Plug-ins notes
PerspectiveGrid Plug-in - Andrew's (Vector) Plug-ins Volume 6 Introduction Hope you enjoy the latest version of the perspectiveGrid plugin set from graphicxtras.com. The plugin comes with many new features for 3D designs, guide lines, path designs and much more Andrew Please note this plugin set is also part of the vector collection of plugins available on the graphicxtras site, all our plugins for Illustrator are available in that set (though not the symbols and brushes etc packs). If you have any questions about the plugins or any of the other items for Illustrator or others, please let me know
Installation notes Please install the PerspectiveGrid plugin into the plug-ins folder of the host application. To remove, simply remove the plugin. The files to install vary from platform and version
Install PC If you have Illustrator 速 10 / CS1 / CS2 / CS3 CS4 and you are on a PC, please place the GX06_PerspectiveGrid.aip file into the plugin folder CS4: c:\program files\adobe\adobe illustrator CS4\plug-ins\graphicxtras CS3: C:\program files\adobe\adobe illustrator CS3\plug-ins\graphicxtras CS2: C:\program files\adobe\adobe illustrator CS2\plug-ins\graphicxtras CS: C:\program files\adobe\illustrator CS\plug-ins\graphicxtras 10: C:\program files\adobe\illustrator CS\plug-ins\graphicxtras (if the 'graphicxtras' folder does not exist, simply create it in the plug-ins folder or use another folder name if you wish. You can also just place the file in the top level plug-ins folder if you wish but putting it in a sub folder makes it easier to find at a later date)
OS X If you have Illustrator 10/CS1 and you are on the mac OS X, please place the plugin found in the Illustrator 10 / CS1 folder into the Illustrator 10 or CS1 plugins folder. HD:application:adobe illustrator 10:plug-ins:graphicxtras
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Plug-ins notes HD:application:adobe illustrator CS:plug-ins:graphicxtras Finally, if you are on CS2 and on mac OS X, HD:application:adobe illustrator CS2:plug-ins:graphicxtras HD:application:adobe illustrator CS3:plug-ins:graphicxtras HD:application:adobe illustrator CS4:plug-ins:graphicxtras (if the 'graphicxtras' folder does not exist, simply create it in the plug-ins folder or use another folder name if you wish. You can also just place the file in the top level plug-ins folder if you wish but putting it in a sub folder makes it easier to find at a later date) ** Please place all the items in the GX06_PerspectiveGrid (found in the plugin for Illustrator CS2 folder), everything must be included and no names should be changed
*** NOTE: Please be very careful with some of the functionality if you suffer from light sensitive problems / issues as using certainly functionality and rapidly changing settings and random fill colors or path strokes, can create an intense set of color changes. This might be same for many different path combinations. This is mainly connected with the interactive drag buttons. Basically, be careful of rapid changes of settings! *** NOTE: The plugin now comes with a measurement feature so you can set the units to centimetres and inches etc, please note, these are approximate and please do not base any calculations / designs on these measurements. They are guidelines only
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Plug-ins notes
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.
To specify an alternate plug-in for Illustrator 速 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)
Filters menu The plugin only appears in the filters menu (CS3 CS2 CS 10) or the object > filters menu (CS4), it has no equivalent (as yet) live effects feature.
Additional material The plugin set also comes with brushes and symbols, please place the ai files into the presets folder in the brushes and symbols folders respectively. Access as normal (via the palettes)
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Plug-ins notes
Trademarks Illustrator is registered trademark of Adobe. Photoshop is registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Copyright Plug-in set is (c) 1998-2008 Abneil Software Ltd / Andrew Buckle
Applications / OS For Illustrator 速 CS4 CS3 CS2 CS 10 PC (Vista XP) MAC OS X 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5
Plugin page http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/aiplugin6.htm support at graphicxtras.com (mail address)
Tumble / shuffle buttons If you wish to experiment with a wide range of different settings, simply click the TUMBLE button. Not all the settings are randomized but most are. The SHUFFLE button just randomizes the settings (but not the dialog settings) internally and only useful if the setting is set to a random value.
