Version 0.9.4 released

This update introduces some new functionality to replace and reorder elements in groups with the new Group Replace and Group Arrange nodes, as well as a new powerful mode in instance layers that lets the layer instance a selected element from a group instead of the entire group.

Like the example video above shows this allows you to set up a group of layers with different elements you want to use, and then use an instance layer to pick out a single element from this group using an index. And since this index can vary, for example at random or based on some repeater pattern, you can create patterns that use different elements in them.

Similarly the new Replace node allows you to take an existing repeated group of elements and replace some of these with elements from another layer. So you could for example replace every other shape in a pattern with another shape from another layer.

The fruit pattern in the example above is also available as a sample project file you can download.

The Arrange node is pretty self explanatory, in that it allows you to change the order of elements in a generated group. For example you can simply reverse them, to take a selection and move to the front or back. Or you can do more advanced reordering, such as reordering the elements based on position, size or distance from the pivot point. Below you can see a little example of using different such reordering options on a simple grid of squares.

In addition to these new features the update contains the usual batch of bugfixes and smaller improvements that will hopefully make Paragraphic easier to work with, regardless of what you do with it.

Changes and improvements
Added Arrange Node. This node reorders elements in groups in various ways, moving selected elements back/forward or arranging them based on position or size.
Added Replace Node. This node replaces selected elements in groups using elements from other layers, including a mode where you can pick the replacement element to use from a connected group of element.
Instance layer pick element from group mode. With this enabled the instance layer will output a selected element from the connected parent layer group, instead of the entire group.
– Configuring custom document parameters now applies changes instantly for better feedback.
– Escape key now closes any open context menus.
– Don’t automatically switch to point edit tool when selecting a freeform path layers.

Bug fixes
– Fix not being able to paste in svg content copied from Affinity Designer (and maybe other sources).
– Fix blurry text on higher resolution rendering. Also fixes pixel-based exports of text at higher resolutions.
– Improve appearance of initial window/UI loading on Windows.
– Fix exporting empty document to SVG resulting in a completely empty file.
– Fix some situations where layer context menus might be left open after layer was deselected.
– Fix layer output connection markers sometimes not drawing in the correct location.
– Fix incorrect resize handles being shown if layer output contains no elements from original generator node.
– Fix warnings about reverting value type when loading non-angle custom document value parameters.
– Fix dynamic parameters not updating in grid / area repeater spacing parameters.
– Correctly hide unavailable element generation indexes in index selection menus after loading file.

You can check for updates and download the latest version from within Paragraphic if you have it installed, or you download it from paragraphic.design

Interested?
Try it now in early access or sign up for a release notification!