News

A new maintenance update of Patternodes 3 has been released.

Fixes and improvements:

• Fixed Apply Function node and Apply Element node not working as expected in selected apply to modes.
• Improved license check redundancy for situations when the main license server is not working properly.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This time it's a feature update with some new features for repeating and replacing elements in designs.

The inspiration to some of these new features comes from our new parametric design project Paragraphic, check it out at paragraphic.design and follow it's development if you're interested.

New features and improvements:

• New Repeat Function node, allowing you to repeat elements with a transformation similar to the Apply Function node. This makes it a lot more convenient to make some gradual scale or offset transforms and adds greater control.
• New Select from group option in the Replace node, allowing you to select the replacement element from an input group instead of using the entire group. This makes it much easier to make patterns with mixed elements without needing Element lists. Just connect all your elements to the replace node and set how to select the replacement from the group.
• Pack and Element info nodes now have an Ignore stroke option to get size and pack elements disregarding and stroke width.

• Fixed function period offsets still being applied even if the change periods option was unchecked.
• Change node apply to Single selection now works with negative offsets as well as positive.
• Fixed some macOS 14 UI layout issues.
• Improved export file writing error handling.
• Fixed some incorrect warnings in disabled nodes.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update is a maintenance release fixing some issues and making smaller adjustments.

Changes and fixes:

• Some improvements to connection socket snapping and highlighting of suitable sockets.
• Fix a rare issue where it would be impossible to add connections to specific valid node sockets.
• You can now no longer connect node graphics connections to inputs/outputs in the same node, avoiding the infinite recursion error you'd get before when trying to do this.
• Fixed nodes created with drag and drop files would not align properly to grid snap.
• Removed deprecated EPS export format option that is no longer supported on macOS 14 and later (still available on older versions).

It appears that Apple has removed system support for the EPS format in macOS 14 Sonoma, which means that sadly importing or exporting EPS files in Vectoraster and Patternodes will no longer work on macOS 14.

This was unexpected, so unfortunately current versions of Vectoraster and Patternodes will not give you any warning about this and may behave erratically trying to load/save EPS data as they relied on these system features. It's unlikely EPS format support will come back at this time, so if you're still working with EPS files, now is a good time to switch over to SVG or PDF.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update is a maintenance release fixing some issues and making smaller adjustments.

Changes and fixes:

• Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.
• Fix Group Arrange node not arranging elements with change mode set to a selection instead of all elements.
• Fix incorrect text size in Element Text nodes imported from Patternodes 2 files.
• Improved handling of file access errors on import.
• Added Lost Minds Mastodon link to Help menu.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update adds a number of smaller improvements and fixes across a number of areas.

Changes and improvements:

• The Group Arrange node can now sort elements based on size.
• Improved precision hovering and clicking connections in the node editor.
• Dropped/imported graphics are now get their physical size set automatically in the new node.
• Improved error messages on file access permission issues when importing files.

• Correctly handle complex unicode-pair characters (like SF symbols) in the Value Substring node.
• Fix incorrect size issue on scaled animated svg exports.
• Fix incorrect physical size shown for imported vector graphics.
• Fix animated artboard background being static in animated svg exports.
• Fix Edit menu Copy artboard bitmap copying vector graphics.
• Remove incorrect file permission dialogue when exporting animated svg file.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This new version adds new string connections and some new associated nodes, letting you connect and work with strings and text in a lot of new ways.

Changes and improvements:

• String value connections allow you to now connect text string values between nodes and parameters just like values.
• New Value String node to define and combine linked strings.
• New Value Substring node to extract parts of strings.
• The Data Table node can now also output strings for table cells.
• New editor context menu item to center the nodes in the view, and an option in the settings to always do this on file load.
• Element Text node can now use both size modes and tracking adjustment for any length text for better consistency with dynamic text input.
• Updates some components for future compatibility, raising minimum required macOS version to 10.15.

• Fixes a bug in the Table data editor panel when toggling the first row headers option while editing a table cell.
• Stroke width is now included in path bounds calculations when set, even if stroke opacity is 0.

Another update of Patternodes 3. This new version adds a new node that helps making periodic alternating value animations much easier to set up along with some other fixes and improvements.

Changes and improvements:

• New Time Period value node making it easier to set up periodic alternating value animations.
• Group Apply Function node now has an index offset parameter when unsing index input.
• Increased the max number of supported variables in the Math node to 10.
• Added a warning to GIF animation exports explaining some format framerate limitations.

• Fixed an issue with quicktime video exports dropping frames if the encoder was busy.
• Fixed a crash when adding a new node index node directly connected to a group apply function node.

Another smaller update of Patternodes 3. The new version fixes a couple of issues in the new expression variable parsing introduced in 3.1.2 along with a couple of other smaller fixes and improvements.

Fixes and improvements:

• Added an option to Pivot point node to ignore stoke when automatically aligning the pivot, useful for stroked elements that will later be scaled.
• Fixed an offset issue with pivot-offset elements reprated with the Radial repeater node.
• Fixes the Math node variable detection picking up decimal separators in expressions as variable names.
• Updated and corrected the Math node reference documentation.
• Fixed dark mode selection type icons.

