Tutorial Builder
From Adobe Labs
| Revision as of 18:28, 7 Oct 2011 Mira D (Talk | contribs) ← Go to previous diff |
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| + | ==Tutorial Player for iPad now available== | ||
| + | Tutorial Player is now available for the iPad in the App Store for free. | ||
| + | http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adobe-tutorial-player-for/id506852026?ls=1&mt=8 | ||
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| + | Try it out and let us know what you think. | ||
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| + | We will soon be updating Tutorial Builder so that you can publish tutorials directly to our Tutorial Player iPad app. | ||
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| ==Installation Instructions== | ==Installation Instructions== | ||
| Tutorial Builder is a standalone plug-in for Photoshop (CS5 and higher) that leverages Adobe ExtendScript and the ScriptListener plug-in (that ships with Photoshop). Tutorial Builder works on both Macintosh and Windows and does not require any additional installed software (other than Photoshop and the ScriptListener). We tested Tutorial Builder primarily on OS 10.5 and 10.6 (for Macintosh) and Windows 7 (for Windows), but the plug-in should work on other operating system versions. | Tutorial Builder is a standalone plug-in for Photoshop (CS5 and higher) that leverages Adobe ExtendScript and the ScriptListener plug-in (that ships with Photoshop). Tutorial Builder works on both Macintosh and Windows and does not require any additional installed software (other than Photoshop and the ScriptListener). We tested Tutorial Builder primarily on OS 10.5 and 10.6 (for Macintosh) and Windows 7 (for Windows), but the plug-in should work on other operating system versions. | ||
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| If Photoshop was open when you installed the plug-in, you will need to restart Photoshop before using Tutorial Builder. | If Photoshop was open when you installed the plug-in, you will need to restart Photoshop before using Tutorial Builder. | ||
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| + | To install the Tutorial Player application, download the Tutorial Player AIR file, double-click on it, and follow the installation procedure. | ||
| ==Using Tutorial Builder== | ==Using Tutorial Builder== | ||
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| You can view the generated HTML tutorial in a Web browser (we have primarily tested on IE8 and Firefox 6), but the "Show me in Photoshop" links will not work. In order to enable this functionality, you will need to build a simple Webkit based application that loads the tutorial and sends the code embedded in the HTML file to a running instance of Photoshop via the Touch SDK. In the future, we hope to release such an application with Tutorial Builder. | You can view the generated HTML tutorial in a Web browser (we have primarily tested on IE8 and Firefox 6), but the "Show me in Photoshop" links will not work. In order to enable this functionality, you will need to build a simple Webkit based application that loads the tutorial and sends the code embedded in the HTML file to a running instance of Photoshop via the Touch SDK. In the future, we hope to release such an application with Tutorial Builder. | ||
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| + | ==Using Tutorial Player== | ||
| + | After Tutorial Player has been installed, open the application and follow the onscreen instructions to connect to a running instance of Photoshop and view interactive tutorials. If you want to share a tutorial with somebody else, just ask them to download the Tutorial Player app and then send them the entire HTML folder that was generated by Tutorial Builder. They should be able to open the HTML tutorial and drive their version of Photoshop interactively via the Tutorial Player. | ||
| ==Known Issues== | ==Known Issues== | ||
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| * Some of the the actions that Tutorial Builder captures are not yet instrumented to produce detailed text instructions in the final tutorial. For such actions, the generated tutorial will include a step that says "The (action name) is not yet supported by Tutorial Builder," and the tutorial author will have to edit the HTML to provide more descriptive text. Note that the "Show me in Photoshop" link is still generated for such actions. | * Some of the the actions that Tutorial Builder captures are not yet instrumented to produce detailed text instructions in the final tutorial. For such actions, the generated tutorial will include a step that says "The (action name) is not yet supported by Tutorial Builder," and the tutorial author will have to edit the HTML to provide more descriptive text. Note that the "Show me in Photoshop" link is still generated for such actions. | ||
| * Some Photoshop actions allow the user to specify a set of parameters in multiple ways, but Tutorial Builder cannot detect how the user specified those settings during the recorded demonstration. Thus, the text in the generated tutorial may not describe exactly what was demonstrated. For example, in the Image > Adjustments > Levels tool dialog box, you can update the parameters using three different eye droppers. Since Tutorial Builder does not know which (if any) of these eye droppers were used, the text for a Levels adjustment does not describe exactly how the settings are specified. Again, the tutorial author can simply edit the HTML to provide a more accurate description. | * Some Photoshop actions allow the user to specify a set of parameters in multiple ways, but Tutorial Builder cannot detect how the user specified those settings during the recorded demonstration. Thus, the text in the generated tutorial may not describe exactly what was demonstrated. For example, in the Image > Adjustments > Levels tool dialog box, you can update the parameters using three different eye droppers. Since Tutorial Builder does not know which (if any) of these eye droppers were used, the text for a Levels adjustment does not describe exactly how the settings are specified. Again, the tutorial author can simply edit the HTML to provide a more accurate description. | ||
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| + | * Tutorial Player only works with content generated by Tutorial Builder 1.0.1 or later. | ||
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| + | * If your tutorial contains any steps that open something other than a basic image file (e.g., a PSD file), these steps will not play back correctly in Tutorial Player via the “Show me in Photoshop” link. For such steps, the person following the tutorial will have to open the file manually from Photoshop. | ||
Current revision
| Table of contents |
Tutorial Player for iPad now available
Tutorial Player is now available for the iPad in the App Store for free. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/adobe-tutorial-player-for/id506852026?ls=1&mt=8
Try it out and let us know what you think.
