Compressor, Applescript, and Watch Folders

I know this is probably easy, I'm just missing it. I'm guessing somehow one can combine a Compressor Droplet with Folder Actions to create a Watch folder for automating file compressions. Drop a file in, the Droplet processes the file and places the new file in the folder set up when the Droplet was made. Sounds easy right? Can anyone point me to an example script somewhere or let me copy their? I guess all I really need is the syntax to use in the script that will trigger the droplet when new files are added.
I bet a lot of people would appreciate this trick.
Be the man.

I'm not sure if you still need this, but I wrote the script file two days ago to do this. I needed it so our department can drop(ftp) files into a public folder on our FCP machine and it will compress the files and dump them into a "compressed" folder where people can pick them up. I want to add email notices and other bells and whistles later but this should get you going. Mind you you will have to change some things to fit your file system and folder locations...:
property dialog_timeout : 30 -- set the amount of time before dialogs auto-answer.
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
try
tell application "Finder"
--get the name of the folder
set the folder_name to the name of this_folder
end tell
tell application "Finder"
activate
open added_items using application file "For iPod.app" of folder "Desktop" of folder "ollie" of folder "Users" of startup disk
end tell
end try
end adding folder items to
You just need to put the above text into the applescript editor and save. Then add it to /library/scripts/folder action scripts/... Then when you "configure folder actions" in finder it will be in the list to add to that folder. You may not need that first line, I left it in there from the "add items to folder" script...
Let me know how it works for you...

Similar Messages

Photoshop 10 and watched folders on Mac

Hello,
I was a little disappointed with Photoshop 9 for Mac users that the watched folders feature that I found so useful on the Windows platform wasn't available. I understand this was due to a problem with the Mac OS which couldn't be rectified in time for the release.
Is the watched folders feature available with Photoshop 10 for Mac?
Thanks.

This seems related. At least my questions to Adobe brought me here. I tried taking one photo from iPhoto and it brought all 8000 including all movies. It then proceeded to make thumbnails for them, all without my asking. Is there any adequate tutorial for Elements 10 that steers one around such pitfalls. I have not used Photoshop before so perhaps it assumes all sorts of familiarity which i don't possess. The Help doesn't seem very helpful. Tutorial films work or don't work, seemingly on a whim.

Tagging and Watch folders on a HP Media Smart Server

I have a HP Media Server and have moved all my photos/videos to this server so that all three of my PC's may access them easily. I have a few questions that maybe someone can help with.
1. My wife and I use separate PC's and have PSE 7 on them. Apparently when we tag the photo's on the server, the tags are relative to the PC's that we tagged them from (multiple instances) and I would like to know how to merge them so that all PC's accessing the server media can see the Tags regardless of what PC generated them. Also how to prevent this from occurring in the future.
2. This may not be the appropriate Forum to ask the question, but you never know...My wife and I have made a habit of saving media to our home server. This really cuts down on having duplicate file's on multiple PC's. The problem that we are having is that when I try to add the media folders on the server to the "Watch Folder" list, Elements returns an access denied error. Now I know that this is almost certianly an issue with the Windows Home Server OS, but I was wondering if anyone may have experienced this before and has a solution.
Thanks for any help,
Brad

Brad,
While it is possible to store your PSE catalog and photos on a server and share that catalog among several computers, setting it up is tricky and you may not be satisfied with the performance of PSE:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Storing_the_catalog
Currently, it sounds like you're storing your photos on the server but each computer has its own PSE catalog file, which is why tagging a photo from one computer won't show up on another (the tags are stored in teh catalog file).
For watching a network folder, see this FAQ:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Watching_Network_Folder s

Launchd and watching folders

At http://developer.apple.com/macosx/launchd.html there is the statement,
"If you are about to write a program which will scan a directory periodically for files, stop; launchd already does that, and probably does it better. Services can be launched on access to a network port, on changes to files, on creation of files in a particular directory, on user login, or on a periodic basis. The majority of programs which wait for work to do are waiting for one of these events. Let launchd do the work."
I'm particularly interested in Services can be launched ... on creation of files in a particular directory What I want to do is watch a directory, and anytime a file gets created there copy it. It's a little tricky, since the directory is /tmp, and the files are there for only a short time. And they might appear and disappear after boot but before login; I'm not sure about that.
Can anyone point me to an example of a launchd plist file that will help me get started?
I suppose Applescript or Automator might be able to help. I just haven't looked there yet.
Thanks
Message was edited by: Don MacQueen1

Take a look at the GUI Lingon: http://lingon.sourceforge.net/

How do I create and activate watched folders in Acrobat Pro XI?

