array tool for photoshop?

dansher

does anyone know if there is a plugin or addon of some sort for photoshop that is like the array tool that 3ds max has? it would be really useful

thanks

Eric Chadwick

Filter Forge can do something similar,
http://www.filterforge.com/wiki/index.php/Kaleidoscopes_Unveiled

Not sure what effect you want though.

dansher

thanks ill check it out.

mainly i just want to be able to make a line of objects and have them evenly spaced

Eric Chadwick

Have you used the Pattern tool before? That's an easy way to do this. Can't dial in different spacing on the fly, but you can bake the spacing into the pattern itself when you "Define" it.

Edit... here's the CS3 help on it. You probably don't want Pattern Maker though, that does a splatting kind of technique to try to make the selection into a tiling pattern. You want Edit>Define Pattern and then Edit>Fill with Use:Pattern.
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/help.html?content=WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-77ce.html

dansher

thanks, does cs2 do this as well do you know? im reading the help thing now

Buck

You can also use actions. Click record button, make a duplicate of the layer, move it where you want and stop. Then click play on the new action and it should do the same. Its very useful when making textures for propellers and that kind of stuff.

dansher

where is the record button? lol.

iv actually already done what i wanted to do anyway but it would be good to know for the future. i was making a sight rail thing for a rifle im drawing and in the end i just guide lines every centimeter or so and moved the selection the the lines, it gets the job done but it takes awhile

Buck

Its the little circle in the bottom of actions window.

dansher

oh cool thanks, learn something new everyday. ill have a play with it

nrek

Well since I made this I might as well post it anyway. Yet another way to achieve the same effect. You can use the brush spacing options to make a custom brush that will follow any path. Or in this case you could make the brush, hold shift and draw a row of them along a perfectly straight line.

dansher

oh wow thats great nrek thanks heaps