I've seen a number of different posts on these forums about trying to do this and I never really found a complete and suitable solution. It also has really annoyed me that adobe never implemented this (and it's not possible to do with actions because the action just runs a script and you can't record the HDR toning settings, the dialog always pops up, its in the script). So I finally had some time to get my hands dirty with ExtendScript and I have created a fully featured script complete with UI that allows batch creation of HDR tonned images in photoshop.The code I got working from various snipets of code I found around the 'net and single stepping through the MergeToHDR.jsx script that is built into photoshop.This has only been partially tested on photoshop CC on a mac. Hopefully I made it portable enough and it will work on windows and older versions. I don't think the MergeToHDR script has changed much in the last several versions (and that is mainly what I call to do the work) so I think it should work. If you have issues please let me know.My motivation for this script was coming up with a way to do batch HDR toning for timelapse and so this script's features lean toward using it for that end. I really didn't want to buy another separate program for doing this like photomatix, when I knew it should at least be possible to do in photoshop.I uploaded the script to github:https://github.com/davidmilligan/PhotoshopBatchHDR/blob/master/Batch%20HDR.jsxHow to use:Drop the script in the '[photoshop folder]/presets/scripts' folder and restart photoshop if it is already running.The script should appear as a menu item under File>Automate>Batch HDR...A dialog will appear where you specify all the settings for the batchInput Section:Click browse and select the source folder that contains the images to be merged/tonedSpecify "Number of Brackets" this is how many separate images to group into a single HDR output image (the script will group the images in the source folder in order based on this parameter). You can use a value of 1, which means each image in the source folder is separate and will be toned and output. (I find that many times when shooting RAW, 14 bits is ample to capture the full dynamic of the scene, so I do not waste storage space and shutter acutations using more than one exposure, just make sure to ETTR, also post-processing with this script will be faster)If there are other files in your source folder (for example .xmp files) that you need to exclude you can specify a filte. For example: *.cr2Typically for timelapse you are using a tripod and do not need to have photoshop align the images, but I provided that capability for anyone who might need it b/c it was easy to enable. Note that enabling this will make the process MUCH slower.Toning Section:These settings are all the same as the photoshop HDR toning dialog for "Local Adaptation"To preview what your toning settings will look like you can select any file(s) in your sequence by clicking "Select File(s)..." under "Preview". The file(s) you select will open and merge (if more than one file). When that's finished you can click the "Update Preview" button to apply the current toning settings and see what they will look like (I can't do the fast, automatic previews like the builtin dialog, sorry - somebody from adobe want to show me how to do this?)You can see what the settings will look like at another point in your sequence by clicking the "Select File(s).." button again. (I recommend previewing a shot near the beginning, middle, and end of your sequence)The dialog prevents you from using anything in photoshop while its open so I provided a zoom to allow you to zoom in on the previewThe tone curve you must enter as a comma separated list of points (sorry, ScriptUI is not really adequate to create the graphical histogram overlay for the curves like in the builtin dialog). The points are grouped into x,y pairs so for example: x1,y1,x2,y2,etc. Typically you will start with 0,0 and end with 255,255 (note that 255 is the max, full white). Like the curves tool, x represents the input and y represents the outputOutput Section:Click browse and select a folder for the script to save the output files toThe rest of this section should be self explanitory. NOTE: If you select to output 32bit files, the toning will not be applied, the files will simply be merged into a 32bit HDR image and saved.Once you have specified the input and output folders the OK button should be enabled, when you are ready, click OK to start the processGo watch a movie or take a nap, this is going to take a while. The script will display a progress window showing you how far along the proces is (the photoshop progress windows may occasionally appear on top of it, I usually just move them up a little so I can see both)Limitations:Only the local adaptation method is supported. It's really the only one I ever use, and I didn't really feel like implementing the other ones, but feel free to modify the script yourself to add this supportYou canot load or save presets from the builtin toning dialog. The format of the preset files is binary and would require reverse engineering of the format and it would be very difficult to read to the files in javascript anyway. If it were xml, it would be much easier, alas it is not. Feel free to grab a hex editor and do this yourself. For now you'll just have to copy all of the values of a preset by hand into the dialog if you want to use a preset. If I have more time this is something I might work on.Preview is slow because it has to do the actual full toning, I don't know a way to do the fast real time previews like the builtin dialog.I don't think the "Cancel" button on the progress window really works, once running, the script is too busy to register a click, anybody know how I might fix this?There may potentially be some ways to improve performance of this script in certain scenarios, IDK, but I'm just glad it works You're welcome Adobe, you can send me a check at:[REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED]Please hit me up with comments/suggestions,David

Participating Frequently

Question

Batch HDR Merging/Toning Script

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
August 17, 2013
31 replies
45977 views

I've seen a number of different posts on these forums about trying to do this and I never really found a complete and suitable solution. It also has really annoyed me that adobe never implemented this (and it's not possible to do with actions because the action just runs a script and you can't record the HDR toning settings, the dialog always pops up, its in the script). So I finally had some time to get my hands dirty with ExtendScript and I have created a fully featured script complete with UI that allows batch creation of HDR tonned images in photoshop.

