Scriptorator Manual¶

Scriptorator is a free collection of scripts that I use in my workflow all the time (and obviously some of them will be useless for people with different worflows). Most of these scripts are extended or automatised versions of existing Photoshop functions. If you feel there’s something should be added here or have a request for a script, just let me know. For the moment, Scriptorator contains:

Quick Select: it’s like Color Range but hides this ugly selection afterwards + allows to quickly select Material Pass areas;

Guides maker: create guides around/in the center of a layer(s) or a selection;

Layer to Selection: quickly load a selection based on layer bounds;

Split Layer to Islands: create a separate layer for each pixel island (new in 1.1);

Path from Layer/Selection: create a path based on layer(s) bounds or a selection;

Fill Contour: quickly fill an outline with a foreground color;

Quick Resize: quickly resize the document by pixels, percents or based on active layer or selection size;

FG to modified color: to change foreground color (new in 1.1);

FG to inverted BG color: for brushes with Foreground/Background color dynamics;

Smart Layer Mask: quickly add/remove/apply layer masks;

Select Brush: assign brush or tool presets to hotkeys;

Set Brush Size: use several copies of this script with different values to quickly switch between particular sizes for any painting tool;

Set Brush Rotation: set a rotation (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (new in 1.1);

Set Brush Opacity: set an opacity (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (new in 1.1);

Set Brush Flow: set a flow (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (new in 1.3);

Set Brush Roundness: set a roundness (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (new in 1.2);

Set Brush Hardness: set a hardness (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (new in 1.2);

Smart Objects: Selected to Smart Objects: convert the selected layers to smart objects (new in 1.1);

Smart Objects: Reset: undo all modifications made to smart object (new in 1.1);

Smart Objects: Unpack Selected: unpack selected smart objects to layers (new in 1.1);

Smart Objects: Rasterize All: rasterize all smart objects in the current document (new in 1.1);

Switch Between Layer and Mask: switch between layer and layer mask (new in 1.1);

Smart Eraser: switch between the active tool and eraser, setting the eraser tool to the same size as the brush tool;

Break a Paragraph to Lines: break a paragraph to separate lines of text (new in 1.2);

Set Text Alignment: change text alignment without changing layer coordinates (new in 1.4);

Transform Layers by a Path: to help with precise scaling and rotating layers using paths as guides (new in 1.2);

Create Custom Shape: create custom shapes from documents and selections (new in 1.4);

Show Blending Options: show Layer Blending Options window (new in 1.4);

Select Random Brush: select a random brush from a specific group (new in 1.5);

Create a Gradient from Path: use a path to create a gradient of specific width (new in 1.5);

Merge to Smart Object: merge layers into a smart object (new in 1.5);

Fill with Pattern: fill a selection or the whole document with a specific pattern (mostly for sampling with Mixer) (new in 1.5);

Scriptorator Settings: to rule them all (new in 1.1);

Contact me at kritskiy.sergey@gmail.com
Twitter: @ebanchiki
Grab the scripts on my Gumroad or Cubebrush

Installation¶

Close Photoshop
To install:
- Run .exe file from Windows Install or .pkg file from Mac Install folders to install the scripts;
- Or copy *.jsx files from Manual Install to Scripts folder of your Photoshop;

If you want to make several copies of particular scripts (like Select Brush or Set Brush Size) don’t forget to change name of the script (inside the .jsx file, inside the <name> tag) so yuo won’t confuse the copies.

Assigning to Hotkey¶

To assign scripts to shortcuts:

Start Photoshop and navigate to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts menu;
Select a Keyboard Shortcuts tab;
In Shortcuts For field select Application Menus;
In Application Menu Command find all the scripts in File > Scripts and assign desired shortcuts

For scripts that use modifier keys, assign two hotkeys (using the Add Shortcut button): one without the modifier and second one with the modifier. On the image above Smart Layer Mask and Quick Select have two hotkeys assigned, shift is a modifier key for Quick Select and it’s alt for Smart Layer Mask.

Hot to find scripts for editing?¶

Scripts are installed to the Scripts folder of any found Photoshop. To get to this folder navigate to

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Presets\Scripts for Windows
Applications\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Presets\Scripts for MacOs

Scriptorator Settings¶

Scriptorator Settings is a special script added in 1.1, used specially for changing settings and managing scripts.

