949 CHAPTER Digital Workflow and Automation IN THIS CHAPTER Batch processing image files Creating droplets to easily apply actions to files from the file system Using scripts to simplify workflow tasks Assigning actions and scripts to Photoshop events to automate tasks P hotoshop is a powerful application with many tools and utilities that provide limitless ways to create and edit images. Photoshop’s power comes with one big drawback: It has so many tools, menu options, and panels that navigating through them can be difficult, especially if you need to perform the repetitive tasks on several files. To solve that problem, Photoshop has provided several tools that make it possible to automate much of your workflow using batch processing and scripting. Batch processing involves performing the same set of commands on a set of files. Scripting involves applying a script as either a one-time command or each time a workflow event occurs. The following sections discuss utilizing Photoshop’s automation and scripting tools to make things easier and speed up image editing. Automating Workflow in Photoshop One of the best ways to save time and increase your productivity when editing images is to automate some of the repetitive tasks. Often tasks such as lens correction and color correction need to be done on a series of photos. For example, a set of photos taken with the same lens at a wedding dinner may all need a lens correction filter applied as well as a color correction to adjust for the lighting at the event. It takes lots of time to make those adjustments to each image individually. 43_584743-ch31.indd 94943_584743-ch31.indd 949 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Part IX: Advanced Output Techniques 950 Photoshop has a couple of great utilities that help you automate the workflow necessary to make the same adjustments to a series of photos with one simple command. Batch and Droplets allow you to quickly apply custom actions to files to save time when editing. Cross-Ref Creating custom actions is covered in Chapter 5. You can refer to that chapter for information necessary to build the actions and action sets that can be utilized by the Batch and Droplet processing tools. n Batch processing multiple images The Batch processing utility allows you to apply a customizable action to a set of images and control how the images are processed. The way batch processing works is you define a location for a set of files, then select one of the customized actions defined in the Actions panel, and then define how you want the processed photos to be outputted. When the batch is processed each image is opened by Photoshop, the steps in the selected action are performed on the image, and the adjusted image is saved to disk where you can then perform individualized adjustments later. Batch processes can be started in a couple of different ways: You can select the files in Bridge and then select Tools ➪ Photoshop ➪ Batch from the main menu, or you can select File ➪ Automate ➪ Batch from the main menu in Photoshop. Each option launches the dialog box shown in Figure 31.1. Cross-Ref Bridge is discussed in more detail in Chapter 6. Bridge is a great way to organize and manage your images. Using Photoshop’s Batch utility is usually the best way to perform batch editing on images. n These options are available in the Batch processing utility: l Play: This allows you to define what action to perform on each of the files specified by the sources settings by selecting from the following options: l Set: This provides a drop-down list of the defined sets in Photoshop. The default set provides some standard edition actions such as Vignette and Custom RGB to Grayscale. However, you likely will be creating your own action sets with customizable actions. For example, you may want to create an action set with lens correction filter actions for each of your lenses. l Action: This defines the action to be performed on each image when the files are processed. Actions can perform anything from a simple one-step edit to a series of several complex edits. The options available from the Action menu represent the list of actions that are contained in the selected Set in the Actions panel. 43_584743-ch31.indd 95043_584743-ch31.indd 950 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Chapter 31: Digital Workflow and Automation 951 FIGURE 31.1 Using the Batch dialog box, you can define a custom action that is applied to a set of source files and define a location and file-naming format to save the edited image. l Source: This allows you to define where Photoshop gets the source images to be edited. You can select files from four different sources: Folder, Import, Opened Files, and Bridge. When you select Folder, you can use the Choose button to launch a dialog box that allows you to select a folder that contains files to be included in the batch edit. Selecting Import allows you to process images from a digital camera, scanner, or PDF. The Import option is available only if you specify that you want to batch process folders when you are importing them into Photoshop or Bridge. Selecting Opened Files batch processes all images currently open in Photoshop. Selecting the Bridge option batch processes the files currently selected in Bridge. The Bridge option is available only when you are using the Bridge interface to launch the Batch processing utility. 43_584743-ch31.indd 95143_584743-ch31.indd 951 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Part IX: Advanced Output Techniques 952 The Source option also allows you to use the following settings to control the behavior of handling image files from the source location: l Override Action “Open” Commands: When this option is selected, batch processing overrides the choice of files specified for an “Open” command in the action. This does not override the settings in the Open command, just the choice of files. This option is necessary for actions that include open commands for most recent or current files because the most recent file is always the first image in the set of source files. You should not enable this option for actions that do not contain an Open command. You can leave this option disabled if the action does not include an Open command or if the Open command is on another file that is required for the action but not the actual file that is being edited. l Include All Subfolders: When this option is selected, images in all subfolders in the selected folder also are batch processed. This allows you to process images in multiple folders so you can keep your files well organized. l Suppress File Open Options Dialogs: When selected, this option hides the File Open dialog boxes. Instead of requiring you to specify the open options, the default values are used. This option is especially useful if you are batch processing the camera raw images because you can preset how to treat the images and bypass the dialog box when batch editing. l Suppress Color Profile Warnings: When selected, the color policy messages, such as color mismatch or missing color profiles, are not displayed. l Destination: This allows you to control how and where the edited images are saved to disk. You can specify one of three different destinations: None, Save and Close, and Folder. If you select None, the images are edited but left open in Photoshop unless the action includes a Save or Save As command. If you select Save and Close, the original image is overwritten by the edited image on disk. If you select Folder, you