Scriptographer.org - General Scripts

Variator

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:40:47 +0100

I have enjoyed John Wundes's script "Vary Hues" for quite some time to create random colors in a group. Thank you John!
But when John said "Hue" it was not precisely the "Hue" in "HSB color". He meant more generally "the color". So he's calculating the random range in [Red, Green, Blue], or [Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black].

Now I thought I want to have better control over the actual "Hue", "Saturation" and "Brightness". Also I want to add the randomness in size and opacity. So here's the Variator:

This is the combination of varying the Fill Color, Size and Opacity at the same time.

To test this script and see it in real-life use case, I created this illustration

Except for the obvious hexagons, I also benefited a lot from the Variator while creating the glitters on her lips and eyelids, as well as the earrings.

Hope you find this inspirational! Enjoy.

variator.js

Transform Each

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:18:12 +0100

Some times we want to transform each path in a big group, but not to transform the group alignment. This simple tool allows you to rotate and scale each path as shown below:

///////UPDATE//////////
Ok, I found the Illustrator's original menu... it's hidden in Object>Transform>Transform Each...

:-p

transformEach.js

Grid Generator

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:58:15 +0100

This is a very straight forward tool that generates four kinds of grid. You type in the number of rows and columns, and the size of the unit, then click a button.

While those grids might seem basic to mathematicians, I thought it'd be handy to have something like this in AI for graphic artists. Something looking basic at first can be creatively altered and became something interesting. I attached two quick-dirty mockups just to demonstrate some possibilities.

My favorite trick is to use the raster.getAverageColor() function to layout a rich and abstract color combination. If you feel like to try, copy the code below to the end of my scripts:

-----------------------------------

// Pickup colors from a raster//
//NOTE: An image must be placed within the artboard and rasterized//

var rasters = document.getItems({
type: Raster,
selected: true
});

var paths = document.getItems({
type: Path,
selected: true
});

if(rasters.length >0 && paths.length >0){
var raster = rasters[0];
for(var i=0; i<paths.length; i++) {
var path = paths[i];
var color = raster.getAverageColor(path);
path.fillColor = color;
}
}else{
Dialog.alert('Please select at least one rasterized image and one path overlapping on top.');
}

-------------------------------------------

UPDATE: 01/10/2012
I uploaded the above lines as a separate script.

grid_generator.js

rasterColor.js

Convert GPS .csv files to Illustrator paths

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:42:06 +0100

This script creates Illustrator paths and points from a .csv file exported from Garmin’s free BaseCamp software.

In BaseCamp, select any number of tracks and/or waypoints and go to File > Export > Export Selection. Select .csv as the file type and save a copy of this file in the same location as the script.

You’ll need to open the script and change the file name of the .csv file near the top, or save your .csv as “GPS Route.csv”.

You can run the script in a document of any dimensions. The tracks and points will be scaled to fit proportionally into the artboard bounds within a margin set in the script. The script will use the active style, so the points may be invisible until you apply some formatting to them. All tracks and points will be correctly labelled in the layers panel, so you can target them easily this way.

The waypoint objects created in the script have a “Symbol” property which is not used, but you could easily modify the script to take advantage of this (eg applying a style or using an appropriate symbol from the library).

I’d appreciate any feedback, and would love to hear if you find the script useful. If you have any trouble with it, I’d be happy to try to help out.

GPS Track.js

Fractal tree

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:47:22 +0200

This script generates a fractal tree based on the parameters set by the user in the palette (or with the default values). It uses the currently active style.

It can get very slow with large values, so be careful.

Fractal_Tree_1.js

L-System

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:09:26 +0200

An Adobe Illustrator L-System script through Scriptographer
by Håkan Lundgren
© 2011 Monovektor.com

Apparently I put too much text in this field as it does not display all of it. Text has instead been put in as a header of the file explaining how to use the script.

Meanwhile you can get a quick introduction here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lsystem

Early version, though. A bit crude but I hope it works!

* UPDATE - Nov 03, 2011*

The draw command no longer iterates the grammar any further if called more than once.
Some cleaning-up in the code department

L-System.js

L-System_UPDATED.js

Lorem ipsum generator

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:31:06 +0200

One thing that has always been missing from Adobe Illustrator is a dummy-text generator. So, I created this simple script that generates "Lorem ipsum" text, while maintaining text item type styles

the above video shows the following:

1/ if nothing is selected a text box, with the desired amount of text, will be created in the center of the page.
2/ type items can be selected and either replace or add to existing text. in both cases type attributes such as size, leading, and color are maintained. this video shows how the script functions.
3/ punctuation inclusion can be toggled as well as Title Case for headline creation

----------------------------------------------------

i post LoremIpsum with the caveat that although it's stable for me and i use it quite frequently, i can't guarantee that it won't cause problems or not work for someone else (i'm on a mac 10.6 CS5)

Notes
** finally i have access to cs5 and so far as i have tested this script functions without problems using the latest version of scriptographer (2.9.072). i still currently have no consistent way to test on other versions of illustrator (i.e. CS2 or CS4 or CS?) or windows. email is the best way to contact me.

thanks.
Ken

LoremIpsum_0_0.js

EAN 13 barcode generator

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:17:45 +0200

This script generates an EAN 13 barcode from an ISBN number.

Credit must go to Håkan Lundgren for the basis of the script.

This script must be run in an empty document, as all paths in the document are united during the drawing.

The EAN-13 code must be of the form XXX-X-XX-XXXXXX-X for the text to be generated correctly, though it will still work without the hyphens.

The text spacing will need to be manually adjusted if the Min. barwidth is changed from 1 pt.

I’ve set the font to be Myriad Pro Regular, but you can change this easily in the script.

BarMaid.js

Replace with symbol

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:11:29 +0200

This script replaces all selected items with the symbol selected in the Symbols panel.

In my trials the replaced symbol was vertically flipped. You can edit the symbol to counteract this, or maybe another user knows how to fix this in the script.

SymbolReplace.js

Phyllotactic Spirals

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:52:14 +0100

** UPDATE **

a small little script that generates phyllotactic spirals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllotaxis

General Settings: (applies to either mode)

----------------------------------------------------

Dot Spacing = spacing between dots
Size = size of dot
Auto Sizing = dot size increases from center point, the maximum size being what is set by Size

Drawing Type:
Circles = draws dots
Points = draws single points (for easy use with Voronoi Tool)
Lines = connects the vertices (in order) with lines

Modes:

----------------------------------------------------

1/ Concentric Rings

Number of Rings = self explanatory
Ring Spacing = number of points spacing between rings
Ring Rotation = (i'll try and explain) this is the angle of rotations that the last ring will make i.e. if you have 10 rings the 10th ring will be rotate 90 deg, the 9th ring 80 deg, the 8th ring 70 deg, and so on...

----------------------------------------------------

2/ Phyllotactic Spiral

Number of points = i couldn't find a formula that would build these out of rings so it's based on the number of points

----------------------------------------------------

thanks.
Ken

PhyllotacticSpiral_0_1.js