How to quickly & easily batch render your final images for Client Delivery.

 

Streamline the rending process

I have been trailing a new method for producing my final renders of images for client delivery for a few months now and it seems to work great and saves me a bunch of time. This method can be used very effectively and efficiently to produce any number of files that required output to either jpeg, tiff, psd, pdf, png and even gif.  This method is even more effective when I prepare for editorial submissions. If you do image submission to editorials on blogs and/or magazines, chances are you will come across a large number of differing formats for submissions. Some mags want low res max size 1200px, others want files at odd resolutions like 120 dpi 2000px max etc. If you’re submitting 10 images to 5 different magazines it can get tedious real quick !

The key is to leverage photoshop’s batch processing facility. This little gem can be accessed by going into File -> Scripts -> Image Processor.

This is a very powerful tool indeed. But I found an even better tool that works to leverage the power of photoshop but with more options for output. This is Image Process Pro by Dr. Russell Brown. After you install it ( it’s an add-on freely available on Adobe Add ons, or Adobe Exchange ) you can get to it by going into File –> Automate –> Image Processor Pro.

You can download Image Processor Pro from Russel Brown Scripts page, Adobe Add-ons but also and from the Adobe Exchange panel, which is integrated in Photoshop CC (Window > Extensions > Adobe Exchange). If you are on Photoshop CS6 download Exchange panel from here. Note that you must restart Photoshop after installing Dr. Brown Services.

My preferred way of accessing Image Processor Pro (IPP) is via Adobe Bridge. Unless you have all your finalized .psd files in one directory ( ya! – that’s way too organized for me ) the best approach is to select files for processing in Bridge and invoke IPP from there by going to Tools -> Dr Brown’s Services 2.3.0 –> Image Processor Pro

 

The great part of using IPP rather than just the IP built into photoshop is that you can save multiple formats in one hit. I tend to save final images in two basic formats for final client delivery. Print ready and Web optimized. See below:

Here I have setup a preset that will optimize for web output. It will write to the Web folder, type of JPEG,  Save for web, and resize to the desired max sizes and resolution. Lastly I select the best color space profile for the web. Notice I also have set it up so the naming of the file reflects the save method ( this way i can opt to put both high res and low res in the same dir and zip them up ) When I click on Run it will do its magic and create two copies of the file at the sizes and resolution specified and place them in their specified directory.

You can optionally execute Actions that have been installed on your photoshop environment, either before the file is resized or after it has been resized. I have not used this option as I have yet to find an action that would run without some kind of manual adjustment that i want to do to it

A note on Re-Sizing the images. What you specify in IP and IPP is the Max size of either height or width, whichever aspect ratio the image is shot. In this example for my print formats I want a max size of 3600px ( 12 inches x 300dpi ) to apply to either a portrait or landscape image. IPP works out which is which and resizes it accordingly.

If you found this article informative and useful please share with your friends. If you have any questions leave a comment below or email me

Ciao !
R/