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M
Maple Stirrup
Known Participant
March 13, 2018
Answered

I'm trying to get an old plugin to work with CC

  • March 13, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 930 views

I'm new here as well, so sorry for anything abnormal.

The title says it, a premium type plugin that is no longer supported by the developers, and using it with CC would really make my life easier.  I'm feeling out any options that I might have to get this thing to work.  It was purchased for $400, so there's probably some legal aspects here.

But I'm willing to even learn code, I have some college computer programming courses under my belt, but that's not my field, and I was thinking maybe I can crash course hack and slash my way through making a similar one on my own?  And I can look at the plugin I have, for guidance?  Is that a realistic goal?

Are there any other options I might have to solve this problem? 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Rick E Johnson

Hi, welcome to the forum! Writing a plugin is indeed realistic if you're familiar with c or better, c++, and are determined enough to put in the time and effort to see your project through. Others may not agree, but I found the most straightforward way to write plugins is with Hot Door's CORE platform (HotDoorCORE.com ). If you have Xcode or Visual Studio 2015, I'd recommend downloading it and try compiling and modifying some of the example projects. Best of luck!

3 replies

M
Maple StirrupAuthor
Known Participant
March 14, 2018

Challenge officially accepted.  How would I go about finding out how the plugin was created?   Might it be best, since I'll have to be able to recognize what it's doing, to learn the software that it's been created in?  I can't remember the last Visual Studio I used, it was like a decade or probably more ago, and I'm probably ridiculously rusty in C++, but I'd still like to try.  I'll definitely be checking out that hot door core.

It's software that adds lines and marks for helping with finishing in printing.  The price is high because the crowd of buyers is small.  It doesn't do anything remarkably complex, an example is that it adds evenly distributed marks along the sides of document pages, with a handful of variable like bells and whistles,  Printing on two sides of things has a few snags when folding over the edges, the left side flap needs to match the right side of the second side.  Sometimes rotating or mirroring and moving edges of pdf pages, so the 'fold' matches the other sides.  It's all very well done too, all professional.  Some of the actions it does, such as making multiple copies of larger embedded artwork, and splitting those up and assigning them to new locations, and... unusually fast.  Seemingly much faster than using commands in Illustrator could do.

It runs on a computer with CS5, but won't work with CC, I'm not sure why yet.  We've tried contacting the developers to pay for an updated or upgraded version, and were told that it's no longer an option.  I believe as well, that we even offered to buy rights to it, and that was also declined.

L
LeoTaro
Inspiring
March 15, 2018

You will need to learn how to use the Illustrator SDK, which is used by all plugins, or as Rick suggested use an SDK wrapper library.

The plugin won't work with CC because it was compiled using a CS5 compatible version of the SDK which is not compatible with CC.

If that is all the plugin does, it sounds a bit overpriced. If you only want the basic functionality of the plugin and are not bothered about a fancy GUI, you may be able to achieve what you want using Illustrator scripting or even actions.

L
LeoTaro
Inspiring
March 14, 2018

Which version of Illustrator was the last supported by the plugin? What does the plugin do? Have you tried contacting the developers to see if they could be persuaded to create a CC version or to sell you the source code?

Yes, it is possible to write your own plugin, but I don't think it is realistic for you to be able to replicate a plugin that was sold for $400. For that price I would assume that it includes functionality that is not in the public domain and is difficult to replicate.

Rick E Johnson
Rick E JohnsonCorrect answer
Inspiring
March 14, 2018

Hi, welcome to the forum! Writing a plugin is indeed realistic if you're familiar with c or better, c++, and are determined enough to put in the time and effort to see your project through. Others may not agree, but I found the most straightforward way to write plugins is with Hot Door's CORE platform (HotDoorCORE.com ). If you have Xcode or Visual Studio 2015, I'd recommend downloading it and try compiling and modifying some of the example projects. Best of luck!

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