macgrunt is all about workflow optimisation, with an emphasis on automation, particularly applescript. you’d be truly amazed at how much time can be saved in a studio by simply automating mundane tasks. not only does it free up more time for creativity, it also saves you from banging your head repeatedly against your desk due to the sheer tedium of some of the work you have to do — every day.

this script was created for a publishing workflow where images in archived InDesign files were no longer linked to the overhauled library of over 100,000 images. at reprint time, these images had to be relinked — sometimes in their hundreds.

relinking images is a quick animation which shows an actual script performing a real-life task in a fraction of the time it would take a real-life human. the animation is built from screen grabs from the actual workflow — so that dialog box showing how long the script took to do its job is real and accurate (testing was done with CS2 on a G5 PowerPC running OSX 10.5.7).

if that doesn’t convince you to start learning, stay tuned, more to follow (perhaps).

macgrunt is all about workflow optimisation, with an emphasis on automation, particularly applescript. some people may think “oh, I’m a Designer, you can’t automate design.” — which is absolutely correct. but there are many many tasks in a studio which are NOT design. and if you can get those done and out of the way quickly, it gives you more time to do the creative stuff.

imagine you have to take all the content from a sales flyer and copy it into a designed calendar template, scale and place all the elements throughout, then duplicate those elements to the back cover, update the colour, add the product code and barcode, and save the new file with the correct filename in the correct folder. got that? ok, now imagine you have to do that for over 60 calendars — every year.

calendars is a quick animation which shows an actual script performing a real-life task in a fraction of the time it would take a real-life human. the animation is built from screen grabs from the actual workflow — so those dialog boxes showing how long the script took to do each job are real and accurate (testing was done with CS2 on a G5 PowerPC running OSX 10.5.7).

if that doesn’t convince you to start learning, stay tuned, more to follow.

macgrunt is all about workflow optimisation, with an emphasis on automation, particularly applescript. in a few days you’ll see the first InDesign scripting lesson. these lessons are intended to get you up and running — even if you’ve never contemplated scripting previously.

why should you bother with this rubbish?

postcards is a quick animation which shows an actual script performing a real-life task in a fraction of the time it would take a real-life human. the animation is built from screen grabs from the actual workflow — so that dialog box at the end showing how long the script took to do the job is real and accurate (testing was done with CS2 on a G5 PowerPC running OSX 10.5.7).

if that doesn’t convince you to start learning, stay tuned, more to follow.