Vectoraster Manual

Vectoraster 4 Manual Manual© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 1

Vectoraster 4 ManualContentsIntroduction1 Distribution161 Interface panels 2 Credits16 1.1 Collapsing sections 2 Concept and programming 16 1.2 Value fields and sliders 2 Testing162 Source images 3 Version history 17 2.1 Primary and secondary source image 3 2.2 Measurement 33 Raster points 4 3.1 Point shape 4 3.2 Point size 6 3.3 Point transform 7 3.4 Point color 74 Raster pattern 8 4.1 Pattern type and spacing 8 4.2 Pattern transformation 9 4.3 Pattern distortion 9 4.4 Background color 95 Display 10 5.1 Raster window display settings 10 5.2 Auto regenerate 10 5.3 Draft mode 106 Saving and loading 11 6.1 .VRaster format 11 6.2 Embedding 117 Exporting 12 7.1 Copying to the clipboard 12 7.2 File export 12 7.3 Export raster size 12 7.4 Batch export 138 Preferences 14 8.1 Exporting and clipboard 14 8.2 Saving 14 8.3 New 14 8.4 Display 14 8.5 Update check 149 Shareware 15 9.1 Online purchase procedure 15© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 2

Vectoraster 4 ManualIntroduction The resulting raster can then be exported to various formats (vectors to EPS or PDF orVectoraster is an application bitmap to TIFF or JPEG) or copied straightthat allows you to create raster into most layout and vector graphicshalf-tone patterns in vector-based software.formats based on an existingbitmap image. The rasters can be generated with different distribution patterns and the individual points can be of many different shapes to suit any purpose. Bitmap source image© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com Generated vector raster 1

1 Interface Vectoraster 4 Manualpanels 21.1 Collapsing sectionsAll the raster controls are located in thefloating Controls window to the right of themain raster window.The controls are divided into three mainsections, Source images, Raster points andRaster pattern. These sections then havemultiple subsections for various controls.All these sections can be collapsed andexpanded independently by clicking ontheir header, giving you quick access to anycombination of controls at the same time,while allowing you to hide controls you don’tneed at the moment.The subsections can be opened and closedindividually, or you can open and close anentire section by clicking its header.1.2 Value fields and slidersMany parameters are controlled by acombination of a value field and a slider. Youcan either edit the value by typing in the fieldor by dragging the slider with the mouse.You can also use the arrow keys while thevalue field is selected to increase or decreasethe value. Just the arrow keys changes thevalue +/- 1, with shift held +/- 10 and withoption held +/- 0.1. This allows you to quicklytune the values exactly without having totype in a new value.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com

Vectoraster 4 Manual2 Source In most cases only the primary source imageimages is used, but you can also set a secondary source image. This can be used for example ifThe basis of a raster in is the so you wish to use one image to control the sizecalled source image(s). It is from of the raster points and another to controlthese the data is taken to define the color of the points.how big the raster points will be,and they can also be used to set 2.2 Measurementthe color of the points. Here you control what is measured in what2.1 Primary and secondary image to set the size of the raster points. Yousource image can choose between a wide range of data from each of the source images as well asIn the first two subsections of the Source random values.images section lets you set the primary andsecondary source image. The “Invert” option inverts the measured value effectively inverting the raster.There are several ways to set a source image: The “Local average” option generates a-- Press browse and select an image file on measured value by calculating a average of your hard drive. several local points. This makes the raster smoother but takes longer to render.-- Drag and drop an image or image file into the image-well on the panel.-- Select the image well and paste an image into the image-well directly.As a shortcut you can also drag and drop animage file directly onto the Vectoraster iconto create a new Vectoraster file using theimage as a source image.You can also use the “Import source image”option available in the File menu to importimages from other formats. For exampleyou can select a frame a from QuickTimecompatible movie file to use as a sourceimage.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 3

