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R
RandomMan76
Participant
July 2, 2012
Question

Bridge Contact Sheet Script

  • July 2, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 7807 views

Hi All,

I am trying to script the contact sheet option from the output pane of Bridge. I use it regularly to create a multipage pdf contact sheet directly in bridge. I was wondering if there was a way to script the automation of this process with Bridge CS6?

I am currently automating my workflow with AppleScript and have come to the point where I would like to automate this part. I am not a knowledgable scripter of any language, but am getting there slowly. I don't know very much about JavaScript, so would appreciate any help here.

I know that Photoshop is scriptable using AppleScript, but I haven't managed to get the Create Contact Sheet option to work either - and as far as I can see, it won't create a multipage pdf contact sheet (happy to be corrected if I am wrong).

I would also like to append a standard front page to the resulting pdf - I think this covers a few Adobe CS programs, so am happy to be directed to other forums if neccesary.

Thanks in advance for the help, if I have left any info out that would be helpful, please ask.

Cheers,

Rob

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

M
Muppet Mark
Inspiring
July 2, 2012

Photoshop will make you individual contact sheets… Bridge will make a multi page pdf but it uses file previews for vector/graphic files… Better would be to use Indesign or Illustrator for this… And build a document of placed files and export… to PDF. Bridge only has one AppleScript command do javascript and the output pane is a loaded script… Neither Photoshop or Bridge can make your intro page so you will need some other app to complete either of these routes. How many files at a time are we talking about and are you just looking at Bridge because it has the output pane…

For small-ish clusters of files you can just comm+option+shift drag in to Indesign and make contact sheets then use the add captioning…

Otherwise you may want to look at Bob's script… ( who did the bridge/indesign script that was in CS2 as standard install )

http://www.creativescripting.net/

Of cause you could just create your own script in AppleScript from scratch but it is a rather ambitous… IMO

Paul Riggott
Paul Riggott
Inspiring
July 2, 2012

Good Idea's Mark, another way would be to use Contact Sheet II in Photoshop then use PDF Presentation to get the multipage PDF.

R
RandomMan76Author
Participant
July 2, 2012

Hi All, and thanks for the speedy replies.

I have had a look at PDF presentation and it creates each page with a single image on it. I want to have 8 images in two columns, and can have as many as 40 images - just depends on the job really.

The idea of using Contact Sheet II and PDF Presentation seems feasable, if PDF Presentation can be scripted too. I have tried to script Contact Sheet II and had no luck - I don't know what I am doign wrong. Using an AppleScript I sourced from the net, I couldn't get it to run at all - even if I selected the files as part of the script. This post has been my first call for help with this.

The script I was trying to use is this one:

tell application "Finder"

    set sourcePath to ((home as text) & "Desktop:ProofTests")

    set fileList to (files of entire contents of sourcePath)

end tell

tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS6"

    activate

    create contact sheet from files fileList with options {column count:2, height:3750, resolution:150.0, row count:4, width:2700}

end tell

Any help correcting errors and creating multi page PDF contact sheets would be appreciated.

My process involves watching a folder with Applescript. I export images from Lightroom to this folder which activates my script.

The script does the following:

Renames exported files

creates proof folder and copies files there

performs photoshop droplet on proof files

uploads initial files to an FTP site using Transmit

moves exported files to another place on my drive

I would like to use the proof files to create the contact sheet.

Thanks again for the input.

EDIT: Muppet Mark - I have been using Bridge manually to do this job, so that is why I wanted to use it really. I am not too bothered about how it works, I would just like it to be automated so I can cut down the amount of time I need to spend doing post production...

Also, I have a standard page saved as a PDF already that is the cover sheet, So I guess I could use PDF Presentation to add this to the front of the contact sheet when it creates the multi page pdf..

Paul Riggott
Paul Riggott
Inspiring
July 2, 2012

Hi Rob, first the bad news, the output panel in Bridge has never been scriptable.

Now the good news, pdfPresentation is back in Photoshop CS6 and you will be able to create multipage pdf documents. See File - Automate - PDF Presentation

You might have to use the Scriplistener plugin to taylor your output needs.

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