Our court reporting firm scans large amounts of client exhibits and would love to set up watched folders to convert images to text files. I know that former versions of Acrobat had separate versions of distiller. What's the story in Pro XI. What is the recommended way to set up watched folders, if there is one?

As with previous versions Acrobat XI comes with Distiller. As with the previous version the use features of Distiller are the same.
Do note that Distiller only accepts *.PS files as input for creation of PDF.
All scanners initial output is an image file fromat (not *.ps). Other applications take the JPEG, TIFF, etc and process the image into other file formats (e.g., PDF).
Be well...

Using Applescript and Automator to manage files and folders

Hi all.
I need to make a simple action via applescript and-or automator to take the file it's been applied to (via the services) create a folder around it with the same name as the file.
So far, I've searched the web, found some solutions but none are really working.
Here's the script I found :
set myFolder to findFolder()
tell application "Finder" to set myFiles to files of myFolder as alias list
repeat with aFile in myFiles
set bName to my baseName(aFile)
tell application "Finder"
set folderExists to exists folder bName of myFolder
if not folderExists then make new folder at myFolder with properties {name:bName}
move aFile to folder bName of myFolder
end tell
end repeat
---------------- HANDLERS ----------------
on baseName(myFile)
tell application "System Events" to set {fileName, fileExt} to {name, name extension} of myFile
return text 1 thru ((get offset of "." & fileExt in fileName) - 1) of fileName
end baseName
on findFolder()
activate application "SystemUIServer"
-- Bug pointed out by Lauri Ranta http://www.openradar.me/9406282
tell application "Finder"
activate
set mySelection to (get selection)
if mySelection ≠ {} then
set mySelection to first item of (get selection)
if mySelection's class = folder then
set currentFolder to mySelection
else if mySelection's class = document file then
set currentFolder to parent of mySelection
else if mySelection's class = alias file then
set currentFolder to original item of mySelection
end if
else
set currentFolder to target of front Finder window
end if
end tell
return (currentFolder as alias)
end findFolder
And here's a page where they explain how to use automator and the Services to do what I <allmost> want, with some adaptation.
But it still doesn't work.
http://hbase.net/2011/08/17/move-selected-files-into-a-new-folder-using-applescr ipt-and-automator/
So if anybody has an idea n how I could do this ?
It It could either be a folder action (I drag and drop the files into a folder and boom, they get their folder around them)that I would set on a folder on a network drive, or locally, it doesn't matter, or a service (right clic on the file and boom folder around it.
So if anyone could help with this I'd be grateful...

Hi,
Make an Automator Service (Service receives selected "Files or Folders" in the "Finder.app").
Use this script in the "Run AppleScript" action:
on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Finder"
        repeat with aFile in input
            if class of (item aFile) is not folder then
                set {tName, fileExt} to {name, name extension} of aFile
                if fileExt is not missing value and fileExt is not "" then
                    set tName to text 1 thru -((count fileExt) + 2) of tName
                    tell (get container of aFile)
                        if not (exists folder tName) then make new folder at it with properties {name:tName}
                        move aFile to folder tName
                    end tell
                end if
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end run
This script work on files with a name extension.

Watched folders and network mapped drives

Using watched folders feature, If I select one of my network mapped drives, PSE7 display a message saying the path is wrong :
Any chance it could work ? Thank you ...

You gave us no details on how your clients are configured.
If you are runnning Windows clients, then you need to enable machine authentication ON THE WIRELESS CLIENT and on ACS. Since you are using TLS, you also need to have a machine certificate on the computer.
Machine authentication will allow the wireless computer to connect to the wireless network BEFORE the user logs on. In this way, login scripts and drive mappings will take place the same way they would with a wired connection.
I believe you can search Cisco.com for an article that talks about the ACS and client settings for machine auth.