3 Raster Vectoraster 4 Manualpoints 4The shape of the points in theraster is defined in the “Rasterpoints” section. There are foursubsections with different types ofpoint shape settings:3.1 Point shapeIn this section you specify the shape ofeach individual point in the raster. This isdone by first selecting a type of point, andthen adjusting the various settings that areavailable for this point type. On the left thereis a preview image that shows you what thepoints will look like.The available point types are:CircleA circular point. There are no shape settingsfor this point type.BoxA square box. There are no shape settings forthis point type.Polygon and Rounded polygonA polygon with equal length sides. You cancontrol the number of edges and rounding ofthe edges for the rounded type. The Randomedges-option makes the number of edgesrandom from point to point, based on thebase edge number.Contracting shapeSame as rounded polygon but with anadditional option to have the sides contracttowards the center.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com

Vectoraster 4 ManualRandom shapeA random rounded shape for each individualpoint. You can control the amount ofrounding, contraction as well as the averagenumber of edges.Character / TextUse characters from any installed font asraster points. You specify a set of charactersusing the character set field. You can also usethe “All letters” option to use all letters inthe English alphabet as character set.You can use the characters in the set inthree different ways, controlled by the modemenu. You can either loop through theletters in order to get a text-like appearanceof the raster or use the characters of the setin a random order. Finally you can also usethe entire character set for each point.Custom shapeImport a custom graphics file to use for thepoints. You can either use EPS vector formator you can use a bitmap image. At this timeyou cannot change the color of customshape points in Vectoraster.If the bitmap has an alpha-channel it will beused as a mask, otherwise the darkness willbe used to control transparency.Line rasterInstead of generating a raster with a lot ofindividual points this “point type” generateslines connecting the points with varyingwidth depending to the point size.Because this mode is a little different thanthe other point types it does not have anytransform options, and it does not work withthe random raster pattern types.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 5

Vectoraster 4 Manual3.2 Point sizeIn this section you control how big the pointsin the raster are. This is done by selecting asize function that defines how the measuredvalue from the image will be translated intoa point size, and then setting a min andmax size of the points. The settings here arecommon for all point types.The units correspond to one pixel in theprimary source image, but they are convertedto either mm or points in exported rastersaccording to what preference is set of exportunits.The available size functions are:LinearJust a simple linear mapping of measuredvalue to point size.CurveThis size function gives you the optionof tweaking the size function a little bychanging the curve weight, allowing youto tweak the “exposure” or balance of theraster image as compared to the originalsource image.IncrementalWith this size function you can set a numberof fixed size steps for the points.For all the size functions you can also usethe option of removing points smaller than aspecified size.To the left there is a small graph that givesyou a rough idea of what the current sizefunction looks like.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 6

Vectoraster 4 Manual3.3 Point transformIn this section you can control varioustransformations to the individual points.Rotation sets the angle each point is rotatedaround its center. You can also add a randomvalue to each point to have them rotatedrandomly or add the raster rotation to alignthe points to the rotation of the rasterpattern.The aspect ratio setting controls the height/width ratio of each point. The “Vary” optionsets the aspect ratio as a function of thepoint size.3.4 Point colorIn this final point control section you specifywhat color the raster points will be byusing the sliders to set a mix between threesources:Single colorA single color that you can set using thecolor well next to the sliderPrimary source imageThe color of the pixel corresponding thepoint in the primary source image.Secondary source imageThe color of the pixel corresponding thepoint in the secondary source image.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 7

4 Raster Vectoraster 4 Manualpattern 8The pattern of the raster is definedin the “Raster pattern” section.There are four subsections withdifferent types of raster patternsettings:4.1 Pattern type and spacingHere you control the type of pattern to useand the spacing of the points in the rasterpattern.The default setting is to use the same spacingfor both horizontal and vertical spacing, butby checking the “Separate vertical spacing”option you can instead set different spacingvalues for horizontal and vertical.While the two spacing settings are labeledhorizontal and vertical they should actuallybe seen as a first and second direction. Forexample in a radial raster they representradial and circumference distance.The raster patterns available are:Straight gridA basic grid with straight rows and columns.Alternating gridA grid pattern with every other row shiftedand the row distance slightly reduced.RadialA radial raster with the points in circlesaround a centre point.Random / Varied densityRandom point distribution. With Varieddensity more points will be put in darkerportions of the source image.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com

