Help me automate an otherwise tedious task in Photoshop CS5.

December 10, 2012 7:35 PM

Photoshop Experts, lend me your ears: I'd like to automate the task of combining 2 images into 1, but have almost no knowledge of how to script this or how to accomplish this using actions.

I have a folder with 100 logo images - all transparent PNGs. They're not exactly the same size, but similar.

I also have a single PNG slogan that I'd like to appear under each of these logos.

The final product would be a transparent PNG with the PNG logo, centered above the PNG slogan. The final product(s) would all need to be the same size, regardless of the logos relative size to the slogan or anything else.

I've created a bit of a walkthrough visually, since I fear my ability to explain myself is hindered by my inability to create my own solution.

Walkthrough/general idea:http://i.imgur.com/FJuf1.jpg

All help is MUCH appreciated - thank you!

posted by littlelebowskiurbanachiever to technology (7 answers total)

This may meet your needs:

ImageMagick can resize an image and then compose two images and ecstatic about batch processing.
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/layers/#composition
More details:
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/compose/

Backup the folder first, and work on a test case, btw, to avoid accidentally overwriting your source images or suchlike.

If you run into trouble, try their irc channel or any computer-guruish buddy who knows even a tiny bit of scripting and command line stuff.
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:02 PM on December 10, 2012

ImageMagick is the answer, getting the result you want can kind of be a pain in the ass. I wouldn't use compose, for example, because it's weird. I used ImageMagick recently do some compositing. I had one set of background images and another set of green-screened photos that had been processed to have all the green replaced with transparency, and I made images of each green screen image overlaid on each background. I used a few steps because for me that was simpler but you can do it in one.

Here is approximately what I did:

convert BACKGROUND FOREGROUND -geometry $geom -composite OUTFILE
where BACKGROUND and FOREGROUND were my input images. $geom was the geometry I wanted, essentially defining the size of the output image and the placement of the foreground over the background. OUTFILE was the output file.

If you send me some samples (the ones in your walkthrough would be fine, in individual files, I can probably gin up something that would work for you. If you don't mind waiting a day.
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:19 PM on December 10, 2012

Thirding ImageMagick.
posted by gregr at 8:58 PM on December 10, 2012

Fourthing ImageMagick.
posted by rmmcclay at 10:36 PM on December 10, 2012

This is rough, but let's assume I wanted to just get this done before I went to bed (so, like, in the next 15 minutes).

I'd open up a logo (maybe the biggest, to make sure I have enough space). Start recording a new action.

Image > Canvas Size, and make the canvas big enough to add the slogan file at the bottom, anchoring it to the top center. Make sure you set this in pixels.

File > Place the slogan file.

Select all; Layer > Align layers to selection > Bottom edges and then Layer > Align layers to selection > Horizontal centers

Image > Canvas Size, and add the padding you want at the top and bottom and sides.

Save in a new folder and close. Stop recording, then run the action on the folder of pngs.

This SHOULD work and look ok if all the logos are very close in size.
posted by ruby.aftermath at 11:02 PM on December 10, 2012

If you're going to do it in Photoshop following ruby.aftermath's instructions above, in the Image > Canvas Size step, make sure you check the "Relative" checkbox. That lets you add a fixed number of pixels to the bottom of the image, which is helpful if your images aren't exactly the same size.
posted by beyond_pink at 7:43 AM on December 11, 2012

Thanks everyone! Testing feedback now. Much appreciated!
posted by littlelebowskiurbanachiever at 9:24 AM on December 11, 2012