Acrobat Security Updates kill Distiller Watched Folders and Font Locations

We are finding that the usual security and other updates for
Acrobat Professional Version 7 and above are causing the Distiller
to lose specific custom settings in Watched Folders and Font
Locations. Does anyone else encounter these problems? If so, does
Adobe know about this? It's quite inconvenient, especially if you
have set up custom Distiller profiles for 50 plus machines.
JohnyB

Hello JohnyBGud!
Thanks for your post, and for your feedback.
Your post is appreciated, but unfortunately not in the proper
place for the right people to listen!
I am not sure if the Acrobat team is aware of this, but would
suggest you place this post somewhere in the Acrobat forums, so
that the Acrobat team can view it.
These forums are specific to the
Acrobat.com website and its set of hosted services, and do
not cover the Acrobat family of desktop products.
Link to
the Acrobat Forums
Thanks!
Pete

Watch Folders and Network Drives

Hello,
I'm trying to find a solution to this and it's driving me crazy. I would like to use a network drive as a watch folder in PSE. I have PSE3 and am curious if this has been fixed in PSE4 (which removes the network drive after you add it, which is very annoying).
I'm curious if anyone has gotten this to work through either using an NT domain account for the file service or any other solutions.
Any ideas?

Well I finally figured out a way to get this working, but it's truly a pain. I moved all my machines into a domain and ran the "Adobe Active File Monitor" service under a domain account that has permissions on all shares I want to watch.
It doesn't seem to work with mapped drives - instead you have to go in through the network neighborhood, but it does work. At that point you can have PSE watch folders pick up changes on a network share.

Creating AppleScript That Watches a Folder and Adds New Files to iTunes

Is it possible to create a AppleScript that watches a folder and automatically adds any new files placed into the folder to my iTunes library?

Probably. You can take a look through Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes and see if there's anything pre-existing you could use or modify.
An alternative might be Hazel which says it can do that. It's not free, but if it works it would probably be a lot easier.
Regards.

Watch folders are totally useless as they freeze Media Encoder

Hi...
Decided to finally try the Watch folder thing.
Wish I hadn't...
I added 10 watch folders, each with a separate output destination.
then I added the files to the 10 watch folders. All set to output Prores 4444.
I had "Auto-Encode Watch folders" un-checked. But that did NOT seem to interes AME ONE BIT. It started encoding right away. Typical adobe.
Anyway, during encode, AME will just stop encoding a file it is encoding. Progress will come to a halt and AME, of course, wont continue on its own.
It will however, remove the original file from the folder and add it to the originals folder it creates in the watch folder location. Leading the user to believe that file
has been encoded.
To those of you contemplating using this poorly implemented feature, dont. considering the time it takes to setup multiple watch folder and the halts that AME are doing,
I promise you that you are better off manually encoding the files. Or use Apple Compressor. This one does it and might I add a WHOLE LOT faster than AME.
To the AME Development team....
The point of a watch folder is to have AME to something automatically, and NOT overlooking it all the time.
I guess you chose to call it watch folder because the user has to watch over AME while it encodes.
Up your game....

Updated Media Encoder and am now running 5.5.1.12 and........ still nothing. Tried to re-create the Watch Folder, restarted, blah blah blah. I should note that I previously (2-3 weeks ago) used the same Watch Folder on 5 different mpeg-2 files successfully. After that I shut down the Mac for winter vacation ever since then it hasn't worked. The only thing that has changed since then was an Apple update to Keynote.
Not that it'll help, but here are some images:

FCS for automating compressor batches and thumnail creation

Hello,
We're in the process of putting our video archive online, and I've been tasked with finding the best way to encode all the media we need.
I've found a workflow that's clunky, but it works using FCP and Compressor. My question really, is can I do all of this in Final Cut Server, and better still - will it speed things up?
_*Existing workflow*_
The starting point is a set of clips, a hundred or so per tape, that are ready and exported from Final Cut as DV files.
1. Create compressor presets with watermark, timecode reader, and text overlay with tape number.
2. Repeat for both flash versions and a quicktime at full DV.
3. Stick the media into compressor and apply presets, then submit.
4. Upon completion, stick the new DV through Sorenson Squeeze.
5. Using Automator and some quicktime actions, get the first frame of every clip and save as jpeg for thumbnails.
6. Batch resize all these thumbnails in photoshop.
7. Upload all files to site via FTP.
That's pretty much it. So my questions are:
1. If I set up all my compressor presets, can I bring these into FCS?
2. Does it support flash?
3. Can I use watch folders to automate any of this?
4. Will it submit these various things to a compressor cluster?
5. Can it make thumbnail images of the files (this would be hugely advantageous, as the current system is so clunky)
6. Does FCS include Compressor?
7. I'm looking at buying a machine to get all these encodes done faster. Should I spend more on RAM or processor for faster compression? I'm under the impression that it's more processor intensive.
Any help in any of these areas would be much appreciated!
Best,
Ben

