Tutorial Builder

Follow these steps to get started with Tutorial Builder:

1. Watch the Creative Technologies Lab: Tutorial Builder demo
2. If you do not have Photoshop CS5, download the free trial
3. Install and activate the ScriptListener plug-in
4. Download the Tutorial Builder extension and the supporting Tutorial Player
5. Double-click the downloaded extension to launch Extension Manager CS5 and install the Tutorial Builder. Windows 7 and Vista users should make sure that they are logged in with an Administrator account.
6. Open Photoshop CS5 (or restart if it was already open).
7. Select Windows > Extensions > TutorialBuilder to open the Tutorial Builder panel.
8. Follow the operation instructions in the Tutorial Builder release notes
9. Ask questions or share your feedback in the Tutorial Builder forum
   
   Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Adobe.com Terms of Use.

Below you'll find references and links to help you participate in the Tutorial Builder community.

Online Forum

Ask questions and discuss ideas with other users of Tutorial Builder in the discussion forums. We would like your thoughts on the extension, especially regarding additional features and any bugs.

Visit the Tutorial Builder discussion forum

Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Adobe.com Terms of Use.

Resources

If you want to learn more about releases on Labs as well as other Adobe technologies, visiting a user group or connecting with an Adobe Community Professional is a great place to start.

• Find a user group
• Find an Adobe Community Professional

• FAQ
• System Requirements
• Release Notes

Documentation

• Tutorial Builder Installation Instructions
• Using Tutorial Builder

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tutorial Builder?

Tutorial Builder is an experimental technology that automatically generates step-by-step Photoshop tutorials from a sequence of actions recorded from the application. The technology takes the form of standalone plug-in for Photoshop (CS5 and higher) that allows users to create a tutorial just by demonstrating the appropriate sequence of steps in Photoshop. The resulting tutorials not only include text description and tool icons for the recorded actions, they also include all the code required to replay each step using the TouchSDK. This means that users who view Tutorial Builder content on a tablet device that is connected to a running instance of Photoshop can follow the tutorial by interactively driving the application one step at a time. Tutorial Builder creates tutorials in HTML, which makes it easy for authors to edit the automatically generated content.

How do I turn my Tutorial Builder HTML tutorial into an interactive tablet-based tutorial?

The HTML generated by Tutorial Builder includes all of the TouchSDK code necessary to drive Photoshop. To use the tutorial’s interactive features on a laptop or desktop machine, download the Tutorial Player application (developed on Adobe AIR®) and follow the instructions in the release notes to connect to a running instance of Photoshop.  One the application is installed, open the HTML tutorial in Tutorial Player. Clicking on the “Show me in Photoshop” link after each step will cause the application to execute the corresponding action in Photoshop.  To view interactive tutorials on a tablet, you need to write a tablet application with similar functionality as the Tutorial Player. In other words, the tablet app needs to render an HTML page (e.g., using WebKit), connect to a running instance of Photoshop using the TouchSDK, and pass the code embedded in each step of the HTML tutorial to Photoshop when the corresponding "Show me in Photoshop" link is clicked. We plan to release some sample code that will show the key steps in writing such an application.

Can Tutorial Builder generate screenshots for my tutorial?

The current version of Tutorial Builder does not automatically generate screenshots for each step of the tutorial. However, we are working on a version that will help users add screenshots. One way to include screenshots with this version of Tutorial Builder is to manually capture screenshots (e.g., using Alt+PrintScreen in Windows or Command+Shift+4 in Mac OS X) at the appropriate moments while you are demonstrating the tutorial. You can then simply add these screenshots to the HTML tutorial that Tutorial Builder generates by editing the HTML (i.e., adding IMG tags in the appropriate places within the HTML tutorial).

Can Tutorial Builder record everything I do in Photoshop?

Tutorial Builder currently supports most but not all of Photoshop's features. The Tutorial Builder release notes provide more detail about which features are supported (as well as other currently known issues). For example, Tutorial Builder does not record any brushing actions because these operations are not currently supported by the Photoshop ScriptListener plug-in (which Tutorial Builder leverages to record user actions).

System Requirements

Tutorial Builder works on both Mac and Windows and requires that Photoshop (CS5 or higher) and the ScriptListener plug-in (which comes with Photoshop) be installed. We tested Tutorial Builder primarily on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 and Windows 7, but the plug-in should work on other supported operating systems.

Tutorial Player works on both Mac and Windows.  In order to drive Photoshop interactively from the tutorial, you need to be running Photoshop CS5.1 or higher.  We tested Tutorial Player primarily on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 and Windows 7, but the application should work on other supported operating systems.

See Photoshop CS5 system requirements

Release Notes

This release of the Tutorial Builder is designed for evaluation purposes only. The software contained is not final; however, many portions of the technology are fully implemented and ready for you to try and discuss.

Read the Tutorial Builder release notes