New C1 PRO Session

Must Be Art > Software > New C1 PRO Session

Description

Capture One PRO from Phase One is a workflow-oriented program used to convert digital photographs from the camera's "raw" format to a standard image format. Its workflow assumes that you will start by setting up a session and its associated folders, and then capture images into the session (either directly from a tethered camera or from a memory card reader). My preference is to shoot untethered and copy my files into a folder of my own. Later, if I decide to use Capture One PRO to do the conversions, I need to create a session to organize the work.

This program is a short AppleScript droplet to automate that procedure on Mac OS X. Compile the script as an application to create the droplet. Then drag a directory full of images onto the droplet to create a session around the existing folder.

System Requirements

You'll need Capture One PRO on a Mac OS X system to use this script as is. Other versions of the Capture One software will probably work with just a change to the application's name inside the script. I've tested with version 3.5.2 and 3.6.1 of Capture One PRO and under version 10.3.7 of Mac OS X.

Does not work under Mac OS X 10.4. See below under Known Bugs.

Features

AppleScript droplet
Automatically creates a session around an existing folder full of images
Diagnoses an attempt to drop multiple items
Creates a symbolic link to the "Captures" folder, matching the name used in Phase One's new session template

Limitations

Assumes a particular directory naming convention: the parent folder of the dropped folder is assumed to have a descriptive name suitable for the name of the new session.
As of Capture One PRO 3.6.1, the application does not respond to an activate message, so if Capture One is not visible on the screen it may not be obvious that the script has done anything.
Because of the way AppleScript binds to applications, if you download a new version of Capture One PRO and don't overwrite the older version, this script must be recompiled or it will continue to invoke the older version.
Assumes that the template for new sessions uses "Captures" as the folder containing the raw files, as shipped from Phase One.
Minimal error checking.
Must be used as a droplet; cannot be invoked directly.

Current Status

Initial release, January 8, 2005. Worked for me, but see below under Known Bugs. Minimal testing.

History

11 Nov 2004 - Created.
08 Jan 2005 - Initial release.

Known Bugs

Doesn't work under Mac OS X 10.4.3 or 10.4.4 or 10.4.7 (and possibly other 10.4 versions). Reason unknown. The command to make new session fails. With C1 PRO 3.6 it says "Need folder path and name to make new session." With Capture One PRO 3.7.3 (with the corresponding change in the tell line) it says "Can't make or move that element into that container." Same with Capture One PRO 3.7.4.

There are a handful of sample Applescripts in the program distribution, but none of them use the make new session command. None of them has been updated since May 2004.

Phase One's so-called technical support tells me "We do not normally support scripting debugging projects" and when I asked them for a relevant working example, they were silent for 12 days and then closed the case without offering any comments.

Unless somebody provides me with some more information on Applescripting the Capture One PRO program, this script is likely to stay broken indefinitely.

Distribution

You may use or distribute this script freely for any purpose.

Source Code

Here it is.

(* Applescript Droplet to create a new C1 PRO session around a folder *)
(*   Assumes parent folder has the descriptive name of the project *)
(* Copyright 2004 Paul Williamson paul@mustbeart.com *)
(* Nov 11, 2004 *)

on open names
	
	if length of names is not equal to 1 then
		display dialog "Sorry, drop only one item."
		return
	end if
	
	set imgFolderName to first item of names
	tell application "Finder"
		set imgFolder to folder imgFolderName
		set imgFolderName to name of imgFolder
		set projFolder to container of imgFolder
		
		set projFolderName to name of projFolder
		set projFolderPathName to projFolder as text
		set projFolderPath to POSIX path of projFolderPathName
		end tell
	
		do shell script "cd " & quoted form of projFolderPath & "; /bin/ln -s " & quoted form of imgFolderName & " Captures"
		
	
	tell application "C1 PRO"
		set sessinfo to {name:projFolderName, folder path:projFolderPath}
		set newsess to make new session with properties sessinfo
		activate newsess
		activate (* C1 PRO 3.5.2 doesn't obey this command *)
	end tell
	
end open

Documentation

This is it.

Download

Copy the script above and paste it into Apple's Script Editor. Then compile and save as an Application.