Spiral Plugin
Spiral (Andrew's Vector Plugins Vol 13) The plugin creates curved spirals. The spirals are paths and can be used for text, used as symbols, combined with other illustration elements and more
Installation of Plugin / symbols Please place the GX13_Spiral.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 GX13_Spiral 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 The symbols files (*.ai files) should be placed in the c:\program files\Adobe\Illustrator...\presets\symbols folder (or mac equivalent). Access the symbols files via the windows\symbols menu (please consult the Illustrator documentation)
Initial Use of plugin Please access via the filters menu of Illustrator 速 via the <AVP Create> menu. The plugin is split into 'four' screens, accessed via the buttons along the top of dialog. The basic settings of the plugin can be found in the first page/screen. I would suggest initially, create spirals using the basic dialog, then access the other screens to modify the spiral. Another start point, use the presets at the bottom of the screen. You can always reset the plugin by selecting the first preset 'reset' note (1) The spiral creates a path with the current fill and stroke. This might be set to white and black (the defaults), you might prefer to set the fill to no fill before creating the spiral. note (2) If you want to use the spirals and combine with other paths, perhaps cutout some of the spiral arms, use the expand command to expand fill/stroke and then use the pathfinder palette
Applications support macOSX .2 .3 98 ME NT XP Ilustrator 速10 CS1 CS2
Questions Please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com (and perhaps a cc to andrewbckl@aol.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 2004-2005, Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). The symbols are royalty-free, feel free to use as required. Symbols are (c) 2004-2005 Andrew Buckle / Abneil Software ltd. 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
Plugin Use - Basic screen 'Spiral' This is the basic screen. To create basic spirals, you never need to leave this screen. Also sets the core elements for any additional tweaking via the other screens 'Number of spiral arms': The number of spiral arms to create from outer to inner (so the inner part can be crunched if there are too many arms).
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Spiral Plugin
'Gap between spiral arms': Basic distance between arms (though modified by decay etc)
'Curvature of spiral': Curvature of the spiral arms, set to 0, a diamond; set to maximum, a curved square.
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Spiral Plugin
'Decay of spiral': Factor applied to gap to decay or (increase) the distance between points, arm to arm.
'Create' Screen This screen creates multi-spirals, defines start positions of the spirals, as well as scaling and rotation angle of spirals 'Spiral center' options: use the user defined center position or set the center to the center of the document or the edge of the document or randomly. Useful if creating multiple spirals.
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Spiral Plugin
'Spiral center position': User defined position. Ignored in the center options are set to edge or document center etc
'Spiral angle': Rotate the created spiral by this angle
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Spiral Plugin
'Spiral scaling': Scale the spiral in vertical or horizontal (can also be negative, flipping the spiral) - useful for creating narrow or flattened spirals
'Number of spirals': Create more than 1 spiral. Suggestion, set the center to random.
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Spiral Plugin
'Tweak' Screen This screen is used to modify or tweak points, curve, star additions, as well as limit number of points in spiral 'Curve factor per arm': (curvature) Modify the curvature arm to arm, creating a more rounded or squared center (distinct from shell)
'Decay accumulate': Accumulate decay, fairly rapid and can be slow to generate paths if a large setting is used. Should be kept approx around 100 or so (default), say 99.5 or 101.5 instead of large modifications. Arms might overlap
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Spiral Plugin
'Point side shift': Shifts top half points to the right (positive) or left (negative)
'Max Points': Limit the number of points in the entire spiral. Set to a high value to avoid hitting the value unintentionally. Set to 2 will create an arc. Use to fine tune the spiral end position
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Spiral Plugin
'Star addition to arms': Adds (or subtracts) the points position relative to 'spiral'. Create a star spiral setting both settings to positive. Create lips by setting one of the settings positive (leaving the other at 0). Create an 8 spiral setting one to negative and one to positive. Setting both to negative, creates a flower design spiral.
