Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Manual (Page 642)

635 USING PHOTOSHOP CS4
Automating tasks
Last updated 1/10/2010
You cannot define variables for the Background layer.
1 Choose Image > Variables > Define.
2 Select a layer from the Layer pop-up menu that contains the content you want to define as a variable.
3 Select one or more types of variables:
Visibility Shows or hides the content of the layer.
Pixel Replacement Replaces the pixels in the layer with pixels from another image file.
Text Replacement Replaces a string of text in a type layer.
4 Do one of the following:
• Choose Name and enter a name for the variable. Variable names must begin with a letter, underscore, or colon and
cannot contain spaces or special characters (except for periods, hyphens, underscores, and colons).
• Choose an existing variable from the Name pop-up menu to link this layer to. Layers linked to the same variable
are shown next to the Name menu, along with the link icon.
5 For Pixel Replacement variables, set the following options.
• Choose a method for scaling the replacement image: Fit scales the image so that it fits in the bounding box (which
may leave parts of the bounding box empty), Fill scales the image so that it fills the bounding box entirely (which
may cause the image to extend beyond the bounding box), As Is applies no scaling to the image, and Conform scales
the image non-proportionally so that it fits in the bounding box.
• Click a handle on the alignment icon to choose an alignment for placing the image inside the bounding box.
(This option is not available for Conform.)
• Select Clip To Bounding Box to clip areas of the image that do not fit in the bounding box. This option is available
only when the Fill or As Is replacement method is selected. (This option is not available for Conform.)
6 To define variables for another layer, choose a layer from the Layer pop-up menu. An asterisk appears next to the
name of a layer that contains variables. You can use the navigation arrows to move between layers.
7 Click OK.
Rename a variable
1 Choose Image > Variables > Define.
2 Choose the layer that contains the variable from the Layer pop-up menu.
3 To rename the variable, enter a name in the Name text box. Variable names must begin with a letter, underscore,
or colon and cannot contain spaces or special characters (except for periods, hyphens, underscores, and colons).
4 To remove the variable, deselect it.
Define a data set
A data set is a collection of variables and associated data. You define a data set for each version of the graphic that you
want to generate.
1 Do one of the following:
• Choose Image > Variables > Data Sets.
• If the Variables dialog box is open, choose Data Sets from the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog box, or click Next.
Note: You must define at least one variable before you can edit the default data set.