Scripting Illustrator

For the Birds

2012-01-25T23:01:00.000-08:00

Daniel van Willigen's up to his old tricks with a new script, and it seems, a nice new place to show them off on the Behance Network. Daniel has really taken JS4AI, and dialogues to the next level with this one.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to come up with a use for it. Personally I'd just keep it around to run when I'm feeling down. Those silly birds just exude 'everything's gonna be alright...'

Also, if you're on a Mac, check out his cool new 'InfoPanel' script, which prints out assorted bits of standard printing info in a panel beneath your illustration.

Very professional looking.
Daniel assures me this will work on PC in it's next iteration.
cheers,
-J

Set ALL the Things

2012-01-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

Set All the Things!

Ironically, the use case for this script is very specific, but, read on...
I wanted a script that would allow me to set a bunch of differently sized objects to an exact width.

In illustrator it is easy to scale multiple objects at once, but if they are already placed, and I just want to shrink them to an exact size... I draw a blank.

So I wrote this to fix my problem, but while I was at it, I thought it might be fun to make it a little more flexible. You can use this script to bulk re-size things to specific dimensions. Or, if you're feeling a little more adventurous...

For more advanced (or masochistic) users:
You can also pass functions as values, for instance, assuming you entered:

fillColor

as your attribute,
The following value will set color of all selected objects to red:

(function(){var c=new RGBColor();c.red=255;c.green=0;c.blue=30;return c;})();

Not super exciting, I know, but it's a start.
Another slightly more interesting example:

For attributes enter:

fillColor,strokeColor

for values enter:

(function(){var c=new RGBColor(); var r = function(n){return Math.floor(Math.random()*n);} c.red=r(255);c.green=r(255);c.blue=r(255);return c;})();

The above will assign a random color to both the fill and stroke of each selected object. (assuming the object had a stroke to begin with.)

Let's try an even more complex example:
To set stroke, then set random stroke thicknessess and a random stroke color, do this:

attributes:

stroked,strokeWidth,strokeColor

values:

true,(function(){return Math.random()*20;})(),(function(){var c=new RGBColor(); var r = function(n){return Math.floor(Math.random()*n);} c.red=r(255);c.green=r(255);c.blue=r(255);return c;})()

Granted, this is super messy, very error prone, and way overkill. If you want to do something this advanced, and you have the skills to write function closures in a prompt, you could easily just write your own custom script, but for quick 'one-off' tasks that don't need a script, maybe this 'advanced use' will come in handy for someone. If not, then maybe it's a good learning exercise.

Simple, or complex, let me know how you use it in the comments. Just remember, the advanced stuff is not required, the script just defaults to 'width,height', so you don't have to do anything complicated to use it.

Update: Script now takes any standard units, so '20mm' and '6ft' are valid values.
Script now also gives you the option to transform objects from their center, rather than defaulting to top,left.

Unscaling pasted images

2011-12-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

In the past few releases of the CS suite, I've found that when I paste an image from the windows clipboard into Illustrator, the pasted image size is reduced to about 70%. I hope there is just some setting that can turn this off, but being the lazy programmer that I am, I just wrote a couple lines of code to knock the imported graphic back to 100%.

This script can be run on multiple selected items at a time, and will only affect Raster Items.
If the selected item is already at 100% it will not be transformed.

Enjoy,
-J

Generate Color Legend from Swatches

2011-11-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple script that will generate color rectangles in a document for every color in the main swatch palette.

Suppose that you want to create a visual legend of some colors. This script will make a map of ALL the swatches in the documents swatch palette. (If you want to skip the "none" and "registration" values, just edit the script so the "for" loop start at 2 instead of 0.)

Just run this script, and a legend of named swatch rectangles with (by default) their CMYK values will appear in a nicely grouped object on the top of your document.

Sound off in the comments if you find this one useful.

cheers,
-J

Script Bay: Run Any Script from a Panel

2011-11-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

One of my users just sent me a message about a new (free) Illustrator plug-in that allows you to run any script on your hard drive from a unified panel.