'Settings' Screen All the various checkboxes such as 'random fill' and 'symbolize'. By default, all settings are off. All the settings marked as R are randomization and this information is re-calculated on each pass / modification of setting change. None of the random settings can be frozen (in this version). So if you hit on a really excellent spiral (and randomization is involved), stop.. don't change anything, click OK and then save it as a symbol or use it .. modify a setting, it might slip away into the night. 'Fill (R)': Apply a random fill to the spiral. The plugin will not work if there is no fill. Also the fill color needs to be the same type as the document, so RGB color is needed in a RGB document. In CMYK, the black color is set to 0. The fill is applied to the space between the lines (not the spiral lines itself.. that needs the stroke setting)
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Spiral Plugin
'Fill Swatch (R)': Applies a fill based on the swatches palette. Will not work if the swatches palette is empty or no fill has been set. Best used with initial setup of swatches (perhaps to create a palette of reds or blues or gradients and patterns), then apply. Overrides the fill
'Stroke (R)': Apply a random stroke color to the line stroke. Same issues with the fill, needs a stroke, etc The stroke color is applied to the entire spiral length, the path is a complete line and is not broken into multiple paths.
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Spiral Plugin
'Width (R)': Apply a random stroke width (based on the current width, so if set to 10 then the stroke width might end up as 2 or 5). If the width is low, there will be little visible variation.
'Style (R)': Apply a style to the current spiral. Overrides nearly all settings. Can be slow if the random style is a hefty effects based style. Best used with initial setup of styles, so create a set of 3D styles or different sketched styles or bluish styles. 'Opacity (R)': Fades the spiral. Works best with multiple spirals.
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Spiral Plugin
'Abstract (R)': Use to create abstract / sketchy art. Instead of using the four points of an arm, the plugin randomizes the creation of the arms / points. Can be used on a single spiral or multiple spirals to create a page of roughly sketched paths.
'Curve (R)': Randomizes the curvature settings 'Three points': Removes the 'last' point in the spiral arm to create a flattened (though by modifying the angle and other settings, 3D spirals) spirals
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Spiral Plugin
'Arms (R)': Creates a spiral with 0 to 'number of spiral arms' randomly. More useful when used with multiple spirals
'Create arms (R)': Create a spiral arm or not, creating patterns of spiral arms or usual spiral arm configurations
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Spiral Plugin
'New layer': Create all the spirals on a new layer. Useful for perhaps SWF export 'Symbolize': Places all the spirals into the symbol palette (with a weird naming convention). Does not reflect the envelope or warp settings though.
'Warp (R)': Random warp / envelope and warp settings to create 100s of different spiral distortions. You will have to expand warp envelope on exit if required.
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Spiral Plugin
'Scaling (R)': Randomizes the scaling of the spiral. More useful with multiple spirals
'Angle (R)': Randomizes the angle / rotation of spiral. More useful with multiple spirals 'Jitter scaling (R)': Jitters the scaling applied to the spiral to create subtle variant sized spirals 'Jitter center (R)': Jitters the center of the spiral. More useful when used with multiple spirals (to avoid overlap issues), also creates unusual sketchy effects 'Jitter fill (R)': Jitters the current fill (though needs a fill / etc as with the random fill setting) 'Jitter stroke (R)': Jitters the current stroke, to create subtle modifications to the spiral arm color (so if the initial color is blue, the spiral arm will still be bluish.. but just not the same blue) 'Jitter width (R)': Jitters the line width
Buttons The plugin comes with a small selection of buttons marked 'shuffle' etc. "Shuffle" randomizes the settings, but is only useful if
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Spiral Plugin there is a random element set (i.e one of the (R) marked options). "Xtreme" randomizes a number of the settings between minimum and maximum (though not all). "Tweak" modifies some of the settings and tweaks the approx end result. "Jitter" jitters some of the settings, altering the settings plus or minus. "Boost" increases the settings. Note, the exteme etc refer only to settings on the main / basic page and none of the other screens.
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