How do you create square thumbnails for a set of images (with Photoshop?)

Question

I want to create a gallery of images, but for the thumbnails I want them to be all one size (square or rectangular). Some of the photos are portrait and some to be landscape - but for I want the thumbs to be all the same size, cropped if necessary - I don't care if they are not perfect.

I heard it would be possible to set up an action in photoshop, or something like that. I've been googling and have not found any solid answers.

I have Photoshop CS5 - that would be a preferred solution.

However, I would be open to using other software; especially if it has some/most of these traits:

• mac compatible (preferred)
• free or cheap (preferred)
• expensive but worth it
• small / not bulky or bloatware
• works well simple
• easy to use

(not all characteristics have to be met!)

Answer 1

I don't have a mac, but AFAIK, you can use mac automator which is built-in to achieve this. This ( http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/createthumbnailsservice.html ) is something a user has created and made available on apple's site. I haven't used it obviously...

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I use photoshop actions to do this myself, but I have to presort the images into landscape and portrait (I use homebrew software for that). The action opens the image, resizes it, uses "save for web and devices", reverts image, and closes without saving. Then I use photoshop batch (file->automate->batch), point the source folder to the images I want, and set the action to the saved action which I created.

Answer 2

Here is a PS action I made that gets you most of the way there without any other scripts. http://db.tt/RoG6L3FX

To solve the portrait vs landscape issue, it actually creates 2 thumbnails of each, puts them in 2 folders (on desktop - Thumbnails>h and Thumbnails >v), and puts a red background behind the incorrect version so you can tell from the finder that it's the wrong one, and just delete it.

Thumbnail Size, Save Location, and Export Quality are all configurable by double clicking on the individual action item within the action.

Hope it helps!

Answer 3

VSO Image Resizer would be a great solution and is free however it is Windows only.

It binds to the default context menu within Windows allowing you to right-click and access the tool. You can select a folder of images and choose the final resolution which will then began a batch process of the images.

It is light-weight, easy to use and is very handy.

Answer 4

Here's a pure Automator solution:

Open Automator and select Service. Then, replicate the workflow below:

• Duplicate Finder Items: This action first creates copies of selected files and appends copy (with leading space character) to their names (x.jpg -> x copy.jpg).
• Crop Images: Then the image will be cropped to square dimensions, after it's been scaled.
• That last action is actually called "Rename Finder Items" in the Library. The copy file name suffix is replaced by _t for thumbnail. You could move the files to a different directory afterwards, by default, they're in the same one as the original images.

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Save and execute from the Services menu after selecting image files.

If you do this often, you can assign a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts » Services.