Andrew's Vector Plugins Volume 4 Manual

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Andrew's (Vector) Plug-ins Volume 4 - Multi Toolbox / Points Plug-ins Introduction Thanks for your interest in the multitool plug-in toolbox plug-in and the plug-in bonus tool (points tool), I hope you find them of use and interest. There are also many other plugins available on the graphicxtras.com site: in particular, the vector wand works well in combination with this toolset. Any questions, please let me know

NOTE: They are toolbox plugins, they appear in the toolbox of Illustrator and NOT the filters or objects or effects menu or any other menu.

Select the plug-ins via the plug-in toolbox and expand out all the plug-ins in the toolbox (CS3 CS2 CS 10)

Select the plug-ins via the plug-in toolbox dropdown at the bottom of the dialog (CS4)

Andrew

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Install location for the toolbox plug-ins Please install the two plug-ins (AIP files) into the plug-ins folder of the host application. To remove, simply remove the plug-ins. The files to install vary from platform and version. Please use the following examples (alternative locations exist and you can find more via the Illustrator documentation) PC CS4 C:\program files\adobe \adobe illustrator CS4\plugins\graphicxtras PC CS3 C:\program files\adobe \adobe illustrator CS3\plugins\graphicxtras PC CS2/12 c:\program files\adobe\adobe illustrator CS2\plug-ins\graphicxtras PC CS/11 c:\program files\adobe\illustrator CS\plugins\graphicxtras PC 10 c:\program files\adobe \illustrator 10\plugins\graphicxtras

OS X CS4 HD:applications:adobe illustrator CS4:plug-ins:graphicxtras OS X CS3 HD:applications:adobe illustrator CS3:plug-ins:graphicxtras OS X CS2 HD:applications:adobe illustrator CS2:plug-ins:graphicxtras OS X CS HD:applications:adobe illustrator CS:plug-ins:graphicxtras OS X 10 HD:applications:adobe illustrator 10:plug-ins:graphicxtras

NOTE If the 'graphicxtras' folder does not exist, simply create it in the plug-ins folder or use another folder name. You can also just place the file in the top level plug-ins folder if you wish but by putting it in a sub folder makes it easier to find the plugins tools at a later date for updates / removal / moving to another machine)

NOTE for MAC OS X CS2: please install the entire set of files / folders in the plug-ins for Illustrator CS2 and not just individual files etc, the entire set of contents are required for the plug-in to work

NOTE for DEMO: If you are using the demo, please note the plug-in toolkit will only display while you are selecting the path and dragging the mouse / pen and will vanish on release, the full version doesn't do this and keeps the paths

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Alternate plug-in installation location Because of recent improvements in security, you may wish to install the plug-in sets in an alternate location such as an user account and not the default plug-in folder.

If you are using a basic level account and one without admin features, you might not be able to save the AIP plug-in files to the usual folder. Set up an alternate or secondary plug-in folder in your user account and then copy the files there.

1) Go to the edit > preferences > plug-ins

2) Check the additional plug-ins folder option

3) Specify / browse for your required file in your user account (such as 'third party plug-ins' etc)

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Trademarks Illustrator is registered trademark of Adobe. Photoshop is registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

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Copyright The plugins are copyright of 1999-2010, Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). This product was released by Abneil Software ltd (UK based company)

Future updates Please use the link you were sent (or if not, please store the serial number or purchase details associated with this order) to get future updates

Plug-in page on graphicxtras.com For more up to date information about the plugin set, http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/aiplugin4.htm

Any questions, please e-mail support on Support@graphicxtras.com

The latest copy of the manuals can all be found via the following page, http://www.graphicxtras.com /manuals.htm

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Toolbox The plug-ins are toolbox plug-ins. As mentioned earlier in the introduction, they do not appear in the filters or the effects menu or any menu, they will appear in the last few slots of the toolbox.

Tools CS3 CS2 CS1 10: The plug-in is split across multiple plug-Ins, simply expand the plug-in tool to see all the plugins (CS3 CS2 CS 10)

With CS 4: the multi toolbox plug-in is now a single plug-in (it was originally 13 sub plug-ins but now to access the different plug-in effects, use the plug-in effects dropdown to swap between tools) (CS4)

The points toolbox plug-in comes as a single plug-in also, again a dropdown sets the various plug-in functionality

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Options To access all the options for each tool, double click the icon or press return (CS3 CS2 CS1 10)

To access the options for each tool, select the tool and the palette will appear. If you delete or close the palette, double click the tool to re-display the tool. To change between tools, simply select the tool from the plug-in dropdown (listing all the tools such as the paint and spiral and random etc) (CS4)

Modifiers (Shift Space Command Ctrl) for Multi-tool All the tools have various modifications (while in use) where you can modify the number of copies etc while using the tool by holding the shift or the ctrl / shift or command / shift keys down during use. For example, the duplication / rows and columns tool

1) Shift key and ctrl / command combination modifies the horizontal copies

2) Shift key held down modifies the vertical copies

3) Space key modifies the rotate value

4) Ctrl / command key to stop the trail / trace option

Each tool modifies a copies or rotation etc value and this can be useful to interactively change the settings (without having to go to the dialog by double clicking the icon).

