Automate Batch

[thomas]

This is a nifty tool that everyone should have in their bag of tricks.

If I need to convert 100 mockups that are .PSD files, I wouldn't dare do them one at a time. Also, I wouldn't stay up all night hopped up on caffeine b/c I needed to apply a warm photo filter to 200 photos. All because I accidently shot my pictures with the wrong camera light settings.

In our example we are going to convert 100 .PSD files into JPGs, so we can share them easier.

To make that computer do the dirty work we want to:
1. Think about the repeated workflow and develop a step by step plan. What is involved?
2. Create a new folder somewhere on your computer (lets create it on the desktop for now)
3. Name the folder, "Mockup JPGs"
4. Open Photoshop, open one of the .PSD files.
5. Open the Actions tool palette (Window > Actions) -Actions record your every click in Photoshop, kinda like Macros in Word.
6. Click the Create New Action button, and name it "Convert to JPG" -we will use this name later.
7. Click Record.

--- Now we are recording every click so be careful not to mess up. ---

8. Click File > Save As.
9. Choose the File Format 'JPG', click SAVE, & choose your quality settings. Click OK.
10. Close your .PSD file and DO NOT SAVE CHANGES.
11. Stop the Action from recording in the Actions Palette.

--- Now that its recorded you wont have to do that again 99 more times ---

12. Click File > Automate > Batch

--- We are going to work from Top to Bottom in this dialog window. ---

13. Under the Action drop down find your action, which we called 'Convert to JPG'
14. Make sure Source says 'Folder'
15. Click Choose, and select the folder on your computer that contains all 100 .PSD files.
16. Don't worry about any of the first 4 check boxes (leave them unchecked)
17. Make the Destination drop down say 'Folder'
18. Now choose the folder you created on the desktop, we called it 'Mockup JPGs'
19. Put a check next to "Override Action 'Save As' Commands"
20. Click OK
21. Wait a few minutes and its all done. You'll see your computer doing all the work, instead of you.

With this basic knowledge you can apply virtually ANY action and have it applied to as many files as you need. So we could have created an action that applied a photo filter, or resized JPGs into thumbnail sizes, converted the image to black & white, and the list goes on.

Hope you have fun.

[mestioko]

Definitely an awesome tool. It's interesting testing what the recorder with pickup, from mouse clicks to numerical inputs; surprising how powerful it is. I remember when Actions came out in P-shop 4, it was right when we were processing hundreds of photos at the multimedia firm I was working at, photos with cropping and cast issues. The batching function took a multi-day chore and turned it into a 1-hour task. ~mE