The code I got working from various snipets of code I found around the 'net and single stepping through the MergeToHDR.jsx script that is built into photoshop.

This has only been partially tested on photoshop CC on a mac. Hopefully I made it portable enough and it will work on windows and older versions. I don't think the MergeToHDR script has changed much in the last several versions (and that is mainly what I call to do the work) so I think it should work. If you have issues please let me know.

My motivation for this script was coming up with a way to do batch HDR toning for timelapse and so this script's features lean toward using it for that end. I really didn't want to buy another separate program for doing this like photomatix, when I knew it should at least be possible to do in photoshop.

I uploaded the script to github:

https://github.com/davidmilligan/PhotoshopBatchHDR/blob/master/Batch%20HDR.jsx

How to use:

Drop the script in the '[photoshop folder]/presets/scripts' folder and restart photoshop if it is already running.
The script should appear as a menu item under File>Automate>Batch HDR...
A dialog will appear where you specify all the settings for the batch
Input Section:
- Click browse and select the source folder that contains the images to be merged/toned
- Specify "Number of Brackets" this is how many separate images to group into a single HDR output image (the script will group the images in the source folder in order based on this parameter). You can use a value of 1, which means each image in the source folder is separate and will be toned and output. (I find that many times when shooting RAW, 14 bits is ample to capture the full dynamic of the scene, so I do not waste storage space and shutter acutations using more than one exposure, just make sure to ETTR, also post-processing with this script will be faster)
- If there are other files in your source folder (for example .xmp files) that you need to exclude you can specify a filte. For example: *.cr2
- Typically for timelapse you are using a tripod and do not need to have photoshop align the images, but I provided that capability for anyone who might need it b/c it was easy to enable. Note that enabling this will make the process MUCH slower.
Toning Section:
- These settings are all the same as the photoshop HDR toning dialog for "Local Adaptation"
- To preview what your toning settings will look like you can select any file(s) in your sequence by clicking "Select File(s)..." under "Preview". The file(s) you select will open and merge (if more than one file). When that's finished you can click the "Update Preview" button to apply the current toning settings and see what they will look like (I can't do the fast, automatic previews like the builtin dialog, sorry - somebody from adobe want to show me how to do this?)
- You can see what the settings will look like at another point in your sequence by clicking the "Select File(s).." button again. (I recommend previewing a shot near the beginning, middle, and end of your sequence)
- The dialog prevents you from using anything in photoshop while its open so I provided a zoom to allow you to zoom in on the preview
- The tone curve you must enter as a comma separated list of points (sorry, ScriptUI is not really adequate to create the graphical histogram overlay for the curves like in the builtin dialog). The points are grouped into x,y pairs so for example: x1,y1,x2,y2,etc. Typically you will start with 0,0 and end with 255,255 (note that 255 is the max, full white). Like the curves tool, x represents the input and y represents the output
Output Section:
- Click browse and select a folder for the script to save the output files to
- The rest of this section should be self explanitory. NOTE: If you select to output 32bit files, the toning will not be applied, the files will simply be merged into a 32bit HDR image and saved.
Once you have specified the input and output folders the OK button should be enabled, when you are ready, click OK to start the process
Go watch a movie or take a nap, this is going to take a while. The script will display a progress window showing you how far along the proces is (the photoshop progress windows may occasionally appear on top of it, I usually just move them up a little so I can see both)

Limitations:

Only the local adaptation method is supported. It's really the only one I ever use, and I didn't really feel like implementing the other ones, but feel free to modify the script yourself to add this support
You canot load or save presets from the builtin toning dialog. The format of the preset files is binary and would require reverse engineering of the format and it would be very difficult to read to the files in javascript anyway. If it were xml, it would be much easier, alas it is not. Feel free to grab a hex editor and do this yourself. For now you'll just have to copy all of the values of a preset by hand into the dialog if you want to use a preset. If I have more time this is something I might work on.
Preview is slow because it has to do the actual full toning, I don't know a way to do the fast real time previews like the builtin dialog.
I don't think the "Cancel" button on the progress window really works, once running, the script is too busy to register a click, anybody know how I might fix this?
There may potentially be some ways to improve performance of this script in certain scenarios, IDK, but I'm just glad it works

You're welcome Adobe, you can send me a check at:

[REDACTED]

Please hit me up with comments/suggestions,

David

This topic has been closed for replies.

Floline Media

Inspiring

This is amazing!! Nice work David! Worked great on my m1 mbp 16. Can I send you some venmo for beer or coffee??

Felix Wolter

Participant

Thank you for this very useful script.

M

Mavericklp

Participant

Hello,

I'm french and not fully fluent so, excuse my mystankes in english grammar.

First of all, thank you very very much for this script. Very nice idea.

Following a error on my Hard disk drive, the script stopped. When I started it again, it started from the begining "hdr_output_0001".

Can you please tell me if it is possible to check the output files and to start from the next one after the last existing file?