The interactive setting can be a blessing as well as a curse as if you accidentally hold down the shift key, the plug-in will update the setting and instead of 10 copies you might find that you are dealing with 100 copies. Hold the shift etc down generally also returns the value to a lower value but if the shift etc is still held down the value will still keep on increasing or decreasing.

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General use / issues The plug-ins both work in the same basic way, select an object or multiple objects and then drag while holding the mouse or art pen down and then the end shapes will appear on releasing the mouse / lifting the pen. The toolbox plug-in can be used with a path or multiple paths or symbols or images or mesh or text included in a symbol (you can also include an entire page of text as a symbol and then use the toolbox plugins to manipulate text that way).

WARNING: The plug-in can also be used with (non symbol) text in AI 10 but the plugin toolbox can no longer use text in CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4 as the text features changed with CS1. This may change in future releases of the plugin but at present, any attempt to select text and apply the tool will result in an error or no change.

WARNING: Some toolbox functionality will not work with images or symbols or meshes or gradients such as the manipulation of points or colors or stroke etc as these Illustrator elements do not include points or fill / stroke etc and therefore any attempt to change them are ignored. Again, this may change with future releases of the plugin. Future releases of the plugin set also might include additional types of path.

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Buttons OK : Sets the values (CS3 CS2 CS1 10). This is no longer included in the plugin set (CS4) as the tool options are now floating / tabbed dialogs

Cancel : Ignores any changes to the dialog (CS3 CS2 CS1 10) This is no longer included on the dialog (CS4) as the tool options are now floating / tabbed dialogs.

Reset : Resets all the values for all the dialogs, global as well as local settings. This button remains on the plugin dialog. An alternative is to re-start Illustrator as this will set all the values back to the default settings.

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Pen / art pad and pressure modification of settings The plug-ins also can be used with a pen. To apply the plugin tool with pressure, set the pressure setting to ON. The pressure is a global setting and all the plug-in dialogs will be updated. Please note, not to be used with a mouse (which has no specific pressure setting). The only factor modifiable by pressure at the moment is opacity. This is more useful in combination with the trail / trace settings

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Global settings The dialogs all have their settings split between local and global. The global settings can be updated from any dialog and update all the dialogs. The end result of the setting depends on the functionality of the plug-in.

Fill color dropdown The fill option requires there to be a fill in the first place as well as a fill the same as the document color model (i.e. no mixing CMYK with RGB etc). The fill dropdown will apply the color to the generated paths in order of creation. If the option is set to fill color ignore, the color of the path is not changed. If set to a [To white ] or [ to black ] etc then the color is applied as a fraction of the difference between the current color and the end color such as white or black, the last generated color being the color listed. The 'to swatch' option colors the paths to the current selected swatch color. By default this is 2 (white if the swatch palette has not been changed). It is not a visual swatch display so it is a little bit of trial and error to match the color and depends on the setup of your swatch palette.

The first swatch is [none] (0) and the second swatch is registration (1). Say you want to use Mars Red, you will have to enter 12 (if this is the default RGB swatch palette). Some of the fill options are random options and these generate the paths with random colors or random colors based on the swatches and these can include gradients as well as patterns (which co-exist with the colors in the swatch palette). Some of the fill options are listed as [ Alternate white ] etc and they alternate the generated paths color white color white etc.

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Fill color swatch If you select the [ to swatch ] or [ alternate swatch ] the swatch setting will be activated and you can enter a swatch number such as 12 (mars red in the default or 2 which is white etc). A little trial and error.

You can at any time change the order of the swatches and the numbers as well as altering the swatches included in the swatches palette (such as making the entire palette blues or reds). All the other color options will have the swatches field de-activated and ignored.

Fill color process Instead of even distribution of the [to white ] or [ to black ] etc the fill end result can be set to beyond the actual number of paths or set to end before the end of generated paths. If the the initial color is blue and 10 paths are to be generated and the setting is 5 and the [ to ] option is white then only the first half of the items will have a blue color before turning white, the remaining will be all generated white. Alternatively, if the setting is 40 then all the generated paths will be blue and the [ to white] will never reach a white fill.

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Stroke color dropdown As above but for the stroke. If there is no stroke, this is ignored. The stroke setting is only relvant if the path has a stroke, if the path selected is an image etc then the stroke is also ignored.

Stroke color swatch As above but for stroke. The stroke can only be selected to a standard color or a pattern, gradients are ignored.

Stroke color process As above but for stroke.

