As requested this weekend gone by here is a tute on how to instantly resize your images. Its REALLY easy!!
This tute was based on Photoshop CS3 on a Mac OS so if you are on a different version of Photoshop or on Windows, you may have to look in a slightly different place for some steps.
There are two parts to making a resize droplet. The first part is making an action. The second is turning the action into a droplet.
Part 1 First up open Photoshop and the "actions" window pane. (If you aren't sure where to find i go to Window in the menu bar and click Actions.)
In the top corner the arrow down with 3 lines next to it is the options menu. Click that a pop up menu will appear. Select "New Action".
In the box that appears give your droplet a name. I've called mine obertute. When you press ok it will appear at the bottom of the actions pane. You will also notice that the circle is red. That means it is now recording what you are doing.
You should see something similar to this: (Please note that I have an action I created previously above my new action, you shouldn't have that, so don't worry.)
Now you go about resizing your image as usual. So open the file, change the image size to what ever you want it to be in the command "Image size" and then save it (in a new folder/location) and CLOSE THE WINDOW. I always forget that bit when I make droplets and it is a pain if you are resizing a HUGE amount of photos because you cant close them until all of the images have been actioned.
Once you've closed the window of the image you resized, go back to the actions window pane and press the square to stop the recording.
Part 2 Click on File, then Automate, then Create Droplet.
A dialogue box will come up now. In the first section "Save Droplet In", pick a folder or place you want it to be saved to. The desktop is probably the easiest place. When you click choose make sure you give the droplet a name up the top as well as choosing your save location before before you press ok.
In the Play section, where is says Action, you need to make sure that the drop down box has your action's name as the one selected.
Where it says Destination, choose Folder. Make sure that you hit choose and save into the new folder where you saved the first image you resized.
This is important because if you don't change the folder you will save over your original images and no longer have the original size.
Side Note: *If* you want you can choose "Save And Close" where it says Destination or the "Override Action "Save As" Commands" and give them set file names using the droplets save function. I prefer not to use it because I've already set the saving place.
The following image is the settings i've chosen. (Don't worry about the Compatibility or Error box.)
Once you are happy with you settings, hit ok. You should have a droplet where you saved it. This is what mine looks like.
Now open the folder with all your original images. Select them all and drag them on top of your droplet. Photoshop will start doing its thing all by itself now!
At this point in time I don't know droplets and actions well enough to stop the save dialogue box appearing every time it saves an image. Just have your keyboard ready to hit enter every time it comes up. The droplet wont keep going until you hit enter.
Besides hitting enter on your keyboard every few seconds: Taadaaa! Instant resizing magic! :P
If you are feeling a bit adventurous you could make two droplets. One for vertical photos and one for horizontal photos. You do the horizontal photos droplet exactly how i have written this tute. The vertical one can be done by starting all over again but by adding in rotating the image 90 degrees clockwise before or after you resize the image.
I'm sure there will be questions so plase as and I will try my best to answer :)