You can access it in several ways:

through File > Scripts > ! Scriptorator Settings Photoshop menu item;
through Edit > Search Photoshop menu item, typing ! and selecting ! Scriptorator Settings;
if you have Brusherator installed, flyout menu includes Scriptorator Settings item;

Managing scripts¶

The first row of buttons:

Select a script you want to modify from the list;
Send to Brusherator: if Brusherator is installed, a current script will be added to an active shelf of any Brusherator;

The second row allows you to manage script file:

File Info... will show a window with options to copy file path to clipboard and open Scripts folder in file explorer;
Duplicate will make a copy of a current script with a new name. Use this to create several instances of scripts with different settings;
Rename will rename a current script;
Delete will remove a current script;

Last 3 options may be greyed out if Photoshop doesn’t have access to its Presets/Scripts folder. To give PS access:

on Mac:
- make sure Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC XXXX/Presets/Scripts folder isn’t set to Read Only;
on Windows:
- retake ownership of the folder (https://superuser.com/a/1141616/971910);
- OR simply restart PS as Administrator:

Quick Select¶

📝 Description:
* This function is used to create selections from visible layers or a Clown (Material ID) pass, selection will stay hidden;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Modification of Color Range... command from Select menu;
👍 Usage:
* To quickly select areas of a color or areas from Clown (Material ID) pass;
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey (mine is Ctrl+F1, with Shift as a Clown modifier)

An example of selecting an area of color.

Note that selection (marching ants) is hidden and doesn’t obstruct the view (this is optional though).

Working with Clown (Material ID) pass¶

If the current document has a layer with a word clown in it, Quick Select will enable this layer when showing the Color Range dialogue.

An example of selecting a part of Clown pass. There’s a layer with clown in its name in my document, so when using Quick Select with a key modifier, Clown pass is shown while selecting and then hidden.

Options¶

Default Fuzziness: default value for Fuzziness;
Hide Selection After Executing: hide selection after clicking OK;
Smooth ID Map selection: if used with a clown layer: smooth it a little bit;
Select from an ID Map with a modifier: key modifier for using a clown layer;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Guides maker¶

This function contains of 3 scripts:

Create Center Guides
Create Border Guides
Remove All Guides

📝 Description:
* This function is used to create guides around borders or in a center of selected layer(s) or selection;
* Guides then may be used for symmetry, to align layers, etc;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Create guides manually
👍 Usage:
* Select a layer, several layers of make a selection;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

Additional script interface allows to select a specific guide to be created. In this example left guide is used to drive a Quick Symmetry function of Layer Factory:

Options¶

Show Script Interface with a modifier: key modifier for showing the function interface (option may be set separately for Border and Center guides makers);
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Layer to Selection¶

📝 Description:
* This function creates rectangular or elliptical selection based on active layer bounds;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually make a selection;
👍 Usage:
* Rectangular to visualize layer bounds;
* Elliptical to create a precise selection for existing elliptical object or to recreate existing bad ellipse layer;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

An example of creating a selection based on existing ellipse: on a temporary layer I’m marking edges of the ellipse, than I use Layer to Ellipse Selection and remove the temp layer:

Split Layer to Islands¶

📝 Description:
* This function will create a separate layer for each pixel island;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Cutting the layers manually
👍 Usage:
* Best used when placed on Brusherator;

Fill Contour¶

📝 Description:
* This function will fill all closed figure on a bitmap layer with a foreground color;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually selecting and filling or painting the region;
👍 Usage:
* To quickly fill a painted contour, especially userful for brushes with jagged strokes;

Additional script interface allows to set gap size and an option to create the fill as a separate layer:

New in 1.1:¶

Option to control the amount of silhouette contracting, useful when contour isn’t 100% opaque:

Options¶

Show Script Interface with a modifier: key modifier for showing the function interface;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Path from Layer/Selection¶

📝 Description:
* This function will create a rectangular, rounded rectangular or elliptical path around selected layer(s) or selection;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually creating a path;
👍 Usage:
* To create specific paths and shapes from predefined selections or raster layers;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

Quick Resize¶

📝 Description:
* This function is used to quickly resize active document based on percents, pixels, current layer/selection or just to change resolution;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Image Size menu
👍 Usage:
* To quickly resize image, Quick Resize almost completely replaced Photoshop Image Size menu for me;
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey (mine is Home)

Quick Resize has 4 modes:

Percent
Pixels
Resolution Only
By Layer (of Selection) (to resize document so that current layer/selection would be particular size)

In Windows it’s possible to quicky switch between modes with Alt+Q/W/E/R hotkeys, MacOS unfortunately doesn’t support this. Resizing is done suing the Bilinear filtering. Resizing By Layer/Selection is approximate, resulting Layer may be 1-2 pixels larger/smaller in the end.

