Important Notice: I am currently in the process of releasing full non-beta versions of all my scripts and as of today - 18 Feb 2006 - am withdrawing all outstanding beta versions. To stay in touch with the full-release rollouts, subscribe to the thread:
Andrew Hall - Script Development, Update List
bb/viewtopic.php?t=190&start=15. ... 0&start=15
The new versions will have much improved dialogs, better integration with Bridge and many new features.
Andrew Hall 18 Feb 2006]
AH Script Launch V4 will list, run and batch your Photoshop CS / CS2 JS scripts and actions. Load it via an action tied to an F Key and you have any or all of your scripts / actions one click away.
Scripts in Normal mode simply get run, doing their own image selection, opening, processing, saving, etc.
Batch mode allows you to easily batch actions and also to batch scripts - something Photoshop batch will not do at all:
- target images selected in Bridge (CS2) or the File Browser (CS),
- or target image folders,
- if you wish, scan subfolders,
- filter image selection by simple character searches (e.g. 'e.jpg' selects jpg images whose name ends in e),
- use more powerful image selection specifying a list of extensions and various patterns for the name (regexp search is also available),
- rename images with the ability to use: image creation date and time, metadata, numbers from the existing name, create new unique numbers etc.
- process images into new formats e.g. raw files to tif, psd and jpg or tif files to jpg files,
- move processed images to different destination folders.
- alternatively, images can be opened for batching and left open for the target script or action to save and close as desired.
Because AH Script Launch has been designed with batching scripts as a central objective, it has built-in capabilities for script writers, who can create scripts to manipulate images individually but avoid having to create their own image selection UI and batching routines. AH Script Launch provides scripts with two special purpose control variables:
- ah_DataObj: an object which will be in-scope for the target script and will retain data from one pass of the script to the next,
- ah_i: a numeric loop counter, starting at 0, for batched images. This allows you to do many things including open a UI for your script on the first image loop and then use the UI parameters for all subsequent images.
Script-writers can also use the predefined myData.advDatFolder should they wish to save data between batch runs.
Many batching tasks, even image renaming or saving files to a subfolder of their current folder, can be done from the standard front menu however there is also an advanced batch mode.
Advanced Batch provides greater control over a scripts batching process:
- file selection (regexp) based on file-name, exclusion criteria (e.g. skip files starting with 'I'), and multiple extension selection (e.g. jpg + tif),
- delete or preserve both the original file and the active document at scripts end,
- save all files to a specified destination folder,
- create a subfolder for each folder of files scanned and save files to that subfolder,
- control overwrite behavior (warn first or overwrite without warning),
- specify saving the open document in tif and / or psd and / or jpg format
- as with the ordinary batch mode you can rename images.
Notice the target script name is given in the title bar.
Both basic and advanced modes allow you to test your image file selection before you proceed with the batch proces itself.
For full installation and operation details view the help file:
bb/files/scriptlaunch-help.htm ... h-help.htm
I will be working on a Bridge version of this in the next week and that will be followed by a couple of enhancements to this script:
- a 'gang' button that allows you to run a list of actions and scripts one after the other as part of a batch process.
- perhaps an easier way of generating the rename control string.
- minor changes to how the metadata rename parameters are presented.
Please help me by telling me of any problems.
I would be particularly interested in hearing from Mac uses if the UI comes out looking OK (with CS and CS2 having intrinsically different UI font sizes and Mac and PC being different also it is not easy to get these things right, especially without having a Mac myself to test with).
[1 November: I have written a helper script ah-chains.js which will chain together a bunch of actions and scripts selected by you to be run as a single script in Batch mode through AH Script Launch - getting round the problem of not being able to batch actions containing scripts - you do have to edit your actions accordingly of course (split them where they contain scripts, cutting out the script).
Download it here: bb/viewtopic.php?t=241 ]
[16 November, Version 4.01. Adds a second script ah-script_launch2.js. This will repeat the last run of ah-script_launch.js using the same target script and settings. If you base your selection on Bridge or the File Browser it can be a useful add-on.]
Andrew
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
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Norbert
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Load it via an action tied to an F Key and you have any or all of your scripts / actions one click away.
All my scripts are showing up by clicking "Show All" to the left of "Script Folder" , but can not figure out how to see the actions. No Folder there.
What am I doing wrong?
All my scripts are showing up by clicking "Show All" to the left of "Script Folder" , but can not figure out how to see the actions. No Folder there.
What am I doing wrong?
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Andrew
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Hi Norbert
I do not have an automatic action loader at this stage. For actions I am afraid you have to load them one at a time by clicking the Add Action button and responding to the prompts (action set name first, action name second).