can use the Choose button to select a destination folder to save the edited images. The edited images are saved in that location using the name formatting specified in the File Naming setting. The following options allow you to override the Save As command and define the file naming convention: Caution You should select the Save and Close option only if you are confident that the action will result in the best look. After the original file is overwritten, you cannot go back and undo the edits. n 43_584743-ch31.indd 95243_584743-ch31.indd 952 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Chapter 31: Digital Workflow and Automation 953 l Override Action “Save As” Commands: When this option is selected, batch processing overrides the destination folder and name of files specified by a Save or Save As command in the action. This does not override the settings in the Save commands, just the destination and name of the files. You do not need to enable this option for actions that do not contain a Save or Save As command. Note Lots of options are available in the Save As command in Photoshop that are not available from the Batch dialog box—for example, compression, saving layers, and so on. Typically, you want to record a Save As command into the editing that sets these options. Also, you can use a Save As command in the action to change the file type of the images during the batch process. n l File Naming: The file-naming option allows you to set the naming convention that is used to save the edited file. The file convention is defined by selecting the appropriate components from the drop-down menu shown in Figure 31.2. You also can type into one of the field components static text that is included in the filename. When the edited file is saved, these components are used in the order specified to create the filename. When you use the components, include the document name and extension in different casing formats, serial letters, multi-digit numbers, and different date formats. Note When using Digit Serial Numbers, the numbers start with the number specified in the Starting serial# field and are prefixed by enough zeros to force them to the number of specified digits. When using serial letters, the first image starts with a/A. n l Compatibility: The Windows, Mac OS, and Unix options allow you to limit the naming conventions to support Windows, Apple, and Linux/Unix systems. This is useful if you plan on sharing your images with others who may be using different systems. l Errors: This allows you to control how errors in the batch processing are handled. You have two options: l Stop For Errors: When this option is selected and an error occurs when editing one of the files in the batch, an error message is displayed and the processing stops there. No additional files are processed. l Log Errors To File: When this option is selected and an error occurs when editing one of the files in the batch, the error message is logged to a file and the processing continues. The location of the log file is set by clicking the Save As button. The log file is in text and can be read with any text editor to determine which files failed and why. 43_584743-ch31.indd 95343_584743-ch31.indd 953 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Part IX: Advanced Output Techniques 954 FIGURE 31.2 The File Naming options in the Batch dialog box allow you to select filename components based on date, document name, extension, and serialized letters or numbers. Creating droplets to process images Droplets are very similar to Batch operations with the exception that instead of selecting a source for files, you specify a location of where to save the processing info in the file system. The processing data is converted to an executable that processes any files or folders that are dragged and dropped onto it. Droplets can be created by selecting File ➪ Automate ➪ Create Droplet from the main menu in Photoshop. Notice that the options in the Create Droplet dialog box, shown in Figure 31.3, are similar to the Batch options. The only difference is that instead of a Source option, you have a Save Droplet In option that allows you to select a location to save the droplet. 43_584743-ch31.indd 95443_584743-ch31.indd 954 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Chapter 31: Digital Workflow and Automation 955 FIGURE 31.3 Using the Create Droplet dialog box, you can create an executable file that applies an action to any image files that are dragged and dropped onto it. To create the droplet, fill in the Save Droplet In, Play, Destination, and Errors settings and click OK. An executable file is created in the location specified. To use a droplet, simply use the file system interface to drag and drop files or folders onto the droplet. The droplet uses Photoshop to perform the specified action and save the adjusted files. Tip Droplets are compatible to move between Windows and Mac systems. When moving a droplet from Windows to Mac or vice versa, drag and drop it onto the Photoshop executable on the new system. Photoshop converts the droplet to be used on that system. If you are planning to move a droplet from Mac to Windows, make sure to name it with the “.exe” extension so it can be executed on the Windows system. You should be aware, however, that file references in actions do not work across Windows and Mac systems. If an action refers to a file, such as in an “Open” or “Save As” command, the droplet prompts for the location of the file if it is used on a different system. n 43_584743-ch31.indd 95543_584743-ch31.indd 955 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Part IX: Advanced Output Techniques 956 Using Scripting to Speed Up Workflow Another great way to save time and increase your productivity when editing images is to utilize the scripting capabilities in Photoshop. Two main types of scripts are available in Photoshop: the predefined scripts and the event-driven scripts. Predefined scripts are run once by selecting them from the File ➪ Scripts menu shown in Figure 31.4. Event-driven scripts are triggered and executed by events in your normal editing workflow. The following sections discuss utilization of each of these types of scripts. FIGURE 31.4 The File ➪ Scripts menu in Photoshop provides several predefined scripts that perform tasks that speed up your workflow. Using Photoshop’s scripts Predefined scripts are similar to other commands in Photoshop with the exception that they typically perform more than just one task on a single item. The predefined scripts are JavaScript or AppleScript scripts that perform a series of Photoshop tasks to reduce the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks you need to make. The following is a list that describes the predefined scripts available from the File ➪ Scripts menu: 43_584743-ch31.indd 95643_584743-ch31.indd 956 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM . on each of the files specified by the sources settings by selecting from the following options: l Set: This provides a drop-down list of the defined sets in Photoshop. The default set provides. scripting capabilities in Photoshop. Two main types of scripts are available in Photoshop: the predefined scripts and the event-driven scripts. Predefined scripts are run once by selecting them from. individually. 43_584743-ch31.indd 94943_584743-ch31.indd 949 5/3/10 10:54 AM5/3/10 10:54 AM Part IX: Advanced Output Techniques 950 Photoshop has a couple of great utilities that help you automate the workflow