Combining Images with Workflow

As regular readers of this site may know I’m a big fan of the Workflow application on iOS. It’s an application that allows you to build up sequences of actions to carry out some sort of automation. I use it for many little helpful things on the go and one of those is combining together images into a single collage image which is what I’m sharing today.

Workflow includes some special actions for combining images which are ideal for putting together a few photos or perhaps placing screen shots side by side. They are pretty easy to use and most Workflow users have already or could probably throw together a small workflow to combine a few images. My workflow is the next step beyond a simple one shot combine workflow. It provides the user with the option of how to combine the images (in a single row, a single column or a grid formation), an option to specify the separation between images and also to set the image order to be chronological or reverse chronological … which I think is really the tweak that gives this workflow the edge and was actually the main reason I created it.

The workflow begins by allowing the user to select an arbitrary number of images from those stored in the photo library of the iOS device. Do be warned that the more images you add the more memory it takes and if you do choose too many then it can crash the workflow app (the maximum number you choose can vary on the image size and your device resources).

Next the user is presented with a menu containing two options that allows them to select the ordering for the images. If chronological is chosen the images are simply stored in a variable. If reverse chronological is chosen an image filter action is applied but it has no filter. Instead only the sort parameter is used and this is applied to the time taken to reverse the ordering.

Next the user is asked to specify a spacing between images. The numeric value entered will set the number of spaces to place between each image (vertically and/or horizontally). The value is defaulted to 0 which means the images would be borderless and seamless.

Next the user chooses the arrangement style they would like to use. Side by side - Horizontal will place all images horizontally beginning with the first image on the left. Side by side - Vertical will place all images vertically beginning with the first image at the top. Grid will place the images in as even a grid as it can starting with the first image at the top left. The powerful Combine Images action drives the activity here and produces the final collage image.

The image is shown to the user in a Quick View where it can be shared to other applications and after which the user is asked if they would like to save the image to the device’s camera roll.

You can download the workflow here and it is shown in detail below.

If you want to find out more about Workflow, why not take a look at my workflow section?

Author: Stephen Millard
Tags: | workflow |

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