What is the fastest way to re-size photos for email/web?

I have been using Macs for about a year now, and I had a question regarding image conversion.

In Windows XP, there is an option to right-click on a file, and resize it for email/web at various pre-set sizes, all at 72 dpi.

I have Photoshop, and I am aware of GraphicConverter, but is there a simpler way, maybe involving a script, that I can right-click on a file in Finder and have it quickly make a copy suitable for email/web? Or will Apple Mail somehow re-size a photo if you drag and drop it on a message?

Thanks for any info!

You can with the help of ImageReady (that comes with Photoshop) make a "droplet" which lets you make several droplets in diffrent sizes. You just drop the image over the icon it creates and it'll do the job for you. Since you can decide the amount of compression when you make the droplet, it's a good way to go.

Petra

Philip Jones said:

I have been using Macs for about a year now, and I had a question
regarding image conversion.

In Windows XP, there is an option to right-click on a file, and
resize it for email/web at various pre-set sizes, all at 72 dpi.

I have Photoshop, and I am aware of GraphicConverter, but is there
a simpler way, maybe involving a script, that I can right-click on
a file in Finder and have it quickly make a copy suitable for
email/web? Or will Apple Mail somehow re-size a photo if you drag
and drop it on a message?

Thanks for any info!

Click to expand...

You might also want to try the freeware utility called "DropJPEG". As a test, I dragged a high-res Photoshop file icon on to the DropJPEG icon. The utility converted it to JPEG and reduced the resolution to 72dpi. A preference box allows for different quality settings. Very simple.

http://www.kainjow.com/dropjpeg.html

PowerPet said:

You can with the help of ImageReady (that comes with Photoshop)
make a "droplet" which lets you make several droplets in diffrent
sizes. You just drop the image over the icon it creates and it'll
do the job for you. Since you can decide the amount of compression
when you make the droplet, it's a good way to go.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I can now make files that are lower resolution and high compression JPGs, but I can't seem to understand how to make the file a certain size, like 600 pixels vertically with constrained proportions. What I'd like to be able to do is drop any sized file onto it, and have the droplet decrease the size proportionately, and then do the higher compression.

Can you tell me how to do this part of the droplet procedure?

Thanks!

Thanks for the tip - but unfortunately this program doesn't also allow you to re-size the file as you convert it into a JPG. I also need to re-size the image (proportionately).

I think there should be a way, I just wish I could remember. But it should be possible. You could always do one droplet for landscape images as well as one for portrait images (if you know this) and then make an action for each that the droplet runs that resizes the longest side (i.e. width on the landscape or height on the portrait) to be what you want.

Another, not really straight forward way is to use a program such as "PhotoSite TimeSaviour" that lets you create pages with thumbnails, it also lets you set the max width or height on an image, and then you could toss away all the stuff you don't need and just keep the resized images. It's a fast software so even if it creates html-pages and thumbnails it gets the job done. You can find PSTS at http://www.versiontracker.com (it's a friend of mine that made that software).

There should also be a way to make a script with AppleScript doing all this for you (some software supports AS), but I'm not that familiar with AppleScript so I could help you with that. Maybe there's even some AS out there that does this that you could just alter to fit your needs (they can also be made to drop an image over it to run).

Petra

Philip Jones said:

Philip Jones said:

You can with the help of ImageReady (that comes with Photoshop)
make a "droplet" which lets you make several droplets in diffrent
sizes. You just drop the image over the icon it creates and it'll
do the job for you. Since you can decide the amount of compression
when you make the droplet, it's a good way to go.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I can now make files that are lower resolution
and high compression JPGs, but I can't seem to understand how to
make the file a certain size, like 600 pixels vertically with
constrained proportions. What I'd like to be able to do is drop any
sized file onto it, and have the droplet decrease the size
proportionately, and then do the higher compression.

Can you tell me how to do this part of the droplet procedure?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Haven't tried this, but it looks like it may be what you're looking for.

http://www.versiontracker.com/php/dlpage.php?id=14769&kind=0&db=mac

Philip Jones said:

Thanks for the tip - but unfortunately this program doesn't also
allow you to re-size the file as you convert it into a JPG. I also
need to re-size the image (proportionately).

Click to expand...

If your'e already using photoshop/imageready, I think the tidbit you're missing is to use the "fit" command. i.e. File -> Automate-> Fit Image.

It'll proportionately resize your image so that it fits into a certain resolution e.g. 1024x768

Philip Jones said:

Philip Jones said:

You can with the help of ImageReady (that comes with Photoshop)
make a "droplet" which lets you make several droplets in diffrent
sizes. You just drop the image over the icon it creates and it'll
do the job for you. Since you can decide the amount of compression
when you make the droplet, it's a good way to go.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I can now make files that are lower resolution
and high compression JPGs, but I can't seem to understand how to
make the file a certain size, like 600 pixels vertically with
constrained proportions. What I'd like to be able to do is drop any
sized file onto it, and have the droplet decrease the size
proportionately, and then do the higher compression.

