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New PopArt live symbols for AxoTools

PopArt symbols can be dragged from a symbols panel and AxoTools will automatically expand them to fit your choice of axonometric planes in your current document projection. This includes extruded art, art with compound rotations, and with moves along axes.

For example, say you’re building an axonometric village and you want awnings over some of your windows. Rather than build them, or copy and paste them from a previous project, you can store one as a PopArt symbol and drag them into your document as needed.

PopArt demo

You’re not limited to just isometric, either. PopArt will expand and conform to any face in any document projection you set, including an auxiliary projection.

PopArt turn values

table, chairs, umbrella

PopArt can contain several layered objects at various angles. In this illustration, only two PopArt chairs created the four seen here, and the table with umbrella is all one symbol.

Please see the AxoTools documentation for more information on creating and using AxoTools PopArt symbols. And please let me know if you create PopArt symbols you’re willing to share with others!

Rick

AxoTools adds Action support

Now you can record and play back actions that include many AxoTools functions, with the free update to AxoTools available online for Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 through 2023. Actions currently supported include:

  • Project art to or from an axonometric plane
  • Extrude, either from the tool or the panel
  • Axo Scale
  • Axo Rotate
  • Axo Shear
  • Axo Move
  • Axo Rectangle
  • Axo Ellipse

Actions will play back using the current document projection settings. That is, if you recorded moving or extruding an object along an axis of an isometric view, then changed your document’s projection, it would adjust to operate using the current projection. Action playback also honors your current draw settings and Projection panel options so old actions adapt to your current environment.

One example of using actions with AxoTools is a technique to do a block shadow effect (even though AxoTools was never made for that).

  1. Select path art to which you want to add a shadow
  2. Start recording the action
  3. Select Edit > Copy
  4. Extrude the art without projecting it, using either the Extrude panel or Extrude tool
  5. Set the fill and stroke of the extruded and selected art to your shadow color
  6. Select Edit > Paste in Front
  7. Stop recording

Now any time you want to add a similar block shadow, just select your art and run this action!

block shadow action

I’m curious what ingenious actions other AxoTools users will come up with. Maybe one to construct a detailed hex nut? Please let us know in the comments below.

Easier updates

Those of you who have had Graffix plugins for Adobe Illustrator for a while know that version updates and even new features are almost always free. In fact, every update since 2014 has been free, and although some significant updates are currently in progress, none are planned to require an additional payment.

When new features, improvements to existing features, or just addressing issues that occasionally arise, I like to get fixes and improvements in the hands of users as soon as practical.

update dialogOn the other hand, I realize that unzipping the download, then navigating through the file system to place the plugin in Illustrator’s Plug-ins folder is a hassle. Illustrators have too much to do to be saddled with busywork like this!

When I rebuilt my plugins using Hot Door’s CORE libraries in 2014, I was encouraged that it had built-in almost all the tools I needed to automatically install updates (key word: almost). A fellow developer recently alerted me to an approach that finally made the last piece of this process possible. Some of the plugins available for download now have the auto-install system added, and the rest of the plugins will be updated as well in the near future.

When the new plugins fetch an update, they will automatically install it, and move the “read-me” doc file to a “Graffix plugins” folder located in your Documents folder. I only wish I could have enabled this sooner!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The auto-install, I found out too late, only works reliably on Mac systems, and then only when the Plug-ins folder has its permissions set to read/write for everybody. Current plugins test for the known limits and, if necessary, will send a link to your browser to download as it used to. If you’ve already downloaded a plugin with auto-install, you’ll have to manually download an update from the site. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please remember, I’m just an illustrator like you who’s figured out how to write plugins, and that limited experience sometimes shows.

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!