P: Ability to batch process Photo Merge (HDR and panorama)

[ColinMcD]

Now that we have HDR inside Lightroom, with virtually no user input, the next step is surely a batch facility for a folder full of bracketed images.
Please!!!!

[ColinMcD]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

At least Adobe could acknowledge that this is an issue and that it is or is not under urgent consideration.

Just leaving us all hanging is very bad customer care

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

To set expectations, they can't reveal their plans for future features in advance, so I wouldn't expect to hear anything until they're ready to unveil a feature.

[ColinMcD]

Sorry, this is not a "Future Feature". It is an existing feature implemented badly.

Adobe are brilliant at developing new features, many of which we would never have imagined. But as far as customer care is concerned in this respect, they are poor.

We pay for service, in this case we are not getting it. A bug or a badly implemented feature should be high on the list of priorities for rectification.

A simple acknowledgement that this was an aspect of this feature that was badly implemented, and is scheduled for correction is all we ask for. Then we know that they are at least listening to their customers.

[betebete87]

What Colin McDonald said...

[mathieucarbou]

I also require batch processing... Either built in, either thanks to the SDK and a plugin, but we definitely should have a way to do that. This is quite limited right now.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I'v just tried the Shift key thing and yes the preview does not show up and I save about 1/3 the time. BUT if you are confident with the registration of your exposures and you uncheck "auto align" then it takes about 1/2 the time than if you go through the preview route! - I tested this with 5 frames off a Nikon d800 (36mp frames) on a MacBook Pro (late 2011)

Hope this helps.

[Metroplex360_com]

I've been looking at examples of batch HDR functions using ExtendScript... it seems that some people have utilized other methods in Photoshop that produce different results.

I respect what this guy has done, however, if his script utilized Camera RAW's HDR merge, it would be what we all are asking Adobe to do:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/12776...

I looked through ExtendScript documentation, and it seems there are ways to program automation with Camera RAW, but whether or not the HDR Merge function is accessible to scripting is undocumented and thus a mystery.

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/da...

This guy seemed to be working with scripting and Camera RAW ... basically automated bracketing of a single photo using ACR's exposure controls...

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/62323...

It just seems that the solution to this should be within reach, but that Adobe failed to create a way to access the batch feature ... and if they had allowed that, I'm sure that someone at Adobe who was intimately familiar with ExtendScript would have been able to program a batch HDR merge script in his sleep.

[Metroplex360_com]

Hey Eric, I'm responding to this simply to pester you to keep your eyes on this thread 🙂 We're all losing hours of our lives using Camera RAW's amazing HDR capabilities without a batch function. When will the madness end?

[wintix]

an option to render a panorama in complete auto mode without preview would be nice.

preferably by having the option to queue them up and have set simple presets, like 10% boundary wrap, spherical.

click path would be
– select photos
– right click – merge panorama – queue spherical, 10% boundary
– repeat
– one finished: file – start queue processing

presets click path:
- select photos
- right click - merge panorama - edit rendering presets

[fantomazzz]

I know this has been suggested already, but it would be great to have:

A WORKING HDR FUNCTION

With simple features like batch processing and a better use of system resources, come on, this is 6.4 and we still have to select bracket after bracket, LR becomes unresponsive when you try to do more than 12-16 processes at the same time, activity monitory shows that it makes little use of my 128 Gigs of ram or 12 available cores, neither does it make any use of the GPU when available. This should be addressed by now!

Thanks in advance Adobe

[billyray1usa]

Put me down for requesting a batch capability for LR HDR function. This is pretty much useless for me without batch capability. Until this gets implemented, I am stuck using Photomatix -- a decent enough tool, but not a great one. Help us out, Adobe.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It would be nice if stacks were treated like this throughout LR and not just with the HDR option. 

[th14555112]

Still no batch HDR merge?  How long will it take me to press Shift-Ctrl-H 800 times while only being able to run 8 consecutive processes concurrently?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi.

This is script for quasi batch HDR merging in Lr. It is written for AutoHotKey.

1. Install AutoHotKey
2. Save script in text file using .ahk extension
3. Edit script accordingly to number of images in HDR sets, number of HDR sets, power of your computer
4. Load script (run it as you start any application)
4. Go to image folder in Lightroom and make sure first photo is selected
5. Press SHIFT+H
6. Don't touch your computer till end of process - go for coffe, for a walk, sleep etc.
7. Be happier. 🙂

How to edit script?
This one is for 6 sets 3 photos each. If sets have 4 images change each {right}{right} ocurrence with {right}{right}{right}.

sleep, 35000 - this command is for waiting till Lr end merging previous set. If you have faster computer, you can change 35000 (miliseconds) for 20000 (miliseconds) for example. Better to check this time in tests and add a couple seconds - Lr slows down when many sets in queue and can stuck.

So this two  lines:

   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000

are for one HDR set.

Just copy this as many as many HDR sets you have.

I suppose more sophisticated script can be written with pop-up parameters dialog box. Does someone want to play with it?

That's all. Have good sleep. 😉

Ps. I count 1$ per saved hour of your life. 😉

---------------------------------------------------script------------------------------------------------
+h::

   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000
   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000
   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000
   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000
   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000
   send, {shift down}{right}{right}{shift up}{shift down}{ctrl down}h{shift up}{ctrl up}{alt down}{right}{alt up}
   sleep, 35000

return

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Is this script working on OSX as well?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

If I start 15 HDR merges at around the same time, Lightroom uses more memory than my 16gb of RAM, and it ends up taking ~5 minutes. If I start 5 merges, it only takes 20 seconds.

Instead of queueing operations once it gets to capacity, Lightroom is trying to get more virtual memory and the PC ends up thrashing (constantly swapping RAM to disk). This is really slow (about 5 times slower on my machine).

It would be nice if Lightroom was aware of memory usage, or at least let you set a limit for concurrent jobs.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

If AutoHotKey has OS X version... I don't know.

[johnrellis]

Autohotkey isn't available on Mac.  There are several equivalents available in the app store, though.

[Schmeedy]

I have found the magic number for MacBook Pro with 16gb RAM i7 processor, to be about 12 concurrent jobs. Still seems to push through jobs quick enough...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

John, can you recommend any app from the app store? Have you allready tried it?

[frostyfriday]

I used to use Autohotkey on windows and loved it. I believe there is something called AutoKey for Mac but I have not had the time to try it.

[johnrellis]

If you search for "autohotkey on mac", you get a number of suggestions, starting with this thread: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/153930/autohotkey-equivalent-for-os-x. But I haven't tried any of them.  You can also use Applescript to stuff keystrokes and mouse events, but I've done just enough of that to know it's very painful from Applescript.

[Stephen Newport]

This would be an INCREDIBLE time saver.... Please consider this as a top upcoming feature.

[Stephen Newport]

Auto stacking and batching of Panorama and HDR content would be incredibly useful. I would greatly appreciate the feature!

Adding in the ability to automatically color/flag/rename the resulting batched files would be a welcome addition as well.

Thank you

[Schmeedy]

^yep!