Photoshop Automation of Photo Editing
One of the challenges faced by any automation process is the
scaling, cropping and position of photographs. Text can be
automatically formatted, but with photos you can’t assume
100 percent scaling, or that the client can have the photo
cropped to exactly fit the desired position.
One of the best possible solutions is to create a second copy of all the photos and have them scaled and cropped in advance. Then the final script imports them to InDesign at 100 percent.
This script uses InDesign to display the photos in frames at the exact size of the final publication, and it puts all the photos in one document on what we called "proof sheets." The script automatically creates this document, and then imports the photos for each county, scaling them so that the narrowest dimension will fill the box, while maintaining proportions (a features not currently available in InDesign or QuarkXPress).
This allowed the graphics department to quickly review all photos in a single document, using some of InDesign’s excellent features and keyboard shortcuts to scale and position them. Each photo can then be done in a matter of seconds.
When completed, the user saves the InDesign document and runs a second script. It reads the scaling, cropping and position info for each photo in InDesign, opens it in Photoshop, crops it, changes the resolution, and applies some standard editing before saving it out as a copy of the original image.
This approach provides many other benefits:
- The client is able to quickly confirm that each photo is saved in the correct folder and by the correct name before the final publication is produced.
- The original image is maintained unaltered for use on other projects, while they have a much smaller image to work with for any additional photo editing.
- The proofing of photos is a separate process which can be accomplished early on in the automation, especially since for this (and many) projects, the photos are much less likely to change in the future than the data.
How Do I Learn To Do This?
The AppleScript Pro Sessions training event covers
using AppleScript with Photoshop, and a special section shows
how to create the basics of this script which uses Photoshop
and InDesign together.
QuickTime Demo
(13.8 megs)
Photoshop Demo Script (14.4 megs)
"For the first time, Photoshop supports AppleScript
automation in version 7, so it was great timing when DCA asked if I could
do anything to help with the photo editing process.
Not only did the script allow them to apply standard editing to each scanned photo, but it also helped automated the cropping and positioning of each photo before the publication was created. We did this by combining some unique features of InDesign and Photoshop.
And that is one of the truly great things about AppleScript–you can take the best features of more than one program and make them work together and have the best of both worlds."
Ray Robertson
Scripting Events LLC
Not only did the script allow them to apply standard editing to each scanned photo, but it also helped automated the cropping and positioning of each photo before the publication was created. We did this by combining some unique features of InDesign and Photoshop.
And that is one of the truly great things about AppleScript–you can take the best features of more than one program and make them work together and have the best of both worlds."
Ray Robertson
Scripting Events LLC
Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of the products or services. All understandings, agreements, or warranties, if any, take place directly between the vendors and prospective users.
Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of the products or services. All understandings, agreements, or warranties, if any, take place directly between the vendors and prospective users.