WordPress plugin vs Photoshop CC2015: making animated gifs from folders containing series of .jpgs

jpgYup, it’s easier with ImageMagick – The script below will work. I’ve added a second for each frame duration that can be adjusted in the optionals part of the script, right at the top.
The script also has to save out the PSD created, before using save for web to create the animated gif.

ImageMagic is your clear choice here.

// ******************************************************
//
// LOAD IMAGES (jpg) AS ANIMATED GIF
// ******************************************************

// *** MUST HAVE ANIMATION WINDOW OPEN
// *** SCRIPT WON'T WORK OTHERWISE!

//OPTIONALS
var frameTime = 1.0;
var tempName = "temp"; // file name for psd

//pref pixels
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

var baseDocCreated = false;
var baseImage = "";


var inFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Please select folder to process");
if (inFolder != null)
{
  var fileList = inFolder.getFiles(/.(jpg)$/i);
}

var exportpath = inFolder;
//alert(inFolder)

// main loop starts here
for(var a = 0 ;a < fileList.length; a++)
{
  // load the frames one by one
  var doc = open(fileList[a]);

  var tempImage = app.activeDocument.name
  // alert(tempImage)

  //create the base document to work with
  if (baseDocCreated == false)
  {
    imageW = app.activeDocument.width.value;
    imageH = app.activeDocument.height.value;
    imageRes = 72;
    imageName = "baseDoc";
    createNewDocument(imageW, imageH, imageRes, imageName)
  }


  var moveTo = app.documents.getByName(baseImage);
  var moveFrom = app.documents.getByName(tempImage);
  moveImage(moveTo, moveFrom)

  //close without saving
  app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);

  var rename = tempImage.substring(0, tempImage.length -4);
  app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name = rename
  // alert(app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name)
}



// now deal with the creation
// of the animated gif
var myPSD = exportpath + "\" + tempName + ".psd";

// call the source document
var srcDoc = app.activeDocument;

// remove background layer
var numOfLayers = srcDoc.layers.length;
srcDoc.layers[numOfLayers-1].remove();

// save the psd
psdIt(myPSD);

// get the file path
var filePath = srcDoc.path;

// create animation frames
createAnimationFromLayers();

// set frame timing
setFrameDuration(frameTime);

// save as gif
SaveGifForWeb(filePath);

//close without saving
app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);



function createNewDocument(w, h, res, aname)
{
  // alert(w + "n" + h + "n" + res + "n" + aname)
  var docRef = app.documents.add(w, h, res, aname)
  baseImage = "baseDoc"
  baseDocCreated = true;
  srcDoc = app.activeDocument;
}

// FUNCTION psdIt (source doc)
// --------------------------------------------------------
function psdIt (afilePath)
{

  // save out the psd
  var psdFile = new File(afilePath);
  psdSaveOptions = new PhotoshopSaveOptions();
  psdSaveOptions.embedColorProfile = true;
  psdSaveOptions.alphaChannels = true;  
  activeDocument.saveAs(psdFile, psdSaveOptions, false, Extension.LOWERCASE);
}


function moveImage(to, from)
{
  //select the tempImage
  app.activeDocument = from;
  // move from tempImage to the baseImage
  var duplicateLayer = activeDocument.activeLayer.duplicate(to)
}


// function SAVE GIF FOR WEB (path, jpeg quality)
// ----------------------------------------------------------------
function SaveGifForWeb(saveFile)
{
  var gifOptions = new ExportOptionsSaveForWeb();
  gifOptions.format = SaveDocumentType.COMPUSERVEGIF;  
  gifOptions.interlaced = false;
  gifOptions.colourCount = 256; 
  gifOptions.optimized = true;
  gifOptions.typename = "GIF"; 
  activeDocument.exportDocument(saveFile, ExportType.SAVEFORWEB, gifOptions);
}

function createAnimationFromLayers()
{
  // =======================================================
  var id9070 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFramesFromLayers" );
  var desc1033 = new ActionDescriptor();
  executeAction( id9070, desc1033, DialogModes.NO );
}


function addFrameTiming(num)
{
  // =======================================================
  var id9576 = charIDToTypeID( "setd" );
  var desc1151 = new ActionDescriptor();
  var id9577 = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
  var ref694 = new ActionReference();
  var id9578 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameClass" );
  var id9579 = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
  var id9580 = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
  ref694.putEnumerated( id9578, id9579, id9580 );
  desc1151.putReference( id9577, ref694 );
  var id9581 = charIDToTypeID( "T   " );
  var desc1152 = new ActionDescriptor();
  var id9582 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameDelay" );
  desc1152.putDouble( id9582, num );
  var id9583 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameClass" );
  desc1151.putObject( id9581, id9583, desc1152 );
  executeAction( id9576, desc1151, DialogModes.NO );
}

function selectAllFrames()
{
  // =======================================================
  var id3 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationSelectAll" );
  var desc2 = new ActionDescriptor();
  executeAction( id3, desc2, DialogModes.NO );
}

function setFrameDuration(num)
{
  selectAllFrames()
  // =======================================================
  var id4 = charIDToTypeID( "setd" );
  var desc3 = new ActionDescriptor();
  var id5 = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
  var ref1 = new ActionReference();
  var id6 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameClass" );
  var id7 = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
  var id8 = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
  ref1.putEnumerated( id6, id7, id8 );
  desc3.putReference( id5, ref1 );
  var id9 = charIDToTypeID( "T   " );
  var desc4 = new ActionDescriptor();
  var id10 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameDelay" );
  desc4.putDouble( id10, num ); //num (duration in seconds)
  var id11 = stringIDToTypeID( "animationFrameClass" );
  desc3.putObject( id9, id11, desc4 );
  executeAction( id4, desc3, DialogModes.NO );
}