Symbol variants and halftones - A quick how to guide

What's better than cats? Drawing cats is so much easier with symbol variants and Halftones! Read on to find out how this is possible with Astute Graphics Plugins.

😻 Create all your varying objects.

😻 Drag one into the Symbols panel and give it a name. Then change it from a Movie Clip to a Graphic, and click OK.

😻 Navigate up to the top menu, and under Object find Create Symbol Variants… (this is a feature added by the Stipplism plugin so make sure that’s installed).

😻 In the pop up window, select which symbol these variants are based on.

😻 Now in your Symbols panel you should see your original symbol, plus all its variants.

😻 We can now create a Halftone Effect with these symbols. Draw the shape you’d like to fill with a Halftone.

😻 Open the Phantasm panel and click the Halftone icon.

😻 Sometimes it’s best to turn the Preview option off before you start editing the live Effect.

😻 In the Shape dropdown you will see your Symbol, and under that a selection box to Include Variants. Choose whether to show them Consecutively or Randomly.

😻 You can adjust the DPI, Pattern and overall Scale in the usual way, then turn the Preview back on to proof the Halftone.

😻 When you’re ready, you can click the OK button, but as it’s a live Effect, you can go back into the Halftone window to adjust all your settings.