-05:00

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone reads this post anymore but I have a question regarding python interfaces in photoshop.

My problem is that it seems to slow down Photoshop a lot. I have a simple interface generated in Flash that call some jsx script themselves calling a PyQt script using com to interact with Photoshop. I'm not entirely sure it is the simplest way to go, but it does the trick. Only thing is, for some users, it slows down the Photoshop interface.
Any idea where it might come from ? Any suggestion would be appreciated ! Thanks

Wow, really useful. Thank you for the post!

2013-03-19T22:53:01.675-05:00

Wow, really useful. Thank you for the post!

@当当 That is either a typo in the VBScript document...

2012-05-15T13:52:06.130-05:00

@当当
That is either a typo in the VBScript documentation, or perhaps a difference between the VBScript and COM interfaces.

The "Export" function on document objects is still there in Photoshop CS5 and callable from COM/Python, and there is no function named "ExportDocument".

this is a life saver post, thank you guys. But I g...

2012-05-15T01:11:35.556-05:00

this is a life saver post, thank you guys. But I get a question, when I look into the documentation of photoshop_cs5_vbscript_ref.pdf I found there's only ExportDocument function there but no Export function.

How do you guys figured it out this ?

I'm having the same selection problem that Nic...

2012-04-17T15:47:14.503-05:00

I'm having the same selection problem that Nico solved using comtypes, is there a fix for win32com yet? And if not, can someone explain the comtypes solution? Is it a replacement for win32com?

All this has worked amazingly for me.. except for ...

2012-04-04T19:00:50.598-05:00

All this has worked amazingly for me.. except for some damn reason the application.documents object doesn't respond to any of it's documented methods or properties except for .parent (and although not documented the .count) Anyone else run into this?

Great post, it really helped me getting started wi...

2012-01-28T16:39:04.982-06:00

Great post, it really helped me getting started with PyCOM Photoshop scripting.

How can I access Photoshop constants like Units and TypeUnits? I tried win32com.client.constants.Units but I get an AttributeError...

Thanks.

2012-01-28T16:37:24.473-06:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

Thanks nico for the js tip :D How I could pass par...

2012-01-14T05:22:11.753-06:00

Thanks nico for the js tip :D
How I could pass params?, anything like:

var checkout = new File("/sandbox/photoshop/pyCheckOut.py 1024 768 AnyName");
checkout.execute();

Thanks!!

Nico, thanks for the help, that was almost too eas...

2012-01-13T16:03:32.534-06:00

Nico, thanks for the help, that was almost too easy. Knowledge is king! Thanks again.

Great info, thanks!...but I have a question: How d...

2012-01-13T14:35:36.548-06:00

Great info, thanks!...but I have a question: How do you access the python script from within PS? I read that one could create a simple javascript to call the python script, but I'm not sure how it's done, I know little about javascript. I've tried
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("python.exe", "C:\\psTest.py");
but it doesn't seem to do anything.
Also, is there a way to create a custom menu in PS where I can place my scripts? I do this in Maya for our company tools, and ideally I'd like to maintain a similar setup in PS.

Saved my day. Thank you :).

2011-11-07T05:05:17.518-06:00

Saved my day. Thank you :).