Can you tell me how to do this part of the droplet procedure?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Was browsing around Versiontracker and found a few more things that might do what you want (for OS X):

HBImageProcessor: http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=13242&db=mac

Mail Pictures: http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=14446&db=mac

PHotoMover: http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=8931&db=mac

SnapHappy: http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=14832&db=mac

And then they say there's no software for Mac OS platforms.... HA!

Petra

You may have already read this, but here is the help file on the subject of droplets.
-EL

Previous ~ Next Automating Tasks > Using droplets

Creating a droplet from an action
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actions are the basis for creating droplets--you must create the desired action in the Actions palette prior to creating a droplet. (See Recording actions.)

In ImageReady, you can also create droplets with the Optimize palette, so that you can apply Optimize palette settings to single images or batches of images.

To create a droplet from an action (Photoshop):

1. Choose File > Automate > Create Droplet.

2. Click Choose in the Save Droplet In section of the dialog box, and select a location to save the droplet.
3. Select the desired set and action from the Set and Action menus.
4. Set Play options for the droplet:

Select Override Action "Open" Commands if you want Open commands in the action to refer to the batched files, rather than the filenames specified in the action. Deselect Override Action "Open" Commands if the action was recorded to operate on open files or if the action contains Open commands for specific files that are required by the action. Select Include All Subfolders to process files in subdirectories.

Select Suppress Color Profile Warnings to turn off display of color policy messages.
5. Select a destination for the processed files from the Destination menu:

None to leave the files open without saving changes (unless the action included a Save command). Save and Close to save the files in their current location.

Folder to save the processed files to another location. Click Choose to specify the destination folder. Select Override Action "Save As" Commands if you want Save As commands in the action to refer to the batched files, rather than the filenames and locations specified in the action. Deselect Override Action "Save As" Commands if the action contains Save As commands for specific files that are required by the action.

6. If you chose Folder as the destination, specify a file-naming convention and select file compatibility options for the processed files:

For File Naming, select elements from the pop-up menus or enter text into the fields to be combined into the default names for all files. Elements include document name, serial number or letter, file creation date, and file extension.

For File Name Compatibility, choose Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX to make filenames compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX operating systems.
7. Select an option for error processing from the Errors pop-up menu: Stop for Errors to suspend the process until you confirm the error message.

Log Errors to File to record each error in a file without stopping the process. If errors are logged to a file, a message appears after processing. To review the error file, click Save As and name the error file.

To create a droplet from an action (ImageReady):

1. For best results, make sure that the action contains at least one Set Optimization command. To add a Set Optimization command, adjust the settings in the Optimize palette, and then drag the droplet icon from the Optimize palette onto the part of the Actions palette where you want to add that command.

If you do not add a Set Optimization command to the droplet, ImageReady will process files using the optimization settings in place at the time the droplet was created.
2. Create the droplet:

Drag the name of the action from the Actions palette onto the desktop. The droplet has the same name as the action it was created from. You can rename the droplet as you do other desktop icons.

Select an action, and choose Create Droplet from the Actions palette menu. Name the droplet, choose a location where the droplet will be saved, and click Save

Thanks to all for the advice.

This is how I solved the problem - for people in the future. I used Adobe ImageReady.

1) Create an action in ImageReady. Open the Actions palette, click the new action icon and name it whatever you like. Click Record to start recording the action.

2) Click Image ~ Image Size. Then, change the width or height to whatever you want your final image width/height to be. Click on Constrain Proportions. Click on Action Options and select width or height.

Since I wanted all of my images to be 600 pixels in height, I put '600' in the height box, and then selected 'Fit Image by Height' in Action Options.

3) Click on 'Do Not Enlarge' to ensure that smaller images won't be blown up to meet your specified height/width. Click OK.

Now we've created the action to re-size the image properly. Next, we'll set the saving settings.

4) Open the Optimize palette, and set the options for the file to be saved. I selected JPG Medium (which sets the quality to 30). I also checked Preserve EXIF metadata so that the EXIF info. from my digital camera would be saved.

5) Drag the button in the Optimize palette with the down-facing arrow to the Actions palette so it becomes part of your action. This puts your Optimize settings into the action, and should add a 'Set Optimization to JPG' item to the actions palette. Rearrange the two items so that the resize comes first.

6) Select the 'main' part of the action and click the palette menu and click on Create Droplet. This will create the droplet that I put on my Desktop.

7) Double-click on the Droplet you just created, and it will open in ImageReady. At the top of the box that appears, click on Batch Options. I chose to run the action in the background, and I selected to save files in a specific folder (Desktop).

Now, drop individual files, or groups of files, onto the droplet. Your converted, re-sized files will appear one-by-one.

Please leave me any comments or corrections. I hope this helps others.