Script for random movement (scatter)

Question

I have found (and use) scripts for random opacity, random resize, random rotation etc. but I can't seem to find one which will do a "random displacement/move"

With the other above mentioned scripts, you simply select the paths, run the script and enter in a minimum value and a maximum value and the computer randomizes it for you. (Say min 20% opacity, max 80% opacity - they will all be between 20-80% opacity)

Is this script difficult to create?

Couldn't it just be enter in min -X and min -Y to max X and max Y movement? Then the computer would just choose a random value as it does in the other scripts.

Answer 1

Here is a implementation of uniform box scatter

scatter_box(activeDocument.selection, 100, 100);

function scatter_box(items, xoffset, yoffset){
    for(var i=0;i<items.length;i++){
       var oldpos = items[i].position;
       items[i].position= [oldpos[0]+Math.random()*xoffset-xoffset/2,
                           oldpos[1]+Math.random()*yoffset-yoffset/2];    
    }    
}

Here for uniform disc scatter.

scatter_disk(activeDocument.selection, 50);


function scatter_disk(items, rad){
    for(var i=0;i<items.length;i++){
       var oldpos = items[i].position;
       var r = Math.sqrt(Math.random()*rad*rad);
       var theta = Math.random()*2*Math.PI;
       items[i].position= [oldpos[0]+r*Math.sin(theta),
                           oldpos[1]+r*Math.cos(theta)];    
    }    
}

Obviously you could use other random distributions too.

---

GUI version

#target illustrator

buildGUI();

function buildGUI(){
    var resource =
    "dialog { text:'jooScatter',\
        properties:{ closeButton:true, maximizeButton:false,\
            minimizeButton:false, resizeable:false },\
        orientation:'row', spacing:2, margins:5,\
        alignChildren:['left','fill'],\
        g: Group {\
                alignChildren:['left','fill'],\
                orientation:'column', spacing:20,margins:5,\
            p1: Panel {\
                text: 'Scatter Offsets:',\
                g1: Group {\
                    orientation:'column',\
                    x: Group {\
                        st: StaticText { text:'x width:'},\
                        f: EditText {text:'100', characters:20}\
                    },\
                    y: Group {st2 : StaticText{ text:'y width:'},\
                        f: EditText { text:'100' , characters:20 },\
                    },\
                },\
            },\
           g2: Group { alignment: 'right', orientation:'row',\
           apply: Button { text: 'Apply'},\
           cancel: Button { text:'Cancel'},\
       }\
       }\
    }"
    var win = new Window (resource);

    var cancel = function() {
         win.close(0);
    }
    var apply = function() {
         scatter_box(activeDocument.selection,
            eval(win.g.p1.g1.x.f.text),
            eval(win.g.p1.g1.y.f.text)
         );
         redraw();
    }

    win.g.g2.apply.onClick = apply;
    win.g.g2.cancel.onClick = cancel;

    win.show();



}

function scatter_box(items, xoffset, yoffset){
    for(var i=0;i<items.length;i++){
       var oldpos = items[i].position;
       items[i].position= [oldpos[0]+Math.random()*xoffset-xoffset/2,
                           oldpos[1]+Math.random()*yoffset-yoffset/2];    
    }    
}    

GIF of it in action here