Photoshop CS5 FXG Extension
From Adobe Labs
Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5.5 FXG Roundtrip Extension for Adobe Photoshop CS5 Release Notes
Updated: May 3, 2011
The Adobe® Flash® Catalyst® CS5.5 FXG extension for Adobe Photoshop® CS5 enables round-trip editing of Photoshop PSD files that have been imported into Flash Catalyst. Using this extension, designs created in Photoshop can be brought into Flash Catalyst, converted to components, and interactions added. When designs need to change, Flash Catalyst integrates with Photoshop to interchange artwork for efficient, iterative design changes.
These release notes document fixes addressed by the updated Photoshop CS5 FXG Roundtrip Extension, as well as remaining known issues and workarounds.
Supported Environments
- Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5
- Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5.5
- Adobe Photoshop CS5
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended
- Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 (v. 12.1)
- Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Extended (v. 12.1)
NOTE: Flash Catalyst CS 5.5 requires Photoshop CS5.1 (v. 12. 1, Standard or Extended).
If you own Flash Catalyst CS5.5 as part of any Adobe Creative Suite® CS.5.5 Premium edition; Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium; or Master Collection; you will have the correct version of Photoshop (v 12.1) to use with Flash Catalyst CS5.5.
If you purchased Flash Catalyst CS5.5 as a stand-alone product, you will also need to own the most current version of Photoshop CS5 (v. 12.1) in order to use this FXG extension.
System Requirements
For system requirements, please refer to the Adobe Creative Suite system requirements for your Creative Suite edition, or to the Photoshop CS5 and Flash Catalyst CS5 standalone system requirements:
Installation Instructions
After installing this extension, Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended users will have the ability to open graphics sent from Flash Catalyst.
IMPORTANT: You must uninstall any existing versions of the Photoshop CS5 FXG Roundtrip Extension before installing the updated extension.
To uninstall the current version:
- Close Photoshop CS5 if it is currently open on your system
- Open Extension Manager CS5 or Extension Manager CS5.5 (the latter is installed alongside of new Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 installations, or as part of an Adobe Creative Suite)
- Select Photoshop CS5.x from the list of applications on the left
- Select Photoshop CS5 FXG Roundtrip Extension from the list of installed plug-ins
- Select Uninstall and follow the instructions to remove the extension
To install the Photoshop CS5 FXG Roundtrip Extension:
- Download the Photoshop CS5 FXG Plug-in for your operating system and note its location
- Open Extension Manager
- For Windows 7 you may need to run Extension Manager in Admin mode
- Right click on "Adobe Extension Manager.exe"
- Choose "Run as Administrator".
- For Windows 7 you may need to run Extension Manager in Admin mode
- In Extension Manager, select the Install icon from the application bar
- Navigate to and select the extension “photoshopcs5_fxg_p3_mac_050311.zxp” (Macintosh), "photoshopcs5_fxg_p3_win32_050311.zxp" (Windows 32-bit), or "photoshopcs5_fxg_p3_win64_050311.zxp" (Windows 64-bit) in the Select Extension to Install dialog
- Read and accept the End User License Agreement to install the Plug-in
- When the installation is complete, close Extension Manager.
Supported Blend Modes and Visual Effects
Supported blend modes
The following blend modes are supported when applied to individual layers or groups: Normal, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge (Add), Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Hue Saturation, Color, Luminosity.
The Pass Through blend mode is also supported when applied to groups.
Opacity
Layer and layer group opacity changes in Photoshop are supported.
Fill opacity changes in Photoshop are unsupported.
Photoshop layer effects and styles
Photoshop layer effects and styles are handled by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script. The visual appearance of effects is preserved by flattening effects into the corresponding image, shape, fill or Smart Object layer.
Photoshop image layers
Image Layer edits, and in general any operation that adds or modifies the pixels of an image layer, are supported while editing a document in Photoshop.
Photoshop shape layers and vector masks
The visual appearance of shape layers and vector masks applied at the layer level is preserved by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script. Vector masks applied at the layer group level are unsupported.
Photoshop layer masks
The visual appearance of layer masks applied at the layer or layer group level is preserved by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Photoshop fill layers
Photoshop fill layers are flattened by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Photoshop adjustment layers
The effect of a Photoshop adjustment layer is applied to underlying layers by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Photoshop clipping masks
The appearance of a clipping mask in Photoshop is preserved by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Photoshop Smart Objects and filters
Smart Object layers are rasterized by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script. The appearance of filters applied to Smart Object layers is preserved by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Photoshop video layers
The first frame of a video layer is returned to Flash Catalyst as a bitmap.
Photoshop 3D layers
3D layers are flattened into Image layers by the “Simplify Layers for FXG” script.
Issues Fixed by the Update
Layer Content Size
- Dimensions of bitmaps that are scaled in Flash Catalyst and subsequently sent to Photoshop for editing are now correctly preserved.
- Bounds of some PNG, GIF, and JPEG images sent to Photoshop for editing were incorrectly expanded to cover the entire canvas. This no longer occurs.
Known Issues
Unsupported blend modes
The following Photoshop blend modes are not supported by Flash Catalyst: Dissolve, Linear Burn, Darker Color, Lighter Color, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Divide
The following Flash Catalyst blend modes are not supported by Photoshop: Invert, Copy Alpha, Erase Alpha
Text
Text in Flash Catalyst cannot be selected for editing in Photoshop. In addition, point and area text generated in Photoshop will be rasterized for export to FXG, and in turn reintegrated as a bitmap into your Flash Catalyst project.
Rotated images and images with filters applied in Flash Catalyst
Rotated images and those with filters applied cannot be edited in Photoshop.
Workaround:
- Select the image, and from the HUD, choose Optimize Artwork > Rasterize
- Choose Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS5 from the Modify menu, or right-click and choose Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS5 from the context menu
Images that lie partially or completely off the Flash Catalyst artboard
Images that lie partially or completely off the Flash Catalyst artboard will be clipped or dropped when opened in Photoshop during the editing process.
Transparent pixels are cropped in Photoshop
If an image in Flash Catalyst contains transparent pixels near its borders, those pixels will be cropped in Photoshop during the editing process.
Opacity setting applied to scaled bitmaps is incorrectly handled
The appearance of an opacity setting of less than 100% is baked into bitmaps during the editing process if the bitmap was first resized in Catalyst.
Workaround:
- Reset the bitmap's opacity to 100% prior to editing it in Photoshop.
Opacity and blend mode changes made to the “Selected content” layer group in Photoshop are ignored
When sending artwork to Photoshop for editing, Flash Catalyst always creates a special layer group called "Selected content." Any opacity and blend mode changes made to this layer group in Photoshop are ignored when the artwork is merged back into Flash Catalyst.
Manually update additional instances of non-PNG assets after editing
When editing images in Photoshop, additional instances of those which refer to non-PNG format images (JPG, GIF) in the library need to be manually replaced after the editing process, as the Photoshop FXG plug-in only writes PNG assets.
Adding layer groups in Photoshop may alter the stacking order of layers when they are returned to Flash Catalyst
If individual images from separate layer groups (DesignLayers) in Flash Catalyst are chosen for editing in Photoshop, re-grouping those layers in Photoshop will cause them to appear adjacent to one another in their stacking order when returned to Flash Catalyst after the editing process.
Gradient Overlay effect simplification
A gradient overlay effect applied to a solid color fill layer is flattened into the fill layer's bitmap by the "Simplify Layer for FXG" script.
