How to create a layered PSD file from command line?

Question

I need to create a layered PSD file with ImageMagick or any other command-line tool available on Linux platform. Since I need to do this on Linux server, I

Answer 1

You can create a layered PSD with ImageMagick, but note the first image is actually used as the preview image (i.e. composite of all the layers).

convert -size 100x100 plasma:fractal plasma:fractal plasma:fractal out.psd

Will create a 2 layered PSD.

Answer 2

You can use the -adjoin to combine an image sequence.

convert -size 100x100             \
        -alpha set plasma:fractal \
        -alpha set plasma:fractal \
        -adjoin                   \
        out.psd

• The alpha channels are needed for the PSD coder.
• The order of the images is bottom layer to top layer.
• There are a lot of compatibility issues with Photoshop and GIMP depending on the settings.

Using:

• ImageMagick 6.5.4-6
• Photoshop CS2

Answer 3

Here is some useful links to you:

• ImageMagick and PSD images with layers
• Some PSD Useful Notes
• Psd Layers - ImageMagick Forums

The second link is to use with PHP, but it executes ImageMagick, only use the commands, not the all PHP syntax, only the line of exec code.

Hope i'm helping you!

Answer 4

I use the command lines below. I have not encountered any issue in opening the generated PSD in Photoshop, however every layer appears as a background layer, and you have to convert it into a true layer first in order to edit the layer ordering.

Here is the command line for Window. Given the list of images (im1.xxx, im2.xxx etc, im1 being the bottom layer,) a list of labels for the layers ("label1", "label2"...) :

convert ^ ( ^ -page +0+0 ^ -label "label1" ^ im1.xxx[0] ^ -background none ^ -mosaic ^ -set colorspace RGB ^ ) ^ ( ^ -page +0+0 ^ -label "label2" ^ "im2.xxx"[0] ^ -background none ^ -mosaic ^ -set colorspace RGB ^ ) ^ ( ^ -clone 0--1 ^ -background none ^ -mosaic ^ ) ^ -alpha Off ^ -reverse ^ "out.psd"

That is, for each layer, you have something like

( ^ -page +0+0 ^ -label "optional_label" ^ im1.xxx[0] ^ -background none ^ -mosaic ^ -set colorspace RGB ^ )

The label/name of the layer is optional (remove -label if none.) The [0] in im1.xxx[0] retrieves the first image in the image file, in case there exist a thumbnail in the Exif.

On Unix/OSX, you have to protect the parenthesis by a backslash, and the line continuation characters change also to \:

\( \ -page +0+0 \ -label "optional_label" \ im1.xxx[0] \ -background none \ -mosaic \ -set colorspace RGB \ \)

If the image names contain special chars, you can protect them with " (eg "c:\my im1.png") without any issue.

Answer 5

I agree with Jon Galloway, the Gimp console is a better choice. Here is my script:

(define (pngtopsd width height png-paths psd-path)
(define (add-layers image png-paths) 
    (if (null? png-paths) 0 
        (let* 
            ((png (car png-paths))
            (new-layer (car (gimp-file-load-layer 0 image (car png)))))

            (gimp-image-insert-layer image new-layer 0 -1)
            (gimp-item-transform-2d new-layer 0 0 1 1 (cadr png) (caddr png) (caffffdr png))
            (add-layers image (cdr png-paths))
        )
    ))

(let* 
    ((png (car png-paths))
    (image (car (gimp-file-load 1 (car png) (car png))))
    (drawable (car (gimp-image-get-active-layer image))))

    (gimp-image-resize image width height 0 0)
    (gimp-item-transform-2d drawable 0 0 1 1 (cadr png) (caddr png) (caffffdr png))       
    (add-layers image (cdr png-paths))
    (file-psd-save 0 image drawable psd-path psd-path 1 0)
    (gimp-image-delete image)
))

You just need put this script into file with name "pngtopsd.scm" inside your gimp "script" directory ("c:\Program Files\GIMP 2\share\gimp\2.0\scripts\" for Windows) and you can create layered PSD from list of PNG pictures with transformation (translation or rotation) of each layer. Usage sample:

gimp-console-2.8.exe -i -b              ^
  "(pngtopsd (list                      ^
   (list \"c:/../1.png\" 0 500 500)     ^
   (list \"c:/.../2.png\" 0.7 200 1000) ^
   (list \"c:/.../3.jpg\" -0.5 1000 0)) ^
   \"c:/.../result.psd\")"

There (list \"c:/.../2.png\" 0.7 200 1000) means:

• 0.7 is the rotation angle of picture (in radians)
• 200 1000 is x and y shift on an image

Answer 6

If ImageMagick won't work, I'd look at Gimp command line.

The following commands created a 2-layer PSD file for me in the interactive console:

> (gimp-image-new 200 200 0)
(1)
> (gimp-layer-new 1 200 200 0 "layer-1" 100 0)
(2)
> (gimp-layer-new 1 200 200 0 "layer-2" 100 0)
(3)
> (file-psd-save 0 1 0 "test.psd" "test.psd" 0 0)
> (gimp-image-add-layer 1 2 -1)
> (gimp-image-add-layer 1 3 -1)
> (file-psd-save 0 1 1 "test.psd" "test.psd" 0 0)

That would need to be converted into a script-fu script (.scm file) and could be executed from the command-line with something like this:

gimp -i -b '(your-script-name "test.psd" 200 200)' -b '(gimp-quit 0)'