Andrew
I do not have an automatic action loader at this stage. For actions I am afraid you have to load them one at a time by clicking the Add Action button and responding to the prompts (action set name first, action name second).
Andrew
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xbytor
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Coincientally, I just finished up some code for selecting Actions from files or Actions from the runtime palette. The UI is usable and fairly straight forward since the ActionSelector is mostly UI.
Coming soon...
Coming soon...
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Andrew
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Norbert wrote
I have an action which opens a file (Stop for selecting a file). the next step is a script which analizes Height and Width and rotates the picture if necesary.
If this action is run from the Script Launcher the picture opens but I get an Error saying: "The Command "Scripts is not Currently Available"
If run from the action Palette no problems.
You can easely recreate the problem. Just write an Action "File Open" next step a script like rotate and you will see.
Any thoughts?
This is precisely what my ah-chains.js script is for. Photoshop cannot deal with two scripts at the same time eg a script running an action which contains a script. To get round it (if you want to use my ah-launch script) you have to break your action up to remove the script:
1. duplicate the action twice within the same action set. Call the first dupe oldactionname1 and the second oldactionname2
2. delete all parts of the action from the script down in the first version (so you are left with those steps preceding the script).
3. delete from the start, up to and including the script in the second version.
4. Using ah-chains.js to create a new script that does:
oldactionname1
your script
oldactionname2
Now you can load and run that script in batch mode using ah-scriptlaunch.
It's a bit tricky first time but if this is something you use all the time it may be worth it.
Incidentally, this is something Photoshop cannot do at all otherwise (run a script in it's built in batch processor).
BUT... on the other hand... what you are doing does not sit particularly well with script launch, since you are manually opening the file in the first place. Maybe better to just stick with the action. The alternative is that you use bridge for the file selection use scriptlaunch to open the file and run the script - but its a bit like using a hammer to break an egg.
Andrew
I have an action which opens a file (Stop for selecting a file). the next step is a script which analizes Height and Width and rotates the picture if necesary.
If this action is run from the Script Launcher the picture opens but I get an Error saying: "The Command "Scripts is not Currently Available"
If run from the action Palette no problems.
You can easely recreate the problem. Just write an Action "File Open" next step a script like rotate and you will see.
Any thoughts?
This is precisely what my ah-chains.js script is for. Photoshop cannot deal with two scripts at the same time eg a script running an action which contains a script. To get round it (if you want to use my ah-launch script) you have to break your action up to remove the script:
1. duplicate the action twice within the same action set. Call the first dupe oldactionname1 and the second oldactionname2
2. delete all parts of the action from the script down in the first version (so you are left with those steps preceding the script).
3. delete from the start, up to and including the script in the second version.
4. Using ah-chains.js to create a new script that does:
oldactionname1
your script
oldactionname2
Now you can load and run that script in batch mode using ah-scriptlaunch.
It's a bit tricky first time but if this is something you use all the time it may be worth it.
Incidentally, this is something Photoshop cannot do at all otherwise (run a script in it's built in batch processor).
BUT... on the other hand... what you are doing does not sit particularly well with script launch, since you are manually opening the file in the first place. Maybe better to just stick with the action. The alternative is that you use bridge for the file selection use scriptlaunch to open the file and run the script - but its a bit like using a hammer to break an egg.
Andrew
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Norbert
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Maybe better to just stick with the action.
Yes and No. Script Launch goes away when finished. The action Palette needs a Tab key stroke.
I am playing around to minimize key strokes for doing Events with PS and no palettes open. There are special programs for Events like Express Digital and Teps for the Mac (I know them all) but PS can do much more and faster if set up right..
Will upgrade to CS2 to take advantage of the Event scripting and Bridge.
I did the alternative and it works.
Thank you.
Yes and No. Script Launch goes away when finished. The action Palette needs a Tab key stroke.
I am playing around to minimize key strokes for doing Events with PS and no palettes open. There are special programs for Events like Express Digital and Teps for the Mac (I know them all) but PS can do much more and faster if set up right..
Will upgrade to CS2 to take advantage of the Event scripting and Bridge.
I did the alternative and it works.
Thank you.
-
Andrew
AH Script & Action Launch with Batch - PS CS / CS2
Version 4.01 released. This includes a second script:
ah-script_launch2.js
The latter repeats the previous ah-script_launch.js run with all it's settings, EXCEPT, if you are basing selection on images in Bridge or the File Browser, then you can change the image list that the script is run against. Sometimes this is quite useful.
There were also some minor bug fixes.
Andrew
ah-script_launch2.js
The latter repeats the previous ah-script_launch.js run with all it's settings, EXCEPT, if you are basing selection on images in Bridge or the File Browser, then you can change the image list that the script is run against. Sometimes this is quite useful.
There were also some minor bug fixes.
Andrew