Vectoraster 4 Manual4.2 Pattern transformationHere you control basic transformation of theentire raster pattern, rotation and offset.To offset the raster you can also click anddrag in the raster window. To quickly re-center the raster use the re-center button.4.3 Pattern distortionTo make a more interesting raster pattern youcan apply various distortions to the pattern.The distortion types that are available are:Twist, Bulge, Wave, Split and Randomize.The randomize distortion is a goodalternative to the random raster patterns as itallows you to add a more controlled amountof randomness to the raster pattern.For each you can control the strength of thedistortion and the size.4.4 Background colorIn the last sub panel you control the color ofthe background. You can also chose not touse any background.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 9

Vectoraster 4 Manual5 Display5.1 Raster window display In the Display menu in the menusettings bar there are a few more display- settings:The two basic display controls are located atthe bottom of the raster window. 5.2 Auto regenerateThe first are the zoom controls located to Turns on and off auto regenerating of thethe left. They allow you to zoom in and out, raster after you’ve made a change. If you’reand to fit the zoom level to the window working with very large rasters you can turnsize. While you are zoomed in you can hold this off and manually choose Regenerate tospace and click and drag in the image to pan update the raster.around. 5.3 Draft modeThe second control of this panel is the displayslider. It controls how much of the raster When draft mode is turned on the raster isand primary source image are shown. When drawn in a faster but less accurate way. Itit is all the way to the left only the image is doesn’t affect exported rasters, but speedsshown, in the middle both are shown and to up things while you’re working.the right only the raster is shown. This doesnot affect the exported raster, it’s only forpractical use while you’re working with theraster.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 10

Vectoraster 4 Manual6 Savingand loading6.1 .VRaster formatTo save or open a previously savedVectoraster document, just use the Save andOpen commands in the File menu.The files saved by Vectoraster use an internalformat and are of the type “.VRaster”. Thisfile cannot be used by any other applicationsand is only for use by Vectoraster.6.2 EmbeddingWhen saving a document the source image(s)and custom point image data is embeddedinto the VRaster file, so you do not need tokeep the original source image file once youhave saved the Vectoraster document.Also embedded in the file is a preview imageof the raster, used in previews and quicklookin Finder. The size of this preview can be setin the Vectoraster preferences.However, font data is not embedded in thefile, so in order to display character/textrasters correctly in Vectoraster when youopen a saved VRaster file you need to havethe font installed.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 11

Vectoraster 4 Manual7 Exporting 7.2 File exportTo use the raster you have created you need You can save the raster in vector format asto export it to a format other applications an EPS or PDF-file that can be imported intocan use. most vector illustration packages.7.1 Copying to the clipboard You can also generate a bitmap TIFF or JPEG image of the raster.The easiest way is to copy the raster ontothe clipboard by using the “Copy Vector- To export to any of these formats, use theRaster” item in the Edit menu. This will Export item in the File menu.copy the raster data to the clipboard. In thepreferences dialog you can set what format 7.3 Export raster sizethe clipboard data should be. The default isPDF. The size of the exported raster is dependent on two things. First the size of the primaryThere is a bug in Adobe Illustrator that source image, second the export unitssometimes prevents you to paste in PDF data used. You can set what units to use in thefrom other applications. If you are having this preferences dialog. If you for example useproblem, try this: millimeters a 100x100 pixel source image the result will be a 100x100mm raster.-- In Illustrator, copy any object inside an open Illustrator document.-- Quit and restart Illustrator.-- You should now be able to paste in things from Vectoraster and other applications into Illustrator.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 12

Vectoraster 4 Manual7.4 Batch export In the output portion of the dialog you set where the output will be stored. You can alsoThe batch export panel, accessible from choose the size and format of the output.the Batch Process menu, allows you to You can either save the output as numberedautomatically apply the current vectoraster to vector files in EPS or PDF format, TIFF-bitmapa series of source images. images or you can render the exported rasters into a QuickTime movie file.In the panel you can first define inputoptions, choose either to use frames in aQuickTime compatible video file, or use allimage files in a selected directory.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 13