An example of resizing based on selection so that the sphere would become 200px wide:

FG to Modified Color¶

📝 Description:
* This function is used to modify Foreground Color;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Changing the color manually, using Color Panel;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when there’re 2 copies — with positive and negative values — that are assigned to hotkeys (mines are F5, F6)

I use those to slightly modify Hue of the foreground color in both directions, maintaining color Lightness:

Options¶

Hue Shift: Default Add of 15;
Saturation: Default Multiply of 1 = no changes;
Brightness: Default Multiply of 1 = no changes;
Modifier key: key modifier for additionally changing any property;
Modify Property: additional property to be changed when modifier key is used;
Preserve Lightness: with this option turned ON, lightness of a color won’t be modified;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

FG to inverted BG color¶

📝 Description:
* This function is used to change Background Color to inverted Foreground color (in RGB space), (or any other color, really);|br|💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Changing the color manually;
👍 Usage:
* To get an appropriate color for brushes with Foreground/Background expression turned on;
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey (mine is Ctrl/Cmd+`)

I love brushes with FB/BG expression in Color Dynamics turned on. However usually I have White color as a BG color so they add a lot of white to canvas. In this case I use this function to get a more beutral color as a BG color.

Options¶

Hue Shift: Default Add of 180 = opposite color in RGB;
Saturation: Default Multiply of 0.5 = two times less saturation;
Brightness: Default Multiply of 0.5 = same brightness;
Modifier key: key modifier for additionally changing any property;
Modify Property: additional property to be changed when modifier key is used;
Preserve Lightness: with this option turned ON, lightness of a color won’t be modified (new in 1.1);
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Smart Layer Mask¶

📝 Description:
* This function acts both as adding and removing layer masks, one hotkey + modifier executes 4 functions: reveal selection, hide selection, apply and remove layer mask, works with several layers selected;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Using 4 Photoshop commands, repeating for each selected layer;
👍 Usage:
* To quickly add/remove layer mask;
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey (mine is Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+R and Alt as a modifier)

If layer doesn’t have a layer mask and there’s a selection:

Using SLM will create a layer mask, hiding unselected area, revealing the selection;

Using SLM with modifier key will create a layer mask, hiding selected area;

If layer has a layer mask:

Using SLM will apply the layer mask;

Using SLM with modifier key will remove the layer mask;

Options¶

Use a modifier: key modifier for additional functionality mentioned above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Select Brush¶

📝 Description:
* This function will select a specific tool or brush preset;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* This is similar to selection a preset with Action and may be assigned to a hotkey with a difference that Action hotkeys are limited to F-keys. Plus it’s possible to set Preserve Size option
👍 Usage:
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey;
* Copy the script several times to use it with different presets

Quickly selecting different brushes with hotkeys:

Options¶

Preset Type: select type of a preset: brush or tool preset;
Preset Name: type name of the preset;
Preserve Brush Size: with this option turned ON size will be inherited from previous tool;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Size¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set a particular size for current painting tool (brush, mixer brush, eraser, dodge… you name it)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular size, expecially painful when you need to go from 2 to 2000;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different sizes as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

Options¶

Set Tool Size: type the size value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the size value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Rotation¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set a rotation (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (brush, mixer brush, eraser, dodge… you name it)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular rotation;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different rotation values as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

In this example two Rotation scripts set to add 90 and -90 rotation on Click and 180/-180 on Ctrl+Click:

Options¶

Set Brush Rotation: type the rotation value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the rotation value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Opacity¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set an opacity (relative or absolute) for current painting tool (brush, eraser, dodge… you name it)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular opacity;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different opacity values as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

In this example there’re four copies of Set Brush Opacity: two relatively add/subtract 15% of opacity of Click and 30% on Ctrl+Click and two set opacity ot 50% and 100%:

