I'm looking for software that will allow me to take one image, embed
it into multiple other images, and when I change the first image, it
automatically changes in all of the other graphics.

Let me explain an example situation where this would be helpful and
clarify a bit what I'm talking about.

Lets say I want to design a deck of cards - 52 graphics total.  Let's
say I'm working on the Hearts suit. A suit contains 13 cards Ace-King.
 What I would want to be able to do is to embed the Heart image into
all 13 cards and so that I can edit the Heart image seperatly, and
have any change to the Heart image automatically change in all 13
cards images.  This would allow me to save lots of copy and paste
time.

What software allows me to do this?  Please include a URL to the main
WWW site for it, cost, and command/feature name that allows me to do
this.  If possibly please provide a URL to any documentation or FAQ
etc. that explains how to do this in the software.  Please include as
many software titles, that do what I explained, as you can find.

---

Request for Question Clarification by skorba-ga on 18 Dec 2002 22:14 PST

Dear Sircoder -

Since you work with images, maybe you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop ?
Would a solution requiring only this program fit your needs ?

---

Clarification of Question by sircoder-ga on 19 Dec 2002 06:42 PST

If this can work in photoshop that would be great!

Dear Sircoder -

Sorry for the delay - holiday closes in, and I have been away from my
system for a couple of days.

* * *

I will add this as a comment, since I am not 100% sure that you will
like this solution, even though it utilizes one of the most powerful
features of Photoshop: Batch Jobs and Actions. Please tell me if you
find it to suit your needs!

My version of Photoshop is 6.0, and I am aware that the exact syntax
may have changed in newer versions. If your version is another than
mine, please open Photoshop, choose ==> Help ==> Contents (which will
open the HTML help system) ==> Scroll down and click on the link
Automating Tasks ==> Which will bring up a sub menu consisting of
topics that concern your question:



About actions
Using the Actions palette
Recording actions
Playing actions
Setting playback options (Photoshop)
Editing actions
Managing actions in the Actions palette
Using the Batch command (Photoshop)
Using droplets
Using the Automate commands (Photoshop)
External automation

* * *

The exact procedure will of course vary with what you try to do. But
the principle will normally be the same:

1) First you create a project folder on your hard disk.
2) Then you create some sub-folders, for instance: pure_images and
processed_images. (This is important, since you do not want to
overwrite your original files, you want to export the processed files
to a different location.)
3) Then you start recording a set of actions with Window, show actions
==> Actions ==> New action ==> Record

( See the photoshop help system for details. )

You can record open file, open another file, select, copy, paste,
merge, filter, resize image, save file as ... (remeber to choose
another folder for your final artwork, so as not to overwrite the
original files).

When you are done working, press: Stop Recording.

When you have done this once, you can simply update the files, and
press the action you just created. Then photoshop will repeat
everything you did, and export the files to the processed_images
folder you created earlier, overwriting the files there.

In short, whenever you find yourself repeating tedious tasks in
photoshop, you should always look for a way to record your tasks and
have photoshop do them for you.

Good luck!

----------------------------------
1)
In case my little tutorial does not suffice, here is a link to another
tutorial:

http://www.creativemac.com/HTM/58Seconds/2000/03_01_00/psautomated.htm

Or use the Google search terms: photoshop batch job tutorial


2)
If you use a page layout program to build all the different playing
cards for print, then Photoshop supports Object Linking on the Windows
platform.

In the help system, please look for this article:

Saving and Exporting Images ==> Placing Photoshop images in other
applications (Photoshop) ==> Object linking and embedding (OLE)
(Windows only)

But this method is much more work to implement than the "pure
photoshop solution".

Thank you so much.  I never thought of using something like that.  I'm
sure it will work very well!