PatternPrint Plugin
PatternPrint Plugin (Andrew's Vector Plugins Vol 17) The plugin used to blend two paths and and the path's patterns content. Now, the latest version creates a single path and creates a style and uses the fill patterns and blend modes etc to create unusual and unique patterns. The plugin set comes with 100s of patterns (some basic, some less so) that can be used in the plugin. The end result Pattern can be used as a style or symbol (and the style can be further modified or used via the appearances palette) and the style / symbol exported for use in a style / symbol library file. The patterns must be defined in the swatches palette. If there are no patterns in the swatches palette, the plugin will not create the pattern blend. The plugin can be used to fully explore patterns, stretching, shifting, shearing, blending, reflecting, and more
Installation of Plugin Please place the GX17_PatternPrint.aip file in the c:\program files\adobe\illustrator CS\plug-ins folder [pc Illustrator 速 CS] or c:\program files\adobe\illustrator 10\plug-ins [pc illustrator 10] or CS2 For the mac, please place the GX17 PatternPrint file in HD:Applications:Adobe Illustrator CS:plug-ins [mac Illustrator 速CS] or HD:Applications:Adobe Illustrator 10:plug-ins [mac Illustrator 10] or CS2
Pattern swatches need to be placed (if required.. you can just ignore them) in the presets swatches folder. I would recommend adding them to a sub folder just as an indicator to their purpose (otherwise you will just see a long list of swatches folders). Access via the standard swatches menu / palette
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PatternPrint Plugin
As you need a swatch, simply drag from the swatches library file to the swatch palette for the document, as above and then access via the plugin. The plugin access to the pattern swatches is not pretty, it is currently by a number (an internal number at that) so I would suggest not to have too many swatches in the document palette and at least you will know more or less the swatch you are accessing. You can, of course, fill the swatches palette with 100s of pattern swatches and just run through the swatches in a random order and pick the one you like (if you have the time). I hope to update the display at
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PatternPrint Plugin some point to display the pattern swatches as is, making it easier to use.
One issue you will find, along with the pattern numbering, is if you decide to color the patterns using the color modification in the tweak menu. Perhaps you will never use that feature and use the patterns as is but if you decide to explore the color settings, there are a few things to point out. The plugin uses two patterns, they could be the same pattern. If you color tweak pattern 1 and 2 and they are the same pattern then the pattern for both will be changed to the same color (to Illustrator, they are the same pattern, even if the plugin dialog is split to two patterns). The swatch will be changed external to the plugin, so even if you change your mind and go to another pattern swatch, any color modification to the swatch will be preserved in the swatches palette (why, don't ask, not my doing) So if you have a palette of Black and white swatches, on exit, you might find a number of them with different colors (depending on the swatch plugin settings). To get around this, perhaps copy the pattern swatch beforehand and at least you have a backup copy (you will need to drag the swatch to the document and then re-copy it back into the palette) or drag a copy of the swatch from the original (untouchable) swatch library. Any changes to the swatch will not change the swatch library version (unless you are editing the actual swatch library AI file)
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PatternPrint Plugin
An example of the changes are above.
The pattern can get fairly complex (if you set the repeats to 3 or 4) or just keep the default settings for a fairly basic mix of pattern swatches.
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PatternPrint Plugin
The graphic style can be further tweaked via the appearance palette and a new style saved. The above example shows a fairly basic setting of swatches but the pattern swatches can be swapped around, the opacity modified and the blend mode varied and the color changed, to create totally different patterns with only a few modifications.