I mean :

- My input files are input_0001.nef.

- My last outpout file before the crash is hdr_output_0018.jpeg.

- I work with 5 bracketing files.

Can the script:

- Check the last output file "hdr_output_0018.jpeg"

- Calculate the next one by making "hdr_output_0018.jpeg" +1

- Calculate the input first file to take in account as consequence: input_((0018*5)+1).nef

I've a manual solution:cut/paste in other folder the inputs already merged and start again to 0001 the output in another folder too).

But I think a check before starting could be a plus for this already fantastic script.

D

davidl91524267

Participant

Hi there

Is there an updated version of this to run with PS CC 2019?

Just that I get this below error msg and as I'm not a coder, I don't know whats going on?

Also the menu selection only appears under File>scripts but not under File>Automate in CC 2019?

Thanks

SuperMerlin

Inspiring

The problem is you have not saved the script as PLAIN text. You need to download the file again.

T

Thany2

Known Participant

Other question: is it possible to save HDR images using a specified naming scheme, and specified file format & options?

Personally I want something like _4500101.CR2 ~ _4100105.CR2 to be saved as _4500101-0105.TIF with ZIP compression (rather than RLE, which is usually the default). Can I do that?

T

Thany2

Known Participant

There's a change from CC2017 to CC2018 in the original script. When you create a 32bpc image, in CC2018 it now insists you go tone your image in ACR after creating the HDR - the "OK" button changes into "Tone in ACR", iirc. So after creating the image, Photoshop will also show ACR. You can cancel that and keep your 32bpc image, or tone it and get a 16bpc image. Personally I want the untoned 32bpc so I can then import them into Lightroom and edit them from there.

Does this have any effect on the Batch HDR script?

suppertp76866953

Participant

HI, is any updates needed no for CC2018?

I installed it, make my settings and it just go back to PS without doing anything.

L

lucasc34334501

Participant

Awesome stuff thx!!!

M

markmore1

Participant

Awesome work by everyone involved. Plugged in and voila, it just worked as advertised. Excellent job!!

JJMack

Community Expert

You may want to contact the author of that script. They created it years ago. I do not know anything about creating HDR images I have no desire to create them. I just looked ate the script because some one was having a problem with it. All I can write is the script does not seem to do anything but create image lists and pass them to functions in Adobe's Merge to HDR script. Perhaps additional option setting need to be pass along with the file list to get the results you want. However the only option I sell in Merge to HDR script's dialog is a checkbox for attempt to align images. All the the script seem to need is a file list. Now I have no idea if the files in the list must meet some list of requirements. I would not expect that there would be and differences in the results it he used the right Function in Merge to HDR script. The Merge to HDR script is a complex script the uses at lease four other Adobe Photoshop Scripts. It only seems to have one function to be used by other scripts had function to be use from lightroom and Photoshop as well. So I would think the the batch hdr script is using the correct function ant there are only the three parameters. The File list, Alignment and ghosting options. I do not even see a deghosting option in Merge to HDR script's dialog. and I see the script seems to set other merge to hdr settings the are not in the function interface. With your knowledge you many know what they may do.

This is what I see in Merge to HDR script an array and two flags.

// Function to call from scripts

mergeToHDR.mergeFilesToHDR = function(filelist, alignFlag, deghostFlag)

In his batch merge to hdr script I see things you may want or need to change that may effect the way merge to hdr script creates the hdr documents. the seem to be internal setting not in the function interface the the Batch hdr script set to its defaults. Ther is one the seems to be for ACR toning

//default settings:

mergeToHDR.useAlignment = false;

mergeToHDR.useACRToning = false;

mergeToHDR.mergeFilesToHDR( currentFileList, mergeToHDR.useAlignment, hdrDeghosting ); use hdr script

//mergeToHDR.useAlignment = true; this has been commented our

alignCheckBox.value = mergeToHDR.useAlignment;

alignCheckBox.onClick = function() { mergeToHDR.useAlignment = alignCheckBox.value; };

mergeToHDR.outputBitDepth= 32;

mergeToHDR.mergeFilesToHDR( selectedFiles, false, -2 ); use hdr script

JJMack

F

Flash_Ghost

Participating Frequently

Figured out what my issue is.

It seems that my workspace 32 bit preview options are out of sync with ACR only when importing a file created with the script in 32bit format.. If i change them to Exposure +0.00 and Gama +1 it is fine and bang on,,,,but it seems that every one of the Tiff files created under the scripts 32 bit causes my preview options to jump all over..sometimes as high as +3 exposure.

I again tested using the same 5 files to merge both using the script and manually using the merge to hdr and sure enough the created files when opening them back up in PS cause my 32 preview options to be jumping around...must be trying to auto adjust exposure.

Is there a way to turn off Preview options or keep them static to match the ACR preview settings?

JJMack

Community Expert

I do not create HDR images and have no idea as to what preview you are referring to. Why is there a Preview in a batch process IMO a Preview kills a batch process it no longer a batch process it requires human intervention to continue the process.

JJMack

Show more replies

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded