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Sharing a free parametric grid script for Illustrator — Swiss Grid Explorer v1.1

Forum|Forum|21 days ago
June 12, 2026
5 replies
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Hi everyone! Wanted to share a free, open source script I built for Illustrator. Posting here in case it's useful to anyone working with grid systems.

Swiss Grid Explorer generates vector rectangles on a locked Swiss Grid layer plus native magnetic guides on a locked Guides layer. Parametric dialog with live canvas preview, zoom controls, and import/export JSON settings.

Six presets based on historical references:
— Brockmann 8×8, Gerstner 6×6, Vignelli 3×4, Tschichold 2×3, Digital 12, Slides 4×3

Each preset scales proportionally to any document size. Bilingual interface: English / Spanish. Compatible with Illustrator CC and later, CMYK and RGB.

Install: copy the .jsx to your Scripts folder, restart Illustrator, then File → Scripts → swiss_grid_explorer.

GitHub: https://github.com/vicc3d/swiss-grid-explorer
Web app: https://3dvic.com/apps/swiss-grid-explorer

Has anyone built something similar or have suggestions for improving the preset system?

Correct answer Kurt Gold

Thanks for sharing your script, 3dvic. It's a very good approach and I like the dialog with its scalable preview.

I did some quick tests and at first glance noticed some things that may be improved. For example:

- If you have a multiple artboards document (e.g. Artboard 1 and Artboard 2), create the grid on the active Artboard 1, then activate Artboard 2 and create the grid right there, the grid on Artboard 1 will be deleted. That's probably not intended.

- You may also consider to implement options to apply the grids only to the active artboard, to all artboards or to a specific range.

- Also, you may want to implement the ability to increase or decrease the values in the textfields of the Parametric Settings section with the Arrow Up / Arrow Down keys on the keyboard.

Just some thoughts.

F

Fabrizio_Rojas_Candia

Participant

Increíble! muchas gracias, es una gran herramienta. RECOMENDADA

3dvicAuthor

Participant

Muchas gracias @Fabrizio_Rojas_Candia ! Ya está en la versión 1.2, con nuevas características. La web está en la 1.3 con opción de márgenes personalizados, entre otras.

graphics_4075

Inspiring

I have been waiting for something like this since I first opened Illustrator. Thank you so much

Cheers

3dvicAuthor

Participant

Hi! @Kurt Gold, following up on your suggestions - both are now implemented in v1.2.

The dialog now has an artboard scope selector: "Active artboard", "All artboards", or a custom "Range" (e.g. "1-3, 5"). When applying to multiple artboards, there's also a toggle to scale the grid proportionally per artboard or keep fixed margins across all of them.

The numeric fields now support Arrow Up/Down stepping as you suggested ("Shift" for steps of 10).

v1.2 is already up on GitHub if you want to try it: https://github.com/vicc3d/swiss-grid-explorer/tree/main/scripts/illustrator

Thanks again for taking the time to test it and share such useful feedback, it genuinely made the tool better!!

Kurt Gold

Community Expert

Great improvements, 3dvic. Thanks for sharing.

I will test your new version and report back soon.

Kurt Gold

Correct answer

Community Expert

Thanks for sharing your script, 3dvic. It's a very good approach and I like the dialog with its scalable preview.

I did some quick tests and at first glance noticed some things that may be improved. For example:

- If you have a multiple artboards document (e.g. Artboard 1 and Artboard 2), create the grid on the active Artboard 1, then activate Artboard 2 and create the grid right there, the grid on Artboard 1 will be deleted. That's probably not intended.

- You may also consider to implement options to apply the grids only to the active artboard, to all artboards or to a specific range.

- Also, you may want to implement the ability to increase or decrease the values in the textfields of the Parametric Settings section with the Arrow Up / Arrow Down keys on the keyboard.

Just some thoughts.

3dvicAuthor

Participant

Thanks a lot, @Kurt Gold
Really appreciate you taking the time to test it so thoroughly. You were right about the multi-artboard issue.

Fixed it: each artboard now gets its own isolated grid and guide layers, so generating on one artboard no longer affects the others. While testing your case I also caught a stray guide that was landing just inside the right/bottom margin, so that's corrected too.

The active-artboard / all / range option and the arrow-key value stepping are great suggestions; I'm planning those for the next version.

Updated on GitHub. Thanks again for the thoughtful review.

CarlosCanto

Community Expert

awesome! thanks for sharing

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