Photoshop CS - Batch with Pause / Stop

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:06 am

One weakness of Photoshop batch processes and scripts is that you cannot pause a process midway in order to do something manual. A while back I was repetitively processing very large numbers of images, all but one step of which (a final touch-up prior to saving) could be run under batch. It was a PITA having to do this one image at a time.

This is my workaround:

1. Run the script ah_getfilelist.js to identify the selection of files you wish to process.

You can identify files either by selecting them in the File Browser (would need to be adapted for CS2), or via the script's dialog which allows you to select a target folder as well as target extensions (a list separated by '+' eg jpg+tif - not case sensitive).

I generally run the script from a single step action rather than using File>>Automate>>Scripts>>ah_getfilelist.js.

[to do later - make the script 'remember' the last active folder]

2. Run an action that has a Fkey (say F7) assigned to it. The action contains:

step1: run the script ah-openfile.js (opens the file in PS)

step2...step(n-1): all the actions you wish to run across the group of files including any 'stop' steps you require.

stepn: save and close the file in your desired format / folder.

[to do later - make script issue an alert on last file in list]

3. Keep on hitting F7 untill you have processed all your files.

It could be said that F7 invalidates the concept of running in batch but since you need to 'pause' for your manual action anyway this is not a problem as this is not a batch process that you do while you are away from your PC, it is simply a very efficient way of processing a collection of images when you need to do manual steps as part of a longer repetitive process.

You can download the two scripts here:

bb/download.php?id=12

Place them in the folder Adobe\Photoshop CS\Presets\Scripts and restart Photoshop if necessary.

Andrew

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:05 am

I have updated the script to remember previous settings.

Andrew

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:08 am

Added a wildcard to the extension list possibilities (use '*' and all files will be selected regardless of extension).

Andrew

xbytor · Post by **xbytor** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:19 am

No support for regular expressions?

I'll add it later if I really need it.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:31 am

There is actually a reason why I did not include a method for REs, namely that this is primarily a script / approach for non-scripting users and I am concerned that the damage that can be done with REs outweighs the benefits. For the same reason with my add-suffix script (or my file renaming scripts, or my raw processing scripts) I did not add either RE's or in most cases the ability to add / remove / replace text anywhere other than at the end of the file name - too much room to make a real mess of your file names. Obviously it would be trivial to add a RE identifier (or even a checkbox or new edittext field) and to allow REs if required.

Andrew

miked · Post by **miked** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 3:50 pm

I ran into the same problem, and came up with almost the same solution...in my case, the second half of the pair is also a script.

http://www.photosforlife.ca/scripts/Aut ... index.html ... index.html

...Mike

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:12 pm

Hi Miked

Yes, if I was doing this just for myself I would probably run the actual task within the script too but I wanted to create something that would allow the non-scripters to define the task via actions.

Andrew