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Pattern tile dropdown By default, the plug-in generates only the number of copies selected and between the ranges limited by the start and end of the cursor drag (pattern / tile ignore). If the pattern option is set to [ document center ] , the paths are generated as before but also repeated (color opacity etc) as a reflection based around the document center, creating a tile (this can be then used by the define pattern to save the pattern for future use). Other options include the pattern based around the [ end of the cursor ] (the current mouse position) as well as the [ start cursor position ] (where you first click) and the position of the original path as well as many other variant pattern designs such as pattern based on a mirror and not a tile.

The tile options can be used as a close equivalent to the Freehand's Mirror Xtra tool. With the latest version of the plugin, there are no many more than the earlier 4 patterns. Each of the pattern options can be used in different ways with different tools as well as repeating the application of the pattern / apply to create very complex patterns (or snowflakes).

The pattern feature can also be used in combination with different tools as well as different settings (such as opacity or color options or scaling or jitter) as well as used with the trail cursor and also the modifiers to modify the start and end position during operation. The pattern feature can be used to create truly stunning designs. It also can generate a lot of additional paths, please take note.

Some of the tools are more or less effective with different pattern positions such as the paint tool and the pattern about end position has little effect and the windmill and the [ original path ] option just generates paths over the top of the other, this is even more so with the current list of patterns. The patterns list is the same for each plugin tool, some of the plugin patterns will appear to do the same thing but the result often also depends on the start and end position and this may just result in a similar design as others (even though the underlying algorithm is different).

The pattern feature can also be useful in combinations of multiple paths, especially using the original path option where different pattern center (s) can be used to create extremely complex pattern designs.

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The pattern feature also works well with the trace / trail option and the windmill tool / rotate factor. Combine these to create truly unique and weird and wonderful designs.

As with all these tools, you can use symbols + symbols (text) and many others than basic paths. Use to create basic designs as well as extreme distressed and grunged designs and more.

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Scaling line width dropdown If the path is re-sized / scaled then by default the stroke width is unaffected and you end up with the same size stroke width for a small path as the original bigger path.

Set the stroke scaling to standard scaling stroke width to reduce (or increase) the stroke width in line with the new size of the path. Other options are also available such as alternate stroke width.

NOTE Not all the plug-ins use scaling at present (though they will in future versions)

NOTE: The scaling is not relevant to some of the plugins such as windmill. The scaling is more useful relating to plugins such as scaledown tool

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Slowdown Not really a visual feature it is not possible to show an example of the slowdown. The slowdown setting by default is set to 0, this means that the plugin generates the paths as quickly as it can depending on the processing

by Illustrator / plugin / your machine - this might generate 100s and 100s of paths in a short period which might overwhelm your machine or slow down future responses from Illustrator. You might like to set the slowdown setting to something like 5 or 6 and this will generate paths only each 5 or 6 times the plugin routine is called by the movement of your tool drag. If you set the value to a very large figure, you might end up with no response from the tool. The slowdown is really only of use with the trace / trail feature as 1000s of paths might be generated (as well as in the paint tool). If you suddenly find a situation where no paths are being created by the plugin then the slowdown setting might be the reason. As with all the tools in Illustrator, you can modify the slowdown value directly by entering a value into the field or you can click the up and down control (though the values can only be 0 upwards)

Blend [R] The plug-in generates the paths in normal blend mode. If set to randomized then each path generated will be set to a new blending mode so the path might be applied using lighten or difference etc, the next one might be set to multiply and so on. This might result in an interesting result or a mismash of color effects. The paths can always be re-selected on completion of the plugin tool and then the blending modes can be re-set to normal or perhaps difference or another single blending mode. If you select the paths and then use the pathfinder tool to the paths, the paths will end up with the same blending mode. The blending mode can be used with paths as well as other path types

Opacity [R] The plug-in applies a random opacity between 0 and 100 to the paths. Subsequent generated paths maybe set to 10% 50% then 12% and so on. This can result in a more painted effect of generated paths. The opacity feature is also useful combined with the trail / trace set to ON. If you wish to re-set all the opacity settings back to 100% then simply select all the paths and go to the opacity field on the top bar of Illustrator and set the paths back to 100%. The opacity option also works fine with images and symbols and symbols text etc

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Place dropdown By default the new paths are generated above the existing path or original path. The plugin includes options to place the generated paths beneath the previous path.

Other options include alternating the layering of paths beneath / above in a variety of steps. Example being layer path above, then below and then below and then above and then below and then below and then above and so on. This is useful for creating unusual weaving designs with the selected paths. Also useful combined with blurring effects using opacity

NOTE: The placement works well with some types of path and not others. If the paths are all the same design, you might not notice any difference in the placement of the paths (unless you check the layers palette).

NOTE: If the layers is set to ON, the placement settings are ignored as the layers override the place beneath

Layer Generates the paths for an entire action onto a single layer. More useful perhaps in combination with the trail cursor feature (as that generates repeated paths and repeated new layers and is useful for animations etc)

Pressure This modifies the opacity based on pen pressure. Works with a mouse as well but it is much much more effective with a pen and pad.

