Tip: Handy utility to batch convert product images

[AbleMods]

Need:
One of my distributors provided me a full catalog export in CSV format including product images. I have hundreds of products that have been uploaded into the product database. But the included image files are not in the *.jpg *_i.jpg *_t.jpg file structure needed by AC7. Manually uploading every product image file one-by-one is not an option.
All product image files were named matching the SKU value of each product and in GIF format.

Solution:
There are several image batch resizer utilities available on the internet. I reviewed a few and went with one from SoftOrbits.com.

http://www.softorbits.com/batch_picture ... index.html

For $20, I have resized thousands of product images into the the standard size, thumbnail size and icon size. The program also lets you automatically tack on the _i or _t suffix as needed. Every image was converted on the fly into JPG format. A watermark could be automatically added to every image however I elected not to do so. Time to convert all three sizes in my computer was about 10 minutes.

Result:
By converting the images to the proper size, JPG format and required file naming convention, I just moved the converted files into the ~/Assets/ProductImages folder of my AC7 site. All store products immediately pick up the files thanks to the checkbox in the Images admin screen.

Sweet.