Scaling and re-arranging photos

[Guest]

I just started work at a local newspaper. My job is to upload the images in InDesign, rescale them and re-arrange to fit on the pages without leaving empty spaces. I get around a hundred pictures each time all with a different image size that I need to scale accordingly. Afterwards I need to arrange them all by height, so that I can group them (usually by threes) to insert on the page. My question is after I rescale them is there a way that Adobe InDesign can automatically re-arrange or sort them for example side-by-side according only to their height? This would save me about 40% of time. And if not is there another program I can transfer them after I scale them that can do this.

Thank you for your time

Martin, Naydenov  

[Ten A]

Hi.

Try to run this from Indesign CS5 script panel.

#targetengine session

if (app.activeDocument.eventListeners.itemByName('placeEvent')!=null){

    app.activeDocument.eventListeners.itemByName('placeEvent').remove();

    }

var prf = [50, 50];

var d = new Window ('dialog', 'input bounds size', [100,100,360,290]);

    d.mp = d.add('panel', [10,20,245,115], 'input radius and radian');

    d.mp.st1 = d.mp.add('statictext', [50,24,100,40], 'width = ');

    d.mp.et1 = d.mp.add('edittext', [110,20,170,40],prf[0], {multiline:false});

    d.mp.st2 = d.mp.add('statictext', [50,54,100,70], 'height = ');

    d.mp.et2 = d.mp.add('edittext', [110,50,170,70],prf[1], {multiline:false});

    d.bp = d.add('panel', [10,130,245,175], '');

    d.bp.submitBtn = d.bp.add('button', [20,10,100,25], 'apply', {name:'ok'});

    d.bp.stopBtn = d.bp.add('button', [120,10,200,25], 'stop', {name:'cancel'});

    d.bp.submitBtn.onClick = function (){

            var wdt = d.mp.et1.text - 0;

            var hgt = d.mp.et2.text - 0;

            if(f.open('w')){

                var retStr = wdt + ":" + hgt;

                f.write(retStr);

                }

            applyListener(wdt, hgt)};

    d.bp.stopBtn.onclick = function (){

        removeListener()

        };

    d.show();

function applyListener(w,h){

    var listner = app.activeDocument.addEventListener (

        'afterPlace',

        function (ev){

            var tg = ev.target;

            var mybnds = tg.geometricBounds;

            tg.geometricBounds = [mybnds[0],mybnds[1], mybnds[0]+h, mybnds[1]+w];

            tg.fit (FitOptions.fillProportionally);

            tg.fit (FitOptions.centerContent);

            });

    listner.name = 'placeEvent';

    d.close();

    }

function removeListener(){

    app.activeDocument.eventListeners.itemByName('placeEvent').remove();

    alert ('place tweak removed.');

    d.close();

    }

Once running it, catch place event and images rectangles force to adjust preset width and height. If you select rectangle when placing image, It adjust fillPropotionally automatically.

Ten

[Guest]

Hi Ten.

Thanks for your help. But the script that you gave me didn't really help me the this situation. I will upload some pictures for what i have in mind

Martin

[Ten A]

OK, I wrote this one:

var slct = app.activeDocument.selection;

var myHeight =0, ht;

var bnds = new Array();

var pos = slct[0].geometricBounds[0];

for (var i=0;i<slct.length;i++){

    if (slct!="[object Rectangle]") continue;

    bnds = slct.geometricBounds;

    ht = bnds[2] - bnds[0];

    if (pos>bnds[0]) pos = bnds[0];

    if (myHeight<ht) myHeight = ht;

    }

for (i=0;i<slct.length;i++){

    if (slct!="[object Rectangle]") continue;

    slct.geometricBounds = [

        pos,

        slct.geometricBounds[1],

        pos+myHeight,

        slct.geometricBounds[3]];

    slct.fit(FitOptions.fillProportionally);

    slct.fit(FitOptions.centerContent);

    }

select horizontal objects and run it. adjust every selected items height and fit images.

Ten.

[Guest]

Hi Ten

thanks for your efforts. The script you have written is great, I can use it for some jobs that i need to do. I am sorry if my english isn't perfect wen trying to eplain what exactly i need to ba able to automate. I have sent another exaple to show what i am trying to say.

The very first row is how I placed the images on the page manual.

The second row is what happens when I use the script that you gave me.

The third row how I need the result to be. (All  the picture rearranged from tallest to shortest)

If I just use your script many of the people in the pictures get cut off which wouldn’t do much good, and since in every picture there is a different amount of people, every picture is scaled depending on the amount. What I need is to be able to match pictures that have almost similar height and after a little editing and cropping get them to match perfectly.

This is the end goal of doing so

Thanks agoin for your help

Martin Naydenov