We will soon be updating Tutorial Builder so that you can publish tutorials directly to our Tutorial Player iPad app.
Installation Instructions
Tutorial Builder is a standalone plug-in for Photoshop (CS5 and higher) that leverages Adobe ExtendScript and the ScriptListener plug-in (that ships with Photoshop). Tutorial Builder works on both Macintosh and Windows and does not require any additional installed software (other than Photoshop and the ScriptListener). We tested Tutorial Builder primarily on OS 10.5 and 10.6 (for Macintosh) and Windows 7 (for Windows), but the plug-in should work on other operating system versions.
Before installing, Tutorial Builder, make sure that you have installed and activated the ScriptListener plug-in.
After downloading the Tutorial Builder extension, just double-click on the file. This should open the Adobe Extension Manager CS5 (AEM CS5) and automatically install the Tutorial Builder plug-in. If this does not work, open AEM CS5 manually, select File > Install Extension (or click on the Install button on the title bar), and select the TutorialBuilder.zxp file that you downloaded. Once Tutorial Builder is successfully installed, it should appear in the list of installed extensions in the AEM CS5 interface.
If Photoshop was open when you installed the plug-in, you will need to restart Photoshop before using Tutorial Builder.
To install the Tutorial Player application, download the Tutorial Player AIR file, double-click on it, and follow the installation procedure.
Using Tutorial Builder
After Tutorial Builder has been installed, open Photoshop and select Windows > Extensions > Tutorial Builder to open the Tutorial Builder panel.
To record a tutorial, hit the START button on the panel. The panel will show a status message that says CAPTURING. Now, perform a sequence of operations in Photoshop. The first time you open a document (or if a document is already open when you start capturing), Tutorial Builder will ask whether you want to save it as the "Before" image for the tutorial. Once you have completed the sequence of operations, hit the DONE button in the Tutorial Builder panel. The system will ask you if you want to save this tutorial, and if yes, it will ask if you want to save the current version of the document as the "After" image for the tutorial. You will see a dialog box that lets you enter information about the tutorial (e.g., Title, Author, Caption, Description) and specify where to save the output. Once you hit the PROCESS button, the system will start generating the tutorial and show a dialog box when it is done.
You can view the generated HTML tutorial in a Web browser (we have primarily tested on IE8 and Firefox 6), but the "Show me in Photoshop" links will not work. In order to enable this functionality, you will need to build a simple Webkit based application that loads the tutorial and sends the code embedded in the HTML file to a running instance of Photoshop via the Touch SDK. In the future, we hope to release such an application with Tutorial Builder.
Using Tutorial Player
After Tutorial Player has been installed, open the application and follow the onscreen instructions to connect to a running instance of Photoshop and view interactive tutorials. If you want to share a tutorial with somebody else, just ask them to download the Tutorial Player app and then send them the entire HTML folder that was generated by Tutorial Builder. They should be able to open the HTML tutorial and drive their version of Photoshop interactively via the Tutorial Player.
Known Issues
- Tutorial Builder can only capture actions in Photoshop that are recorded by the ScriptListener plug-in. While this includes most of Photoshop's functionality, some features/tools are not recorded. In particular, brushing actions are not captured. We hope to address this in future releases of Tutorial Builder.
- Some of the the actions that Tutorial Builder captures are not yet instrumented to produce detailed text instructions in the final tutorial. For such actions, the generated tutorial will include a step that says "The (action name) is not yet supported by Tutorial Builder," and the tutorial author will have to edit the HTML to provide more descriptive text. Note that the "Show me in Photoshop" link is still generated for such actions.
- Some Photoshop actions allow the user to specify a set of parameters in multiple ways, but Tutorial Builder cannot detect how the user specified those settings during the recorded demonstration. Thus, the text in the generated tutorial may not describe exactly what was demonstrated. For example, in the Image > Adjustments > Levels tool dialog box, you can update the parameters using three different eye droppers. Since Tutorial Builder does not know which (if any) of these eye droppers were used, the text for a Levels adjustment does not describe exactly how the settings are specified. Again, the tutorial author can simply edit the HTML to provide a more accurate description.
- Tutorial Player only works with content generated by Tutorial Builder 1.0.1 or later.
- If your tutorial contains any steps that open something other than a basic image file (e.g., a PSD file), these steps will not play back correctly in Tutorial Player via the “Show me in Photoshop” link. For such steps, the person following the tutorial will have to open the file manually from Photoshop.
