The Graphic Hose allows you to store objects (including bitmapped images, text, envelopes and symbols) and then drag on the page to paint with those objects. There are two parts to using the Graphic Hose: storing the objects in the Graphics Hose panel and setting the options for painting with the hose.
Objects for the Graphic Hose are stored as sets within the Graphic Hose panel.
To store objects in the Graphic Hose panel:
Double-click the Graphic Hose tool in the Xtra Tools toolbar . This opens the Graphic Hose panel
Click Hose to display the Hose sets.
Choose New from the Sets pop-up menu to add a new set. A dialog box appears where you can name the new set.
Copy the artwork.
Click Paste in. The artwork appears in the preview window as an object in the Contents pop-up menu.
Copy and paste additional artwork into the set. The artwork is added as a new object to the Contents menu.
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There is a limit of 10 objects for each set.
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Graphic Hose sets are available for any document and other sessions of working with FreeHand.
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You can use symbols (see Chapter 22 Symbols as the elements for the Graphic Hose. This allows you to modify the symbol element and all the objects created by the Graphic Hose update automatically.
How useful is the Graphic Hose?From the first moment it was introduced, the Graphic Hose has been compared to the scatter brushes found in Adobe Illustrator. Unfortunately, the Graphic Hose came up short in the comparison. Illustrator's brushes not only scattered objects around the page, but they could be edited later to change the objects or their positions. Today, FreeHand has its own spray brushes that provide the same features. So how useful is the Graphic Hose? Although I'm sure there are some things that are uniquely suited for Graphic Hose, for the most part it has been replaced by FreeHand's brushes. |
Once you have created Hose sets, you need to set the Options to control how the Graphic Hose applies objects on the page.
To use the Graphic Hose tool:
Double-click the Graphic Hose tool in the Xtra Tools toolbar. This opens the Graphic Hose panel
Click the Options radio button to display the Options controls.
Use the Order menu to control the order that objects are placed on the page:
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o Back and Forth applies the objects in forward then reverse order.
o Random applies the objects in no specific order.
Use the Spacing menu to control the distance between the objects:
o Grid applies the objects onto a grid with a size you set in the Grid field.
o Variable applies the objects in a spacing that you set as Tight or Loose.
o Random applies the objects with no specific distance between them.
Use the Scale pop-up menu to control the size of the objects:
o Uniform sets a certain size for all the objects.
o Random applies the objects in no specific sizes.
Use the Rotate menu and angle wheel to control the rotation of the objects.
o Uniform sets one angle for all objects.
o Incremental applies rotations that change in specific increments from one object to the next.
o Random rotates the objects without any order.
Once you have set all the options, drag the Graphic Hose on the page to apply the Hose artwork
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