October 25, 2009

Creating contact sheets in Bridge CS4

I still see a fair number of people searching for info about Photoshop's semi-retired Contact Sheet feature. This 1-minute video shows how it's been replaced with a better alternative in Bridge CS4:

Posted by John Nack at 7:39 AM on October 25, 2009

Comments

Mike Reys — 8:34 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

In terms of workflow, if you have Lightroom, do we create the sheet within Lightroom, or would you still go to Photoshop (and is this integrated? what about virtual copies?)

Chana Messer replied to comment from Mike Reys — 12:46 PM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment


I am creating my contact sheet within lightroom. so I do not have to go out of LR while I am working. Virtual copies become normal copies once you export it!

tenaitch — 8:35 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

This is wrong, as you cannot print the file that bridge cs4 has created directly from bridge. You have to save the file, reopen the file in acrobat and then print. Then go and delete the file when your finished.
Plus you cannot create a contact sheet from currently open files or from images that have not been saved to file after adjustment.
For me the contact sheets are temporary files for cd covers, test prints and sample sheets and are not kept.This new way of creating a conatct sheet is slower and less convenient in the long run than the old contact sheet action.

Daris Fox — 9:56 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

The main problem I have with the new Bridge CS 4 method is that it doesn't allow custom InDesign templates to be used. I use use sheets with branding to identify what sheets are mine to clients. I know the programmer updated the program for Bridge, but I felt this was a feature that should never be dropped. What happened to the integration of all the suites?

So in light of this the CS 4 method it's a big regression.

Steve DiBartolomeo — 10:19 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

For some reason I can't see the video for this. I've disabled my ad blocked, my popup blocker, deleted Apple's Quicktime, removed and re-installed the current flash.

I am running Mozilla 3.5 on Windows XP.

I can see other videos - Oct 20 and Oct 17th no problem.

Tonya Doughty — 10:25 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

I was one of those people searching for it just yesterday. Doesn't work for me this way though. If there was am option to open the file in Photoshop afterwards (and be unflattened so I had access to each image individually, not a PDF) then it would work.

Jean-Claude Tremblay — 10:58 AM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

Introduced with CS4, the contact sheet take time to get used to, especially if you are used to the photoshop version or the Indesign script. But I find it faster now to do it in Bridge Cs4 with the output module. Some features are still missing in it like the ability to save custom template. That why after having some analyzes I have found their is a way to save them. It involve too many steps to include in this comment, but I have write and describe on my blog how you can do it. Go see: http://bit.ly/16L9Lf

Chris Combs — 12:24 PM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

It seems very silly that the new replacement for Contact Sheet and Web Photo Gallery is *less* customizable.

Chana Messer — 12:43 PM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

I actually liked the old times when we did contact sheet in InDesign... I am ok with moving the feature to the bridge but still loaded it to my PSD CS4.

Luis Garcia — 3:29 PM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

I would like to select some thumbnails inside Bridge, and hit Ctrl+P to print them without having to save first another file and open another application just for printing. The settings could be saved inside Bridge, like size of the thumbnail, what extra info gets printed, etc.
That prints are mostly used for reference, chek mark, etc, temporary things. No need for another file in the hard drive. Just directly printing from Bridge, to any printer including the Acrobat PDF just in case it is needed.
It is only a suggestion. Great blog this one.

Eric Peacock — 7:24 PM on October 25, 2009 Reply to this comment

Removing the InDesign contact sheet for CS4 makes no sense - some people actually need to generate a contact sheet with linked files that can be updated. Also, the template option is pretty darned useful (I've built a whole department's workflow on it).

I'd have hoped you'd have left it in even with the revised Bridge method.

One reason we're not excited to get CS4. When we do we'll probably invest in a third-party option for InDesign instead.

John Eakin — 6:33 AM on October 26, 2009 Reply to this comment

If you need something really customizable and still want to work within Photoshop CS4 check out
http://ps-scripts.sourceforge.net/ContactSheetX/csx.html
It's terrific.
-je

[Good tip, John—thanks. --J.]

Heather Moreau — 11:19 AM on November 1, 2009 Reply to this comment

Under tools in Bridge I have no option to edit with Photoshop whether it is to make a contact sheet, use the image processor, or do anything. The only options I have are to adjust metadata and save the cache. I think I am missing a start up script.... although in the preferences the photoshop start up script is checked already. Any idea how I can fix this?

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