GitBruno / PolyPlotter

An InDesign ExtendScript module to plot polygons

PolyPlotter

An ExtendScript module to plot polygons in InDesign.

Loading the module

You can import this module using the preprocessor directive:

#include 'polyPlotter.js'

To start a drawing create a new plotter object with:

var P = new polyPlotter();

Plotting

I mainly wrote this module as drawing paths in InDesign is slow. Constructing the entire path virtually before drawing anchors in the document is the quickest way to draw polygons onto the page. To construct a square of 10 units do:

P.newPath()
P.moveTo( 10, 10 )
P.lineTo( 20, 10 )
P.lineTo( 20, 20 )
P.lineTo( 10, 20 )
P.closePath()

Instead of the square above we can use a primitive instead:

P.addRect( 10, 10, 10, 10 );

We can also copy existing paths:

P.copyShape( pageItem, { resetBounds: true });
P.drawToPage( pageItem.parentPage, {x: 0, y: 0, scale: 100} );

Drawing to the page

The easiest method to draw the virtual path into your document, is by using the drawToPage() method:

P.drawToPage( page )

You can update your scale and location anytime before calling the drawToPage function.

P.drawOffset( x, y )  
P.drawScale ( 150  )  

Or you can pass your preference straight to the draw function.

P.drawToPage( page, {x:10, y:10, scale:150} )

Licence

MIT license (MIT)