8 Preferences Vectoraster 4 Manual 14You can access the applicationpreferences using the “Preferences..”item in the application menu.8.1 Exporting and clipboardIn this panel you can control the format ofclipboard data when copying the Vector-raster,the length units of the exported raster size.Millimeters for example means a 100x100pixelsource image will make a 100x100mm exportedfile, where points with size 10 will be 10mm indiameter.You can also control if you want exported imagesto contain the source image.8.2 SavingHere you can set the size of (or none) thepreview image stored in each .VRaster file.8.3 NewHere you can set if you want new documents tohave a default source image.8.4 DisplayHere you can control how many decimals areshown in the value fields in the interface, andif you want the controls panel to hide whenVectoraster is in the background.You can also turn off interface animations, whichcan be useful if you’re on a slower system.8.5 Update checkHere you can set if you want the applicationto automatically check for new versions ofVectoraster once a month. You can also check fornew versions manually here.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com

Vectoraster 4 Manual9 SharewareThis software is shareware. That means that you can download it and try itout for free, but if you like it you should pay for it. Until you purchase the fullversion points will be removed at random from all exported rasters.The price is $25 for new users, and $10 to upgrade for users of version 2 or 3 of Vectoraster.Payment is handled online via the secure servers of Kagi. You can pay with any major credit card,paypal and many other payment methods. 9.1 Online purchase procedure To pay for Vectoraster click the “Purchase Online”-button in the shareware notice window, or go to http://www.lostminds.com and click “store” in the menu. You will then be directed to Kagi, the company that handles the payments. They can offer secure online payments and accept just about any form of payment. After you have paid you will receive an automatically generated code via e-mail in a few minutes that allows you to unlock the software and use it without limitations. To unlock the software, just enter your name, the e-mail you used to register and the code you received in the shareware notice window that appears at startup. Your payment is vital as it will enable me to continue improving this product and make other great applications in the future.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 15

Distribution Vectoraster 4 Manual 16This application is distributed as shareware.As such you are free to distributed theunregistered version as long as you distributethe entire package with this manual, theonline registration link and the sample filesare included with it. However, if you do, itwould be nice if you dropped me a line to tellme about it.If you wish to distribute the applicationcommercially or if you have some otherquestion you can reach me at:lars.gafvert (at) lostminds.comYou can always find the latest version ofVectoraster and our other products at:http://www.lostminds.comCreditsConcept and programming-- Lars GäfvertTesting-- Brent Barson-- Per Hardestam-- Lars Langkopf-- Eike Menijn-- Dani Piderman-- Jonas Svensson-- Raymond de Vries© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com

Vectoraster 4 ManualVersion historyVersion 4.0.1 - 2011-06-22-- Arrow key stepping support in all value fields, up/down arrow keys change the value +/- 1 and with shift +/- 10 and option +/- 0.1 to let the user quickly tweak values without typing.-- Fixed a batch processing memory leak.-- Folder batch processing output is now automatically placed in a new sub folder called “batch output”.-- Lots of little stability fixes and optimizations.Version 4.0.0 - 2011-01-28-- New more flexible interface based on collapsing panels.-- Support for different point size functions including the new curve size function.-- File preview and QuickLook support in Finder (Mac OS X 10.5 required).-- Raised max number of allowed raster points to 1 million.-- Quickly create new rasters by dragging and dropping image files onto the Vectoraster application icon.-- New and improved manual.-- Raster pattern preview display.-- Point size function preview display.-- JPEG export.-- 64bit/32bit universal application (Mac OS X 10.5 required).-- Optimization of text raster rendering.-- Measurement optimization.-- New unified export dialogue.-- New default gradient source images for new files.-- Improved incremental point size functionality.-- Several memory leaks fixed.-- Bug with EPS export of custom shape points fixed.-- Bug with pattern offset re-center fixed.-- Bug with batch export to movie with no background fixed.-- Lots of other little bugs fixed.Version 3.5.2 - 2010-08-06-- Randomize raster distortion that allows for a more controlled level of randomness in the raster pattern.-- Some small bug fixes.-- Check for updates feature.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 17

