Graffix plugins for Adobe Illustrator CS3, CS4, and CS5 are no longer supported, but can be activated for free!
Just download the CS3-CS5 plugins you want, install them, then when prompted to register any of them, enter the following.
Name: Creative Suite User
Code: 5F-2474
Until you’re ready to move on to CS6 and the Creative Cloud, this ought to make work in the older versions a bit easier.
Isometric or axonometric artistsWhether you do line drawings or color renderings, you know it’s an art form like no other. Your audience knows it’s much more than a picture. It has a purpose. It tells a story. It enlightens the heart as well as the mind.
Getting there is of course largely a technical matter but it has to be done, and done well, to provide a convincing framework for the finishing touches that blend art with science.
Adobe Illustrator is an excellent tool for technical illustration, and much better with the addition of plugins like CADtools. The process is about to get even better. If you’re a demanding technical illustrator with a desire for better, faster, more intuitive tools and a willingness to test, suggest, and comment, please leave your contact information and a summary of your experience. I look forward to hearing from you!
When concatenating a number of straight paths placed end-to-end, there’s often no need to keep the anchor points that once separated them. It’s also often worth simplifying the path just a little to reduce the number of anchor points. This is especially true if you plan to edit the path afterward. Now Concatenate for Adobe Illustrator CS6 and CC has been upgraded to version 16.1.5 with a setting for merging these straight segments. Even a very small value such as the default of 0.0001 (one 10,000th of a degree) will remove points when combining straight paths that were cut and rejoined. For the most hands-off handling of paths when concatenating, just enter 0 in the settings for curves and straights. This update is recommended for all users.
The popular free Select Menu plugin is now faster! I guess one could say it’s a speed bump in that its speed has been bumped up. Then again, its speed bump has been the result of removing (unless you want it) a speed bump, as in those bumps in the road intended to make you slow your vehicle down.
One recent improvement, or so I believed, was when the plugin checked for the existence of various types of objects in the current document and disabled unneeded menu items so as to save users from looking for something that’s not there. In a very large or complex document, however, that search can take a second or two, or longer, so the feature didn’t necessary save much time. With version 16.0.6, the default behavior is to enable all menu items whether needed or not. If you decide you’d rather have the menu parse the current object types, just press the Alt or Option key while selecting the Select > Object menu and the plugin will diligently search like Yoda examining the contents of Luke’s food case.
Did I mention that it’s free? Yup, still free.
In addition to drawing at isometric angles, the plugin now includes a tool to move selected art along the isometric axes. Since it’s no longer just a line-drawing tool, it has a new, simpler name.
For those occasions when you need a different projection, just double-click the tool’s icon and enter preference settings for the angles of your X and Z axes. Since it’s not just isometric anymore, perhaps the name should reflect axonometric instead… but there are other axonometric tools in the works, and that could get really confusing later on.
If you use Hot Door’s awesome CADtools plugin, you can define your axonometric settings there and IsoTool will adjust accordingly.
IsoTool is still free. I hope you find the updated features useful!
When fine-tuning the position of a pattern, I’ve often wondered if it would be faster and easier to just zoom in, click on a point I want aligned with something else, and drag it to the new position. Nudge Panel now includes a tool to let you do just that. And d’ya know what? It really is faster and easier than clicking the nudge buttons on the panel (although you may want to make the final ever-so-small adjustments with the panel). Snapping the tool to a path or point for alignment makes precise adjustments even more quickly.
Download the free update for Nudge Panel 16 and try it out!
How many ways are there to cut paths? Adobe provides quite a few, but there are a lot of situations where these tools don’t work well. The Scissors tool suffices for cutting or dividing one path, providing it’s not under another art object. Most of the other methods are essentially variations on the PathFinder Divide function, useful only for dividing filled shapes to make new shapes. To simply cut through paths, whether filled or unfilled, open or closed, there’s Cutting Tools.
The latest release, 16.1, adds a new Fence Cut feature. Here’s how it works:
All editable paths that cross the Fence or Cut line will be cut at their intersection. Depending on your tool’s current preferences, the cut line will either be preserved, deleted, or cut along with the editable art. In the example above the larger ellipse is selected as the Cut path, and the tool is set to cut the fence path.
Go ahead and take it for a test run!
CC 2018 updates for both Mac and Windows are now available.
