Contact sheet creation

[KeithStoddart]

Is it possible to create a contact sheet in photo2 yet? I know it couldn't before but I was hoping there is in the new upgrade. Maybe I'm missing it, but I still can't see it. I want away from Adobe and this is something that I find quite handy.

I could manually make one in Publisher I suppose, but it would be good if there was one in Photo2.

[MEB]

Hi @KeithStoddart,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Not automatically. There's no specific functionality for this as in other apps.

[KeithStoddart]

Hi MEB

I did think so, but I thought someone might enlighten me!

Thanks for letting me know.

Over to Publisher then!

Cheers

[GarryP]

You might be able to create contact sheets with Publisher’s Data Merge functionality but I’ve never tried it myself.

Failing that you can search these forums for contact sheet for various existing techniques.

[KeithStoddart]

Thanks Garry

[GarryP]

You’re welcome.

If you come up with a good solution then it might be nice if you could share it in the “Tutorials” or “Resources” section of the forums (as appropriate) for other people to use.

[KeithStoddart]

I was gong to but all I did was just set up a base of 4 pics per page ad dropped in each pic to make a kind of contact sheet. I suppose to make a proper contact sheet the best way would be to set it up with so many boxes to view. I can post that if you wish, although it is not really an automatic solution!

Let me know and thanks again.

[GarryP]

If all you have done is manually drop some images into some Picture Frames then, as you say, no that’s probably not worth sharing.
If you come up with something ‘automatic’ though, then that might be.

[thomaso]

16 minutes ago, KeithStoddart said:

dropped in each pic

1 minute ago, GarryP said:

drop some images into some Picture Frames

Doesn't the V2 feature "Place Images Autoflow" automatically fill a set of multiple frames with a set of selected images to place?

https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Media/placeImagesAutoflow.html?title=Autoflowing images and documents

However, IMHO a contact sheet would also display file names at least, if not even selected metadata like size or date for instance.

[GarryP]

I’ve never used that Autoflow feature but thanks for mentioning it; more reading for me to do.

However, like you say, I would expect a contact sheet to also include the filename (or some other text related to each individual image) for reference, so that’s possibly not what’s needed, unless it is, it’s not my contact sheet after all.

[PaulEC]

If you want a "proper" contact sheet, including file names/sheet name etc, the easiest thing is to use something like Irfanview (free) which has a built in contact sheet feature: https://www.irfanview.com/

(It is only for Windows, but I'm sure there must be something similar for Mac.)

[joe_l]

20 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

(It is only for Windows, but I'm sure there must be something similar for Mac.)

https://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/#downloads

[thomaso]

8 hours ago, GarryP said:

I’ve never used that Autoflow feature but thanks for mentioning it; more reading for me to do.

However, like you say, I would expect a contact sheet to also include the filename

Actually it appears easier to use Data Merge, as you initially mentioned. – On mac: To get the images as data table it is sufficient to …

1. copy the images in the Finder + paste into a plain text file (txt, not rtf),
2. add a first line for APubs Fields Panel (e.g. "my images"),
3. save this text file in the folder of the images,
4. rename its suffix from .txt to .csv.

This single data column can be used in APub for both: to get the images placed AND to get the file names added. Also creating the layout via the Data Merge Tool can be simpler than multiple power-duplicated & arranged copies of picture frames.

[loukash]

On 11/8/2023 at 4:18 PM, PaulEC said:

there must be something similar for Mac

There is, even built in as an Automator action "New PDF Contact Sheet".
However, in my own test just today it fails to produce a result on MacOS Ventura. (Apparently it's not just me.)

But the actual background app is always there on the Mac, ready to use if you know where to look for it.
It goes like this:

1. in Finder select Go menu → Go To Folder
2. paste the following path and press Return:
   /System/Library/Image Capture/Automatic Tasks
3. create an alias of the MakePDF app somewhere in your home directory for future easy access
4. launch MakePDF
5. File → Open → select which ever images you want
   or drop a folder with images onto the MakePDF icon in Dock or on your alias in Finder
6. in the Layout menu, select your layout or create a new one
7. save
8. voilà

Same for the Build Web Page app in the same location, it will also create simple contact sheet. It has a few adjustable settings like image sizes and background color. The generated web page directory will appear in your ~/Pictures folder and automatically open in your default browser.

[loukash]

9 minutes ago, loukash said:

7. save

I just noticed that MakePDF won't compress or downsize the included images, so the resulting PDF size might be potentially huge.
So either you can open (not place) the contact sheet PDF in Publisher so that it appears as an actual layout, and re-export from Publisher with settings to your liking.
Or you may want to use the aforementioned "Build Web Page" app instead and print or create a compact PDF from your browser.

[KeithStoddart]

Aye, a few anomolies, but hey, well done for the reply though. Thank you.

[v_kyr]

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