NOTE: If set to ON and you are using a mouse then the paths will be set to a default opacity of 50%

Width

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If no stroke applied or width available, this is ignored.

This randomizes the stroke width between 0 and the current path value. This functionality is not applied to images or symbols etc as these do not contain stroke information.

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Multi toolbox plug-in sections Access now via the plug-in dropdown (CS4)

Access each of the tools by expanding the tools out from the base grid tool (CS3 CS2 CS 10)

Rows and columns / grid tool Creates a grid of selected paths or images or symbols

Touch: The plug-in attempts to re-size the paths to touch the bounding box

Box: Useful for creating pattern, defines a square border / box and use this for the define pattern command. Works best when the outline box is greater than the range of paths.

Rotation [R]: Requires the rotation to be set to greater than 0. The rotation is based around the document zero position. Set the rotation to ON will randomize the rotation between 0 and the current setting.

Checkerboard options: Offers a selection of loose checkerboard styles for the duplication. Some of the options error with the bottom left initial item and you may wish to remove item manually. The checkerboard feature removes alternate paths (or different patterns) from alternate rows. Useful combined with the apply and turn options.

Apply options: The first dropdown is for the horizontal direction, the second dropdown for the vertical. The dropdown modifies the scaling of paths and their adjacent items. Use to create unusual patterns and designs with the grid.

Turn options: Turn options dropdown applies a uniform rotation to alternate paths (such as first path 0, second path 90 degrees, third path 0 degrees). A number of turn options are available. They work well in combination with

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the apply and the checkerboard settings. Use the turn options to create many interesting grid designs.

Locked golden (h) and (v): The locked option overrides the locked golden (h) and (v). Instead of locking the horizontal and vertical using horizontal = vertical, the locked golden applies a factor of 1.61 to create the rows and columns based on the golden ratio / rule.

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Drag tool Create a zoom or row of paths. To use the plug-in select a symbol or path or multiple paths or images and then drag from the start position of those paths to an end position and then release the mouse. Upon releasing the mouse, repeat copies will be generated of the selected paths. As with all the plugins, the various factors such as placement, layers, fill color etc can be applied. The drag tool is particularly useful on repeat applies so select a path and then drag and then repeat that drag with the newly generated paths and so on to create complex designs. The drag tool also is useful combined with the various key modifiers (especially when used with the trail / trace checkbox ON)

If you set the locked to ON then you will be able to drag only in 90 degrees, basically across or down.

There are no additional tool settings for the drag tool so if you wish to learn about the jitter and rotation etc fields, please check out the local settings fields (the local settings can be modified and not affect the other dialogs).

The other settings such as the fill options will be reflected throughout all the other dialogs.

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Soft Center tool Variant of the drag tool but based around the selection center. More useful if you select multiple paths. The paths are then basically connected to each other in the drag.

Initial gap: Controls the initial distance from the center of the soft center tool. If the gap is set to 0 (default) then the paths will meet at the center (the end point of your mouse drag), this means that the paths will be overlapping at the center and perhaps is not the most elegant of solutions, though if the opacity is randomized or set to say 50% then you will be able to see the other paths beneath or above. Set the initial gap to say 20px (though this depends on the sizes of the paths being used) and there will be a gap at the center and no overlap. If you set the initial gap is too big the paths will be pushed outwards instead of inwards to the end point. This can be useful for zoom effects.

Initial gap dropdown: Modifies the measurements used by the plugin and instead of using the default points, the gap can be set to cm or inches.

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Framed tool The plug-in to create a basic frame based on selected paths (the frame is only a square frame, if you wish to create a circular frame then I would suggest you check out the features of the windmill tool). The type of edge can be controlled by the edge dropdown. The stroke as well as fill can be manipulated in this plug-in. The scale option is useful for additional frames created using the tool. The number of elements on each side are controlled by the copies field, this is split into width (across) and height (up).

Edge options: Changes the direction of the paths from edge to edge (there are four edges to the frame - top left right and bottom) Other options include randomization of the selected paths as they are generated around the frame.

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Rim Random tool Plug-in for creating random jittered paths, This tool is useful for creating a localized area of randomized paths; it is also useful for creating brushes as the generated paths can be copied to the brushes palette and saved as a brush in Illustrator (or you can copy the brushes and then export the brush designs to other applications such as Photoshop. The scale settings control the size of generated paths between a minimum and maximum size, the scaling can be locked horizontal and vertically as with the other plugins. The plugin also works well with opacity setting to create softer randomized designs confetti. The size of the area generated is based on the original source position stretching out to approximately half of the distance to the end point of the rim random tool

Scale (minimum): The minimum scaling applied horizontally and vertically. If you want smaller fragments of paths set the value to 5%. If you want the paths to be the same size, set the minimum and maximum to the same value.

