User manual for Halation

How to install

  1. Download and unzip the software, if the latter isn’t done automatically. The resulting folder contains the main script Halation.jsx and three action sets, Halation.atn and Halation-mono.atn.
  2. Quit Photoshop.
  3. Copy the script Halation.jsx to Photoshop’s scripts folder. On Mac it’s in /Applications/Photoshop 202x/Presets/Scripts and on Windows 10 it’s in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 202x\Presets\Scripts. You may have to change the permissions of this folder to copy the script there.
  4. Start Photoshop and make sure Halation shows up in the menu File/Automate.
  5. Install the Photoshop actions by double-clicking on the files Halation.atn and Halation-mono.atn, or by loading it in the Actions palette.

How to run

You run the script by running on of the supplied actions, or by making your own actions. If you expand an action and double-click on the settings you can edit the script recipe.

Using and editing the ready-made actions

Halation actions are built from recipes (script settings), that determine the resulting look. By default, the images won’t be saved after the script runs, leaving them intact. Because of this, the actions won’t work for automation (such as droplets) just yet. If you make a droplet at this stage you’ll be prompted to save the image on every droplet run.

When you’re ready to have an action save the resulting image, or when you want to edit the recipe of an action, expand the action (click on the right bracket) to show the recorded script name, Halation. When you double-click on this, a dialog will open where you can edit the saved recipe. Click the button labeled Use this recipe to save your changes.

If you check Save and close when done the script will start saving and closing the image after it runs, so leave this unchecked while you’re still trying out different recipes.

Making your own actions

Make your own recipe actions by duplicating an existing action (click on the small hamburger menu in the upper right corner of the Actions palette and choose Duplicate) and change the name (by double-clicking on it) and edit the recipe as outlined above.

You can also record your own actions from scratch by having an image open and then click on the plus icon in the Actions palette, name the action and start recording. Choose Halation from the File/Automate menu, paste the recipe you want, make sure Save and close when done isn’t checked (otherwise the image will close and you can’t stop the recording) and click Use this recipe to run the script. When it’s finished, open the recipe again as outlined above, check Save and close when done and save the recipe, if you’re ready for the script to start saving your images.

You can make as many actions with different settings as you like.

Recipe settings

The script takes a number of settings, written as a semicolon-separated text string (recipe):

  1. The highlight threshold for halation, from 1 to 255, or auto.
  2. The minimum highlight threshold for halation, from 1 to 255.
  3. The bloom (halo radius), from 1 to 100.
  4. How much the effect should be boosted, from 0to 170.
  5. The red value of the inner halation, from 0 to 255.
  6. The green value of the inner halation, from 0 to 255.
  7. The blue value of the inner halation, from 0 to 255.
  8. The red value of the outer halation, from 0 to 255.
  9. The green value of the outer halation, from 0 to 255.
  10. The blue value of the outer halation, from 0 to 255.

Tips and tricks