Development blog

Tag: Documentation

  • Using expressions for value inputs

    Using expressions for value inputs

    To make the most of the parametric control features of Paragraphic you will often need to use custom mathematical expressions to establish relationships between different values or automatically calculate values based on something that you control. You can do this by using the Expression input node, which you can add by right-clicking any value parameter…

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  • Instance layers revisited

    Instance layers revisited

    One of the core functionalities of Paragraphic is to make it easy to make repetitions of things, and then modify these repeated elements in various ways to make interesting patterns and effects. Beside the many repeater tools you can use for this, there is also the instance layer feature. Instance layers are basically copies to…

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  • Change node Apply to modes

    Change node Apply to modes

    While the repeater nodes that allow you to easily create repeated patterns from elements are very powerful on their own, you can do even more by combining these with change nodes that apply various changes to elements (like rotating, scaling or changing their color). And to get the most out of this it’s important to…

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  • Improved repeater tools

    Improved repeater tools

    While the repeater nodes that allow you to add repetition patterns to layer have been around for a long time I’ve now added some new and improved visual tools for easily adding them. You can still just add a repeater node to the layer yourself if you prefer, but now there’s also the option to…

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  • Free-form path tools

    Free-form path tools

    A big a complex chunk of functionality I’ve been putting off for a while is free-form path drawing. It’s a standard tool in practically all vector design software, but requires a lot of tools and supporting functionality to work well, and it’s a challenge to fit into the more rigid structure of a parametric design…

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  • Data driven generation

    Data driven generation

    Value lists as input data One of the powerful possible applications of a parametric design tool like Paragraphic is to be able to design custom diagrams and info-graphics to visualize data and values. For this purpose I’ve now added the simple but powerful Value list parameter type. This is simply a field where you can…

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  • Parameter input nodes

    Parameter input nodes

    The layer nodes I’ve already described in previous posts are the main building blocks in the sequence generating the contents of layers. However, there will also be another type of nodes in Paragraphic, that I’m currently calling parameter nodes (or maybe parameter input nodes?) and I’ve now started implementing. As the name implies these parameter…

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  • Custom inputs control panel

    Custom inputs control panel

    Making connections between properties to reuse and establish relationships between sizes, colors angle etc is a very powerful feature. It can allow you to set up complex designs and patterns and then change the entire design by adjusting just the base parameters the rest rely on. However, an issue with this I ran into in…

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  • Making connections

    Making connections

    With the basics of layers and layer nodes in place I’ve turned my attention to another key parametric functionality of Paragraphic: connections. As you might have seen in the screenshots almost all parameters, like sizes, position, angles and colors, have little notches or sockets to the left and right of them. These are the graphical…

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