Hi,

Does anyone know of a good way to do server-side image processing, and
take advantage of Photoshop's filters (e.g. drop shadow, inner glow,
etc.).  Basically we need the image quality of Photoshop, but all the
images are processed in a multi-threaded non-GUI service.  I know
Photoshop does expose an automation interface, but that would require
PS to be installed on the server, and moreover it is not suitable for
high-performance use (due to the fact that it needs a GUI and is a
single-use COM server).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

"r4d0n" <mqtest@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4404b0d.0311281258.5bd70ed8@posting.google.com...
quote:

> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know of a good way to do server-side image processing, and
> take advantage of Photoshop's filters (e.g. drop shadow, inner glow,
> etc.).  Basically we need the image quality of Photoshop, but all the
> images are processed in a multi-threaded non-GUI service. [...]


Yes. It is not too hard to noodle out. Have a _licensed_ version of PS on a
machine (call it a server if you want).  Have a simple process watching a
drop folder. When the folder changes, pick up the user id from the
drop-process (hopefully FTP), thene= invoke PS via a droplet that does what
you want it to do against the folder. Set the rights of the user to the
folder.   Of course there is more to it, and there is a _lot_ one can do in
this regard, but I don't think we should be doing the job for one with such
ambitions. Work out the rest on your own.

Do you mean watch a folder for Photoshop files (i.e. PSDs) dropped
into it?  Actually, I don't really need to work with Photoshop files
so much as use Photoshop's filters on some in-memory raster image.
Also, the user accessing the service is not particularly important, so
I'm not clear as to why it would be needed, as noted below.  Besides,
the service may have to deal with many users so it would not scale if
PS were invoked for every user.  I was trying to avoid having to
invoke PS and if possible, work solely in a service (non-GUI) context.

"jjs" <nospam@please.xxx> wrote in message news:<vsfgp840td7dbf@news.supernews.com>...
quote:
[colo
r=darkred]
> "r4d0n" <mqtest@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4404b0d.0311281258.5bd70ed8@posting.google.com... 
>
> Yes. It is not too hard to noodle out. Have a _licensed_ version of PS on 
a
> machine (call it a server if you want).  Have a simple process watching a
> drop folder. When the folder changes, pick up the user id from the
> drop-process (hopefully FTP), thene= invoke PS via a droplet that does wha
t
> you want it to do against the folder. Set the rights of the user to the
> folder.   Of course there is more to it, and there is a _lot_ one can do i
n
> this regard, but I don't think we should be doing the job for one with suc
h
> ambitions. Work out the rest on your own.[/color]

"r4d0n" <mqtest@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4404b0d.0311290053.481808c3@posting.google.com...
quote:

> Do you mean watch a folder for Photoshop files (i.e. PSDs) dropped
> into it?  Actually, I don't really need to work with Photoshop files
> so much as use Photoshop's filters on some in-memory raster image.
> Also, the user accessing the service is not particularly important, so
> I'm not clear as to why it would be needed, as noted below.  Besides,
> the service may have to deal with many users so it would not scale if
> PS were invoked for every user.  I was trying to avoid having to
> invoke PS and if possible, work solely in a service (non-GUI) context.


So briefly, you want Adobe's filters, but not the Photoshop GUI. You might
want to pursue a command-line approach which does things similar to
Photoshop without their proprietary filters. There are such things, and I do
that under (of all things) VMS but lately with Windows. Since this is an
Adobe Photoshop forum, I won't get into it any further.