Vectoraster 4 ManualVersion 3.5.1 - 2009-12-06-- Option to remove points smaller than a set size limit.-- Fixed bug causing freeze when zooming in too much.-- Fixed a rounding error bug for people using comma instead of period as decimal separator.-- Fixed bug with export units setting that swapped millimeters and points.Version 3.5.0 - 2009-11-30-- Added batch processing tool.-- Added movie frame import.-- Added Box point shape.-- Added the random edge number option for the polygon point shapes.-- Added lossless LZW-compression to exported TIFF-files.-- Fixed some interface quirks in Mac OS X 10.6.Version 3.0.1 - 2009-06-19-- Vectoraster now properly adds the right file extension in save dialogs.-- Made the interface fields more responsive.-- Added a help menu item to open the manual.Version 3.0.0 - 2009-03-24-- Line raster mode to generate proper line rasters.-- New character point modes to select characters from a defined set, loop through a string or use an entire string as a point.-- Separate horizontal and vertical raster spacing setting.-- Incremental point size option to use a set number of point sizes instead of the default linear distribution.-- Improved point rotation control.-- Better control of “Random shape” points, previously know as “Random blob”.-- Remodeled user interface with separate source image, point and pattern panels.-- Moved display slider and zoom controls to the bottom of the main window and fixed zoom centering.-- Option to include source image in exported rasters.-- Improved manual.-- Fixed problems with open paths in exported rasters with rounded point shapes.-- Fixed random value measurement.-- Fixed problem with aspect ratio of custom point shapes.-- Fixed problem selecting font family members for character point shape type under OS X 10.5.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 18

Vectoraster 4 ManualVersion 2.1.2 - 2008-02-17-- Fixes to various things that were broken in version 2.1.1-- Restored real-time raster regeneration.-- Better support for the special character panel.Version 2.1.1 - 2008-02-09-- Fixed crash under Mac OS X 10.5.-- You can now abort slow raster regenerations.Version 2.1.0 - 2008-01-10-- A new raster distortion feature allows you to twist and deform the raster patterns.-- Adjustments to make the interface more responsive.-- Source image data is now compressed making saved .VRaster files much smaller.-- Better handling of corrupted files.Version 2.0.1 - 2007-10-01-- You can now apply color to custom bitmap shapes.-- Improved random blobs shape, now you can adjust contraction and smoothing of the blobs.-- Undo now works for the color wells.-- A bunch of small fixes.Version 2.0.0 - 2007-08-14-- Custom point shape. Use any image file as raster points.-- Secondary source image for color or point size.-- Source color mixing sliders.-- Preference to use points or millimeters as units for exported rasters.-- Character point type can now use a random character.-- Display menu with options to render rasters in draft mode and to turn off raster auto regeneration.-- Export to PDF added.-- Export to TIFF added.-- New option to control if the raster should have a background color.-- Preference to copy vector-rasters as PDF, EPS or both.-- Lots of small bugs fixed.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 19

Vectoraster 4 ManualVersion 1.1.2 - 2006-09-09-- Fixed bug caused by duplicate fonts.-- Correct pixel sizes for source images at non-72dpi resolutions.-- Fixed source colors for images with alpha channels on Mac OS X < 10.4Version 1.1.1 - 2006-08-30-- Point shape aspect-ratio parameter introduced.-- Polygon shapes are now properly closed in exported rasters.-- Removed extra points from exported character rasters.-- All color picker modes are now supported.Version 1.1.0 - 2006-08-22-- Vectoraster now requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later.-- Varied density distribution introduced.-- Character point type now supports all members of each font family.-- CMYK-channel measurement.-- Reworked random blob points and random distribution.-- Some minor bugs fixed.Version 1.0.1 - 2006-08-03-- Fixed bug with missing controls under Mac OS X 10.3.Version 1.0.0 - 2006-07-29-- Initial release.© Copyright 2011 Lost Minds www.lostminds.com 20