Trying to automate putting logo on pics

AM
Posted By
Anthony_Manno
Oct 29, 2005
Views
919
Replies
15
Status
Closed
I have hundreds of pictures that I took with a digital camera and I want to put my logo on them in the lower left hand corner. I have tried to make an action to do this but it doesn’t seem to work.

I have both the pic and the logo open in Photoshop at the same time. I then create a new action and hit record. I select the logo by clicking on that window and select all. Then I click on the Move Tool and drag the logo onto the pic. That is how I manually do it and it works. When I do it with an action is says object "next document" is not currently available. I also tried opening up the logo as part of the action, but no dice.

Is it possible to do that?

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 29, 2005
There are at least three ways to do anything in photoshop. You will get more help if you define what a logo is. A logo is some kind of representation of a company’s image – it can be text, it can be vector graphics, or it can be raster graphics. So tell us what you’re starting with.

If it’s a text "logo", it’s easier to record typing the text, and then playing that back. It’s also easy to create a shape out of the text or vector object, and automate putting it in an image. But it is difficut, usually, to use two images with a drag/drop technique, because of "next image" / "previous image" issues – you have to control that, and always start the same way.

You can also use copy/paste and automate that – but again, you have to paste what’s in the clipboard, so you have to control for the potential error when doing a boatload of images.

How you do it and what you do though, in part, depends on what you’re working with so start there and if you need steps, this is the place to get them.

Peace,
Tony
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 29, 2005
If, in your action, you include an "open" step for the logo, also include a "close" step. Do not include an "open" step for the main image. This way you will avoid the "next/previous document" issues.
JS
John_Scribner
Oct 29, 2005
Antonio,

Below is a freeware (and a damn good one too…I’ve used it for years now) program that does what you want. Give it a go.

John
<http://www.picture-shark.com/index.htm>
TM
T_Mike_Hyndman
Oct 29, 2005
AF
Andrew_Faber
Oct 29, 2005
Yes. I like PictureShark too. I don’t know why Photoshop can’t do something as simple as what PictureShark does.
P
Phosphor
Oct 29, 2005
"I don’t know why Photoshop can’t do something as simple as what PictureShark does."

It can.

As long as your Photoshop cowboy skills are tuff enough to wrangle it into the corral.
AM
Anthony_Manno
Oct 30, 2005
This looked really cool and promising, but the catch is that the logo has to come from adobe illustrator. One logo is more of a picture with a transparent background. The other is text with and layer of special effects. First, I don’t have Illustrator. Second I don’t know how to get paths to work with images that don’t come from illustrator. When I click on paste it does not give me the option of choosing a path. I assume if the logo came from illustrator then it would have a path.
AM
Anthony_Manno
Oct 30, 2005
This also looked very promising, but there is a catch there also. One logo is more of a picture with a transparent background. The other is text with and layer of special effects also with a transparent background. Both files are .psd files. Since both have transparent backgrounds I haven’t figured out how to save them as jpegs or some other image file without a white background. If you can help me out with that it would be greatly appreciated.
AM
Anthony_Manno
Oct 30, 2005
There are at least three ways to do anything in photoshop. You will get more help if you define what a logo is. A logo is some kind of representation of a company’s image – it can be text, it can be vector graphics, or it can be raster graphics. So tell us what you’re starting with.

If it’s a text "logo", it’s easier to record typing the text, and then playing that back. It’s also easy to create a shape out of the text or vector object, and automate putting it in an image. But it is difficut, usually, to use two images with a drag/drop technique, because of "next image" / "previous image" issues – you have to control that, and always start the same way.

You can also use copy/paste and automate that – but again, you have to paste what’s in the clipboard, so you have to control for the potential error when doing a boatload of images.

How you do it and what you do though, in part, depends on what you’re working with so start there and if you need steps, this is the place to get them.

