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Derrick5E52
Participating Frequently
October 29, 2020
Question

Bridge Automate "Load Files Into Photoshop Layers" For Stacks

  • October 29, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 2303 views

Hello there, I am having a tough time implementing something that will greatly speed up my workflow. Essentially, I need to find a way to automate the "Load Files Into Photoshop Layers" tool in Bridge. As a quick background, I have to make collages for work every now and then. For example, I have an action that makes a 3x3 collage when you give photoshop 9 images. This process isn't automated as I have to load 9 files into photoshop and then run the action. 

It would be ideal if I could give photoshop a stack of files to perform this action. In bridge, I have different stacks that contain 9 photos each in them. I can't wrap my head around how I can tell photoshop to process each stack individually and run only one action per stack. I believe that all I need is a script that takes a stack of photos and makes a new document in photoshop with each image being a unique layer in this document. Then, I would be able to run my script that can make a collage from those layers. If I were to accomplish this, all I would have to do is separate my photos into stacks and run a batch from Bridge into photoshop. Thank you so much for the help!

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1 reply

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 29, 2020

The simplest way would be to start using JJMack's scripts:

 

http://www.mouseprints.net/old/dpr/PhotoCollageToolkit.html

 

You create a template file with alpha channels that govern how each image is placed/sized. It will then create montages of the source images using the template. It does not need an action as the alpha channels provide the size and placement and the number of alpha channels control the number of images used per template.

 

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 29, 2020

An alternative approach if you wish to continue to use your action, would be a script that would simply create a layered document using N amount of input files, it would then call your action to create the layout, then it would save to PSD or whatever file format/s were required.

 

I have created such scripts which could be easily modified, for example:

 

D
Derrick5E52Author
Participating Frequently
October 29, 2020

Thank you for both your suggestions. I can look into JJMack's scripts if I can't find a solution for this as I have my action worked out and ready to go. I am still having a little bit of trouble and tried to mess with your sccript a little bit. I don't want photoshop to ask for an input folder. This is what I ultimately need the script to do:

1) find first stack (in Bridge [in selected folder])

2) open as layers in PS

3) run PS action

4) save and close (as jpg)

5) find next stack in Bridge (selected folder) and repeat.

If there is anyway of accomplishing this, I would greatly admire you. 

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