Options¶

Set Brush Opacity: type the size value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the size value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Flow¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set a flow (relative or absolute) for a current painting tool (brush, mixer brush, eraser, dodge… you name it)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular flow;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different flow values as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

Options¶

Set Brush Flow: type the size value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the size value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Roundness¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set a roundness (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (brush, mixer brush, eraser, dodge…)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular roundness;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different roundness values as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

In this example there’re four copies of Set Brush Roundness: two relatively add/subtract 15% of roundness of Click and 30% on Ctrl+Click and two set roundness ot 50% and 100%:

Options¶

Set Brush Roundness: type the roundness value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the roundness value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Set Brush Hardness¶

📝 Description:
* This function will set a hardness (relative or absolute) for the current painting tool (brush, mixer brush, eraser, dodge…)
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching to a particular hardness;
👍 Why I use it: Make as many copies for different hardness values as you need and place them on Brusherator or hotkeys

In this example there’re four copies of Set Brush Hardness: two relatively add/subtract 15% of hardness of Click and 30% on Ctrl+Click and two set hardness ot 50% and 100%:

Options¶

Set Brush Hardness: type the hardness value;
Modifier key: modifier key can be used to additionaly change the hardness value. Modified setting will ignore the one set above;
Shortcut: shows a shortcut assigned to the function;

Smart Objects: Selected to Smart Objects¶

📝 Description:
* This function will convert the selected layers to smart objects;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* converting layers one by one;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when placed on Brusherator;

Smart Objects: Reset¶

📝 Description:
* This function will undo all modifications made to smart object;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* None;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when placed on Brusherator;

Smart Objects: Unpack Selected¶

📝 Description:
* This function will unpack selected smart objects to layers;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* None: manually opening and dragging layers from smart objects;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when placed on Brusherator;

Smart Objects: Rasterize All¶

📝 Description:
* This function will rasterize all smart objects in the current document;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Rasterizing the smart objects one by one;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when placed on Brusherator;

Switch Between Layer and Mask¶

📝 Description:
* This function will switch between layer and layer mask;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Clicking the icons of layer/layer mask;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey;

Smart Eraser¶

📝 Description:
* This function will toggle between current tool and eraser tool, preserving a size of a brush so the eraser wouldn’t be too small or large;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually switching between tool and adjusting an eraser size manually;
👍 Usage:
* Best used when assigned to a hotkey (mine is E replacing the standard Eraser hotkey)

Break a Paragraph to Lines¶

📝 Description:
* This function will convert a paragraph of text to separate text layers based on line breaks
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually breaking and moving layers to specific coordinates;
👍 Why I use it: To individually control lines of the text paragraph
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

In this example I break the paragraph to apply a gradient effect separately to each line:

Transform Layers by a Path¶

📝 Description:
* This function will help to precisely scale and rotate layers using paths as guides to place it to match a specific transformation by entering the free transform with set pivot and scale;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually scaling and rotating layers to match the required transformations;
👍 Why I use it: to precisely scale and rotater layers;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

placing a one guide path will offset the active layer(s) and set a pivot to the second point of the path;
placing two guides will offset the active layers(s), set a pivot to the second point of the first path and scale the layer(s);

In this example I’m matching an viewport render of my model with an existing flat version of that model that was scaled and rotated:

Set Text Alignment¶

📝 Description:
* This function will change text alignment while keeping the layer coordinates;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Moving a text layer after changing a text alignment;
👍 Why I use it: to change text alignment without hustle;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

In this example I’m changing text alignment from Center to Left to continue typing:

Create Custom Shape¶

📝 Description:
* This function will create a custom shape from an active document or selection with a preview;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Doing all the things manually;
👍 Why I use it: To have more control over the custom shape settings;
* Best used when placed on Brusherator

In this example I’m creating a shape from a selection. Note the Treshold slider for previewing a custom object and an ability to invert the object before creating it:

If cancelled during the Treshold phase, a document duplicate with the adjustment layer won’t close: it’s possible to edit out the unwanted parts and run the function again to finish the custom shape creation:

Show Blending Options¶

📝 Description:
* Quickly showing the layer Blending options;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* The same as double-clicking the layer;
👍 Why I use it: Place on a hotkey to quickly call the window;

Simple as that, just a way of showing the Blending Options window;

Select Random Brush¶

📝 Description:
* This will select a random brush from a specific group;
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* None;
👍 Why I use it: To randomly go through texture brushes

Options¶

Group Name: the name of the group to select a brush from;

Description is coming soon…

Create a Gradient from Path¶

📝 Description:
* This will create a gradient of a set length perpendicularly to a path
💼 Photoshop analogue:
* None;
👍 Why I use it: Useful for creating gradients in perspective;

Options¶

Gradient Width: length of the gradient in pixels;
Limit the Gradient Length to Paths: with this option on the gradient length will be limited to the drawn path;
Delete Paths: to delete the paths after the function was called;
Create as Smart Objects: the layers will stay as Smart Objects. This is useful for modifying the perspective or the gradient itself;

Merge to Smart Object¶

📝 Description:
* This will add all the selected normal layers into the selected non-transformed smart object;|br|💼 Photoshop analogue:
* Manually copying and realigning everything…;
👍 Why I use it: To quickly add more content into existing SOs;

Note that currently this function won’t work properly on transformed smart objects;

Options¶

Close SO: to close the original Smart Object;

Release Log¶

5 Dec 2022: Scriptorator 1.5¶

New scripts: Select Random Brush, Create Gradient from Path, Merge to Smart Object, Fill with Pattern;
Installers updated to support latest Photoshop versions;
Fill Contour script settings were moved into the Scriptorator Settings;
Fixed bugs;

19 Dec 2019: Scriptorator 1.4¶

New scripts: Change Text Layer Alignment, Create Custom Shape from Document, ID Pass to Layers;
Installers updated to support Photoshop 2020;
Installers will remove readonly flag from Scripts folder of Photoshop;
Fixed: unability to set hotkeys to specific keys using the Scriptorator Settings;

24 Sep 2018: Scriptorator 1.3¶

it’s possible to assign script hotkeys directly from Scriptorator Settings script;
New scripts: Set Brush Flow;

21 Aug 2019: Scriptorator 1.2¶

New scripts: Set Brush Roundness, Set Brush Hardness, Break Paragraph to Lines, Transform by Path;
Scripts updated to latest versions;

4 Mar 2019: Scriptorator 1.1¶

New scripts: Split Layer to Islands, FG to modified color, Set Brush Rotation, Set Brush Opacity, Smart Objects: Selected to Smart Objects, Smart Objects: Reset, Smart Objects: Unpack Selected, Smart Objects: Rasterize All, Switch Between Layer and Mask, Scriptorator Settings;
Scripts updated to latest versions;
Settings won’t be overwritten on updates;

Scriptorator Manual¶

Installation¶

Assigning to Hotkey¶

Hot to find scripts for editing?¶

Scriptorator Settings¶

Managing scripts¶

Quick Select¶

Working with Clown (Material ID) pass¶

Options¶

Guides maker¶

Options¶

Layer to Selection¶

Split Layer to Islands¶

Fill Contour¶

New in 1.1:¶

Options¶

Path from Layer/Selection¶

Quick Resize¶

FG to Modified Color¶

Options¶

FG to inverted BG color¶

Options¶

Smart Layer Mask¶

Options¶

Select Brush¶

Options¶

Set Brush Size¶

Options¶

Set Brush Rotation¶

Options¶

Set Brush Opacity¶

Options¶

Set Brush Flow¶

Options¶

Set Brush Roundness¶

Options¶

Set Brush Hardness¶

Options¶

Smart Objects: Selected to Smart Objects¶

Smart Objects: Reset¶

Smart Objects: Unpack Selected¶

Smart Objects: Rasterize All¶

Switch Between Layer and Mask¶

Smart Eraser¶

Break a Paragraph to Lines¶

Transform Layers by a Path¶

Set Text Alignment¶

Create Custom Shape¶

Show Blending Options¶

Select Random Brush¶

Options¶

Create a Gradient from Path¶

Options¶

Merge to Smart Object¶

Options¶

Release Log¶

5 Dec 2022: Scriptorator 1.5¶

19 Dec 2019: Scriptorator 1.4¶

24 Sep 2018: Scriptorator 1.3¶

21 Aug 2019: Scriptorator 1.2¶

4 Mar 2019: Scriptorator 1.1¶

9 Oct 2018: Initial release of Scriptorator¶