The website says that it is only compatible with CS4 and above, but this sounds like a huge convenience for those with compatible versions. Check it out!

Expand a raster tracing object

2011-10-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

This week Hugo Tait sent me an excellent question about how to expand a tracing object.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much of an example in the javascript guide.
It took a little experimentation, but I came up with the following script, and thought I'd share it with all of you here. This will take the current selected Raster object (embedded not placed) and convert it into 4 color geometry.

var doc = activeDocument;
var obj = doc.selection[0];
var r = obj.trace();
var options = r.tracing.tracingOptions;
options.tracingMode = TracingModeType.TRACINGMODECOLOR;
options.ignoreWhite=true;
options.maxColors=4;
redraw();
r.tracing.expandTracing();

cheers,
-J

Update to Scallop Template

2011-07-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about Hiroyuki's 'connect the dots' script, and was wondering, what happens if you have a reverse need, where you have a spline, and you want to distribute an object across all the anchor points.

I remembered I had written something like that when I made the Scallop Template script, but I dialed it down to only sharp corners, because it seemed silly to put a scallop in the middle of a rounded segment. I have now updated scallopTemplate.js with the option to draw a circle around sharp corners only, or around all anchor points.

If you have a line graph, you can use scallopTemplate to drop circles over the anchors like this:

If you then ungroup the circle objects, you can then use copyToMultipleObjects to replace the circles with whatever object suits your fancy...

If for some reason, you don't like the extra click, and plan to only use one or the other, you can edit line 26 of the script from:

var selectAll = confirm("Scallop corners only?");

var selectAll = true;

Have fun!

-J

Showcase: Scott Daris

2011-07-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

I got a wonderful email from Scott Daris, a graphic designer who is using my scripts for a variety of designs ranging from editorial illustration to non-profit work. Upon request, Scott was kind enough to send me some examples of his work.

I like seeing what people do with my scripts, and hopefully you do too, because I'm posting them here.

Scott used vary_hues.js to quickly turn this collection of grey blocks:

...into this one:

In his words:

I used it for quickly colorizing the squares in the buildings for a little editorial illustration. I know you can achieve this effect in other ways, such as object mosaic, Recolor Artwork, etc, but your script was great because I quickly did a bunch of them, automatically randomizing the colors so each one was different, and then just picked my favorite one. Easy!

Scott is also a fan of textTweaker.js, which he used as a starting point to add a playful feel to the typography below, creating cool blocks of text that ooze with personality.

I hope these use cases inspire you, as they inspire me, to create something new.

cheers,

-J

Connect the Dots II

2011-06-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hiroyuki posted an update to the connect the dots script, which sets a maximum difference between connectors.

This allows for some REALLY COOL stuff.

I found a copy of a voronoi stipple program similar to the one mentioned, which makes VECTOR pointallized svgs using the command line. (these CAN absolutely be loaded by Illustrator)

The advanced options didn't seem to work for me on initial try, but after opening a 'cmd' window and navigating to the containing folder, the following ran fine, although it took about 3 minutes to finish.

voronoi.exe test.png out.svg

I also ran across a really neat way to take things a step further using a Traveling Salesman Solver python script for Inkscape at the EvilMadScience site. I didn't try this one because I don't have inkscape installed, but after seeing that you can write scripts for it in python, I might just take it for a whirl...

Anyway, cool art abounds. I am in awe.

Distribute Stacked Objects to a grid (sort of...)

2011-06-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

New script goodness!!!

Distribute Stacked Objects is a script I cooked up to take any number of selected objects, and spread them out a bit. The script doesn't create an exact grid, but it does prevent objects from overlapping, which is handy if you've just imported 50 .eps icons. Take it for a spin and see if it improves your quality of life. I've tested it on CS5 for Windows. Good luck, and happy illustrating.

right click here to acquire.

cheers,
-J

Connecting the Dots

2011-05-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hiroyuki just posted a new script that connects the dots, literally. It draws a line through the centers of a collection of selected objects with options such as nearest horizontal, nearest vertical, nearest, farthest, etc...

