Image File Extension Problem

[Omgcito]

Hi Everyone,

A co-worker of mine captured some image files (Photoshop CS2) off of a microscope camera and used several "."s in the filename. Most of the files end in ".1" or ".2" and, needless to say, the document types are now "1 File" and "2 File" and cannot be opened in any program that I know of. I've tried to cheat and rename the file with ".tif" or ".jpg" on the end without any luck.

Does anyone know if these files are salvageable or are we SOL?

 

[statikuz]

You've probably already tried this, but have you made sure that Windows is set to show the whole extension? Hit Tools > Folder Options > View, and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types."

 

[Harvey]

There's always the RTFM approach. Instead of guessing, check the manual or the scope camera maker's site to see what formats the system uses to store images.

 

[Omgcito]

I have tried the whole extension thing and it hasn't told me anything new, but thanks for the thought )

I could be wrong, and please tell me if I am, but I don't think it's a matter of reading the manual or not. Everything is done within Photoshop (import, edit, save) and seeing as you can save files in a million and one different formats in PS, I think it's more that the ".1" on the end of his filename overrode the .psd that PS usually puts on files. I'm no expert on how different formats are saved, but I'm assuming that all of the info (bits?) are there, but in some unkown order.

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

[bob4432]

you said you tried jpg and tiff, have you tried psd? anytime i have had a file messup, i can always change the extension... what about raw?

is the file being used somehow and locked? are you sure you are seeing the full extension?

and give your coworker a kick in the nutz for us

 

[Omgcito]

I've tried .psd without any luck. I'll try going raw when I get a free minute. We've full access to the file, and I'm 99% sure that I'm seeing the full extension.

I've already given my co-worker the finger a few times behind his back...

 

[statikuz]

I guess I might not understand the problem, but if you can import/open them with PS, then why don't you save them out with a different filename without the extra .'s? When you save it in PS, make sure that you're selecting the right thing under "Save as type:" and making sure its not "All files" or something weird (not sure if PS has that option but its worth a shot).

Maybe you can look at the files in a command prompt to see what the whole filename is if you're not sure Windows is showing it to you.

 

[DaiShan]

First thing that you should have tried is opening it in PS. That should work. If not you can use an OSS app called ImageMagick and issue a convert statement at the CLI. So if you have image.1 you would cd to that directory type "convert image.1 image.jpg" It does a pretty good job about converting anything post script related, some other formats have some quality loss however.

 

[Omgcito]

Sorry for the confusion; The saved file will not open in PS. I'm not sure how he saves files, but I may have to have a talk with him about the do's and dont's. Trying my hand at ImageMagick atm-- will report back with the results.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's help.

 

[Omgcito]

I love you DaiShan. ImageMagick is just what I needed.

Thanks for everyone's input!