Scale (maximum) : The maximum size / scaling of the path. To have more paths of a bigger size than the original path, set the scaling to 105% etc

Rotation [R]: By default, on. Rotates the paths randomly about the path center. If off, no rotation is applied and all the paths are generated at the same angle as the source design.

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Windmill tool For circular path creation. The plug-in can modify the rotation or angle of the paths aligning them to the direction or the angle can match the position / angle of the cursor to the original (use this to try out many designs very quickly). The plug-in comes with a number of modifiers. Use the modifiers (to the values) during the cursor drag

Shift + ctrl (command) : rotate value is updated Shift : copies updated Space bar + ctrl (command) : alternate shift updated Space bar : Rotate factor (gap) updated Ctrl (command) : Trail / trace suspended (only useful during the trace / trail operation)

Circles (CS4): Generates additional circles based on the first inner circle. By default the circles entry is set to 1 and just generates one circle. If set to 5 then it will create 5 circles. The more circles generated, the slower the response time to re-generate all the paths and designs.

The circles uses the circle radius setting to space the circles. If the circles is set to 2 and the circles radius is set to 100 then the gap between the inner circle and the outer circle will be 100; if the circles are set to 5 then the gaps between each circle will be 100 100 100 100 (in addition to the initial value).

Circles Radius (CS4): Ignored if the circles is set to 1 (default) but if circles is set to 5 then 5 circles will be created with the gap between them will be 100 each.

Please note that the distance might not reflect the displayed distance as other factors are also applied such as the rotate factor, the alt shift, apply mode, turn setting etc, and the value displayed might be more or less than the 100 set: the 100 set is only based on the default state of the plugin. The 100 also might be in cms or points or inches depending on the measurements option dropdown.

Alt shift : Shifts (radial) alternate paths of the windmill

Turn (CS4): The turn value creates an elliptical effect on the windmill. If set to 0 then no effect will be noticed. If set to greater than 0 then the circle will be modified. The actual modification depends on the turn options dropdown. The defautl elliptical design is vertical but the dropdown can modify this and the design will be sheared / slanted or horizontal or a variety of other styles. The turn setting works well in combination with the match checkbox and also the rotate factor which turns it into a twisting fan design.

Turn options (CS4): Modifies the application of the turn value, the default being vertical elliptical modification.

Initial : Only of real use if the trail feature has been set to ON, this stops any processing of the windmill until the

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initial gap is reached

Scale : More useful used in combo with the trail feature.

Re-sizes the paths as you drag the cursor, reducing or increasing the size of the windmill paths

Rotate factor : Instead of using the vertical and horizontal cursor position (and start point) to define the area of the rotated paths, the plug-in applies a factor to the distance used between generated paths. The plug-in works best with multiple paths, such as re-applying a windmill design to another windmill design or perhaps multiple paths such as expanded text. The rotate factor also works very well with the match option (set to ON). Use the rotate factor to create waved and distorted path and curved sets, distressed designs and much more. The rotate factor is also interactively updated by holding down the space bar.

Even more extreme designs can be created combining the rotate factor with the match option and the color options and the trail / trace functionality (though the end result may be many 1000s of paths). Also of interest is combining the rotate factor and the match option and the pattern functionality: use this to create truly extreme and dynamic pattern designs with selected paths (again, best with multiple paths) or symbols or converted symbol / text.

The rotate factor can be used to create some truly wow designs with even basic path sets.

Measurements dropdown : Apply the distance settings in points etc (default)

Apply dropdown: Apply different scaling to newly generated paths. Instead of applying the path at 100% alternate paths are reduced or increased in size. A wide variety of different apply re-scaling are available. Use to create stunning different pattern designs.

Match: Match the angle of paths to the cursor position

Align: If off, the path is not rotated and remains as initial path. If on, the path is aligned to the center

Object - copies: Apply the processing of the windmill based on the object (as a group) or apply to the path and repeat for the group. Useful in combination with some of the apply modes.

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Scaledown tool A variant of the drag tool but offers twists to the paths as well as reduction or increase in the sizing of the paths generated relative to original

Twists: Turns the paths through a number of cycles

Opacity fade: Fades the path

Apply dropdown: Apply different scaling to newly generated paths. Instead of applying the path at 100% alternate paths are reduced or increased in size. A wide variety of different apply re-scaling are available. Use to create stunning different pattern designs.

Turn: Rotate each path in turn. Use to create unusual turning designs.

Object - copies: Apply the processing of the scaledown based on the object (as a group) or apply to the path and repeat for the group. Useful in combination with some of the apply modes.

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Bouncealong tool A variant of the scaledown tool but with a bounce option as well as path crunch feature.

Bounce: Bounce steps for the paths

Crunch: Reduce then return to the original size and so on (instead of a bounce)

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Spiral tool Create a spiral from the selected paths though the actual result depends on the number of copies to be generated and the arms of the spirals and the decay of the spiral.

