'random' rotation at specified angles?

[briank53220431]

To elaborate...

I already have a script for randomly rotating objects, but for this particular project I don't want them to rotate randomly from range of degrees; I'm looking for a way to randomly rotate a group of objects at either 90, 180, 270, or 360 degrees only.

I approached an engineer friend about this, and her suggestion was this:

var randNum = random.(0,3); // pick random # in range

var degrees = [90, 180, 270, 360];

var myRandDegree = degrees[randNum];

At this point, I generally understand the general principle of mapping 1-4 to the degrees I want to rotate, but—as I am not a programmer—I'm looking for help in getting the syntax of the script straight. Any help will be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!

*Also, would there be a way of applying this concept to randomly coloring a group of objects with a specific color palette? That would also be very useful.

[renél80416020]

Bonjour,

Je peux réaliser des scripts sur demande avec explications détaillées par mail.

Je te donne une solution pour la rotation...

// JavaScript Document pour Illustrator
// elleere  Sun, 11 March 2018 09:40:58 GMT
// sélectionnez un objet
  var plageAg = [90,180,270,360];
//------------------------------
  var d = app.activeDocument;
  if (selection.length) {
    var objet = selection[0];
    var liste = "";
      for (var i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
        rotationObjet(objet,plageAg);
        // boucle pour ralentir l'affichage
        for (var k = 0; k < 125625; k++) {
          var t = Math.sqrt(2.0565*k/45);
        }
      }
  createListeText = d.textFrames.pointText([50,-30]);
  createListeText.contents = liste;
  }
function rotationObjet(obj,tab)
{ // faire tourner obj angle plage tab de façon aléatoire
    var rang = Math.round(Math.random()*(tab.length-1));
    var angle = tab[rang];
      liste += angle+"\r";
      obj.rotate(angle,true,undefined,false,false,Transformation.CENTER);
      redraw();
}

[briank53220431]

hmm...all i'm getting from running this script is a text list of the operation 'performed'... but no transformation of the objects.

[pixxxelschubser]

The snippet written by renél80416020 does multiple rotations at once. It works as expected.

^Aktualisiert

Your screenshot comes in time.

You have multiple groups in one layer. What result do you wish (for every single group - or for all grouped elements in the layer???) Please explain in detail, perhaps with screenshots before and after.

[briank53220431]

@pixxxel schubser

Okay so, each group is the shape you see with no-fill and no-stroke square around it.

By grouping these two elements, I am able to define and maintain a center point around which the group can rotate.

I use an invisible square because I will be arranging the objects on a grid with zero padding between them, so the square is the the most helpful bounding shape; the structure of the grid.

As I already have scripts to distribute stacked objects to a grid, my next desire is to be able to randomly rotate each object in the grid by either 90, 180, 270, or 360 (or zero; which i understand that this doesn't appear to affect the object, but i'm okay with some selected objects not rotating so long as 75% of the others do) degrees.

In this way, the result is a new variation of pattern; the starting shapes no longer all face the same direction and angle.

Essentially, this is a geometric pattern generator for shapes on a grid.

[pixxxelschubser]

One shot into dark. How about:

var aDoc = app.activeDocument;
var theGrp = aDoc.groupItems;
for (i = 0; i<theGrp.length; i++) {
rotateSel (theGrp);
}
function rotateSel (obj) {
    var grd = [90, 180, 270, 360];
    obj.rotate(grd[Math.ceil (Math.random()*4) -1], true, true, true, true, Transformation.CENTER);
}

Have fun

[briank53220431]

this works like a charm!

thank you so much!!

[briank53220431]

BUT!

...this doesn't work for objects that AREN'T grouped haha.

SO, how to modify the last script to work for ungrouped items?

thanks again! i super appreciate your help with this!!

[pixxxelschubser]

briank53220431  schrieb

… Okay so, each group is the shape you see with no-fill and no-stroke square around it …

This was the rule for the script snippet. Changing the rule requires another script. Without to know exactly which structure your document has and what you really want - it's hard or impossible to write a script for all possible cases.

[briank53220431]

I definitely appreciate the difference in scripting—there are just situations where the same operation applied to ungrouped objects would be ideal.

Apologies for being a pest, but I'm learning from these examples!

Much appreciation for your patience with me

[pixxxelschubser]

Perhaps you try to use pageItems in the snippet instead of groupItems or try to separate simple pathItems at one layer and groupItems at another layer or or or … there are hundreds of possibilities to reach the goal. Maybe a sample file could be helpful.

If you have additional questions in this topic - we are here.

If you have questions about other "problems" - please open a new thread.

Have fun

[briank53220431]

haha thanks for the nudge(s) in the right direction(s...s...s)!

