In Patternodes text was always generated as character outline paths, which had the benefit of making these shapes the same as and other generated shapes in the system. However, it also had the drawback that it wasn’t possible to change text content or text-specific properties dynamically.
So in Paragraphic I wanted to implement a specific type of Text elements, that by default are generated by text layers. These can be transformed, repeated etc the same as other elements, but work more like a text box that you can later change the content in, for example if you want to display dynamic values or strings representing some data.
However, there are also cases where you also want to use the character paths as shapes rather than a text box. And for these cases you can now just check the “Generate paths” option, and instead of generating a text element the output of the layer with be a group of separate path elements, one for each glyph/character. This allows you to then use these character paths just like any other shape, for example randomizing them like in the example above or applying varying stroke or fill color properties.
Additional changes and improvements
UI/UX
- Improved parameter socket connection menus with more consistent socket info display and fewer subheadings.
- Improved quick tool cycling between select/transform and repeater editing tool using middle mouse button or Tab.
Generation
- Added Star shape drawing tool.
- Added Arc shape drawing tool.
Bonus: An example of using the new arc tool/shapes in a simple repeated pattern.