Here is a script that might help. I modified a script from jonn8 which was very useful.
It takes a list of text from a file then makes a new layer with particular properties and can even do a photoshop action. I would have put all the functions in the script but I could not figure out how to do gradients and all that jazz - so that part is in an action.
tell application "Finder"
set folder_path to (((path to desktop) as string) & "output:")
set input_path to (((path to desktop) as string) & "input_text.txt")
end tell
set mystring to read file input_path
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS3"
set the_layer to make new art layer of current document with properties {kind:text layer}
set textItemRef to text object of the_layer
set type units of settings to pixel units
set font of textItemRef to "HamburgerHeaven"
set size of textItemRef to 24
set leading of textItemRef to 33
set tracking of textItemRef to -20
set justification of textItemRef to center
set position of contents of textItemRef to {123, 30}
do action "apply_style" from "my_styles"
repeat with eachName in (paragraphs of mystring)
set contents of contents of textItemRef to eachName
set myFile to folder_path & eachName & ".jpg"
set myOptions to {quality:60, web format:JPEG}
export current document in file myFile as save for web with options myOptions with copying
-- set myOptions to {class:JPEG save options, embed color profile:false, format options:standard, quality:3}
-- save current document in file myFile as JPEG with options myOptions appending no extension with copying
end repeat
end tell
You can change all the parameters, such as font, size, leading, tracking and this script centers the text so you can comment that out and set your position where you wish. I also commented out the save as jpeg and used export to knock down the file sizes considerably.
Study the Photoshop Applescript Reference to get more options.
To get the font name I had to create a temporary action, type some text and look at the result to get the name photoshop uses.
This site has always been exceptionally helpful so its nice to be able to give something back.
Model: iMac 20"
AppleScript: 2.2
Browser: Safari 523.15
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)