[renél80416020]

Bonjour,

// JavaScript Document pour Illustrator
// elleere  Mon, 12 March 2018 14:12:22 GMT
// sélectionnez un objet
  var plageAg = [90,180,270,360];
//------------------------------
  var d = app.activeDocument;
  if (selection.length) {
    var objet;
    var liste = "";
      for (var i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
        for (var j = 0; j < selection.length; j++) {
          objet = selection;
          rotationObjet(objet,plageAg);
        }
        // boucle pour ralentir l'affichage
        for (var k = 0; k < 125625; k++) {
          var t = Math.sqrt(2.0565*k/45);
        }
      }
  createListeText = d.textFrames.pointText([50,-30]);
  createListeText.contents = liste;
  }
function rotationObjet(obj,tab)
{ // faire tourner obj angle plage tab de façon aléatoire
    var rang = Math.round(Math.random()*(tab.length-1));
    var angle = tab[rang];
      liste += angle+"\r";
      obj.rotate(angle,true,undefined,false,false,Transformation.CENTER);
      redraw();
}

[briank53220431]

so fun to watch!

interesting how this script repeats multiple times—but DOES eventually do exactly what I want!

is there any way to only rotate each object once, and then stop?

[briank53220431]

ooh!

I changed line 10 so that:

i < 2

and it only repeats the cycle once.

that's a start!

[briank53220431]

AH!

I deleted line 10 and 14, and it rotates everything once and stops!

I think that's it!

Thank you so much renél80416020

[renél80416020]

Bonjour Briank,

Très bien !

https://share.orange.fr/#nww74WiboG1e5790991b

Pdf Hybride (ouvrir dans Illustrator CS6 et pus)

Je peux résoudre le problème de couleurs aléatoires (contacte moi par mail)

// JavaScript Document pour Illustrator
// elleere  Tue, 13 March 2018 09:43:12 GMT
// sélectionnez un ou plusieurs objets
  var plageAg = [90,180,270,360];
//------------------------------
  var d = activeDocument;
  if (selection.length) {
    var mySel = selection;
        d.selection = null;
    var objet;
         for (var j = 0; j < mySel.length; j++) {
          objet = mySel;
          rotationObjet(objet,plageAg);
        }
  }
function rotationObjet(obj,tab)
{ // faire tourner obj angle plage tab de façon aléatoire
    var rang = Math.round(Math.random()*(tab.length-1));
    var angle = tab[rang];
      obj.rotate(angle,true,undefined,false,false,Transformation.CENTER);
      //redraw();
}

[m1b]

Hi Rene,

Wow! I've never known that simply 

selection

works the same as

app.activeDocument.selection

Is there documentation for that somewhere? Are there other such shortcuts?

Regards,

Mark

[pixxxelschubser]

briank53220431​

Or do you mean something simple like that:

required: open document with a selected path item

rotateSel();
function rotateSel () {
    var grd = [90, 180, 270, 360];
    activeDocument.selection[0].rotate(grd[Math.ceil (Math.random()*4) -1], true, true, true, true, Transformation.CENTER);
}

If so, have fun

[briank53220431]

cool—thanks for the reply!

seems to be a step in the right direction, but only one object selected in a group rotates when i run the script.

then, if i run the script again, i get nothing and have to re-select the group...only to have one object affected by the script.

[pixxxelschubser]

This snippet also should works with a selected group. (But be sure, a rotation of 360 degrees is the same as no rotation )

Please show a screenshot of your artwork with visible layers panel and the selected group.

[briank53220431]

so i'm noticing that only the top object of the stack is affected; which in this case, is the triangle.

[julianpowers]

Was excited to find this thread but in every case I've tried here I get this error.

Maybe something has changed in the newest releases of CS.

[CarlosCanto]

Hi julian, the new forum format messed up existing scripts, try this version

// JavaScript Document pour Illustrator

// elleere  Tue, 13 March 2018 09:43:12 GMT

// sélectionnez un ou plusieurs objets

  var plageAg = [90,180,270,360];

//------------------------------

  var d = activeDocument;

  if (selection.length) {

    var mySel = selection;

        d.selection = null;

    var objet;

         for (var j = 0; j < mySel.length; j++) {

          objet = mySel[j];

          rotationObjet(objet,plageAg);

        }

  }

function rotationObjet(obj,tab)

{ // faire tourner obj angle plage tab de façon aléatoire

    var rang = Math.round(Math.random()*(tab.length-1));

    var angle = tab[rang];

      obj.rotate(angle,true,undefined,false,false,Transformation.CENTER);

      //redraw();

}

[m1b]

Just for interest, because I had to solve this recently, here's my version of the calculation:

var angleStep = 90;
var randomAngle = angleStep * Math.floor(Math.random() * (360 / angleStep));

Change angleStep to 120 or 72 and you'll have 3 or 5 directions instead of 4. 

Or maybe specify the number of directions you want:

var directions = 5;
var angleStep = 360 / directions;
var randomAngle = angleStep * Math.floor(Math.random() * (360 / angleStep));

Edit: I've fixed a stupid error in my code thanks to René.