Retrobatch How Tos

Included below are some common workflows. Be sure to read the Basics page to learn how to add and modify workflows and write images. Contact us if you have suggestions for other workflows we should include, or need help putting one together.

Each workflow below is shown in the format of the node name with an arrow indicating a directional link to the next node. For example: Node name → node name → node name. Add the nodes shown in one of the examples below to your canvas to get started.

Remove Transparency

Read Folder → Matte → Write Images

Removing transparency from images is a matter of drawing an image onto a solid background. Add a Matte node to the workflow (located in the Color Effect category). Within the Matte palette, select a background color.

When the images are written out, the transparency (also known as the alpha channel) will be gone.

Split up Multi-Page PDFs

Read Folder → Layer / Page Splitter → Write Images

Available in Retrobatch Pro. A simple technique is to drag and drop a PDF file onto Retrobatch's canvas. A Read File node will be created. Add the other nodes listed above. The split out pages of the PDF will be displayed in the preview window. In the Write Images node, choose a folder to write to. If desired, choose a different file type under the 'convert to:' option. This workflow also can be used to split up animated GIFs, multi-layer PNGs, TIFFs, Icon, PSD, and Acorn files into single images.

To increase the resolution of the created images, add a 'Set DPI' node before the Layer/Page Splitter node and increase the DPI.

Many PDFs contain a transparent background. Add a Matte node after the Layer/Page Splitter node if a background color is desired.

Create a Multipage PDF from Single Images

Read Folder → PDF Maker → Write Images

Available in Retrobatch Pro. Throw any images you want to combine into a PDF into a folder for the Read Node, then let Retrobatch work its magic. The images will be combined into a multipage PDF in the order in which they are listed in the folder.

Convert Images to CMYK (or Other Color Profile)

Read Folder → Change Color Profile → Write Images

Available in Retrobatch Pro. In the Change Color Profile node, choose "Generic CMYK Profile" (or any other CMYK profiles you might have installed). Additional common color profiles: sRGB, grayscale (generic gray profile), Display p3, LAB (generic lab).

Read Folder → Set General Metadata → Text Watermark → Write Images

In the Set General Metadata node, enter any desired information to be included with your image file. Use the text watermark cogwheel dropdown menu to use any of these metadata values (title, description, copyright, author) as a watermark.

Rename or Convert RAW Files

Read Folder → Write Images

Include the RAW files in the Read Folder. In the Write Images folder, select a file type to convert to. If nothing is selected, Retrobatch will default to JPG. Make adjustments to the file name if desired. Use free text, or click on the cogwheel for additional options to include in the file name including capture data and current date.

Add a Drop Shadow

Read Folder → Add a Border → Drop Shadow → Trim to Edges → Write Images

Drop shadows can be used to make it appear as if an image is casting a shadow. If an image doesn't already contain transparency, the drop shadow will not be visible. This workflow adds transparency around the edges of images, then adds a drop shadow.

  • Click on the 'Add a Border' node to select it.
  • Click on the color well in the inspector palette to bring up the colors palette. Slide the opacity down to 0%. The border width is measured in pixels.
  • Creating a border much larger than the drop shadow is okay, as any excess will be removed with the 'trim to edges' node.
  • Click on the drop shadow node and adjust the settings if desired.

If you would like your images to be written at a certain width/height, add a Scale node after the Trim to Edges node.

App Images and Open in App

App Images: Drag and drop an application onto Retrobatch's canvas. Retrobatch will create a Read Folder and display whatever app images are present in that app's images folder.

Open in App: Available in Retrobatch Pro. Adding the 'Open in App' node after the 'Write Images' node results in the images Retrobatch has written opening in another selected app. The images passed to the app do need to have a representation on disk somewhere. For example, if you create the following workflow: Read Folder → Color Invert → Open in App → Write Images, you won't observe the color invert edits when the images open in the app, because they weren't written to disk prior to the Open in App node acting. The workflow would need to be Read Folder → Color Invert → Write Images → Open in App.

Set Top Classification as a Metadata Keyword

Read Folder → Classify Images → Set Specific Metadata → Write Images

In the Classify Images node pick a model. To see what classifications come up with a given model, click the 'i' in the lower righthand corner of the Retrobatch canvas. In the Set Specific Metadata node, click IPTC and choose 'Keywords' from the drop-down menu. Click the cogwheel and choose 'Top Classification'.

Square Crop and Add a Border

Read Folder → Crop → Add Border → Write Images

In the Crop node, choose 'Aspect Ratio' and '1x1 (square)'. Choose where you want the crop to be placed with the location widget. In the Border node, adjust the border color and width. If adding a black border, it may help to toggle the Preview window background color located in the lower righthand corner of the canvas to see the appearance of the border.

Pull Out Specific Pages of PDFs

**Read Folder → Layer & Page Splitter → Rules → Write Images

The specific page number of 5 is used to illustrate this example. In the Rules node, set the criteria to 'File Name' 'ends with' and enter 'page 5.pdf'. Multiple Rules nodes can be strung together to pull out different page numbers.