automated multiple color change

[chiefnavajo]

I have a following problem:

Picture of a wardrobe with doors.
I would like to make 200 versions of this wardrobe with 200 different colors of the doors

So the effect should be: 100 files , each file contains a picture of a wardrobe with a different door color.

Is it possibleto automate the proccess, I cannot imagine I have to do all the color changes by hand
for 200 versions.

Please help,

thanks in advance

Wojtek

 

[Tom Mann]

If you are doing this for commercial sales, I think there are certain color variants you would want to show for this furniture, while others would look bad and you wouldn't want to show them. Essentially, this means that you would likely have to compile a list of color hex codes for each of the colors you want.

Once you have this list, it's easy to set up a semi-automated process:

a) bring the image of your furniture into PS.

b) add a color fill adjustment layer on top of the image layer and set its blend mode to "color"

c) open up the dialog box for that adjustment.

You can now cut and paste the hex codes in your list into the circled area of the dialog box (shown in the attached screen grab) and save each variant to a new JPG. When I tried this, I could easily do one new color variant every 15 seconds. It's not a completely automated method, but it should get you through a large number of variants fairly quickly.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[chiefnavajo]

This is not a good solution , what if I have to create 1000 version of one product. I cannot do it one by one!!

 

[Hoogle]

well if it is exactly the same wardrobe or any picture for example it is entirely possible to do this with a couple of clicks However you will need a coder to do it for you as you will need a custom script.

Cheap and dirty version and the way I would suggest doing it is to load the image up in a good video editing software like after effects add an adjustment layer and keyframe a hue saturation effect slider from 1 end of the spectrum to the other end depending on frames you choose for your video ie if you set it to 100 frames then it will take 100 colours from from the beginning of that spectrum to the end if you set the video length to 200 frames it will take 200 hues as it will add a new hue per frame.

reason I suggest after effects is it will let you import layered psds.

once you are happy with the preview in your render settings instead of choosing a video format choose image sequence ie jpeg or png and create a new folder to save it in. that way it will render out 1 image per frame and you get a folder full of same image with different colour doors.

However with this method you dont get a accurate prdefined choice of colours.
I am not sure if the new photoshop video editing functions are capable of this as I dont use it for video editing.

 

[rev]

Hi,
This is going to be a fairly intensive tutorial and you may want to print it out: but don't worry
This method will work only if you have a Mac (with the built-in Automator, plus MS Excel (if not, Apple's Number may be fine too).
1. Visit http://www.computerhope.com/htmcolor.htm
and scroll down till you see "Color code chart" that is very long!
Drag a few cells beginning from "Color Name".
Scroll down the page until you see the end of the table,
and Shift+Click "TO THE RIGHT (outside!! cell) of "White"
(if you click inside White cell, a new page may open)
Once the entire Color Code Chart (three column table) is selected, Copy by Command-C

2. Open a new Excel document and paste the table content

3. Remove the rows with colors that you don't want: leave only the rows with colors you want WITHOUT blank lines. It will look like this: You will want ~200 different colors (rows) left in your Excel file
Gold #D4A017 Gold
Sepia #7F462C Sepia
...
(Remember, remove any blank rows)

4. Place a cursor in the first (top-most) Hex code cell (containing something like #D4A017)

5. Open your Photoshop: Menu > Edit > Keyboard shortcuts > Shortcuts For: Tools > Foreground Color Picker: click the right side and enter "n" without quotations > OK
Create a new file and leave a background white
Place your furniture photo on the upper layer and remove background margins (Magic Wand > delete)
Create a new layer and change the blending mode to Color
Save the file as a PSD file somewhere
Make sure the topmost "Color" layer is selected

=====

Here is an interesting part:
6. Download the Automator Workflow file I attached on this message and open it in Automator (by double click)
Click the small arrow on left of the "Launch Application" action to make sure the MS Excel application is correctly referring to your Excel in YOUR folder (if not, find your Excel application in the "Other" option inside the pull-down menu of the "Launch Application" action)
Likewise, turn the triangle of the 2nd "Launch Application" to link the Photoshop program that YOU have in YOUR folder

7. By default, I coded the individually colored images will be saved in PNG file format. If you want to save them as PSD files, open the last "Run AppleScript" action (by turning the triangle) and remove -- of the very first and very last lines. Then, open the other "Run AppleScript" action (right on top of the last Run Applescript action) and add -- at the beginning of the first and last lines.
Save the Workflow.

8. Find out (using Excel file's left column) how many different colors you have for your image (say, 200 colors). Then, turn the triangle of the Loop action and put this number (eg. 200) in the "Stop after" space.

9. Now, exciting part:
Make sure your Excel file with color code table is turned on and the first Hex cell is selected.
Make sure your furniture photoshop file is turned on and the top layer (with Color blending mode) is selected.
Go to Automator and run the workflow by clicking Run button on top right corner.

10. Enjoy the ever-growing PNG files with all different colored furniture photos in the designated folder (file names will be identical to the color Hex code).

* When I Save As PSD file, my PS asks for confirmation of "Maximum Compatibility" always, and hence my workflow addresses this by sending a Return keystroke once more. If your PS does not do this, you may want to delete the Return keystroke in the bottom two "Run AppleScript"s

* Depending on PS versions, the Save As dialog box may be different. Mine is CS6 so my actions are based on mine. if your dialog box has more/less TAB-selectable items, you may need to adjust the number of Shift Tab (moving backwords) in the bottom two "Run AppleScripts".

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Tom Mann]

That's fantastic! That's a really elegant solution.

Unfortunately, I suspect that in spite of your incredible effort to provide as much automation as possible, the OP may not like it because he still has to go through the spreadsheet row by row, make decisions and occasionally hit the delete key. As he said earlier, suppose there are thousands of lines? Personally, I think the OP needs to give more thought to exactly what he wants, and what effort he is willing to put in, and spell out the requirements in *very* precise terms for us. This is the only way we'll be able to respond appropriately.

For starters, how are the acceptable colors to be entered / generated?


Tom