Assistance Required
While working on a project last night, I came across a problem I had assumed would not be … well, a problem. Now I’m looking for some help from the Intertubes.
The Need
I’ve started doing some work for another company that will need to completed on a weekly basis. Part of the job requires taking a large group of images that are in jpg format and resizing them and converting them to gif format.
Of course, I have no desire to complete this particular task one image at a time. Being a Mac user, I want to use the technology at hand and automate this task.
The Problem
My assumption was that this would be a simple need to meet. My first thought was to use Automator. I quickly created a workflow that resized the images, but there appears to be no workflow that will convert a batch of images to a gif.
There is the Preview workflow named “Change Type of Images”, but as the screenshot below shows, the gif format is not included.
I searched for some other workflows and found a nice set created for web design tasks. It includes a workflow named “Save for Web”, but this time, you need to have photoshop installed to be able to convert to gif.
So it turns out that Preview does not support batch conversions to gif. Well, that sucks.
Other Options
Automator workflows have been created for certain graphics programs such as Photoshop and Pixelmator. I have neither. But I do have Acorn, so I have no desire to purchase another image editor just to convert some photos once a week.
My hope is that I’m missing something obvious. I’ve looked at options for Quicksilver, Automator, and Acorn (which allows for plugins created in Python) but still haven’t found a solution.
I’m hoping a knowledgeable TWR reader has encountered this situation before and can lend a hand. Anyone out there know how this can be done a Mac? If yes, please let me know. I would be eternally grateful and free public accolades will be provided to the person who can help solve this issue.