re 1: Yes, you can use your compressor presets in FCS.
re 2: No, FCS/Compressor does not natively support Flash. However, there is a slick add-on for Compressor called Episode (http://www.telestream.net/products/episode_series.htm) that will allow you to encode Flash (and Windows media, and 4:2:2 Mpeg2, etc) using Compressor.
re 3: Yes, you can use watch folders to automate the compression, ftp upload, and thumbnail generation.
re 4: Yes, FCS supports clusters.
re 5: see re 3:
re 6: Yes, FCS includes Compressor.
re 7: If only a few people are going to connect to FCS simultaneously, spend the money on the processors. If a bunch of people will be connected at the same time, you may want to look into more RAM and a fast hard drive configuration.

Convert ps to pdf - watched folders process one at a time ?

does the destiller server process the watched folders one at a time or it can process several depending on the license?
i have the "normal" distiller and i have this problem, if a huge file is being converted, the other files from watched folders are not converted.

I think I found my answer at a different set of instuctions at http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat-com/kb/using-createpdf.html. This set of instructions clearly indicates that files will be selected 1 at a time.
Click Combine Files To PDF.
Click Select Files.
Select one of the files that you want to combine.
Click Open.
Click Add Files and select additional files to combine. Click Open."
If anyone has any ideas on how to more quickly combine files, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can I use watch folders with my network drive in Photoshop elements 10

Can I use watch folders with my network drive in Photoshop elements 10

photodrawken a écrit:
See the tips in this FAQ:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshop-elements-faq.htm#_Watchi ng_Network_Folders
Ken
Beware the FAQ you are referring to is no longer relevant. It does not apply to PSE10
Hereunder the warning issued by the author himself.
Photoshop Elements 6/7/8 (Windows) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
John R. Ellis
Last updated January 21, 2011
Copyright 2008-10 by John R. Ellis
As of June 2010 I no longer maintain this FAQ. I’ve migrated to Lightroom 3, which I use for all my organizing and most of my editing (I still use the Photoshop Elements Editor for more involved editing). Adobe has clearly decided not to invest sufficient resources for properly maintaining the Photoshop Elements Organizer– see my Amazon review of PSE 8. Lightroom is marketed to professionals and prosumers with tens of thousands of photos who demand adequate organizational capabilities, whereas Photoshop Elements is marketed to consumers, most of whom do not want or use the Organizer.
This page captures my answers to frequent questions about Photoshop Elements 6, 7, and 8 (Windows). It’s mostly about the Organizer, since I know the Organizer much better than the Editor.
The versions to which each FAQ applies are indicated with the notation [PSE 6, 7, 8]. If I’m not sure whether something applies to a version, it will be indicated with a question mark, e.g. [PSE 7, 8?].
If you have corrections or suggestions, please email them to john at johnrellis.com.

Adobe Media Encoder CS5 Watch Folders

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but I couldn't find an Adobe Media Encoder forum, and since we purchased After Effects to get Media Encoder I figured this might be a good place to start.
Basically, we have a dedicated computer set up with Adobe Media Encoder, and we set up several watch folders on a network drive. We have several files that must be several different codecs, so Media Encoder is really an awesome solution to this problem. However, the only problem we've been running into is sometimes Media Encoder doesn't actually watch a folder. For example, we have a "For web" folder and a "For VOD" folder. The for web folder has had absolutely no problems as far as watching and pulling in goes. The "For VOD" will sometimes not pick up files, but if media encoder is closed and then reopened, it picks up all of the files in that folder, but then again, will not pick up additional files in that folder.
The Media Encoder machine is running on Windows 7 (due to one of the codecs being Windows only), while all of the other machines in the department are macs. I have tested setting up the same system on one of our macs and we get the same problem. We are using an SMB network, but also have DAVE clients on all of our macs.
My initial theories are that it's either: A.) Something with the network, or B.) Something on the computer interupting the network connection. One of the IT guys briefly checked out the situation, changed around some network settings, and concluded that it must be an issue within Media Encoder itself.
Also, as a side note, I did check for updates with Adobe updater and everything is up to date.
Any ideas would be fantastic! And sorry if I'm leaving out crucial information in order to solve our situation, I'm not sure what all would be relevant, but just let me know what you would need!
Thank you!

Typically, Adobe apps do not work as well in a networked environment. You might try moving the watch folders to a local drive on the Win 7 machine and see if that makes any difference. If it does, there's your solution.

Compressor, Applescript, and Watch Folders

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for