Golden Crop
the ultimate cropping solution for Photoshop

Golden Crop is a script written in Java Script language using Adobe® Photoshop® object model. It was designed to help cropping pictures according to some composition rules. Besides that, you can rotate and extend canvas using (nearly) non-destructive methods.

Golden Crop script designed as an aid for cropping images according to the division rules. The script generates visual guidelines for the Rule of Thirds, Golden Rule both Diagonal Golden Rules and four Golden Spirals. Some people think, that aligning vital elements with this guidelines creates special visual impact, making the image more interesting. You can see this guidelines on a picture below:

Who can use it?

Anyone who wants... and have Adobe® Photoshop® CS2, CS3, CS4 or CS5 installed. This script should work both on Windows and Mac version of the software. Adobe® Photoshop® versions earlier than CS2 will not be supported due to lack of scripting possibilities.

What the Golden Crop script can do?

It can crop photo and reveal additional canvas. Interactive part of the script is based on 'Free Transform' mode. It works exactly the same, as free-transforming a layer. Position cropping frame according to guidelines and your taste and pres Enter. If you want to cancel -- press Esc.

After accepting cropping frame you some dialog may pop up, according to your selection. There are several situations.
Reveal only

If there is no cropping (only extending canvas), no dialog would be displayed and the script would automatically:

    Convert the Background layer (if any) to normal layer
    Extend canvas to match crop mask. Note, that since the original background layer has been popped up, no actual pixels are added and you still have fine defined background edges.
    A solid fill adjustment layer is added at the bottom, acting as new background. The color of that layer is equal to actually selected 'foreground color' and can be easily changed after cropping by double-clicking on the fill layer icon.

Crop and reveal

If it is necessary to both crop and reveal image in order to match selected crop, the following actions occurs:

    The 'confirm reveal' dialog box is displayed to ensure, you want to extend canvas. For example you could mistakenly make the crop mast 1 pixel exceeding image border. If you choose 'No', no revealing will occur. Otherwise, script would queue extend canvas as described in the section above. Note: no actual extending is done at this point, because you can cancel the action in the next step.
    Cropping faze is initialized (described below). Note that if you cancel cropping dialog, no reveal will occur.

Crop only

The 'select cropping method' dialog is displayed. You can now select cropping method or cancel cropping leaving repositioned cropping mask layers.

Method 1: 'simple crop' Simply crops the image according to cropping mask and deletes all guidelines. You can use Undo [Ctrl+Z] to retrieve this guidelines.

Method 2: 'cropping mask' The image is not cropped. The opacity of cropping mask is raised to 100% and guidelines group is render invisible.

Method 3: 'cancel cropping' The image is not cropped. Neither opacity nor visibility of layers created by Golden Crop is changed. If you want to delete all layers created by the script, just hit [Del].

After selecting one of above options, script performs its operations and the control returns to the user.

Changelog
Version 0.93 beta

    CS5 compatibility fixes: keyboard shortcuts in script's menu are working again!
    New translation: Italian, thanks to Mantra Giovanni

Version 0.92 beta

    New translation: Russian, thanks to Vlad Kovnerov
    Hold Ctrl+Shift (Command+Shift on Mac) for auto crop (when existing crop mask found)

Version 0.91 beta

    New translation: Spanish

Version 0.90 beta

    Diagonal Rule
    New composition method: Diagonal Rule
    Thickness control
    User customizable line thickness
    New translation: German
    Faster layers creation
    Lines are more visible on a dark background (white stroke added)
    User-friendly error information is shown when there is no open document


Version 0.85 beta

    It is now CS2 compatible!
    Ability to continue interrupted crop added. The script finds the 'Golden Crop by SzopeN' group and resumes crop in interactive mode To force adding new 'Golden Crop by SzopeN' group, select the bottommost layer (for example: Background)
    Golden spirals added
    Golden Spirals
    "Choose guidelines" dialog added. Now you can choose which guidelines would be drawn. Last choice is remembered.
    Composition guidelines
    The script behaves like a plugin, now resides in File>Automate>Golden Crop (note: in CS2 it is still in File>Scripts menu)
    New menu position
    It can be recorded in action (though it is still user-interactive, only guidelines choice is saved)
    Golden Crop registered in action
    [Alt],[key] problem fixed in dialog boxes
    Minor fix in rotation, detecting portrait/landscape crop
    Code cleanup and optimization