Using batch processing to help prepare multimedia

After experiencing several successes in processing images from a digital camera or scanner to make the images suitable for the Internet or for a multimedia project, you may decide that performing the same repetitive steps becomes time consuming, boring, and even error-prone. These boring steps are not involved in creatively or artistically modifying a single image but rather in changing formats of several images or scaling down several images or writing identical code to include several images in a Web photo album. Fortunately, many of the better image-editing tools offer relief, in the form of batch automation. Batch processing allows you to automatically treat several files the same way. Here are some examples.

Jasc's PaintShop Pro, http://www.jasc.com, allows you to identify a set of images and then ask PSP to convert all of these images to the same format. An example would be converting a large number of images from bmp to jpeg.

Macromedia's Fireworks, http://www.macromedia.com, allows you to specify a set of images and to scale these images, usually downwards to lower resolution. This is useful when you have read in an entire set of images from your high-resolution digital camera and want to e-mail several of the images to friends and family who have only dialup modems. Of course these people would love to see your images, but not if their phone lines are clogged for several minutes or even hours. The scaled images are also more suitable for Web pages.

If you ask whether any desired image function, including various kinds of batch automation, can be done in Adobe's Photoshop, http://www.adobe.com, the answer is almost certainly Yes, because of this editor's gigantic numbers of functions. The problem is always finding out how to do the desired function. Using batch automation in PhotoShop provides many options. One of the simplest options is to rename the files in a folder. In Photoshop 7, you can use File, Browse, identify your files, click the arrow next to "File Browser," select Batch rename from the menu that appears, and assemble up to 6 parts of the desired file names. For example, you can add dates or prefixes to all of your selected files? existing file names A more complex option is to set up an action file that indicates functions to perform and then have Adobe Photoshop's File, Automate, Batch function do the job.

Moving to another kind of tool, Macromedia's Dreamweaver, has a batch-oriented function called Web album that works together with Macromedia's Fireworks to generate the necessary code to produce an album of as many images as you specify in both thumbnail and full image form. Each image is the same size in both cases.

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