Arms: Number of arms to generate of the spiral

Decay: Decay of the spiral

Align: Align the paths to the center

Match: Match the paths to the position of the cursor

Reverse: Reverse the spiral direction

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Checkerboard tool A variant of the grid / row column tool and creates a checkerboard grid of paths. As the grid tool now includes a checkerboard feature this tool has been superseded but the end result is slightly different from that tool so it has been left in the multi-tool.

Touch: Set the size to touch other paths (bounding boxes)

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Paint tool Paints with the selected path or paths or symbols or symbols text etc. The painted paths can be made to fade away rapidly as well as scaled (reduced or increase). This tool is slightly different from nearly all the other tools in that its functionality includes the trail / trace feature by default (if it didn't, it wouldn't work at all!). The plugin generates a path as you move from the start point and instead of deleting the paths and then re-building the design, the generated paths are left as a paint trail. As with all the other plugins, you can use symbols, symbols text, gradients etc with the paint tool. The plugin works particularly well with the results of the paths generated from the scaledown tool and the drag tool as well as the windmill tool. The paint tool is a very cut down version of the symbol paint tool found in Andrew's Vector Plugins volume 8. The slowdown setting is particularly useful with this tool as the paths can be generated at a pace (depending on your machine) so setting the slowdown to 5 or 6 will slow down the paint to a more controllable level (and won't generate 1000s and 1000s of unneccessary and resource eating paths).

The plugin also works well by re-applying the paths. So paint, say 10 or so paths, and then re-select all the generated paths (by default all the paths generated are still left selected but the original path is not) and then re-paint with those as the paint brush. This will create a lot of paths but it can be useful in creating some truly unusual designs.

Opacity fade: Fade the opacity of the painted path

Intensity color: Increase or decrease the intensity of the painted paths

Follow: Rotate the path to follow the paint direction

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Tile tool Create a tile (for possible use as a pattern) This tile tool is very basic and just generated a mirror up and down of the selected paths. The options available to the tool are also fairly limited.

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Background tool A variant of the rim random tool. The plugin creates a background based on the cursor position and start position but instead of creating a circular area for the generated paths, the range is set to the rectangular area of the start and cursor position. This tool is perhaps useful if you wish to create the designs spread over an entire artboard. The paths are positioned randomized in this area.

Frame: Value between 0 and 50. 50% is the default and the frame feature is ignored, less than 50% and the middle of the background is not used. Close to 0% and the background will only be a single rim of paths.

Rotation [R]: Randomizes the rotation of paths

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Local settings The plug-ins have their own independent settings. Many of the settings exists on nearly all the dialogs and these include trail / locked / selected etc. Modifying these settings will not update any of the other plug-in dialog settings

Selected Modifies the application of the transformation, changing the center from the all selected paths (on) to basing it on the individual paths (off)

Locked Depends on the tool. Not all the tools have this feature.

The horizontal and vertical settings are locked. The drag tool will then only apply the drag in the vertical or horizontal direction.

Trail This option generates a lot of paths. It simply ignores the undo option and generates the paths such as a drag or scale down and doesn't remove them at the end of the drag, leaving a trail of paths based on the current cursor movement. You can use the modifiers to stop this action and / or move to a new position and continue with the trail action. This feature is very useful combined with opacity and color and fade, creates painted designs.

Warp

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The warp option can be slow. This applies a warp to each generated path such as a random warp such as an arc or bend of twirl. This generates a wide range of unusual designs. While you are dragging the tool you will see the envelopes being randomly applied to the paths, this can happen fairly rapdily so the end result of the warping is hard to predict so some trial and error might be required for a particular result. All the factors of the warp / envelope are applied such as horizontal / vertical, distortion, vertical bend etc. On exit of the tool you might like to continue to edit the envelope of the paths, so select the path with the envelope and click the edit envelope (CS4) or use the object menu in earlier versions: you can then change the envelope type, bend, distortion manually, If you wish to expand the envelope, select all the paths and then use the object > envelope distort menu to expand. Once expanded, you cannot further manipulate the envelope but it does make the movement and use of the paths a whole lot easier, especially if you have generated many paths.

NOTE: There is a weird quirk with the warp and the plugin, not sure of the exact reason but the setting of the warp will result in the fill being set to a light gray. This can be easily fixed by resetting the color to red / green etc as required.

Delete Deletes the original path, can be useful or not depending on the tool or requirements. The original path can always be re-selected and deleted manually as well. This is an issue for some tools more than others such as the windmill tool as the original path is located at the center of the windmill (this might be the desired result, I don't know, so the option is there to override the default delete of the path)

Create [R]

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Randomizes the creation or not of the paths so gaps are generated between the generated paths. If you set the create [R] to OFF then all the possible paths are generated. If the you set the create [R] to ON then the path might or might not be created, there is a 50% chance that the path might be created. This is useful as it will create gaps between the paths in the design.

