gradient radial to linear bach change

[Max Mugen]

Again another question about scripting

 is there a way to select a bunch of gradients filled shapes and say :
switch from linear to radial ?

Instead of Having to click on each individual shape and go to the gradient panel and change from linear to radial

See attachment for example


thxxxx

[femkeblanco · Accepted solution]

/*
 * Changes gradient type, from linear to radial, of selected path items
 * Femke Blanco 08/01/2023
 */
var doc = app.activeDocument;
for (var i = 0; i < doc.selection.length; i++) {
    linearToRadial(doc.selection[i]);
}
function linearToRadial(item) {
    var g1 = item.fillColor.gradient;
    var g2 = doc.gradients.add();
    g2.type = GradientType.RADIAL;
    var l = g1.gradientStops.length;
    for (var j = 0; j < l; j++) {
        if (j == 0) {
            var stop = g2.gradientStops[0];
            initialise(stop, 0);
        } else if (j == l - 1) {
            var stop = g2.gradientStops[l - 1];
            initialise(stop, l - 1);
        } else {
            var stop = g2.gradientStops.add();
            initialise(stop, j);
        }
    }
    var gradientColor2 = new GradientColor();
    gradientColor2.gradient = g2;
    item.fillColor = gradientColor2;
    function initialise(stop, index) {
        stop.color = g1.gradientStops[j].color;
        stop.midPoint = g1.gradientStops[j].midPoint;
        stop.opacity = g1.gradientStops[j].opacity;
        stop.rampPoint = g1.gradientStops[j].rampPoint;
    }
}

[m1b]

Hi @femkeblanco, I wrote a script like this too (I will post it, too, only because it has a UI), and both our scripts create a swatch item for every gradient we make. Any idea how to avoid that? I fiddled for quite a while but couldn't solve it. I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

- Mark

[femkeblanco]

Hi @m1b.  I didn't notice the added swatches.  I presume it's because the scripts create new gradient colors, in which case I don't think there's a way around it. 

[Sergey Osokin]

Also a big problem with the fact that gradients on objects are stored in the document structure as invisible to the user global swatches. Changing the gradient of one object changes all the copies in the document. We discussed this scripting problem with the Adobe Illustrator team, but as we can see in the CC 2023 script API it hasn't been solved.

[m1b]

Thanks Sergey. Yes it's a bit of a mess.

[Max Mugen]

Thank youuuuu 😄 

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Hi @Max Mugen, I had already written this when I saw you already had a virtually equivalent answer. I will post it anyway, because a small difference is I gave it a UI, so you can choose which conversion to make. - Mark

/**
 * Convert Gradient FillColor Type.
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/gradient-radial-to-linear-bach-change/m-p/13474116
 */
(function () {

    var doc = app.activeDocument,
        items = doc.selection;

    var convertToGradType = ui()
        ? GradientType.LINEAR
        : GradientType.RADIAL;

    for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {

        var item = items[i];

        if (
            item.fillColor.typename == 'GradientColor'
            && item.fillColor.gradient.type != convertToGradType
        )
            item.fillColor.gradient = newGradFromGrad(doc, item.fillColor.gradient, convertToGradType);

    }


    function newGradFromGrad(doc, grad, convertToType) {

        if (grad.gradType === convertToType)
            return grad;

        var newGrad = doc.gradients.add();

        newGrad.type = convertToType;
        newGrad.stops = grad.stops;

        while (newGrad.gradientStops.length < grad.gradientStops.length)
            newGrad.gradientStops.add();

        for (var i = 0; i < grad.gradientStops.length; i++) {
            newGrad.gradientStops[i].color = grad.gradientStops[i].color;
            newGrad.gradientStops[i].midPoint = grad.gradientStops[i].midPoint;
            newGrad.gradientStops[i].opacity = grad.gradientStops[i].opacity;
            newGrad.gradientStops[i].rampPoint = grad.gradientStops[i].rampPoint;
        }

        return newGrad;

    };

    function ui() {

        var w = new Window("dialog { text:'', properties:{ resizeable:true } }");
        w.add('statictext',undefined,'Convert selected gradients to:');
        var radios = w.add("group {orientation:'row', alignment:['center','center']}");
        var linearRadio = radios.add('radiobutton', undefined, 'Linear');
        var radialRadio = radios.add('radiobutton', undefined, 'Radial');
        radialRadio.value = true;
        var buttons = w.add("group {orientation:'row', alignment:['right','center'], alignChildren:'right', margins:[0,23,0,0] }");
        var cancelButton = buttons.add("Button { text:'Cancel', properties:{name:'cancel'} }");
        var okButton = buttons.add("Button { text:'Convert' }");
        okButton.onClick = function () { w.close(1) };

        w.center();
        var result = w.show();

        if (result == 1)
            return linearRadio.value;

    }


})();

[Max Mugen]

Thank you for posting your solution ! it is very nice also to be able to choose (just because ^^ ) 
Elegant solution too 

Fun fact, I was editing the file from femkeblanco to transform to radial or linear, annnd it worked ! haha 
Besides that, I have no clue about the code, too many var in there !

[m1b]

It's amazing what we can achieve sometimes! Keep it up. It takes a lot of playing around for the concepts to become clear.

[m1b]

Also, because neither @femkeblanco or I explicitly stated the fact I will say it here: this task would be trivial if you could just set the gradient's type directly. That would have been a nice one-line of script. Oh well.

[Max Mugen]

well, i'm not sure of what you are referring to here ^^' am I missing something ? 
If I draw, I'll know beforehand what kind of gradient I want to use. Some minors change in the artwork would not justify using a script here. 

But this time around, I'm finally going down the rabbit hole of making my own libraries of assets. Swatches here but it is a long road to go.  
In my libs  I find it nice to have both versions of the gradient at hand because I'll probably go over an existing artwork and try to polish it and make it pop enough for publishing. 
At this stage, re edit a lot of stuff can be tedious and every click can be a time saver. Plus the fact of happy creative accidents ? so yea I'll take both and mess around 😄 File cleaning would be next day then haha 

[m1b]

Sorry I wasn't clear and it seems I was giving you unnecessary info anyway. 🙂 I was trying to explain why femkeBlanco's and my code was so long-winded just to change the type of a gradient. The reason is that gradients aren't completely implemented in the scripting API, and perhaps poorly designed in so far as they have been. We *should* be able to script this one line to do what you ask:

item.fillColor.gradient.type == GradientType.RADIAL;

But alas that doesn't do anything.

- Mark 

[Max Mugen]

ooh ok you were referring to the API !
thx for explaining 
Well this was the line of code I was adventurous enough to change and try anyway haha 
gland it worked because of all the rest of the code 

cheers !