Posts Tagged ‘script’
Monday, May 12th, 2008
I programmed up a little script for Nick over at Astute Graphics that works with his Phantasm CS Illustrator plugin.
(From Nick’s site) PhantasmSepsPDF allows users to quickly and easily generate pre-separated PDF files. By using the PDF layers feature, these files allow users of even the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (download here) to view any combination of inks used in a document. There are many options to customize the script (open it with a text editor).
By using this approach, the following benefits may be gained:
- The script is free and is very simply to operate; a few clicks and you’re there!
- It is possible to provide customers with artwork where they may view any combination of ink used in the document (separations) without the need for Adobe Acrobat.
- By default, Adobe Acrobat and the free Reader version do not display overprints correctly. Pre-separated artwork using Phantasm CS Studio removes this issue, ensuring that your customer will see all technical aspects correctly.
- The output mimics final printed output very well. Transparencies are flattened where necessary, but leaving as many vector objects in-tact as possible, allowing zooming-in on detail.
- The original artwork is not immediately accessible, further securing your ownership.
Continue reading and download the script . . .
Tags: illustrator, pdf, phantasm cs, phantasmSeptsPDF, plugin, script, scripting, separatations
Posted in Design, scripting, Self promo, Software | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Today’s script installment is Find and Replace Graphics version 2.
Download script (13k file size).
Please give this script a whirl. Email me with bugs or feature enhancements.
Watch a movie demo of the script with voiceover! (2.2 mb)
Important Enhancements:
- The find-replace objects now remain on their original layer. No more error alerts about locked layers.
- The find-replace object are now in the same z-stacking (object stacking) order as the original.
- "Replacing" master object is now deleted once it has replaced all the find objects. Turn this off by changing line 43: var deleteReplaceWithObj = false;
- Centered, non-scaled XY placement is default.
- If non-proportional scaling is desired change line 37 to: var scaledObject = true;
Future Work:
- Proportional scaling in X, Y, or weighted XY that is still centered on the original object’s center point.
To install new scripts you need to:
- Quit Illustrator
- Copy the files into the Illustrator application folder’s “Presets” » “Scripts” subfolder
- After restarting Illustrator you can find the scripts in the menu “File” » “Scripts”;
- TIP: You can create subfolders in the scripts folder to organize your scripts
Tags: find and replace graphic, Freehand, illustrator, javascript, Mapping, movie, parent layer, scaling, script
Posted in Best practices, Mapping, scripting, Self promo, Site update, Software | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Today’s script installment is Make Point Type version 3. Version 2 was never released widely.
Download script (10k file size).
Please give this script a whirl. Email me with bugs or feature enhancements.
Watch a movie demo of the script with voiceover! (2.1 mb)
Important Enhancements:
- The text objects now remains on their parent layer that it was found in. No more error alerts about locked layers.
- The type is EXACTLY in the same X-Y position it was as area type. No more small jump in Y layout.
- Rotated type is fully supported, even upside down type (must be a rectangular area).
- Type on a path now reflects the original XY position and the former curve is approximated with rotation.
- Type on a path conversion can be turned on by changing line 19 to true: var convertPathType = true;
Continuing Issues:
- In some rare cases the type will be flipped 180° (upside down).
To install new scripts you need to:
- Quit Illustrator
- Copy the files into the Illustrator application folder’s “Presets” » “Scripts” subfolder
- After restarting Illustrator you can find the scripts in the menu “File” » “Scripts”;
- TIP: You can create subfolders in the scripts folder to organize your scripts
Tags: , illustrator, javascript, make point type, Mapping, movie, parent layer, rotate, script, type on path
Posted in Best practices, Mapping, scripting, Self promo, Site update, Software | 6 Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
The reception to my Toni Mair photo essay blog post continues to blow my mind. The first day it was up on March 11th my site got 17,000 page views (7,500 unique) with 97% of those being just for that blog post! If you haven’t seen it already, check it out here. Since then it’s gotten nearly 30,000 hits, the bulk of which come from a link-sharing site called stumbleupon.com. Hot damn! Another popular post has been about the Carbon Atlas featuring Dorling cartograms.
I started my blog at the end of November just to ramble about this and that and mostly just keep track of things that interest me; like an annotated bookmark list (complete with a tag cloud). Since then my blog has hosted visitors from 123 countries on all the continents and every state in the union. 75% of you are on Windows but 75% are using Firefox and not Internet Explorer. Only 2% are on dialup. Source: Google Analytics.
My Adobe Illustrator automation page featuring Javascript Extend scripts that I’ve either written or promote continues to get good traffic. Readers there stay on that page three times longer than the blog so they must be finding this more technical, time saving information useful, too.
I have a followup to the Toni Mair piece planned next month so please stayed tuned 
Tags: adobe, automation, carbon atlas, dorling cartogram, google analytics, illustrator, script, stumbleupon.com, toni mair
Posted in General, Self promo, Site update | Comments Off
