Manual sort and then batch rename?

[telmerco]

Hi, I am trying to batch rename files with a twist. I want to manually sort them (photos) and then batch rename along the lines of common-###.jpg where ### is a numerical index and is padded out with zeros (i.e. 1 would be 001) so that the files sort properly. iPhoto nearly does this with Batch and then export but when you chose the option to append a number, it doesn't pad it out so that common-2.jpg comes after common-19.jpg. Any ideas of how to go about this such that I can manually sort the photos first (finder keeps files organized by name, size, etc and will not let me manually sort as far as I can tell). All help is very much appreciated. Cheers, Colin

[reh]

There are lots of batch renaming applications out there. One i've used in the past is Renamer4Mac (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17205). Search VersionTracker or MacUpdate for more.

[Nuc]

I like better finder rename it's not freeware though... link (http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/)

Nuc

[Abstract]

Instead of importing straight into iPhoto, where editing the name in iPhoto doesn't actually change the file name, I import them using Image Capture into a folder on my Desktop, and have set up a script where I can batch rename my files and select the number of digits used in the naming, and which number the naming starts.
After that, I import them into iPhoto, and the naming is automatically taken care of. If I name the folder I put the photos into, my Film Roll in iPhoto is also automatically renamed.