Feathering photos in batch in X7, or workaround?

[chetnet]

So I have 300 pics that will end up going into a slideshow. I want each image to have the feathered edges. Each can be different size and/or shape of course. I know I can feather each photo individually but doing the very cumbersome process of select, feather, copy, paste, save new image (or is there an easier method....in fact, this should be a one button tool really). Is there an EFFICIENT way to get all 300 pics feathered? I also thought I could 'capture the edit' and then 'apply the edit', one photo at a time, but even that doesn't seem to work for me.

As an aside, I've used FastStone to batch convert photos, and they even can add a frame in batch, but that's not what I want. I want the feathering/blurred edge for each photo. Also note that I use PowerDirector for my video editing.

I'm open to hear about other software that can do this type of thing in batch. Sure seems like it would be a must-have plug-in of some sorts, heh?

Thanks!

[Cassel]

You can easily record a script for it using PSP. Here would be typical steps to take:

- Promote background to a raster layer
- Select all
- Contract by X pixels (depends on what you want)
- Invert selection
- Feather by X pixels (same as above)
- Delete
- Deselect

If those steps yield the result you want, you can record those steps in a script, and then, run the script in batch mode, adjusting the Save settings to have a different extension and/or a different name.

[chetnet]

Thank you so much! I will try that out. <sorry for the delay but I didn't get notified of a response. Guess I need to check settings.>
Thanks again!!
Chet

[lata]

hi
I have changed your profile , you should now receive post notifications

Trevor Admin

[chetnet]

Thanks Trevor for fixing my profile!

Cassel, first, a huge thanks for introducing me to Scripting. I was wondering if that ability was in this program but never looked hard enough I guess. That will definitely come in handy! I'm still doing some testing as I'm not getting the look I want in PD13 still. I'm saving as a PNG and the background does show thru the feathered area except the image still has the hard boundary edge around the photo. I'm trying to find out on PD13 forum if the problem is there and not with my photo edit itself. Btw, the steps I used for the effect I wanted were:

- Promote background to a raster layer
- Select all
- Feather by X pixels (80)
- Invert
- Delete
- Deselect

Thanks again, and I'm open to any other advice for this.
Chet

[Cassel]

You should be able to use those steps in a script. To help you with scripting, there was a live presentation just last week on this. You can watch the reply on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/7vdGOL23Nt8

Now, looking at the steps you listed, you might not get the result you want because, once you select all, if you feather, it would tend to go OUTWARD, which it can't since it is already on the edges, that is why, in my example, I would contract by X number of pixels first, and then it would give you room to add that feathering.

Hopefully this will help.

[chetnet]

Hi again!

First, I have no problems with Scripting. That works beautifully! Thank you so much for that.

Second, as you can see from the attachment, when I do the contrast-feather sequence, I get this strange darkness area showing up and still have a whiter boundary, followed by and edge that still goes around the whole photo. There is something about the way I'm doing this in Corel that does not sit right. I used a basic fade in paint.net, saved it as png, and it works perfectly in PD13, which allowed me to confirm that PD13 is not the issue. When I use the sequence above, without contrast, it appears I have the right look but again there is still this edge, as if Corel X9 (oh, I use X9 not X7 as I have in title) is saving the .png with an edge. If paint.net can do it right, I'm sure X9 can. I'll try to keep playing with this but it's quite perplexing as you can see from the photo.

[Cassel]

OK, you are probably doing it right but my instructions were incorrect (close but incorrect in order). Here is the correct one:

- Promote background to a raster layer
- Select all
- Contract by X pixels (depends on what you want)
- Feather by X pixels (same as above)
- Invert selection
- Delete
- Deselect

[chetnet]

That worked!!! Thank you so much Cassel!!