Mass Resizing, free program to resize lots of images/photos ?
 

I have a folder with over 850 images all shot at 4000x3000 resolution. Each one takes up about 5 Meg. I'd like a program that can take the entire folder, and auto resize all images to 1024x768 (or any specified size) as well as shrink the size to be more web friendly. Any idea of a free program to do this with?

Thanks

Do you have Photoshop installed? If so, which version? There is an automated applet that can resize images in a batch, in this manner. It differs from version to version, so I'll need to know what you have before giving instructions on usage.

If no Photoshop, then I'll be glad to run through some of the freeware options.

CS2, but some freeware options would be nice to post as well.

For Photoshop...

What I sometimes use is the "Web Photo Gallery", which is located under FILE > AUTOMATE > WEB PHOTO GALLERY in Photoshop CS2. What this does is create webpages, with all your resized images.

NOTE: The galleries are really old HTML quality (think 1995 Geocities.com sites), and are quite ugly compared to the ones you can create from within Adobe Lightroom. But we're not going to use the gallery pages anyway, we're simply using this function as a resizer....

It's more or less self-explanatory what's going on here, with the ability to select input and output folders. It needs to be two separate folders, it cannot be the same one.

Under the OPTIONS drop-down, you can select the size and quality of your "LARGE IMAGES". You give it the max length and/or height in a pixel size. Note that different preset "STYLES" have different allowed max image sizes. "HORIZONTAL FEEDBACK" allows 1024, while some of the others stop at 450 max pixels.

For fast-loading web-quality images, I'd suggest the JPEG MEDIUM compression, especially if you're attaching these to forums or e-mails.

Click OK, sit back and wait. It pretty much owns the computer while its running, so step back and do something else while it works. When it's done, locate your images in one of the subfolders at your destination. Feel free to delete the HTML files, small thumbnails, and other graphics it created for its HTML gallery.

For freeware alternatives...

I have three installed freeware apps that exist solely to resize images for the web.

1. Fotosizer is by far my favorite, as it is as easy as can be. All of the settings are obvious and in the main window: output folder, preset/custom size, filename options, aspect ratio settings, upsize options. Just drag and drop images into the big main window, alter options as you want, and click START. There are no hidden settings in this one, nothing confusing. It has an optional filter to convert color to B&W images or rotate images too, which can be handy.

2. VSO Image Resizer is another good one, I use this one too, sometimes. VSO is a French company that creates some well-respected good-quality video applications, such as ConvertXToDVD. As soon as the program starts, it asks where your source images are. I don't actually like this, but some might. The benefit of VSO Image Resizer over Fotosizer is that VSO will handle raw image files (such as Nikon NEF), which is very important to someone like myself that shoots professionally, and has TB's worth of RAW NEF files. After your source folder is read, VSO loading much like Fotosizer, with all the options in front of you, and quite obvious. I would suggest 60% JPEG for your output quality settings.

3. AxiomX PicSizer is another option, though I rarely have need for it. It has a few features not found in the others, such as the ability to include subfolders of images in a batch, or the ability to resize one image at a time (useful for testing). Again, the default JPEG compression seems a bit high, alter to JPEG 60%. Like Fotosizer, this one has some advanced features, like rotation and upsize options.

Hope that helps... :)

once again. I bow before the almighty admin.

LOL. Thanks for the tips. It worked like a charm.