How to write extensions and plugins for illustrator?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 30, 2022
2 replies
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Hi Guys, I have some scripts in JS and I would like to write them as extensions or plugins for illustrator, can anyone indicate examples of how to make, and or, materials for reading and learning?.

Correct answer Rick E Johnson

I started writing Illustrator plugins using the Adobe SDK in 1995. Beginning with AI 16 (CS6), the SDK dropped their ADM, with support for UI elements, and users needed to use a third-party solution. I didn't find any of the alternative methods at all intuitive or sufficienetly documented, and went with CORE, free from Hot Door (makers of CADtools).

http://hotdoorcore.com

You can download the libraries and compile the sample projects to see how it works. In addition to its built-in cross-platform UI support, I found it much easier to work with than Adobe's SDK, although it's possible to build plugins using parts of both CORE and the SDK. The downside is that CORE is updated sometime after each Illustrator release, so there's a lag between your updates and everybody else's.

Rick E JohnsonCorrect answer

Inspiring

I started writing Illustrator plugins using the Adobe SDK in 1995. Beginning with AI 16 (CS6), the SDK dropped their ADM, with support for UI elements, and users needed to use a third-party solution. I didn't find any of the alternative methods at all intuitive or sufficienetly documented, and went with CORE, free from Hot Door (makers of CADtools).

http://hotdoorcore.com

You can download the libraries and compile the sample projects to see how it works. In addition to its built-in cross-platform UI support, I found it much easier to work with than Adobe's SDK, although it's possible to build plugins using parts of both CORE and the SDK. The downside is that CORE is updated sometime after each Illustrator release, so there's a lag between your updates and everybody else's.

femkeblanco

Legend

@Rick E Johnson How easy is it to start with writing plugins? To elaborate, assume one is an amateur coder who knows say basic Java. If they went on a 3-month bootcamp and learnt basic C++, could they then write the simplest of plugins over a weekend? Or does one have to be a computer science graduate who has worked in software for at least a couple of years?

Rick E Johnson

Inspiring

Well, to answer that we'd have to agree on the definition of "easy." 😉

I wrote the first version of my Select Menu plugin in a couple of hours one morning before going in to work, but that's far from the norm for plugin development. Yes, simple plugins could be done in a weekend, if it's really simple and if you're familiar with the language and the API. It will take more time and experimentation, though, if your plugin interacts with the user, but then working toward a more elegant UI is a rewarding experience in itself.

I would suggest downloading both the Adobe SDK and Hot Door's CORE, then examining the code in the sample projects. Much of it probably looks enough like JS to make some sense right away.

Next, compile and run the plugins. Running in debug mode will allow you to step through the code to become familiar with the startup process, as well as code that's called when the user clicks a button, menu, or tool. If you have a Mac you can get Xcode for free, otherwise you'll need Visual Studio for Windows.

If you start to study c++, don't waste a lot of time on platform-specific things for writing full-blown applications. Both CORE and the SDK use very generic c++ that essentially figures out instructions to tell Illustrator what to draw.