I haven't played with it yet, but it looks like it could be a really fun toy, and possibly even a handy visualization tool. I'm going to run it on a few of my latest logo projects and see if I can get it to do something unexpected. Post in the comments if you find an interesting way to use this script. Mad props to Hiroyuki, dude, keep on script'n!

Save Layer States

2011-04-16T01:03:00.000-07:00

OK, here's a really quick shot at saving layer states.

The script doesn't track by layer name, so if you add or remove a layer between uses, your layer visibility will be shifted. Fortunately, I'm using a simple system of 1's and 0's to track visibility, so you can easily edit the saved values if you added or removed a layer between runs.

Another limitation/caveat: This version doesn't look at sub-layers, just top level layers.

Someone who know how to write plugins should probably write something like this, but until then, if you're dying for a layer "save state" script, this should get you started.

Just run the script posted below and a prompt will come up with a bunch of ones and zeros in the text entry field. These represent the visibility of each root layer in your document. If you want to save your layer state, just manually copy the prompt data to a text document for use later.

When you want to reset your visibility to an older saved state, just rerun the script, and paste your saved string back into the prompt window, (erasing the existing data) and your layers will return to the original visibility settings.

Enjoy, and if you have any suggestions, requests or improvements, please email me, or post in the comments below.
cheers,
-J

var doc = activeDocument;

var binArr=[];
var i = 0;



for(var d=doc.layers.length-1;d>=0;d--)
{
        i= doc.layers[d].visible ? 1:0;
        binArr.unshift(i);
}

var p=prompt("Copy values to store layer visibility states, paste new data below to change.",binArr.join(""));

if (p!=null)
{
    binArr = p.split("");
    for(var d=binArr.length-1;d>=0;d--)
    {
            if(doc.layers.length  > d){
                doc.layers[d].visible  = binArr[d] ==    0   ?  false : true;
            }
    }
    
}

Quick and Dirty Label Layers

2011-04-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple script I wrote to auto-label layers. It will only label the layers of objects that you've selected, and it will only label a layer if the object has a name, or is a placed image with a image link.
If an object has a name, that will take priority over the link name. I might make this an official script, but meanwhile, take this for a testdrive. Just copy the script below and save it as

AutoLabelLayers.jsx

It should work cross platform. Let me know how it goes...

cheers,
-J

// AutoLabelLayers.jsx beta JS4AI script by wundes.com
var doc = activeDocument;
var sel = doc.selection;
var selLen = sel.length;

//prevent renaming of existing layer names.
var renameLayers = true;

for(var x=0; x<selLen;x++)
{
    assignLayerName(sel[x]);
}
function assignLayerName(obj)
{
    var imageName = getName(obj);
    if(imageName != null)
    {
        var layer = obj.layer;
        while (layer.parent.typename=="Layer")
        {
            //name all layers up the layer tree:
           //layer.name = imageName;
            nameLayer(layer,imageName);
            layer = layer.parent;
                
        }
           nameLayer(layer,imageName);
     } 
}


function nameLayer(_layer,_name)
{
        if(   (_layer.name.indexOf("Layer ")  == 0)  ||   (renameLayers == true)  )
        {
            _layer.name = _name;
        }
}

function getName(obj)
{
       if (obj.name.length>0)
       {
           return obj.name;
        }
   else
   if(obj.typename == "PlacedItem" || obj.typename == "RasterItem" )
    {
        var nString = obj.file.toString();        
        var fileDiv="\\";
        if(nString.indexOf("/")  != -1)
        {
            fileDiv = "/";
        }
        var nArr = nString.split(fileDiv);
        var nString = nArr[nArr.length - 1];
        if(nString.indexOf(".") == nString.length-4)
        {
            nString = nString.split(".")[0];
         }
        return nString;        
    }
return null;
}

PURE CHAOS

2010-12-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

Once again, Mr. Van Willigen has been busy making some pallatey goodness. Daniel promises that this will be the last new script this year. (Which hopefully means that we'll see some new stuff from him in January.) Here we have some very organic looking conglomerations of randomized shapes with lots-and-lots of configurable options. Add it to your arsenal of drawing tools. I bet you could do some cool stuff pairing this with my organify script...

