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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Converting TIFF images into JPEG, replacing the original TIFFs

Converting TIFF images into JPEG, replacing the original TIFFs
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m021478
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Aug 10, 2015, 01:18 AM
 
I've got about 1,000 TIFF images (which I've already backed up) that I'd like to convert into JPEGs, and I'd like the newly created JPEG versions of these images to replace the original TIFF versions.

These TIFF images are randomly scattered in a massive hierarchical folder structure, and what I'm looking to do is basically run a spotlight search on the root folder of this hierarchy to show all TIFF images, then drag the resulting 1,000 TIFF images onto some application (or automator workflow, or photoshop droplet, or script, etc.) that will automatically create a JPEG from each TIFF (saving it with the same name and in the same directory as the original TIFF), then trashing the TIFF.

Can anyone recommend a good way to do this?
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P
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Aug 10, 2015, 03:47 AM
 
Personally I would upgrade that version of GraphicConverter that I haven't used since the Dark Ages, because it can probably do something like this automatically. I'm sure that there is a way to do it with the built-in tools (I'm thinking it now - something with find and xargs in the terminal, probably, or letting the find result go into a list to be iterated over with for...) but if you plan to do this more than once in forever, GraphicConverter is a great program.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Aug 10, 2015, 07:56 AM
 
Have you looked into Automator? I've found it surprisingly powerful for this kind of thing in the past.
     
andi*pandi
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Aug 10, 2015, 02:23 PM
 
If they all lived in one folder, photoshop action would be the way to go, bing, bam, done. I think if they are scattered though another solution or combo solution will have to be the answer.
     
I-ku-u
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Aug 14, 2015, 02:09 PM
 
Step 1: Launch Automator and create an application using the "Change Type of Images" action in the Photos section of the library. Set the To Type to JPEG. Save it somewhere with a unique application name - I'll use 'ToJPEG' Test the automator action on a tiff image in terminal via:
open -a ToJPEG /path/to/test/image
Step 2: Verify that all your tiff images, and only those images, can be found via the following command run in terminal:
find /path/to/hierarchy/root -name '*.tif' -print
If some tiff files are missing, you can repeat as needed by changing the '*.tif' here and in step #3 to match as apropos.
Step 3: run:
find /path/to/hierarchy/root -name '*.tif' -exec open -a ToJPEG '{}' \;
(this is not expected to have output except possibly for permission denied errors - see below)

I suggest you try a test run using a subdirectory to be comfy with the commands, to make recovery easier in case of errors/typos, and for quick testing if the hierarchy takes time to search.

If you get permission denied errors from the first find, it likely means the find couldn't search the mentioned directories. The errors won't affect the find for the second command, tho' you will also see them then.

It might be possible to have Automator search a full hierarchy, but that's not a known answer to me. Kudos to Spheric Harlot for the Automator suggestion that I'm building on herein.
( Last edited by I-ku-u; Aug 14, 2015 at 02:14 PM. Reason: typos)
     
   
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