Workflow request: 4x4 photo grid

Cool Workflows
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I would like to make a 4 X 4 photo grid collage at 1080 X 1080 pixel resolution without using third party apps on my Mac. Keyboard maestro or Automator doesn’t have this function directly as far as I can see.

On an iOS device I have Workflow to do this. But I can’t figure out how to do it on a Mac.

Any help will be appreciated.

1 Like
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It seems like it’s possible with Preview, but better to do with imagemagic:

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Looks like the solutions in the link you provided need a lot of human adjusting. On iOS workflow does this automatically.

The search continues…

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With Photos you can create a “card” with 2, 4, 6, etc. photos on it – in various arrangements – and export it to GIF or PDF.

File > Create > Card

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I built an Automator Service which, when installed, allows the user to select a number of images in Finder, then right click and select Services -> Make Collage

The service can be downloaded from (valid for one week from 2018-08-18): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8nt867smninoxh5/AACosk_C5AWE8Kl8sgHvkvTxa?dl=0

Installation
In order to work correctly, ImageMagick has to be installed. The easiest way to install ImageMagick is via HomeBrew:

If Homebrew is not installed or if you are unsure, install it by opening Terminal (search in Spotlight), pasting
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

and typing Return. After the installation is complete, ImageMagick can be installed by pasting the following into Terminal:

brew install imagemagick

and typing Return.

2 Likes
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Thanks. I’ve installed it.

  1. what do i do with the downloaded folder
  2. how do i enable the service please?
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I’ve since improved the Automator service, so please download the new version from_ https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8nt867smninoxh5/AACosk_C5AWE8Kl8sgHvkvTxa?dl=0

To install it do the following:

  1. Download the file “Make Collage.workflow” to your downloads folder.
  2. Open another Finder window by typing cmd-n.
  3. Press cmd-shift-g to open a “Navigate To” dialog in Finder.
  4. Paste “~/Library/Services/” into the dialog and hit Return. Finder should now navigate to the directory where Automator looks for services.
  5. Drag the file “Make Collage.workflow” to the Finder window that is navigated to “~/Library/Services/”.
  6. Close both Finder windows.
  7. Verify that the script works by selecting four images in Finder, right clicking and selecting “Services” (or the equivalent depending on which language you use with macOS).
  8. In the list of services, a new one named “Make Collage” should be present. Click it.
  9. Automator will now ask for the name of the output file and the longest side length (in pixels) of the final collage.
  10. After a few seconds, the collage will be created in the same Directory as the images you selected.

And don’t forget to install Imagemagick as described in my previous comment.

1 Like
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Thanks so much for putting so much effort. I’ve put Make Collage.workflow in the services library, it appears in the services menu. But it won’t run “File damaged”

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Weird :thinking:

There might be an issue with sharing the file via Dropbox. Let’s try to share it as a .zip archive. Download from: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7ma6sdk0l1jkze/Make%20Collage.zip?dl=0

Also, install it by:

  1. Deleting the previous file from the services directory
  2. Unzip the newest file.
  3. Double-click the unzipped file.
  4. Press “install” in the pop-up that appears.

Hope it helps :slight_smile:

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Zip file downloaded. All set. It was the dropbox sharing issue. Safari will automatically unzip the archive… anyway it’s sorted.

We’re almost there. I made a mistake with the request: I have 4 jpg files, to make a 2 x 2 grid. So when i selected 4 files and Make Collage I got this: The action “Run AppleScript (Verify that the number of selected images is feasible for a collage.)” encountered an error.

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Hmm… that’s one of the tests I built into the script to ensure that a feasible number of images were selected (fewer than 100 and not a prime number). Are you sure you selected four images? Also, try with just one image nust to see that it works.

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Same here. I tried selecting four images in Finder and also tried supplying 4 images directly within h workflow. Same result.

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Hmm…weird. I will look into it

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@evanfuchs @kensheah
I’ve now rewritten the Service such that it does not use any Apple Script, only shell script. It does not perform any checks on the number of selected imaged either, so please beware of that. Also, it assumes that the file names don’t contain any spaces.

Please download and try the new (and hopefully final) version here:

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@kensheah did you try the last version I sent you?

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My apologies for the late reply! Kids exam season. Can you please make the file available again? I’ll give it a try this evening :grinning:

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No worries :slight_smile:

Here it is:

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Ah! So close… it recognised there are 4 files, asked for file name, and longest side in pixel. After that the shell script ran into an error.

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What the ***?!?

Did it tell you what went wrong? Any error code?

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HAHAAHAH

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