question about creating an action in photoshop to create thumbs
 

i'm having a problem here and i must just be missing something stupid. i create the action with 'save for web' as the last step and then when i run a batch it tries to name all the files the same name. i have tried 'override action save as commands' both on and off with the same results.

i've tried the action without the save for web command but then it saves thumbs at like 40k. it names them all correctly but the files are huge. what the hell am i missing here?

what are your settings in the "save for web" box over on the right?

just generic output i guess.. jpeg / quality 70 / medium compression

that part works fine, but when i run a batch it tries to name all the thumbs whatever i named the one i did when i created the action.

i'm probably doing a terrible job of explaining my problem :disgust

nah you are explaining it well, I just have comprehension problems ;)

YARGH!
Save to a new folder when creating the action. If you are trying to overwrite the original on file save for web (while making the original action) it writes that *name* in the action.

on the "action settings" the bottom options allow you to choose the destination where the action will save the files to. I just create a folder on my desktop called "tn" and then have all of them export there. That way I never overwrite the originals.

well, no. lets say i open apple01.jpg - i resize it - save for web as tn_apple01.jpg in the same folder. now i want to batch apple01 thru apple50 and it tries to name every thumb as tn_apple01.jpg

wouldn't saving it in a new folder produce the same results as far is it naming them all the same thing.. even though it will be in a new folder?

:disgust i know i'm explaining this terribly.

you are right though, chio. it does write the name in the action, so how do i avoid that. if i don't do the save for web step in the action then the batch does work as far as naming the thumbs all correctly but it makes a 100x100 thumb 40k. i tried all the compression options but even at the lowest setting the thumbs are still 20k and they look horrible.

YARGH!
Pirate mode disabled:
When you do save for web save to a different folder, It will not save the name, and use it again. It is actually recording the overwrite file in the action the way you are doing it now.

Pirate mode re-enabled: Treasure me maps! YARGH!

I found this page maybe of some help.
http://www.layoutgalaxy.com/html/htm...er54-page1.htm

Chio, how do you add a custom "style" for the "web photo gallery" function it would be cool to add that to an action so you could build the whole gallery at the same time. I am sure gallery builders are already doing this?

YARGH! To be honest I've got no clue. I dont use that function much at all. I don't do galleries. Someone else here may have an answer.

3AM - Chio is correct on this. key is saving to a new folder.

nah. you guys are missing my point i guess. thanks a ton for trying to help but i'm sure it's just me.

the new folder produces the same results. i'll try one more time to explain this better.

it's not over writing the big pic. it's naming all the thumbs the same exact name. if i save pic01.jpg as tn_pic01.jpg while i am recording my action, and then i batch a folder of pics, it wants to name every single thumb tn_pic01. even if i make a new folder and set it as the destination, it still tries to name them all whatever i named the thumb while i was creating the action.

and again. if i don't include the save as step in the action then it works fine when i batch. it names each thumb appropriately but the method it uses to saves them makes the file size huge.

i probably still haven't explained it well enough so no worries if you have no clue what i mean. thanks again everyone for trying to help :disgust

YARGH! Save to a new folder don't name it anything in the action. When the batch is done use a batch renamer to rename your thumbs.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Basically what you need to do, going with what Chio recomends, is make a new folder, named tn or thumbs or whatever. When *making* the action, do not choose a new name for the file, just go to the folder and hit save. Then when you run it, you will have all the files in the new folder, properly resized.

The reason it's doing what it is, is because in the action you're telling it to apply that name to the thumbnail. By specifying tn_apple01.jpg as the name when making the action, you're telling the action to name whatever file you're working with, tn_apple01.jpg.

yup. you're right and so is chio - of course - but what a waste. i'm doing it the way chio recommended and then re naming through the batch rename in ps. seems like there must be an easier way but this works. too bad i have 200 sets to do.

thanks for all your help. :thumbsup

I labored to figure out how to do solve my Photoshop batching problems when I resize pics or add urls to pics ever since I upgraded to version CS (now CS2) because it is a little different than the older versions of PS. What i figured out was, when origianlly creating the action you must "Save as" to a specific folder (doesn't matter which one) instead of "Save". (I am not talking about "'Save for web", I never use that) Then when you actually run the batch you must define the actual destination folder (even if it is contrary to what you selected when you recorded the action initially) and all your modified files will appear there with different names. Completely counter-intuitive I know, but that works for me.

And you also have to have that box checked "Override action save as commands"' by the way when you run the action.