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PatternPrint Plugin
Above, various things have been changed such as random opacity, random swapping of patterns for each fill, randomization of the blending modes
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PatternPrint Plugin Expanding the appearance palette you can see all the individual fills and different blending modes that go into making a fairly abstract design (perhaps not the cleanest of designs but one to show all the various possible settings). The plugin also can randomize the pattern to be selected as well as the applied angle and scale (though less controllable as the value goes from the current value to 1% of the original size - that is small)
Initial Use of plugin Please access via the filters menu of Illustrator 速 via the <AVP Create> menu. The plugin screen is split into 5 screens: front pattern, behind pattern, size, tweak, and settings. The plugin creates by default a square filled with the first pattern in the swatches list. The plugin manipulates the various factors associated with the pattern and path (square or circle). If the random colorization is set or negative color option, the pattern is manipulated directly in the pattern swatch palette. Any occurrence of the pattern currently in use will be modified to the new color settings as well (manipulation only works on elements of the pattern arts such as CMYK or RGB path elements and not any gradient etc elements of the pattern art). Text can be used in patterns (converted as well as otherwise) and also images.
Above is an example of the pattern swatch based on an image
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PatternPrint Plugin
Or use text (a single word or a paragraph etc) as a pattern
Or use converted (outline) text to use the colorization features (as well as apply multiple items using repeats along with
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PatternPrint Plugin randomization of rotate angle and reflections) Shuffle button The shuffle button only works if there is a random element to be applied such as color randomization or randomization of an angle or shear has been set to ON. Use the reset button to return to initial state. Tile The generated tile is not a pattern though, it is a style. You cannot save the pattern combo as a new pattern. You can trim the pattern, duplicate, rotate, and create a new pattern if required. The generated tile can be exported to other applications such as Photoshop 速 Patterns The plugin set comes with a very basic set of starter patterns which can be used as required. They are swatches and need to be stored in the presets swatches folder (in Illustrator presets folder).
Applications support macOSX .2 .3 98 ME NT XP Adobe 速 Ilustrator 速10 CS CS2
Questions Please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com Other plugins are available on the site http://www.graphicxtras.com Upgrades are generally available, either as free updates or inexpensive updates/upgrades. Please store the reference serial number or details of order
Copyright The plugins are copyright of 2005, Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). This product was released by Abneil Software ltd (UK based company)
Trademarks Illustrator and Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Plugin Use - 'Front' Screen This is the screen to manipulate the pattern instance of the 'front' pattern. 'Front pattern': Use this to select the pattern to apply (the patterns are held in the swatches palette). You can use the native swatches or use your own pattern swatches. Patterns can be easily defined and use and even a basic square can be used to great effect with the plugin by a few tweaks to reflection and scale. If the pattern swatch number is set to a number greater than the existing swatches then the number is ignored and a valid swatch is used. If the swatch setting is on then the pattern swatch is ignored and the selected swatch is used. The patterns for the front and behind can be the same or different.
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PatternPrint Plugin
The patterns used throughout these notes to display the features of the plugin, are not the most exciting of patterns, but they show the use of color as well as the text 'pattern 1' and 'pattern 2' 'Rotate(o)': Rotate angle for 'pattern art' before fill
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PatternPrint Plugin
Scale(%)': Scaling applied to 'pattern art' before fill. Scaling can be used to create thin pattern art or large chunky pattern art
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PatternPrint Plugin 'Shift(o/p)': Angle and distance to shift 'pattern art' before fill
'Shear(o)': Shear angle and axis for the shear
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PatternPrint Plugin 'Reflect angle(o)': Axis for the reflection
'Reflect': To reflect or not (reflection is ignored if off)
'Behind' Screen This is the screen to manipulate the pattern 'behind'.. well, the pattern in the other slots in the appearance palette 'Behind pattern': The same as front pattern but used to fill the path behind the top path. The pattern is purely a reference (though the original pattern art can be modified using the plugin). The pattern can be the same or different to the front pattern.