Drag buttons If you wish to change some of the settings interactively (instead of simply just typing the value), you can click the drag button beside some of the settings and drag across the document, changing the setting as you move from left to right (or up and down for some of the vertical related settings). Hold the shift key down to change the value and release the shift before releasing the mouse for better control of the setting
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Plug-ins notes
Presets There are a selection of presets, some are for the one point perspective (marked with a '1') and some are for the two point (marked with a '2'). The reset command is the first in the dropdown on the right of the dialog
Two point / one point This dropdown changes the grid approach and some of the settings will be enabled or not.
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Plug-ins notes
Zoom You can zoom in and out within the plugin dialog via the view / zoom setting (note this only works well with CS2 and is not so responsive in 10)
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Plug-ins notes
Swatches Some of the color functionality uses the swatches palette. The swatch palette functionality is not visual and you will have to manually set the numbers to relate to the swatch number i.e. default RGB palette for CS2 swatch 12 is red, swatch 2 is white etc. The first two swatches are nil and registration (that is why the swatch number starts at 2). You can modify the swatch palette to fill it with blues etc
Dialogs The plugin dialogs differ slightly from version to version and OS
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Plug-ins notes
Fill / set-up The plugin (probably) works best with no fill set and a stroke set (such as 1pt). Set the color of the stroke line in advance. Use the plugin to create 3D grids. If you wish to use the align feature, I would suggest setting the lines as guidelines and then use the perspective tool to align the path to the grid and then place the center of the path at the center of the perspective grid and then scale / rotate / shear etc as required.
Use of plug-in The plugin can be used as is to create a basic grid, one point or two point perspective. The functionality of the plugin allows for a variety of different styles of grids such as thin grids / wide grids / rotated grids / multi colored grids / many lines grids / and more. Once you have created the grid, you can also combine the grids or use the grid as an overlay over different paths. The grids can be distorted by the perspective tool or free distort (though the lines might break away using this tool) or you can apply an envelope distort to warp the paths or you can even apply a zigzag to the lines or a third party plugin set. The grid lines can be copied, duplicated, overlay other paths, or you can apply opacity or apply different blending modes and much more to the lines. The lines can also be modified by applying live effects such as sketch effects or blurs.
Use as guidelines
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Plug-ins notes The most important thing is to place the center of the path at the VP.. without that, the following steps won't work. Also, it is recommended that you set the grid to guidelines mode. Just duplicate the path a number of times and then use the various scaling / rotation tools to transform the paths
Dialog settings The plugin now combines the two separate plugins into one. You can change the functionality from 1 point grid to two point grid via the dropdown at the side of the dialog. Some of the fields will be grayed out as they have no function for the two point option. The presets dropdown also combines both the one point grid presets and the two points presets.
Grid panel Modify the size and the start position of the grid (one or two point) as well as the vanishing point. The two point perspective gives two VP (in one point, the VP2 is grayed out). The presets and the one/two point dropdown are accessible from all the dialogs. Shuffle button is only useful combined with random features. 'Start point': The start of either type of grid. For the one point the initial start position is 0,0 of the document. You can modify the start position and this will not affect the size of the grid but the VP and the frame / grid are not linked by default and the VP will remain in the original position, and any change to the start point will alter the appearance of the grid direction.
'Size': The size of the grid. As with the start position, the size is not linked to the VP so any change to the size will not modify the VP position and this will modify the overall 'direction' of the grid. The size of the one point grid can be thick or thin / tall or wide i.e. the size can be set to 100 / 800 for a tall thin grid or 800 / 100 for a small long grid. For two point, (the horizontal field will be disabled) the grid height is modified (but not the start position or VP) so the grid with a height of 100, the result will be more like a tennis fence stretched by a ball, set to 1000 and the grid will loom large. To set the grid / size / start etc to the same as the default but larger or smaller, you will have to modify combinations of the start / VP as well as size.
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Plug-ins notes
'Vanishing points': The position of the vanishing point or vanishing points. The VP (for one point) can be within the initial frame and even in the center if required or the frame can be towards the end of the initial frame or even outside of the frame and off towards infinity left or right and up or down. The same for two point, the VP (s) can be overlapping, mirrored, up or down and more. The VP can be displayed as well (if required) via the VP panel and this will display the VP as a guideline, this is the default mode. This is useful for alignment of paths etc. Also, the guidelines can be cleared at any point via the VIEW -> GUIDES menu and 'clear guides' option.
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Plug-ins notes
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Plug-ins notes
'Measurement options': If you wish to display the 'calculated' units in inches or feet etc, please set the measurement option. The calculated values will be displayed beside the 'original' measurement (which is still in points). Please note that the
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Plug-ins notes values are guidelines only and approximate.
