I have over 300 TIF files I need printed full-page with the filename printed at the bottom. They range in size from postage-stamp to poster-sized, and a few K to many megs. The printer will just be my laserprinter, so no critical color considerations.

I need to be able to simply point to a folder full of TIF files and say "print" and forget about it. Then, when I come back later, I'll have a stack of prints, each with 1 image each, shrunk or expanded to fit the page, and the filename w/extension at the bottom.

Can anyone recommend software that can do such a thing? I'm using WinXP and an HP laserprinter.

I found a number of utilities doing a google search Doug: Here are 2 such:
http://www.graphicregion.com/products.htm
http://www.informatik.com/tiffkit.html
I am also trying to remember a dos command line batch code that might do the trick. If will try to find it, but I'm sure someone else will know it as well.
Hope this is a help.
Debbie

Thanks, but it looks like neither of those will include the filename in the printout.

Don't know if this will work for you or not as the web site doesn't say if it prints the file name or not. Batch & Print Pro (http://www.traction-software.co.uk/batchprint/index.html)

This one prints tifs, and you can add the file name, and it appears to print different sizes PhotoElf (http://www.photoelf.com/)

You're not asking for much are you Doug! <g>

Photoshop can be setup before printing to default options, including the label option (filename) and or caption (iptc file info comment).

You can't choose the location of the text though or other options (see F1 or help for more).

You can setup an action to print using these defaults, or depening on the version it may also record some defaults in the print with preview box when recording the print step in the action.

Then a batch can be set-up to point to the action.

I am not saying that this will even work as intended, although it may be an option. <g>

I think there must be something that can do stuff like this as there must be a market, we just have to find it or in a pinch make it.

Stephen Marsh.

ACDSee ? As far as I recall it does all that.

Try qimage (www.ddisoftware.com)

Qimage looks very cool. I'm downloading the demo now. Thanks for pointing it out, I'd never heard of it.

It's a fabulous piece of software though it's user interface is very poor...

I see what you mean. It does exactly what I need, and has some exceptional features, but requires more hand-holding than my current way of doing does. I'd spend more time fixing the problems caused by its eccentricities than I'd save.

So that's the precise type of software I need, just more polished and mature than Qimage. Can anyone help?

Have you tried ACDSee (http://www.acdsystems.com/English/Products/ACDSee/index.htm)?

Originally posted by BigAl
Have you tried ACDSee (http://www.acdsystems.com/English/Products/ACDSee/index.htm)?

I wouldn't recommend ACDSee. I bought version 5 and it's buggy, crashes frequently and their cusomer support and service are terrible. They never responded to 2 submissions I sent them regarding problems. I also emailed them about a rebate and never heard back from them. I will *NEVER* buy another one of their products.

I'm with jaz on this. I have been using Qimage Pro for almost 2 years. I use it to print all my pictures. It uses several different interpolation methods including lanczos, which some say is as good as Genuine Fractals. There many things I like about it, like being able to print 3 4x6's on an 8 1/2x11 sheet of paper, being able to throw a bunch of odd size images in and tell it to fit them on a sheet of paper. It has a batch filter, which Doug is interested in. It's cheap, and you get free support and upgrades for life.

I also use their color profiling software, Profile Prism, for profiling my printer and scanner. It works very well.

Qimage does indeed rock. I can recommend it for any user who wants control over printing multiple photos or contact sheets or picture packages. It doesn't waste any time with cutesy stuff, and has some very powerful controls. It's like Photoshop's Picture Package and Contact Sheet combined and on steroids.

But it does have some quirks that disqualify it from being my solution. I've sent an email to the author, we'll see how he responds. I've viewed the archives for the support mailing list, and it appears he's in a situation I can sympathize with (not enough time, contradictory feature requests, etc.).

As for ACDsee, I'm downloading the printing plugin now, we'll see how it performs (a shame that it's an extra expense, though).

Hey Doug,

Just curious what quirks you are talking about?

Well, not to turn this into a Qimage support thread (not that I'm averse to one, just this isn't it), but here goes:

Can't reorder more than one queue item at a time
Even with Image Lock on, some pics still rotate
Can permanently delete or edit your originals, if you accidentally hit OK once too many times (I know, it warns you, but should default to never touching originals, ever, with an option to work the way it currently does)
Relies too much on hotkeys and rightclicking. Hotkeys are good, but need to be an alternative to gui buttons, not the only way.

All trivial stuff for most people making a proofsheet or a dozen prints, but in my case (printing several hundred images in a specific order), working around the quirks takes longer than simply sorting the actual paper by hand after printing.

Feel free to start a separate Qimage thread if you want. I really do like the app.

ACDSee is a fine app that I've recommended as a viewer and manager since it first came out. But it doesn't work well for my purposes due to lack of reordering and poor print quality for full-page prints (it just blows up the thumbnail, doesn't actually print the image). Fotoslate, the printing plugin, addresses both these areas pretty well, but it still isn't my solution.

