Splatter

InkFlow Panel (Basic Mode)

1. Flyout menu

See InkFlow Panel: Flyout Menu.

2. Panel banner

The InkFlow panel banner has a help button on the right which opens the help documentation in the Astute Manager. If this does not automatically appear, please ensure your Astute Manager is running first. Also, the panel banner can be clicked to activate the InkFlow tool. This is a quick method of locating the tool within the default Advanced toolbar or a custom toolbar.

3. Preset Pens

InkFlow offers four preset pens with different characteristics. Each may be selected by clicking on the corresponding icon in the top row, which will highlight in blue. Each pen may be customized by selecting it, changing its parameters using the panel controls underneath, and then Option/Alt-clicking on the icon. To reset a preset pen back to its default values, Shift-click on it (or all of the preset pens may be reset by using the panel flyout menu item Reset Standard Pens). If one or more InkFlow strokes are selected when a pen is selected, their strokes will be changed to match the selected pen’s.

• a. Ballpoint Pen Preset: The Ballpoint Pen preset is designed to imitate a typical ballpoint pen, with a small round tip, and slight upstroke thinning.

• b. Brush Pen Preset: The Brush Pen preset is designed to imitate a fiber-tipped brush, with a larger round tip and high upstroke thinning.

• c. Calligraphic Pen Preset: The Calligraphic Pen preset is designed to imitate a shaped pen used for calligraphy. It has a highly-elliptical tip and very high upstroke thinning.

• d. Marker Pen Preset: The Brush Pen preset is designed to imitate a wide, chisel-tipped marker. It has a larger, highly-elliptical tip and no upstroke thinning.

4. User-Defined Pens

You can define up to four pens of your own, which can be recalled by simply clicking on one of the boxes. To define a pen, adjust the panel parameters to their desired values and then Option/Alt-click on one of the boxes to store it. While a user-defined pen cannot be named, an image of its stroke will appear.

InkFlow Panel User Defined Brush

To remove a user-defined pen, Shift-click on its box. 

5. Current Stroke Preview

Shows a preview of the stroke that would be produced by the current pen, if it were moved from left to right with increasing pressure. When the pen size is too large to be drawn correctly (more than about 30 pt), it will be shown in a dimmer color around its scaled-down version (drawn in magenta). The preview reflects the Thin Upstrokes parameter, and if enabled, the effective pen size may be smaller than the nominal size.

6. String Controls

The InkFlow cursor is pulled by a virtual “string,” the length of which is specified here, from 1 to 100 pixels. Changing the string length will not change existing selected InkFlow strokes; however, the parameter is saved and recalled with each pen preset. The virtual string acts very similarly to a real string. When it is taut, pulling the string has the effect of dragging the pen in the same direction. However, pushing on the string, or dragging when it is not taut, has no effect on the pen position. A very short string has the effect of stabilizing the pen and filtering out small tremors. This is particularly useful with stylus input devices, which are more susceptible to hand tremor than mice. A longer string changes the characteristics of the pen: it becomes smoother and draws either very shallow curves, or makes tight corners when the string is relaxed and pulled in a different direction.

7. Thin Upstrokes Controls

When Thin Upstrokes is enabled, drawing with the pen in the direction specified as “Up” will cause its size to decrease, reflecting the way some physical pens behave, and useful for calligraphy. The amount of thinning can be specified from 1% to 100%, where 20% means a stroke exactly in the “Up” direction would be only 20% of the width of a stroke in the opposite direction (a stroke only partly in the “Up” direction would get partial thinning). By default, the “Up” direction is actually upwards (90°, as specified in Illustrator), but can be changed to any value.

InkFlow Thin Upstroke Examples

8. Pen Size Controls

These controls specify the size of the pen. The slider and value input allow the size to be directly specified, from 1 pt to 1296 pt. The button at left allows pressure control for tablet input devices; when using a mouse it should be kept off. When it is enabled, the specified size value represents the maximum size; the minimum size may be specified by using the control on the Expanded mode panel (see InkFlow Panel Expanded Mode). 

9. Pen Roundness Controls

These controls specify the roundness of the pen. The slider and value input allow the roundness to be directly specified, from 1% (an extremely narrow ellipse; nearly a straight line) to 100% (circular). The button at left allows tilt control for tablet input devices; when using a mouse it should be kept off. When it is enabled, the specified roundness value represents the maximum value; the minimum value may be specified by using the control on the Expanded mode panel (see InkFlow Panel Expanded Mode).