Lines panel This dialog sets the project lines / cutoff of the lines as well as the number of frames to create and the convergence of the frames. You might have to tweak the settings to get the 'perfect' grid. 'Projection cutoff': The approach percentage to the vanishing point. Set to 70 or 80 the projection lines will be only created close to the initial frame or initial line. If set to 6 or 7 the lines will be very close but not touching the VP. If set to 0, the projection lines will be touching the VP. The projection lines can also be set in reverse (by setting a value greater than 100). There is no link between the frames and the projection lines but you should be able to rapidly set both and align the values so there is no overhang or the lines fall short of the frames. However, visually this may or may not be what is required.
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Plug-ins notes
'Projection lines': The number of lines for the horizontal and vertical projection lines. The horizontal and vertical projection lines are separate (for one point) so you can add 12 lines for the horizontal but if you want a more intense vertical set of lines, set the vertical projection line value to 50 or more. If set to two point, only the vertical lines setting is available and the lines for 'both' sides of the grid are both updated equally. The horizontal setting is not enabled If you set the random create to ON, the number of lines generated will be less and will have gaps as the line has a 50-50 chance of being created.
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Plug-ins notes
'Frames': Number of frames (1 point) or vertical lines (2 point). Combine the frames and convergence to modify the 'frame' approach to the VP. The number of frames can be reduced to a single frame and this frame is the size of the 'size' setting. For two point operations, the frame is turned into a set of lines. Again, a single line can be generated, position at the start point and with the 'frame size'. All the other lines are cloned from the source line, though the line can be further modified by the curve settings, color and opacity etc
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Plug-ins notes
'Convergence': The spacing of the frames / lines. By changing the convergence setting you can create very close together frames or rapid decreasing frames (the lines toward the VP are unaffected). The convergence can be set to go in the other
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Plug-ins notes direction (greater than 100) and head further away from the VP
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Plug-ins notes
Modify panel Sets the rotation of the grid as well as the line weight (requires a stroke to be set beforehand) 'Rotation': Rotate the paths
'Line width': Modify the line width size. This requires a stroke setting beforehand. If there is no stroke value or color then the line width value is just ignored. The line width value does, however, override the original setting of the line width Set to 0.2 pt the lines will be barely visible. Set to 10 pt, you will have thick lines. The color of the lines can be set outside the plugin or via the stroke settings in the styles panel. If the random stroke line width is set to ON, the width of the lines will be randomly set to a value between 0 and the value set in the line width
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Plug-ins notes
'In / out': Curvature of the lines, the in and out of the segment settings. Use the curvature setting to create warped and distorted as well as a more sketchy grid. The in / out settings can be set independently. If the random in / out is set to ON, the value added to the path's segment settings is randomized between 0 and the current in / out setting, creating some truly unusual path designs.
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Plug-ins notes
'Ip Center/factor': The center for the interpolation of the points and the factor used for the points and the factor used for the curve / direction points. The first two fields are the center for the interpolation and this can be set to the current VP or the document center or start position and all the points in the grid will be shifted towards or away from this position by the two fields below. The first field in the second row controls the actual point, the second field controls the curvature / direction points. If set to the same value, the grid will be unchanged (though bigger or smaller). If set to 0, the interpolation is ignored. Very useful for creating extreme line distortions / subtle line distortions and more
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Plug-ins notes
'Pattern': A number of pattern (if first then ignore) centers. The pattern (or tile) is very basic but the lines are duplicated about the selected center such as the center of the document or the line itself or the VP or randomized centers or incremental
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Plug-ins notes centers. Different centers for different rotation / sizes of grid / VP settings as well as one point or two point setting can radically change the pattern design. All the settings for the color / curvature / opacity etc are duplicated to the tiling positions. This can be generally fairly quick but if a lot of lines and opacity etc are set and then tiling is applied, the response (especially during a drag operation) can be less than quick and the screen re-draw slow. Use this to create 1000s and 1000s of different designs, especially useful combined with the rotation setting
VP panel The vanishing point is a small cross. You can modify the VP to have it as guidelines, display the cross, or rotate the grid around the VP etc 'VP as a guideline': The vanishing point is displayed as a guide line and not a normal path 'Display vanishing point': The vanishing point is not displayed (or is, if on) 'Rotate around VP': Rotate around the vanishing point or not 'Frame and VP locked': Locks the VP to the frame.
