I've been asked to take a large number of before and after images and combine them into single files. I've already sized all the images to the same dimensions and sorted and labeled which ones go with which. Is there a way to batch process the images into putting them side by side on one canvas? I would really prefer not to have to open them all up in photoshop and do it by hand.

Thanks for your help!

What software do you have? If you have Photoshop you may be able to do it using menu File>Automate>Picture Package. In the Picture Package Dialog point it to the folder your images are in. Set it up to create two images per page. I wrote may because I don't know how Automate Picture Package and Automate Contact Sheet work as far sorting image.

^ The picture package option is extremely flexible: the templates are very basic text files (think "Notepad") and can be edited to suit your needs.

Top of my head. they look something like this (I'm not on a Windows box at home):
The following would create a sheet with three four by sixes on a standard letter size paper

(I) 8.5 x 11 > paper size in Inches
0.5 0.5 4 6 > first image is placed 0.5 inches from the left, and 0.5 inches from the top, 4 x 6
4.5 0.5 4 6 > second image is placed 4.5 inches from the left and 0.5 inches from the top, 4 x 6
0.5 6.5 6 4 > third image is place 0.5 inches from the left and 6.5 inches from the top 6 x 4

This is not totally "batch" and you will still have to manually select the images by browsing for the file.

Thanks for the idea. I've got the CS4 suite and Lightroom. I just checked out the picture package, but it looks to me like it only outputs pdf's or websites. I was having trouble getting the pictures to display right on the pdf screen. Perhaps it would be possible to make it right as a pdf and then export those pdf pages as jpgs.

*update* I'm looking at the contact sheet/picture package in lightroom and it seems more robust. I'll try making a layout and saving as a pdf then exporting it.

Lightroom's print module has a great solution for this and will output jpg's - Thanks for the suggestion!!!

The one problem I'm facing now is that it outputs the final jpg with a basic file name. Unfortunately, the file names I'm using are very complicated. I have 4 main folder categories and within each category are subcategories. Within each subcategory are patients with multiple views.

A file name might look like this for example:
breast_ba_imf_silicone_1a_after.jpg (where the number is the patient number and the letter after it is the view)

Can anyone think up a good way to deal with this? My client definitely wants the naming convention to remain the same.

I'll probably have to do this manually, but at least it will be easier with the combining done in batch.

Thanks again!!!

I just tried Picture Package and Contact Sheet in Photoshop CS3 they support print size sheets however Picture Package only seems to place one image per sheet layout. Contact Sheet however does what you want. I created contact sheets that were 2400 by 3000 pixels at 300 DPI that is 8" by 10" set it up to make one column and two rows, no titles and pointed at a folder that had 3:2 aspect ratio Raw files. Photoshop created as many document sheets as needed and place two images per sheet. You may need to limit the number of image pares you place in a folder for all sheets remain open in Photoshop. This may tax your machine if you create many contact sheets at once.

Thanks!