Captionizer - photo caption-adding script

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bitblt

Captionizer - photo caption-adding script

Post by bitblt »

I've attached a CS2 script I put together whose main goal was to add captions to JPEG photos using values stored in the IPTC header fields.

A quick summary:
- Captions are pulled from the IPTC 'title' if present, otherwise the IPTC 'description' is used
- Captions appear in an optional semi-opaque stroked box
- Configurable font, size, color, layout, padding
- Pictures are all resized to fit within given dimensions (think 'slideshow')
- User specifies an input folder and output folder, only JPG files are processed
- If a file is missing the IPTC information, it is processed, but no caption is added
The script is launched through a configuration dialog that also allows you to apply your choices to a sample image, and opens that image for viewing while still setting up the dialog. Once you find settings you like, it's best to make them the script defaults since I don't have a way to save and load preferences.

As background, I've spent almost 4 years looking for software that supports hierarchical tagging and captioning of my photos that retains the information in the IPTC/XMP headers while still being easy to use and not overbearing. Seems easy enough, but I guess I'm picky. I finally found what I was looking for in the latest Windows Live Photo Gallery.

The next step was to provide a way to make easy slideshows (a spousal requirement). I only found one thing I liked that used the IPTC information, and that couldn't make multi-line captions. Then a couple of weeks ago I said to myself, "Duh! I'm a software engineer and Photoshop supports scripting!" So there you have it. Now my wife can Captionize a folder of files, drop them in a Premiere timeline, and spit out a DVD. Life is good.

I hope others find this useful, especially since I spent way too much time on it so far. Enjoy!

bitblt

Sample "captionized" output (the settings used to create this image can be viewed here):