HVS ColorGIF 2.0 User Manual

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MultiPaletteAction

Here's how to create and use an HVSMultiPalette with the HVSColorGIF 2.0 Export plugin and Photoshop 4.0 Actions. If you have Photoshop 4.0, this is by far the easiest way to generate MultiPalettes for animations or other purposes. The initial setup is somewhat detailed and time-comsuming, but after that you will have an efficient environment for batch generation of multiple GIFs that share the same palette.

Start by loading the HVSMultiPalette Action which came with HVSColorGIF 2.0.

  1. If the Actions Palette is not displayed, select the "Window/Show Actions" from Photoshop menu bar.
  2. Select "Load Actions..." from the Actions palette popup menu and load HVSMultiPalette.ATN

Next modify directory and file references in the DoHVSExport Action. You will do this by actually opening an image from your own source directory and exporting a GIF to your destination directory. The easiest way to automate the MultiPalette actions is to establish a source directory in which you temporarily store the RGB images for a particular batch, and a destination directory in which the automatically generated GIF images will be put. You should use these directories only as staging areas, and you should move the images once the batch is complete. By setting up the directories in this manner, you can avoid having to modify directory settings for the Photoshop Actions each time (and possibly getting it wrong).

  1. Create directories for your RGB source images and your generated GIFs somewhere on your hard disk.
  2. Find the DoHVSExport Action on the Actions palette.
  3. Double click on the Open Action underneath DoHVSExport and open one of the RGB images in your source directory.
  4. Double click on the Export Action. This will bring up the HVS ColorGIF Export Options plug-in dialog.
  5. On the HVSColorGIF Export Options dialog box Click on the "GIF File Export... " button, select the directory which will contain your converted GIF files (but do not change the filename), and click on the Save button. NOTE: - this is only to establish the destination directory for the Action, and the color reduction settings don't matter. You will end up with a GIF in your destination directory, but this GIF will be overwritten in a later step. You might want to choose a fixed palette so the reduction won't take as long.

Next modify directory and file references in the DoExportBatch Action.

  1. Find the DoExportBatch Action on the Actions palette
  2. Double click on the Batch Action underneath DoExportBatch.
  3. From the Batch dialog box:

Next modify directory and file references in the DoHVSMultiPalette Action.

  1. Find the DoMultiPalette Action on the Actions palette.
  2. Double click on the Open Action and open an RGB image from your source directory.
  3. Double click on the Export Action.
  4. On the HVSColorGIF Options dialog box Select (Web Safe) from the Palette combobox (this is so it won't take as long - again, this is just a sample which will be overwritten).
  5. Click on the "GIF File Export... "button, select the directory which will contains your converted GIF files but do not change the filename, and click on the Save button. It's OK to replace any existing files.

Now save your Actions by selecting "Save Actions..." from the Actions palette popup menu. Once the Actions are modified you need only do the remaining steps whenever you wish to create and use a new HVSMultiPalette based on whatever images are in your Source RGB directory.

First setup HVSColorGIF Export with the correct settings to create an HVSMultiPalette.

  1. Open any RGB image.
  2. Select File/Export/HVSColorGIF 2.0... from Photoshop's menu bar.
  3. On the HVSColorGIF Options dialog box select (HVSMulti) from the Palette drop-down.
  4. On the HVSColorGIF Options dialog box set the reduction parameters for each image that will be analyzed in creating the MultiPalette:

  1. Click on the (HVSMulti) button. The HVSColorGIF Options dialog box will go away and the HVSMultiPalette Options will be displayed.
  2. Click on the Batch button. The HVSMultiPalette Options dialog box will go away.

Finally (you're almost done, really) create the HVSMultiPalette and reduce and convert the RGB images to GIF files by playing the doMultiPalette Action.

  1. First check and make sure that the Action dialog icons are set up correctly. Only the dialog icon next to Export under doMultiPalette should be turned on -- the others should be off. Additionallly, the check marks to the left of all MultiPalette-related Actions should be checked.
  2. Play the doMultiPalette Action by selecting it on the Action palette and clicking on the Play icon at the bottom of the Actions window. HVSColorGIF will analyze all the images in your previously set RGB source image directory.
  3. When the analysis phase is completed the the HVSMultiPalette Options will be displayed. Click on the "No More Images" button. The HVSMultiPalette Options dialog box will go away and the process will be completed, leaving the GIF files in the GIF directory and the HVSMultiPalette as the current palette next time you enter the HVSColorGIF Export Options dialog (the filter, however, will not bring up the MultiPalette automatically. You can bring the MultiPalette into the filter by using the Load Palette option to load the palette from one of the GIFs you just created). NOTE: processing the images might take awhile. The good news is that the computer is doing it, not you.
  4. The batch method of generating MultiPalettes just outlined will assign equal weights to each of your images. If the colors in some images are more important than others, you can either generate the MultiPalette manually (not for the faint of heart), or you can put copies of some images in your source directory. For example, you could double the weight of an image by making a copy of it, causing HVS ColorGIF to factor it in twice when doing the analysis.