In the case of the grid tool, you will see wholes in the grid (such as in the case of the old computer cards). In the drag tool, you will see gaps instead of the same intervals between the paths. Likewise in the windmill tool. Depending on the randomization, no gaps will be created or another possibility, no paths are generated. As the plugin tools generates and re-generates the paths as you move the tool from one position to another, you will see the gaps change from pass to pass, so the actual end result might vary at the last second, the result depends on some trial and error.

Rotation This rotates the path (and all generated paths). If the path is initially set at say a horizontal angle and you wish to rotate or angle this design differently and you don't want to go to the transform tool or select tool and rotate the path, you can rotate the path by the rotation setting. The actual rotation still depends on other factors such as the align setting and the match and other tool settings so the end result might be 45 or it might 78.3 etc.

Jitter This jitters the path position etc (can be also set as jitter vertical and that only applies the jitter / random shift to the vertical)

Copies (Variants include horizontal copies and vertical copies) The plug-in generates the number of required paths. The create option may remove a certain number of these

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paths. For the grid tool you can set the copies to generate paths vertically and horizontally. For the windmill tool, you can generate the number of copies for the circle. For the drag tool, you can generate the number of copies of the selected paths between the start point and the end point of the mouse drag. Some of the tools also have additional 'copies' fields such as the number of circles to create in the windmill tool.

Scale The scale setting varies from tool to tool. Basically it scales the selected paths but some tools such as the scale down accumulates the scale, others such as the windmill just modify the size of all the paths. Variants include scaling split vertical and horizontal offering the option to create thinner or thicker duplications of paths

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Bonus: Points toolbox plug-in Plug-in manipulates selected path's points in a variety of ways to create 100s of amazing designs even from basic paths. This plug-in was added as an additional bonus plug-in and is grouped with the multi tool. The plug-in offers a number of ways to manipulate the path points of a selected path or multiple selected paths. The plugin works only on the selected points of that path so if you wish to work only on the right half of a path, select those points only. The plug-in tweaks and drags the anchor points and the drag points and shifts these using things like the document center or the 0,0 point of the document.

The plug-in offers a number of checkboxes. The locking option is similar to the multi tool and the cursor position is locked. The plug-in either drags the point or direction point (50-50) if the drag checkbox is set to on. The points have an in and out direction points and these are manipulated and swapped or applied depending on the checkbox settings. These have different effects depending on the dropdown (type) set such as drag direction points or drag direction points but place the anchor points of all the points on a path at 0,0 etc. Each have their effect to create rounded or flowery or intense path drags. You can also shift the start point as you drag (this is only of use for some operations that are marked as 'start') to manipulate the end path distortion by holding down the shift key as you drag the mouse / cursor. The plug-in comes with interpolation (so instead of applying the full drag, you can reduce the distance by a certain percentage, the interpolation can also be extended to the curvature). The plug-in drag can also be modified by the pressure (art pad)

Direction dropdown A number of options are available for the drag. The factors that modify the points drag are listed in the drop down such as [start,cursor], [cursor,document center] etc. In the case of the cursor options, the only factor is the end point / cursor drag. The type of direction drag will result in a path that looks more like a flower or ripped apart or zoomed

Interpolate in The interpolate in modifies the 'in' anchor points. If set to 100 then the full effect is applied, if set to 50% then the in settings will be dragged only 50% of the way; if set to 0% then the paths 'in' settings will be unchanged.

Interpolation is only between 0 and 100.

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Interpolate out The interpolate out modifies the 'out' anchor points in the same way as the in above. The in and out modifications also depend on the direction dropdown so by setting the value to 0% might result in a very limited change to the path. To get the full effect of the plugin, leave the setting at the default of 100%.

Interpolate point Interpolate point modifies the movement of the individual points. If set to 0% then there will be no movement of the points. This, as with the in and out, really depends on the direction dropdown and some of the dropdown settings will mean the point setting will have no effect on the end result.

Limit direction (p) The plug-in can, if unbounded, set the anchor point / direction points to truly extreme settings and the plug-in may falter or slow or fail. If you find this is happening with the plug-in, please set the limit (distance) between the anchor and direction points to a lower value. The value is set by default to a high value (though this depends on your work, perhaps 5000 points is more realistic). If you feel this value should be changed, please let me know. The value can be set to a low value so the direction points will not move far from the anchor points: depending on the path this may be or may not be a desirable result. The limit setting can be very useful for creating subtle changes to a path.

Locked If set to locked then the plugin will only drag the path in limited directions such as diagonally

Anchor (R) By default, the points plug-in sets the segment's direction points without randomization and based on the dropdown.

Setting the anchor / direction (R) to randomization, the calculation is applied as before but the result is randomized between the limits of the anchor and direction. For example, if the anchor point is at 3,3 and one of the segment points is at 5,5 then the direction point used might be 3.3,3.6 or 4.2, 4.8 etc As you drag the points tool. you will see the path jitter back and forth

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between the two limits for all points and segments. Useful for creating a sketchy like effect.

