photoshop droplets

[bluskool]

I was hoping someone here could either encourage or discourage something I am trying to do. I attempted make photoshop droplets on our server to automate some of the repetitive tasks of toning photos. The only problem is that there must be stops to allow users to do things that require judgement. Of course I found out now that you can't stop in the middle of a batch and resume (you can stop on dialog boxes, but there are just too many variables for this to really work).
I know I can just install the actions on every comp, but I want to make this as simple and as possible.
I want to be able to have a droplet that a user can drop a whole folder on and have it stop processing when the user needs to crop and make toning decisions and then resume when they are done.

So, here is the question I am getting at. Does anyone know if I do this with an applescript? I don't want to plunge into writing a script for this unless I am sure it can be done. Thanks,

Dan R.

 

[Colorblind]

Re: photoshop droplets

Well, the way I see it, since you want to avoid having someone sitting in front of the computer for too long, I would suggest writing a script that would loop through the images of your folder, open the first one in Photoshop, having a dialog asking "Does this image needs operator attention?" with a yes or no button. Then Photoshop would close the image whether you answered yes or no. Yes would label the image "red" in the Finder and no would not label it. After going through all the images with the operator answering each image's dialog, the script would automatically do what it needs to do with the images without the red labels then after would open all the red labeled images in Photoshop and beeping to warn the operator he can come back. This way, you only have the operator sitting in front of the computer for tasks that needs his judgment: sorting and editing.
Hope this helps.

 

[bluskool]

Re: photoshop droplets

Yes, that is a possibility, but every picture needs attention so I wouldn't need finder to do any sorting, but you have given me an interesting thought.
You suggested having Photoshop display a dialog box to ask the user if the pic needs attention, but what if I had finder display a dialog box instead of Photoshop? My thought is that finder could display a dialog box that says "crop and tone the image in Photoshop and then click continue." Then the user could go back to Photoshop and do what needs to be done then click continue in the finder dialog box. Then the script could tell Photoshop to finish off the image, close it and repeat with the next image.

Would this work? It sounds good in my head, but I have never tried to write a script that would fool an application into pausing a batch process so I of course have to wonder if it would even work.

Thank you for the response Colorblind. That definitely helps.

Dan R.

 

[Colorblind]

Re: photoshop droplets

Yes it can be done if you put the dialog box command inside a "Finder" tell block. The only thing is I don't understand what gain you're gonna get doing this since every image needs to be checked by an operator anyways, you could just select every image in the folder, drag to Photoshop icon to have everything opened so the operator will check and fix. Did I miss something?

Tried with this code:

--put the code to get the images opening here

tell application "Finder"
activate
display dialog "Click \"continue\" after editing" buttons {"continue", "no"} default button 1 giving up after 300
set b to the button returned of the result
if b is "continue" then
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS3"
activate

--operator is editing
--some code saves the file somewhere or it gets saved manually
close document 1 without saving
end tell
end if
end tell

Edited by: Colorblind on Mar 20, 2008 3:52 PM

 

[bluskool]

Re: photoshop droplets

No, you didn't miss anything. I just wasn't clear on the intent. Really I just want to make sure common mistakes are not made, the proper files are saved in the proper place and an original copy is not "lost."

Basically it would go like this.
Open image
Save a copy in folder marked originals
Save a copy in another folder to be processed for the website
Assign a proof setup using the correct profile
Here is where the stop would be and cropping and curves adjustments can be applied (or whatever adjustments are needed). Once this is complete, the user clicks continue
Image is now dropped to 8 bits (if needed)
Image is converted to CMYK with the proper icc profile and flattened
Image is resized to the proper column width and resolution (I will have different Droplets for different column widths)
Window fills the screen
Image is set to actual size
Unsharp mask dialog box pops up(user can make adjustments)
Unsharp mask blending is set to luminosity
Image is saved as tiff with the correct boxes checked and the wrong boxes unchecked and placed in the proper folder
Rinse
Repeat

I think this will speed it up a bit, but I really just want to make sure the details can't be forgotten.

Dan R.

 

[Colorblind]

Re: photoshop droplets

Then it makes sense. Good luck with your project!

 

[bluskool]

Re: photoshop droplets

I have the test droplet working and now I just have to change the folder locations to server locations, make a new droplet and we should be up and running. Thank you for your suggestions Colorblind. I might have not thought it was possible otherwise. Next on my list will be a droplet that will convert Quark docs to PDF via the Adobe PDF printer.

Dan R.