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Rotate(o)': Rotate angle for 'pattern art' before fill
Scale(%)': Scaling applied to 'pattern art' before fill (as 1)
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PatternPrint Plugin 'Shift(o/p)': Angle and distance to shift 'pattern art' before fill (as 1) 'Shear(o)': Shear angle and axis for the shear (as 1) 'Reflect angle(o)': Axis for the reflection (as 1) 'Reflect': To reflect or not (as 1)
'Size' Screen This is the screen to manipulate the dimensions as well as the number of entries or repeats in the appearance palette and the final shape of the pattern. 'Dimensions': Height / width / starting points of the the shape (if a square, fairly straightforward, if a triangle or star etc, the settings are based around the 0,0 of the document and might require some tweaking of the inner and outer radius to generate a star design)
'Repeats': The number of repeat fills to appear in the appearance palette. The more fills, the slower the responsiveness of the design but the more complex (as well as perhaps cluttered) the final design. If you set the blend mode to normal and the same pattern is used and the settings are the same, there will be no visible change). Using two different patterns, different angles, etc and multiple repeats will generate a number of overlapping fills and different designs. You can tweak the end results via the appearance palette. There are a number of link options to tweak the fill 3, fill 4 etc in the appearance palette
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Type of shape': Oval or square or stars and other shapes. Each have a slightly different setup required in the dimensions settings.
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Tweak' Screen Various dropdowns to manipulate the transformation, blending of patterns, and linking 'Blending mode': Combines the two patterns (though not completely as a pathfinder.. you might like to group the paths after use) using different blending modes such as soft light or difference, to great effect
'Linking': Links the settings of 2 (behind) to 1 (front) pattern dialog settings (not the internal or calculated settings such as randomization). The linking might not even use the second dialog. The linking settings might be more useful for multiple repeats
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Color Modifications': This dropdown directly modifies the pattern swatch and should be used carefully (if you have the pattern elsewhere in your artwork they will also be modified) The dropdown randomizes the color of the pattern artwork. Effective if the patterns are different, if the two patterns are the same, color changes will modify both paths. If you use converted text, you might find nothing happens. Sometimes ungrouping the path helps as the compound paths can be an issue for the plugin.
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Settings' Screen Additional settings such as randomization of elements or use of swatches or single pattern use 'Rotate 1[R]': Randomizes the rotation setting, works only if the rotation has a value, if it is set to 0 then there will be no randomization. The generated angle is 0 to current value.
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Rotate 2[R]': Randomizes the rotation setting, works only if the rotation has a value, if it is set to 0 then there will be no randomization. The generated angle is 0 to current value. 'Scale 1[R]': Randomizes the scaling of the pattern for the front pattern, from close to zero to the current setting.
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Scale 2[R]': Randomizes the scaling of the behind pattern from close to zero to current setting 'Shift 1[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current 'Shift 2[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current 'Shear 1[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current 'Shear 2[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current 'Reflection 1[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current (though reflect needs to be set to ON) 'Reflection 2[R]': Randomizes the setting from 0 to current (though reflect needs to be set to ON) 'Opacity 1[R]': Randomizes the opacity of the path between 0 and 100%, creating a blurred pattern effect
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PatternPrint Plugin
'Opacity 2[R]': Randomizes the opacity of the pattern behind from 0 to 100% 'Pattern 1[R]': Randomizes the pattern (uses all the existing patterns stored in the current document) 'Pattern 2[R]': Randomizes the pattern 'Use swatch': Instead of using the pattern setting or randomization of pattern, if you set this to ON, please select a pattern swatch. The selected swatch will be used for both pattern paths. If no pattern swatch is selected, the plugin will not create the patterns 'No permanent style': The plugin doesn't need to create a style in the styles palette, if you set this to on then the style will be discretely removed. 'Create symbol': Create a symbol from the current selected shape and style 'Swap': Instead of using pattern 1 / pattern 2 / pattern 2... etc for all the fills, the plugin will create the pattern order in a random way, pattern 2 pattern 1 pattern 1 pattern 2 pattern 2 etc (this might extend in future to allow for multiple patterns such as a pattern 3 and also skipping and creation of patterns)
Additional Examples
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PatternPrint Plugin
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PatternPrint Plugin
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PatternPrint Plugin
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PatternPrint Plugin
The patterns can also be used as a basis for a pattern brush... (especially after they have been randomly colored)
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PatternPrint Plugin
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