You can download PURE CHAOS here. And yes, this time I actually checked the link before posting. :)

Happy holidays all!
-J

2010-12-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know if Daniel is planning to write a scripting book or something, but he's well on his way with the examples he's pumping out.

Check his latest script "Spiral" which does what it says, but with an effluence of configurable options. Backwards compatible to CS3.
Rock on Daniel!

-J

Flip an object

2010-11-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

This morning, Steve from the UK wrote me and asked me how to run a "reflect x" command on an object using JavaScript.
I assumed this could be solved with a simple command, such as in ActionScript, where you can write "scaleX= -1", but after peeking through the docs, I couldn't find any "scale" properties on the objects.

I found the answer in the matrix object (found on page 99 of the CS5 Javascript scripting reference)
For convenience, here's an example code to flip every object in your document along the 'y' axis: (reflect x)

if ( app.documents.length > 0 ) {

    // here's the "flip horizontal" magic:
    var totalMatrix = app.getScaleMatrix(-100,100);

    // apply the transformation to all art in the document
    var doc = app.activeDocument;
    for ( i = 0; i < doc.pageItems.length; i++ ) {
        doc.pageItems[i].transform( totalMatrix );
    }
}

cheers,
-J

More from Daniel Van Willigen

2010-11-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

While I've been busy playing with Flash and Actionscript, Daniel has been busy writing new and improving existing scripts. Now everything is CS3 compatible. See the link at the bottom of this post for a zip file of everything mentioned here.

Daniel's sent me the boxit script and circleit scripts from last time, and now has some new ones as well. There is starit, smileit, and blowfishit which display the respective critters in purdy geometric arrangements.

He has a cool customizable wave generating script called Totally Twisted.

Also included in the zip is his Trace vector to script which he used to create some of the above scripts. Check out his "blowfishit" script as a cute example.
All of the above lovingly zipped into a convenient bundle for your perusal here.

cheers,
-J

New Scripts from Daniel

2010-10-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

New Scripts from Scripting Rock-Star Daniel van Willigen.

Daniel has written two brilliant scripts, boxIt.jsx, and CircleIT.jsx that generate fun "eye-candy", but if you look at his code, it is very instructive and clean as well.

He has also found a great way to utilize dialogs, which I will be emulating in my future scripts.
If you are a designer, or a coder, I recommend you download and check these out.

I have been so lax in my blog updates, that in the meanwhile, he has written ANOTHER brilliant script that will take any geometry on the page and will EXPORT it as a new JavaScript so you can dynamically create that geometry inside of your new script.

Without further ado... Check it..

Oh yeah, I wrote something simple too, check the updates on my scripts page. :)

best,
-J

News

2010-07-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

No new scripts from me today, but a lot of cool info.

After a brief email volley with Nathaniel Kelso, I checked out Kelso's Tweet's and he's found some killer posts that I want to remember, so I'm putting them here. Hopefully you might find some value as well.

If you want to export artboards as pngs check this cool link at hicks design.

Scripting tip here for storing script settings or information in the doc or prefs file,
Both app and document in CS3 have a insertLabel() and extractLabel() see the details here.

If you're a fan of EditPlus, Adam Pocs has submitted JS4AI syntax files. Check out the site to grab the syntax files.

