I’ve been using this script for some time, thought it was worth repeating even though the MDD is a well dated machine.
Archive for the ‘AppleScript’ Category
AppleScript For Enabling Nap Mode On MDD G4’s
Monday, February 4th, 2008MP3 Reunion – AppleScript to Join MP3 files
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008I know I just blogged about how cool Fission by RogueAmoeba was, and the purpose being to split MP3 (and other audio) files. But… I found myself still needing to re-join some of them later on in rare cases – but after they were already re-encoded and potentially edited. So, a few minutes on Google and I had found a free option using the “cat” UNIX command that I figured I could wrap an AppleScript around to make even friendlier. The result is “MP3 Reunion”, a “plain vanilla” AppleScript that has been tested on OS X 10.3 and 10.4, so it should work right out of the gate for you. This script allows you to drag and drop multiple MP3 files onto it and it will use the cat shell command to concatenate them together, in the order you specify via a simple list dialog. You are prompted to select the sequence one file at a time, as you select an item, on the next dialog that file will no longer be listed making it easier to keep track of where you are in the sequence. This allows you to specify non-incremental sequences. The (extremely fast) result is a concatenated file named “New.mp3″ in the same root location as the source files (well, the first one in the file list that the script builds.) At this time it is mainly intended for joining/re-joining MP3’s files, it does not work with .M4A (AAC) files. It will even join files of differing bitrates… not sure if that’s a feature or not. I also found this shareware app that does the same thing (and more.)
AppleScript To Display URLs In Sequence
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008This script’s purpose is to display as many URLs, for as long as, and with as many iterations as, you wish. Uses could include as a bulletin or information board at a company, school or church, or as a kiosk – anything you can host as HTML on a private intranet or the public internet can be displayed. You must save the desired URL by browsing to that URL, whether public or private by double-clicking on the URL in the address bar of the browser, then drag and drop that onto the desktop (or a folder window.) This will create a “.webloc” file. Store those files in the “URLs to Display” folder. The script dynamically checks in the same folder that the script resides in and expects to find the aforementioned folder and a text file named “Display URL Parms.txt” that contains the adjustable parameters of the script, saving you from having to edit actual code. The script automatically refreshes its list of URL files allowing you to add new URLs as needed. It will also skip deleted URLs, making this virtually maintenance free. Requires Safari (may look into Firefox eventually) and OS X 10.3. or 10.4 (untested in 10.2 and 10.5.)
Digital Photography & Workflow Thoughts – Part 3
Thursday, January 24th, 2008My goal in this post it to highlight what I think is an oversight by most digital camera manufacturers, except Olympus. And then to offer a free tool that may be helpful for making the most of your images for the sake of a more intuitive workflow. I also want to highlight a piece of software that I use in my workflow that really streamlines the task of previewing and rejecting bad images.
UPDATE
So, I live under a rock right? It was brought to my attention that Adobe Photoshop Elements does a bunch of whiz-bang stuff like this and more and will soon be available for both platforms in version 6. I don’t live under a rock, but since I already have a working solution I haven’t been on the lookout for other solutions, especially for a fee. If I had the $$$ to throw at it I would likely purchase iView MediaPro.
END UPDATE
So here’s the rub: if you don’t buy into using the camera manufacturers workflow, meaning, you don’t use their software to get the images off the camera but instead use either your own filing system or iPhoto or Aperture on the Mac or something like iView MediaPro (now owned by Microsoft and named “Microsoft Expression Media”), in a short amount of time you end up with 50 files named “IMG_001.JPG”. A completely useless file name, no idea what (or more important to me is when) it was, and it’s only a matter of time before you overwrite one of them with a different image named the same thing. However, my first digi-cam was an Olympus C-2020Z. Olympus is the exception to this naming debacle, and IMO they get it. They use a file naming convention that tells you the date the photo was taken. Right off the bat you have meaningful data just in the file name, and secondly you have far fewer opportunities for file name collision – though I have had it happen, which is the reason for a feature of the tool I’m going to offer here for free. It’s an AppleScript which runs under OS X 10.3 and 10.4, and may run under 10.2 as well. It does require this free OSAX (think of it as a Plug-in for AppleScript), but can be wired to not need it without a marked reduction in functionality. Olympus’ file naming works like this: P5171289.jpg would tell me it was taken in May (second digit, which uses 1-9 and A,B,C for the 12 months) on the 17th (characters 3 and 4.) I am at a loss for why they wasted one character on a “P”, so it’s a photo… like the .jpg extension didn’t hint at that already, whatever. And then 4 digits that rollover after varying points, depending on the camera (1289 in this example.) I think the C-2020Z rolls over at 1600 or something like that, my C8080 goes higher I think. First I set out to add the year as a prefix to all file names to virtually guarantee I wouldn’t have a file name collision. So P5171289.JPG becomes 07_P5171289.JPG since it was taken in 2007. Secondly, I started working with other cameras that weren’t Olympus’ and decided that prefixes such as IMG_, _MG_, IM000, IM00, IM0, DSCF_, DSCN_, DSCF, DSCN, CRW_ were an insult to me as a user and then added the ability for the script to re-format all those names into the Olympus format, minus the “P”. This does allow me to see at a glance which photos were taken on my Canon vs. my Olympus’, but it was just the idea of a letter that meant nothing to me so I left it off. So _MG_0087.JPG becomes 07_5170087.JPG assuming it was taken on the same day as our previous example.
How it works: Copy your photos onto your hard drive – and I recommend using a media reader, then drag and drop them onto the script. You will be prompted with a dialog that allows you to specify what you want done. I made the default to just add the year and conform names to the Olympus format by just hitting Enter on this dialog.
If you select “Prefix” it will re-format to the Olympus format, no year, and then prefix that with whatever you enter in the dialog and an underscore. If you click “Both” you get prefix _ year _ file name.extension. This script will work on JPEG, TIFF or RAW formats, it retains whatever the extension was in the original file name.
This does bring up a caveat that all digital camera users should be paying attention to anyway: make sure you keep your clock set correctly on the camera. Otherwise you’ll end up with a bunch of files that start with 00_101 – 00 for the year 2000, 01 for January and 01 for the 1st, at least that’s how my Olympus’ behave. Something like this could be written in .NET for Windows if you know anyone that programs in .NET or good old fashioned VB Script.
Another vital part of my image workflow is PhotoReviewer by Stick Software. I am still using v1.4 for it’s straight-forwardness and sheer speed (MDD G4), but the current version is 2.1. Here are the controls in v1.4:
You can use it for numerous things including making copies of specific images based on review, doing a scan through new photos off of your camera (the main purpose) to quickly delete the duds. I did experience a known bug under OS X 10.3 with a memory leak over time, which requires a reboot to purge. It behaves better in 10.4 though I don’t think it’s perfect. I highly recommend it especially for the price. It’s worth a hundred times that for the hard drive space it will save you that would otherwise be consumed by unusable or indifferent photos.