Doug,

I hope you add your findings to the review forum.

;)

~T

10 minutes of fiddling with a demo version wouldn't make for a fair review. Besides, my purposes only touch 1% of the capabilities of most of these apps. But I'd be happy to append my thoughts to anyone else's real review.

Originally posted by Doug Nelson
Well, not to turn this into a Qimage support thread (not that I'm averse to one, just this isn't it), but here goes:

Can't reorder more than one queue item at a time
Even with Image Lock on, some pics still rotate
Can permanently delete or edit your originals, if you accidentally hit OK once too many times (I know, it warns you, but should default to never touching originals, ever, with an option to work the way it currently does)
Relies too much on hotkeys and rightclicking. Hotkeys are good, but need to be an alternative to gui buttons, not the only way.

All trivial stuff for most people making a proofsheet or a dozen prints, but in my case (printing several hundred images in a specific order), working around the quirks takes longer than simply sorting the actual paper by hand after printing.

Feel free to start a separate Qimage thread if you want. I really do like the app.

Doug - I have noticed some of these issues before. Would you mind me quoting you or linking to these comments on the qimage site?

Feel free, but he's probably already sick of my complaining :)

Hi Doug. I noticed that you posted a question on the Qimage Yahoo group message board. I suggest that you post a tech support question on the DDIsoftware support link. Mike does answer questions on the yahoo site but There is so much junk going on on that board now that it might get overlooked. He does answer questions posted to the support e-mail account. It seems that it's a zoo on the Yahoo site right now. Kind of getting like the DPReview site. I hope this site doesn't get like that.

Thanks for the tip, but I've already done both (different questions). I can sympathize with his being overwhelmed :)

For those playing at home, I still haven't found my ideal solution. Right now I'm using Photoshop's contact print automation script, setting a 1x1 image grid (for one image per page), with the filename as the caption. I never thought I could have 220 simultaneous open PS documents without crashing, but it worked. But then I still have to print each one and then manually sort the printouts by filename (they get very much out of order).

Summary: I want to point to a folder with several hundred TIF images in it, have each one printed full-page, no cropping, no rotation, no image enhancement or editing, with the filename at the bottom in a big font. WinXP will natively do all of that except adding the filename.

I don't want to spend money for an elaborate app that does a million things and I only use one of them, like the many album-creators and multi-print apps out there. It's not that I'm trying to save money, it's that I don't want to wade through the interface.

If this is so hard to find, perhaps this is an opportunity for any shareware programmers out there that might be reading this.

Actually, the contact sheet and print package apps in Photoshop both lack the capability to send directly to the printer instead of simply making a new file, so just adding that capability would be a killer contribution to the PS world (is anyone from Adobe reading this? Maybe for PS8?).

Originally posted by KevinBE
Kind of getting like the DPReview site. I hope this site doesn't get like that.

Interesting viewpoint. I love the dpreview site mainly because of the diversity and message traffic. I love this board too but it's so slow sometimes.

I guess I generalized it too much. It's the printing forum that is a zoo sometimes. The retouch forum is still quite good and diverse like you said. Sometimes the Nikon forum is kind of crazy. I've been haunting DPReview for a couple of years. I got a real good start in my equipment selection thanks to DPReview.

Originally posted by KevinBE
I guess I generalized it too much. It's the printing forum that is a zoo sometimes. The retouch forum is still quite good and diverse like you said. Sometimes the Nikon forum is kind of crazy. I've been haunting DPReview for a couple of years. I got a real good start in my equipment selection thanks to DPReview.

I haven't spent much time in the printer forum. The forum I frequent the most other than retouching is the Canon SLR forum (since I own a Canon D60).

That forum is definitely a zoo!

Jaz

I'm working real hard to justify getting an SLR. Maybe I'll get lucky and a real good justification will fall out of the sky. I don't know, my wife already thinks I have gotten too many new toys lately.

I posted some bad information about ACDSee, which I feel obligated to correct. It does not, as I thought, simply blow up the thumbnails. In fact, except for one printing bug, it does a very fine job, and is very close to what I had in mind.

However, when adding a filename caption to a tall, skinny image the filename caption falls below the margin and won't print (nothing past the margins will print in ACDSee). I sent in a support request, we'll see how long it takes for them to reply, and if they fix the problem (or tell me what I'm doing wrong).

The FotoSlate plugin is for adding printing effects, which I have no need of, but (if they fix my problem) ACDSee does what I need without the plugin (except for the reordering).

I also tried Thumbs Plus, which is a very nice program, but didn't offer the printing controls I need.

I also tried Visual Media Explorer, but it was irratic and unintuitive (and looked very much like ACDSee, which is what convinced me to revisit it).

I also tried about 5 or so others, none of which met my criteria.

I'm abandoning Qimage due to a poor fit to my needs (but it's still a very nice app).