One of the logos is a text based logo so I was able to get that to work. Thanks. That didn’t occur to me. Another logo is a picture for a company that I took the pictures for. I did a copy beforehand and then a paste and that seems to work. One drawback is that I need to do a different action depending on if the pic is horizontal or vertical, because I have to move the logo to the right place on the pic.

Now the odd part. The actions work when I have a picture in photoshop, but when I choose to use batch and select all the pics in a certain folder and place them in an empty folder or just save them on top of themselves nothing gets saved. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for your help. It is greatly appreciated and most illuminating.
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 30, 2005
Anthony,

One drawback is that I need to do a different action depending on if the pic is horizontal or vertical, because I have to move the logo to the right place on the pic.

One thing that may help is to take advantage of Photoshop’s Align Layers To Selection Feature. Essentially, you include in your action the following: Select|All; Layer|Align Layers To Selection|Bottom; Layer|Align Layers To Selection|Right. Optionally include some nudges to keep it off of the edges.

That will align the active layer relative to the entire image (Select|All).

just save them on top of themselves nothing gets saved. Am I doing something wrong?

Most likely. What you want to do is to include a Save As… step in the action. Then, and this is important for batching, in the actions palette, after you’ve included a Save As… step, toggle that steps dialog to OFF (the little square next to the step).

Then you’re ready to batch with the batch dialog, and you need to specify, destination, and make sure Override Save As is CHECKED.

BTW, saving them on top of themselves is never a good idea, so you’re better off shooting them into a second folder.

Peace,
Tony
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 30, 2005
I don’t know why Photoshop can’t do something as simple as what PictureShark does.

It does, and then some. It’s just not as obvious as to how, to a relative newcommer to Photoshop. But it’s nearly as easy.

<shrug>

Peace,
Tony
P
Phosphor
Oct 30, 2005
Anthony…

Any chance you could post links to each logo file you want to place on your images? Also, describe for every case:

* What size you want them to be? —»Percentage of height or width dimension? or absolute value? Will these values change? Under what circumstances, and by how much?).
* Positioning and orientation
* Opacity, or other Blending considerations?
* Full color, single color, embossed-look?

To get specific answers, you must provide specific input.
AF
Andrew_Faber
Oct 30, 2005
Perhaps you could enlighted us.
I had problems from the very beginning when I wanted Photoshop to open a specific file from within an action.
Executing the action never worked.
So, just recording my steps isn’t enough…. way too complex.
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 30, 2005
I had problems from the very beginning when I wanted Photoshop to open a specific file from within an action.

File Open, with the dialog toggled OFF. But usually the problem is in "next image"/"previous image", and not in opening a specific file.

I will add however, that there has been a significant amount of power bestowed to users through scripts in CS2. There are several canned scripts already available on the net. Places to look would be the Scripting forum, Russell Brown’s site <http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html>, in particular "Plac-O-Matic", and in the PS-Scripts forum <http://www.ps-scripts.com/>, just to name a few.

IOW, depending on what you have to do, there are a boatload of ways to do it. Keep in mind though, that placing a picture in a picture on a bunch of images requires careful control (as some of you may have deduced already).

Peace,
Tony
JS
John_Scribner
Oct 31, 2005
Anthony,

In Picture Shark, do the following;
1- create your logo (or text) in PS using a solid background color (or colour for you Brits 🙂 ) and save it as a GIF or JPEG file.
2- Start Picture Shark and choose the pictures you wish to place the logo. 3- go to "positioning and settings" in Picture Shark, and pick a SAMPLE image to place the logo upon. By placing your logo on the sample, you will set the position (as well as the transparency) for the rest of your pictures you have chosen above.
4- click the "open stamp" button on this page to select your logo. 5- click the "use transparence" box.
6- click in the logo background to select the solid color background. This sets the transparency for the logo.
7- adjust the transparency, size, position, and opacity of logo. 8- procede to "output selection" in Picture Shark. DONE.

Hope this helps in small way…

John

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