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Rick Johnson

About Rick Johnson

https://rj-graffix.com

https://rj-graffix.com/about/

Posts by Adobe Wan Kenobe:

Isometric Line Tool gets new angles, new tool, new name

IsoTool

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!

Works with CADtools

 

Nudge Panel now includes a pattern mover tool

nudge toolWhen 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.

For the technically curious, the tool works by choosing a reference point in the pattern, then dragging as shown above to a destination point. It would be great to just see the pattern move with the cursor, but as with all Adobe Illustrator tools, changes while dragging are only updated in wireframe mode until the mouse or stylus is released. Only then is the affected art actually redrawn.

Download the free update for Nudge Panel 16 and try it out!

Fence Cut added to Cutting Tools 16.1

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:

  • Draw a path where you want to trim. It can be straight or curved, open or closed, above or below the paths to cut. I suspect most people would just draw a rectangle to define a “neat line.”
  • To protect any paths crossing your Cut line, lock or hide them.
  • Select the Cut line path object.
  • Select Object > Path > Fence Cut.


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!

Updates for everything!

All Graffix plugins have something in common, whether it’s a module of code to add an About Box, handle preferences, or other functions. All of these shared libraries have had improvements made to them, making the plugins more stable, more reliable, and with better memory management. Every plugin available for CS6, CC, CC 2014, CC 2015, CC 2015.3, and CC 2017 (all 132 variations) now has an update available They’re recommended for all users.

And once you’ve downloaded those updates, you may notice that the read-me doc has been updated, as well, with clearer instructions on where to place the plugin. There’s also a link to the support area of this web site, which has been updated with an FAQ section and will see more frequent and meaningful help topics.

Many thanks to all users who have shared their questions, comments, and observations, which led to these improvements.

All the best,

New! ServerLock for Illustrator users in workgroups

ServerLock is here…

ServerLock dialog
ServerLock is a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator working from a shared server. If you open a file someone else already has open for editing, you’ll be presented with a dialog telling you who is currently editing the file and when it was opened. You’ll be given options to cancel the open, view the document, or assume ownership of the lock and its associated Illustrator document.

It’s currently available for Illustrator CC 2015.3 and 2017 only.

Concatenate’s emergency brake

Concatenate progress barWe’ve come to pretty much take for granted how quickly plugins work, regardless of the complexity of the calculations and manipulations they may do. Concatenate is designed to handle everyday small jobs, but also take on tasks that simply aren’t practical otherwise. Sometimes imported files can contain many layers and a gazillion paths. Seriously, I’ve worked with files containing over 200 layers and over 2,000,000 objects. Yes, two million paths! I kid you not.

Pre-CS6 versions of Concatenate had a progress bar and could be cancelled if things were moving too slowly, or if you’re just impatient like me. When the developers’ landscape changed with CS6 and CC, there were a few things that took a while to work around, and the progress/cancel feature is now back. The progress bar is nice, but the option to cancel an operation that’s taking longer than expected can be a lifesaver, like an emergency brake, escape pod, ejection seat, or special super-powers when life gets complicated.


Helpful tip no. 1: If you have a very complex file, it’ probably helpful to select one area at a time to concatenate.

Helpful tip no. 2: You can simplify the assimilate process by hiding or locking layers that aren’t relevant.

Concatenate 16.1.1 is recommended for all users, especially those who may forget to save before trying ludicrously reckless things. You can trust me on this…

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