PAID CONSULTING - Photoshop mask generation

[Bender]

Given 24 images in a directory, I would like to be able to automatically generate a mask that can be used in Photoshop for blending with another sequence of 24 images. I am a complete newbie at this so please be patient with me. I can compensate by the hour or by the project - I am very flexible and goal oriented in that regard.

[fmw42]

It might be best for you to provide and example of what you are trying to do, so we know more about the requirements. You can upload images to some place such as dropbox.com and put the URLs here. Also please provide your version of IM and platform.

Why can you not create the mask in Photoshop, since you are doing everything there?

[Bender]

Thanks for the reply!

Some more background: the project will ultimately require over 1000 images blended together. I blended a small number in Photoshop and it is just not going to be practical to do all the masks there - it takes too long (at least for me). I think I need automation.

Now I am thinking maybe I should not use Photoshop at all. The blending mask is just be an interim step. In ImageMagick I think it would be possible to do the blend in one step with no mask at all.

Imagine two pictures (RAW, TIFF or JPG) juxtaposed along one edge. Let's use that edge as an axis. On the right side of the axis I want to fade a horizontally flipped version of the left picture (reflection around the axis) into the right picture until, at 25% of the way into the right image, the image is just the unaltered right picture; likewise on the other side of the axis, I want to fade the right picture into the left picture in the same way (left switched for right of course). Ideally, given a directory of 24 pictures the automation would just line them all up and do the flipping and blending automatically!

[fmw42]

IM can do this, but it would need to be scripted. We would need to know what your platform is, since scripting is different in Windows and Unix systems. Also what version of IM are you using?

Basically it is a -flip, create a linear gradient (and save for repeated use assuming all images are the same size), and composite with the two images and the gradient. Repeat for each pair. Then append all the results.

The issue will be if you have enough RAM to hold all 1000 images twice over for input and output. Otherwise, IM will need to be set up to use disk in place of RAM and that will slow things down.

[Bender]

This is great - many thanks! Can we work out details with private messaging?

[fmw42]

You will need to identify your platform. See my PM on this forum for further discussion.