macOS Automator?

[cantthinkofone]

Does anybody use automator?

How powerful is it?

I have an idea of what i want it to do but im not sure if it can.

 

[iShater]

Yes. I use it for two simple things, compressing sparse disk images and sending attachments to Mail. Other use it for work flows in photography and other areas, batch processing, etc.

 

[chris200x9]

I use it to batch download stuffs

 

[cantthinkofone]

Ok well maybe i don't understand what it's designed to do.

What i want it to do is this:

I have started ripping all my dvds with mac the ripper and hand break in preparation of getting a new tv and apple tv come christmas/tax return time.

When i put a disk in my mac i want automator to do everything else while i walk away. start ripping, tell hand break where the fold is i want to convert for itunes, put the new movie or tv show into itunes, delete the original dvd copy.

Is that too much? I have tried messing around with automator but am completely lost.

 

[Aperture]

Ok well maybe i don't understand what it's designed to do.

What i want it to do is this:

I have started ripping all my dvds with mac the ripper and hand break in preparation of getting a new tv and apple tv come christmas/tax return time.

When i put a disk in my mac i want automator to do everything else while i walk away. start ripping, tell hand break where the fold is i want to convert for itunes, put the new movie or tv show into itunes, delete the original dvd copy.

Is that too much? I have tried messing around with automator but am completely lost.

Automator should be able to help you out. You'll probably want to use a mix of the "Watch me do" feature along with some of the prebuilt actions.

It can certainly be confusing but here is the basic idea: On the right side of the Automator is your workflow area. All of the lists of prebuilt actions or modules on the left side can be dragged across into your workflow. You drag a series of these modules/actions together to accomplish what you want. Each action or module has input and output. Files are passed into that action, it does something with them, and it hands them on to the next action. With the watch me do feature, it will build custom actions based on whatever you "record" into Automator.

Hope that helps out a little.

 

[cantthinkofone]

Automator should be able to help you out. You'll probably want to use a mix of the "Watch me do" feature along with some of the prebuilt actions.

It can certainly be confusing but here is the basic idea: On the right side of the Automator is your workflow area. All of the lists of prebuilt actions or modules on the left side can be dragged across into your workflow. You drag a series of these modules/actions together to accomplish what you want. Each action or module has input and output. Files are passed into that action, it does something with them, and it hands them on to the next action. With the watch me do feature, it will build custom actions based on whatever you "record" into Automator.

Hope that helps out a little.

Right. I understood that part. But i didn't know if i could make a action, or if i had to stick with the ones that were listed. I didn't see on that said "do this with dvd"

I did see one that says add file to itunes, but it says it has to be some kind of audio format.

I can't do the watch me do it just yet as im at work but i will give it a try when i get home.

 

[Aperture]

Right. I understood that part. But i didn't know if i could make a action, or if i had to stick with the ones that were listed. I didn't see on that said "do this with dvd"

I did see one that says add file to itunes, but it says it has to be some kind of audio format.

I can't do the watch me do it just yet as im at work but i will give it a try when i get home.

You'll probably have to manually launch the script after the DVD is inserted. I'm not sure of a way to have it automatically do it upon insertion.