Also from Kelso's tweet's, I found a cool scripting tool called ScriptBay on inTools website. Check it here. I'll be playing with it and will post any interesting interactions that occur. That's it for now. Happy Scripting all.
-J

Cool Art

2010-06-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Pócs Ádám (RoyalJerry) in Hungary, who has made some cool Deco patterns using Fleurify. I asked how he did it, and he emailed me a step by step on how they were made. Good stuff!

Check it, and the crazy Deco images below...

The procedure:

Illustrator part

Draw a circle (square, octagon, anything, that looks good and symmetrical considering each axis if you rotate the image with 22.5 degrees)
Wundes / Fleurify with (mostly every time) more than 100
Pathfinder / Divide
Ungroup
Wundes / ArcTwister (now you have to experiment with it, sometimes undo, then again...)
Group all
Apply style: appearance with a 3pt white stroke and a 9pt black one
Export as PSD (surely you can flatten the image, the PS-part is based on whole layers, not just the illustration outline)

Photoshop part

Open as RGB and if it is not flat, flatten the image (so that the background would be white against a black illustration)
Create a layer from the background
Duplicate it
Rotate the duplication with 45 degrees
Set it to difference blend mode

That's all. I sometimes played with a "double-set" -- that means I duplicated the whole layer set in Photoshop once again, merged them, rotated with 22,5 degrees and set its blend mode back to difference.

Jerry has some other cool images on his blog. It's in Hungarian, so I don't know what it says, but I do like the pictures...

cheers,
-J

2010-06-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Good news, exportLayers works on at least Snow Leopard. :)

BTW: Minor bug fix.
The toggle for layer name vs. number was backwards.

The current version posted is correct.
If you downloaded before the 24th just re-download the script.

cheers and happy illustrating,
-J

Export Layers as Images

2010-06-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hey script kiddies!

I know, I know... It's been a while. Hopefully this will make up for some of the lonely feelings you've had to suffer through.

Behold my newest creation: exportLayers.jsx

It will export as many images as you have layers in an .ai document.

And provides the option for you to process multiple open documents or just the current active document.

You can batch export images like this as PNG, JPG, or GIF with a single click:

just by creating a layer structure like this:

Make sure your static layers are locked.

All unlocked layers will be exported, regardless of visibility.

Layers that are both locked AND hidden will be ignored completely.

....and if that weren't cool enough...

The script also auto-generates a production script into your chosen images export directory, so if you ever need to re-run the batch, just re-open all the same source files, double click the .jsx file in your image export directory, and it will skip the dialog and re-export all the images with the same settings.

Happy Illustrating,

-J

New Version of Arc Twister

2009-05-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

ArcTwister is reborn... Same functionality, but new interface. Now you don't need to install a separate SWF, and the dialog is better than v.1. New dialog looks like this:

And, like the swf version, the object(s) are adjusted each time you release a slider... Slick huh?

enjoy,
-J

New Script "Extrude Faces"

2009-05-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

Extrude Faces

Ta Dahhhh! A quick way to extrude selected anchors from a path object.
Just select a handful of sequential anchors with the Direct Selection Arrow (it's keyboard shortcut is "a" if you didn't know...)

When you run this script, it adds an anchor point at the beginning and the end of your point selection. This allows you to drag your selected points as if they were extruded from the pathObject.

This script was really a solution looking for a problem, I just wanted to see if I could do it.
Of course, sometimes these projects turn out to be the most popular...
If you find it useful, let me know. Check it.

cheers,
-J

New Script: allPoints

2009-05-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

S'poze you have a shape like this, and you want to draw a line from every point to every other point. OK, no problem. Just turn on "snap to points" drop a few lines, and you're done in 10 seconds. But what if you want to do something a little more complex, or something a little MORE complex?
Well if you do, you're going to love my new little script allPoints.

This script draws all connecting lines groups them together. The original object is kept but is not included in the group. It works on any single selected path item, and it's really, really fast . . . even works on stars and objects drawn freehand.

So, enough babble. Get to it kiddies - make me proud.