I'm writing to let you know that I recently posted a new version of the custom actions panel to create luminosity masks on my website: http://goodlight.us/writing/actionspanelv3/panelv3.html
This update was mandated by Adobe's forthcoming changes to Photoshop CC. The next revision to PS CC (Photoshop 15), due out in a few weeks, will remove support for Flash-based panels. The current TK-ACTIONS and TK_ACTIONS panel use Flash to do their thing and will no longer work in the soon-to-be-released PS CC update. HTML5 is the new standard for extension panels and is already incorporated into the current version of PS CC. (Flash will continue to be the standard for Photoshop CS5 and CS6.) Since I use PS CC and rely on the panel in my own developing workflow, I re-coded the panel using the new HTML5 standard. This also gave me the opportunity to add some new features to the panel.
[NOTE: The revised panel has been tested in the current version of Photoshop CC (Photoshop 14) and a pre-release version of the next version of Photoshop CC (Photoshop 15) and works in both. I have a webpage with preliminary information about installing and using the panel in Photoshop 15: http://goodlight.us/writing/actionspanelv3/Photoshop-CC-new-version-update.html. I will update this page as necessary. Please bookmark it as a reference for additional information.]
The new panel is called "TKActions" and the link at the top of this email will tell you about it. Once there you can download the PDF instructions that tell how the panel works and also watch some videos about it at the bottom of the page. I'm particularly excited about the vids, which were produced by Sean Bagshaw. I know the panel seems a bit overwhelming at first, so Sean's visual walk-through and practical demonstrations will go a long way towards making people proficient at using it. Sean has an amazing ability to help students understand even complicated processes, and even though the panel isn't all that complex, I think it is going to be an even more useful tool for many photographers once they watch him use it in the videos.
Some of the new things in this version of the panel include:
1) A new two-tab layout for improved efficiency
2) Color-coded sections
3) "View" buttons to provide a visual overlay of which pixels are actually selected
4) Zone masks that focus adjustments to very narrow tonal ranges
5) Web-sharpening actions for vertical and horizontal dimensions and for high-definition dimensions
6) Several new buttons to correspond to some techniques discussed in recent blog posts.
7) One-click live selections (instead of Ctrl/Cmd-clicking a mask)
8) New buttons for creating adjustment layers and changing blending modes
9) Simplified subtracted mask generation
10) "Progressive actions" for experimenting with many different options
There are actually two versions of the panel in the download, one that works in Photoshop CC (HTML5 version) and one that works in Photoshop CS5/CS6 (Flash version). So even if you haven't converted to Photoshop CC, the Flash version still provides access to the improved functions for Photoshop CS5/CS6. Both versions are included in the download.
vince