Type per point (R) The plug-in uses the plug-in dropdown to modify the direction points (based on cursor position). By default, the same type of direction point manipulation is applied to each path and each point. By setting the type per point to ON, each point will have a different (possibly) direction point manipulation applied. Any of the settings in the dropdown may be picked. This is useful for creating 1000s of different shapes and designs from even a basic path such as a square. Also, the setting is useful combined with the randomization and trace settings.

Type per path (R) The plug-in uses the plug-in dropdown to modify the direction points (based on cursor position). By default, the same type of direction point manipulation is applied to each path and each point. By setting the type per point to ON, each path will have a different (possibly) direction point manipulation applied, all the points will have the same setting. Any of the settings in the dropdown may be picked. The path option is a more controlled version of the type per point (R) randomization.

Trail / trace box By default the plug-in uses only the selected path and does not add points or paths during the movement of the tool. If set to trail / trace then the plug-in creates a duplicate / snapshot at each point of its operation. This may generate many 100s and 100s of paths (this may be very slow if the paths are complex). It is not recommended to apply the trace and then release the mouse and select all the trace paths and then apply additional traces as this will mean thousands and thousands of complex paths may be created. Interesting effects can be created by selecting one or two of the traced paths and changing the color or the plug-in type and then applying additional tracing. All the paths created can be further modified by other effects. Another interesting technique to use with the trace is to set the opacity to a low value and then apply the trace: creates a blurred effect. Using only the stroke can also be useful in creating 3D like path designs from the path tool. The traced paths can be selected and then saved to the symbols palette or exported to Photoshop 速 Other additional settings work in combo with the trace such as layer / place above and below. These are ignored if the trace is not set to ON.

Trail / new layer

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The trail / new layer checkbox is only of use if the trail / trace is set to ON, otherwise it is ignored. The new layer ON will generate a new layer for each duplicated path.

The trail / new layer works only for paths placed above (and not below / beneath) the initial path. As the path's points are moved, the path is duplicated and placed on a new layer. You can then see the movement of the points across multiple layers. This features does add a lot of additional layers. The last layer created will have the last created duplicate + the original path (in its modified state). The layers can then be exported to SVG SWF etc or used in another application such as After Effects.

Trail / beneath Only valid if the trail / trace is set to ON. If the trail beneath is set to ON, created paths are placed beneath the initial path. This may or may not be useful but it does create different zoom / path designs.

Fill (R) If set to ON, sets the fill of the selected path to a random color (CMYK or RGB or grayscale). If there is no fill, nothing will appear. The color mode of the path must also match the document's color mode. The path will be filled with reds, greens, etc. Probably more effective in combo with the trace functionality though the fill setting will modify the current selected path or paths even if the trail / trace is set to OFF

Fill swatch (R) Overrides the fill (R). If set to ON, the selected paths and generated paths will be filled with color from the swatches palette. The swatches can be custom colors, gradients, patterns and basic colors. The swatches are selected randomly, so it makes no difference the order of the swatches. If you wish to create designs made up of blues, remove all the current swatches and fill the swatches palette with all blue swatches. If you want to fill the designs with gradients only, only add gradient swatches to the swatches palette.

Stroke (R) If set to ON, sets the stroke of the selected path to a random color (CMYK or RGB or grayscale). If there is no stroke, nothing will appear. The color mode of the path must also match the document's color mode. The path will be stroked with reds, greens, etc. Probably more effective in combo with the trace functionality. The stroke settings are generally more effective and more visible if the fill is set to OFF

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Stroke swatch (R) Overrides the stroke (R). If set to ON, the selected paths and generated paths will be stroked with color from the swatches palette. The swatches can be custom colors, patterns and basic colors (not gradients). The swatches are selected randomly, so it makes no difference the order of the swatches. If you wish to create designs made up of reds, remove all the current swatches and fill the swatches palette with all red swatches. If you want to fill the designs with custom colors only, only add custom colors to the swatches palette.

Width (R) If there is no stroke set, this will be ignored. If set to ON, the generated (and selected) paths are all set to a stroke width of any value between 0 and 10 pts (if you would prefer this to be changed, please let me know and I will modify the value). Each path generated will be set with a different stroke width (for example, 2 pt 4.2 pt, 7 pt).

This creates an interesting sketch like effect when combined with the trace functionality.

Opacity (R) If set to ON, the generated paths (and selected) path will be set to a random transparency between 0 and 100.

More effective in combination with the trace functionality.

With trace, opacity randomization creates a blurry effect.

Using settings such as the random type option per point and opacity and trace and random colors, stunning abstract art designs can be created.

Modifiers (Shift Space Command Ctrl) for points tool plug-in Various controls can be manipulated by using the shift / command etc combinations. These can be used during the mouse / pen movement. They will have no effect while the dialog is visible.

1) Shift key held down modifies the start position (more useful with certain type dropdown settings)

3) Space key modifies the interpolation settings (all three).

4) Ctrl / command key to stop the trail / trace option (until released)

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