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Plug-ins notes
Styles panel This panel modifies the fill / stroke of the grid lines. As the plugin is mainly concerned with lines and not fills, the fill dropdowns are generally not that useful (and a fill might be required or the fill option is ignored, likewise with the stroke) 'Fill color': Modifies the fill of the generated paths. The fill options include to target, random colors and alternate settings. If the 'to target' option is set then each generated path in turn approaches the target color be it black or white or inverted or swatch. If set to 'to swatch' then the swatch field will be available. The swatch setting is not a visual display of the swatches palette so you will have to set the swatch manually and hit and miss (2 - white 3 - black etc in the swatches palette by default) No exact settings can be given as the swatches palette has varied from version to version as well as color model and also you can add and remove as well as shuffle the swatches around as required. If the 'random' colors options are set then the fills are set to random colors or random colors from the swatches palette. Again, the swatches palette is varied and the palette could be filled with all reds or all blues or combinations of greens and purples or gradients only. If the 'alternate' options are set then the color of the fill in turn will be the original color then the alternate color be it swatch or white or black and then the next color will be the original fill. The second field (next to the swatch field) is for the 'top target' options and that modifies the speed of the approach to the 'to target'. If set to 0, ignored. Can be set to more or less the actual number of target frames / lines. For 1pt, this is the background color of the frame. For 2pt, ignored unless curvature applied. ** As noted at the start of this document, please be careful with the color options especially if you are using the drag operations as the randomization and changing of colors can be rapid, this is particularly bad if you suffer from issues with rapid changing color / bursts of light.
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Plug-ins notes
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Plug-ins notes
'Stroke color': Basically the same as the fill but the stroke here is for the stroke for the frame (1pt) and the the stroke of the vertical lines (2 pt)
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Plug-ins notes
'Fill color': As above but for the lines to the center (as they have no fill unless curve set then this is really ignored)
'Stroke color': As above but the lines to the center (one point or two point) as well as the grill lines.
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Plug-ins notes
'Width [R]': Randomizes the line width
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Plug-ins notes
Settings 1 panel Use this dialog to set various things like scale the line weight depending on approach to the VP, put the grid on a template layer etc. For perspective, you might like to set the paths to guidelines. The link links the size and VP 'Template layer': Changes to a template layer
'Guidelines instead of paths': Turns the paths into guidelines, more useful for the 3D alignment of paths
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Plug-ins notes
'Display overlay grill': Places a grill across the one point grid, creating a 3D like box.
'Link frame size': Links the vertical to the horizontal size 'Scale line width': Scales the line width as it approaches the center
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Plug-ins notes
'Opacity [R]': Randomizes the opacity of the lines (great combined with the abstract / randomization settings)
'Create [R]': Randomizes the creation of the lines and grid, creating unusual grid designs
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Plug-ins notes
'In/out [R]': Randomizes the in / out curvature (ignored if the in / out are set to 0)
Tutorial 1 - text and alignment
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Plug-ins notes
Create some text and place along the horizontal line of the text and the horizontal line of the guidelines (set the dialog to guideline mode)
Expand the text (as you can't use the free transform tool otherwise), you can do this via the type menu [ create outline] command or the object menu [expand] command. NOTE: You could try and do this via the effect menu and free transform dialog, though you lose access to the guideline alignment. Doing this via the effects dialog does mean the text is editable at a later stage (as it requires not create outline command) This is no [ create outline ] equivalent in the effects menu.
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Plug-ins notes
Changed into text
Go to the free transform tool (not the scaling tool!) Press E to select the tool or click on the icon. Once selected, select the text and then re-size the text. Once you have started re-sizing, select the CTRL and SHIFT keys to apply perspective alignment of the text to apply in 3D. NOTE: If you select the CTRL and SHIFT before any free transform re-sizing, this will not work and it will just scale in 2D
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Plug-ins notes
Align to the guideline grid as above, trying to snap and match the perspective guidelines. Notice with above the top and bottom lines of the text run parallel with the perspective grid guide lines
Go to to the scale tool
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Plug-ins notes
Move the path anchor over to the VP of the grid (it is a little crossbar)
Use the scale / rotate etc tools as required, duplicate the path etc (as long as the anchor is placed on the VP)
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