10. Pen Angle Controls

These controls specify the angle of the pen tip (which is only relevant if the roundness is set to a value other than 100%). The slider and value input allow the angle to be directly specified. The button at left allows bearing control for tablet input devices; when using a mouse it should be kept off. When it is enabled, the specified angle value represents the default value at neutral bearing; the variance may be specified by using the control on the Expanded mode panel (see InkFlow Panel Expanded Mode).

11. Feathering Controls

These controls may be hidden using the panel flyout menu Hide Ink Simulation Controls. Feathering occurs when capillary action causes ink from the pen to be drawn along the fibers of the paper. It creates very fine, thin lines perpendicular or near-perpendicular to the stroke. The InkFlow simulation is designed to be viewed at up to about twice screen resolution, where it creates a fuzziness to the edge and softens it. It doesn’t look realistic at higher zoom levels, due to point count considerations. The feathering value may be set from 0 to 100, with values below about 60 producing fairly subtle results, and values above 85 making the stroke look very spiky.

InkFlow Feathering Examples

12. Bleed Controls

These controls may be hidden using the panel flyout menu Hide Ink Simulation Controls. Bleeding occurs when the pen is brought into contact with and taken off the paper. When a pen is brought into contact with the paper, there is usually a pause, during which time the ink seeps into a circle around the contact point. When it is removed from the paper, it is generally not removed cleanly, and there is an uneven trail during the short period when pen is only partially in contact with the paper. Enabling Bleed in InkFlow simulates both of these effects. For the end of the stroke, the brush trails are randomly generated, and toggling the effect will generate a different look each time.

InkFlow Bleed Examples

13. Splatter Controls

These controls may be hidden using the panel flyout menu Hide Ink Simulation Controls. Although splatter generally isn’t seen with modern pens, it does occur in some historical manuscripts. It’s also an artistic way of suggesting real ink. When Splatter is enabled, tiny paths representing droplets surround the stroke, some of them forming teardrop-shaped splashes. The splatter dots are randomly generated, and toggling the effect will generate a different look each time.

InkFlow Splatter Examples

For additional control over splatter characteristics, such as their size and throw distance, the AG Splatter live effect (part of the Astute Graphics Stylism plugin) may be used instead of InkFlow’s built-in Splatter control. 

AG Splatter is an Astute Graphics live effect that adds randomly-generated splatter or spatter type objects along the paths of the art to which it is applied. A panel interface allows adjustment of many parameters, such as the splatters’ shape, angle, offset, and more. AG Splatter is part of the Stylism plugin.

AG Splatter Example

As with most live effects, AG Splatter appears in the main menu, under Effect > Stylism > AG Splatter. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel. However, the easiest way to apply the live effect is using the Apply button on the AG Splatter panel. 

The AG Splatter live effect does not have a modal parameters dialog, but is instead edited using a panel, which can be shown and hidden using the menu item found in the main menu at Window > Astute Graphics >AG Splatter. When at least one selected object has the AG Splatter live effect applied, the panel controls will update to reflect the parameters of those effects, which can then be edited. A value field which is blank or (for checkboxes) with a dash indicates that the parameter has different values in the selection. These can be unified (made the same) by entering a new value.

AG Splatter Panel

1. Flyout menu

See AG Splatter Panel: Flyout Menu.

2. Panel banner

The help button on the right opens the help documentation in the Astute Manager. If this does not automatically appear, please ensure your Astute Manager is running first.

3. Density

Controls the relative number of splatter “droplets” that are created along the path; it can range from 0.1% to 99999.9%. A value of 100% (the default) nominally produces 100 droplets along a 1000 pt long straight path, so therefore a Density value of 800% would produce 800. However, as with all parameters, the actual count will randomly fall within a Gaussian (normal) distribution around this value. Additionally, if the path has tight curves and the Curvature Bias parameter is set to a high value, then the count will be increased, potentially by tenfold or even more.

AG Splatter Density Examples

If the Density is set to a value that would produce a very large number of droplets (on the order of 100,000), a warning dialog will be displayed:

AG Splatter Long Processing Time Warning

Pressing the Abort button will stop execution of the live effect, allowing you to lower the Density without waiting for the effect to finish processing. If the Don’t show again checkbox is enabled, the dialog can be re-enabled using the Reset Warning Dialog menu item in the panel’s flyout menu. 

4. Size

Controls the approximate size of the splatter droplets. However, splatter Size is not absolute but randomly assigned and also dependent on both the throw distance and the angle from the path; long distances produce smaller splatters, as do higher angles. Size can vary from 0pt to 500pt, with a default of 6pt. 

AG Splatter Size Examples

5. Throw

Controls the average distance that the splatter droplets are shifted from their point of origin along the path, from 0pt to 1000pt and a default value of 16pt.

AG Splatter Throw Examples

6. Spread

Controls the range in angles that the splatter droplets are “thrown” away from the tangent angle of the path at the point of origin, from 0% to 100% with a default value of 50%. 

AG Splatter Spread Examples

7. Angle

Controls an overall change in the throw angle of the splatter droplets, from –90° to 90° (where positive values rotate the splatters counterclockwise). This can be used to put the splatters more towards one side of a path instead of equally on both sides, which is the default.

AG Splatter Angle Examples

8. Parameter Profile Buttons

Specify how the respective parameter changes as the splatters are created from one end of the path to the other. There are five options:

AG Splatter Parameter Profile Types

When a parameter increases, it moves linearly from zero to the value that is specified, and when it decreases, it does to zero. Thus, for example, an Increasing then Decreasing Size set to 40pt would create splatters with size zero at the start of the path, increase to size 40pt at the midpoint of the path, and then decrease to zero again at the end of the path. The default profile is Constant.

9. Curvature Bias

Specifies how much sharp curves on the path act to increase the number of splatters. A value of 0% means that curved sections of the path are treated no differently from straight sections. Higher Curvature Bias values will make more splatters appear at curved sections of the path, with sharper curves getting more splatters. The default value is 50%.

AG Splatter Curvature Bias Examples

10. Averaging

When Curvature Bias is enabled, Averaging uses a moving average of the path’s curvature rather than its instantaneous value at any spot. This can help stop unwanted high numbers of splatters from being created when effects such as Roughen (which cause the path the bend sharply) are applied above the AG Splatter effect in the Appearance panel. The default setting is on.

AG Splatter Averaging Examples

11. Shape

Controls the mix of splatter droplet shapes, with 0% representing rounded droplets on the left, to 100% representing narrow, teardrop-shaped droplets on the right. The default value is 30%.

AG Splatter Shape Examples

12. Positioning

Specifies the position of the splatter droplets in relation to the original path, from among Above Original, Replace Original, or Below Original.

13. Style

When the AG Splatter live effect is located below the fill and strokes of the artwork in the Appearance panel, the Style pulldown menu specifies how the fill color and opacity of the created splatter droplets should be determined:

• Use Original means the fill will be simply be taken from the original path (if the original path has no fill, then it is taken from its stroke). This fill can be a flat color, a gradient, or a pattern.

• Specify Color means the fill color of the droplets is specified using the Color control underneath.

• Specify Opacity means the opacity of the droplets is specified using the Opacity control underneath.

• Specify Both means both the fill color and opacity of the droplets are specified using the controls underneath.

14. Color

Available if the Style is set to Specify Color or Specify Both; it specifies the fill color of the splatter droplets. Clicking the color chip will bring up the standard color picker dialog. The default Color is black. 

15. Opacity

Available if the Style is set to Specify Opacity or Specify Both; it specifies the fill opacity of the splatter droplets. Low opacities can be used to create cloud-type effects.

AG Splatter Opacity Examples

16. Seed

Each random seed number leads to a different sequence of random values. Clicking the button picks a new seed, thereby changing the look of the artwork. To view or specify the seed number directly, Option/Alt-click the button. This lets you recreate a previously-generated look.

17. Apply Button

Click to apply the AG Apply live effect to the selected artwork, with the parameters set as they currently exist in the panel. If the button is not available, then either nothing is selected or the selection already contains at least one object with an AG Splatter effect. If the button is clicked with Shift pressed, the splatter droplets will be added and immediately detached, essentially creating them as editable artwork rather than as a live effect. However, this loses the ability to preview the effect first.

The Stylism plugin adds the menu item AG Splatter Effects to the native Select menu. Choosing this menu item will select all unlocked art objects which contain at least one AG Splatter live effect.

The following operation can be recorded and played back as an Action:

1. The menu item Select > AG Splatter Effects.