Another update of Patternodes 3 has been released. The this new version adds some imrpovements to SVG imports and rendering and adds some long awaited flexibility to the Math node variable parameters. These now adapt automatically to the variable count and names you use in the expression.

New features and improvements:

• Math Node now has support for up to 8 variable parameters that are automatically named and shown based on the expression.
• Improved SVG image mode imports/rendering (Upgrade to IJSVG 3.0 framework).

• Fixed bug where typing in new values into an animated value field would revert the value displayed in the field.
• Fixed bug with undo/redo in expression parameter fields.
• Fixed a bug with some rare SVG path commands parsing.

Today another update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This new version makes some changes to the way colors are handled, with better support for non-rgb colors (like CMYK and Grayscale), but mainly it fixes a lot of big and small bugs.

New features and improvements:

• Better color model support. Color parameters can now be set and stored in different colorspaces/models (like Grayscale and CMYK) instead of always being converted to RGB and losing precision. This will also mean some exported colors will look different compared to older versions, so there is an option added in the settings to keep the old conversion to get the same output.
• Made it easier to find the Value Time function node by also placing it in a new Animation category in the add node menu.
• You can now use middle-mouse button for panning in the preview just like in the node editor view.
• Updated manual.
• Added link to user Discord channel in the Help menu.

• Some fixes and improvements to the Color node numeric color mode based on the new color model features.
• Fixed dragging a selection box outside of the node editor not scrolling it correctly.
• Fixed the cursor not resetting properly after middle-mouse button panning of the node editor view.
• Fixed issue where right-clicking a second time after dragging out a new connection would leave a broken connection with a loose end.
• Fixed issue where it was possible to duplicate the Artboart node, causing issues since there should only be one and it can't be deleted.
• Stability improvement and better error messages if something goes wrong during file exports.
• Stability improvement and better error messages when trying to save files that have invalid connections or nodes.

Some users have started a Discord channel for users of Vectoraster and Patternodes.

So if you're interested in discussing the apps, looking for help or want to connect with other users with check it out: Vectoraster and Patternodes discord

Today a new substancial update of Patternodes 3 has been released. The new release adds a lot of improvements and new features to enable making data-driven illustrations and animations with the addition of CSV vale table imports, conditional group selection and conditional value nodes amongst other things. With the release new sample files have been added to the application bundle to show off these new features, as well as two new videos on the youtube channel.

New features and improvements:

• New Value Table node lets you import and edit value tables and use in you node graph, enabling a lot of new data visualization usecases.
• New Value Condition node lets you set up new complex logic rules for linked values.
• New Condition mode in the Group Select node lets you select elements based on size or position rules.
• New Value Function node replaces the Value Remap node and lets you remap value ranges with a lot more control using many different functions.
• New data visualization and tutorial sample files added.
• The Group Apply function node can now use element size as an input parameter.
• Improved SVG import path parsing.
• Updated Sparkle version checking and updates library.
• Improved Import Node aspect correction when switching import mode or loading new graphics, and a restore original aspect context menu item as been added.

• Fixed Group Select node not working properly when input was a single element.
• Fixed a bug where it would be impossible to delete nodes with Node index parameters if there were no change or repeater nodes.
• Fixed Group Select node not displaying selection preview correctly if no elements were selected.
• Fixed value function previews not updating as noise function parameters were changed.
• Fixed drag highlight outline being shown on file areas even if the dragged file was not in a supported format.
• Adjustments and corrections to some parameter tool tips and node help texts.
• You can no longer (incorrectly) add animation tracks to math expression parameters.

Another new update of Patternodes 3 has been released with a couple of smaller improvements and fixes:

Changes and improvements:

• The Change Color node can now be used to set fill or stroke color on elements with no fill or stroke opacity.
• Added new preferences setting for default in/out easing type of new added keyframes.
• Added some new warnings messages explaining some situations where Change Color and Change Opacity nodes will not show any visible change.
• Fixes timeline animation track selection not updating correctly when deleting tracks.
• Undoing deleting selected nodes now properly selects them again after restoring the nodes.

Another small update of Patternodes 3 has been released with some additional little fixes and improvements:

Changes and improvements:

• Nodes with a min-max value range (like the Apply Function node) now have a node menu option to quickly reverse the range.
• Value parameter pairs with aspect locked no longer break the aspect ratio if you change the values to zero and back.
• Fixes a bug in Change Pivot Node when calculating element group pivot points.
• Fixes a bug when calculating element group pivot when changing element offsets in an already offset group.
• Added warning and explanation if the Value Cap node is set to an invalid range of values.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released with some fixes and a couple of improvements to the Element Text node:

Changes and improvements:

• Added option to use Size as Font size instead of height for single characters in the Text Element node, and clarified how this works in text box mode and multi-charater texts.
• Fixes custom blend modes not being applied correctly to path element strokes.
• Fixes a Element Text node bug causing some characters (like *) not to be centered correctly in single character non-textbox mode.

A new version of Patternodes 3 have been released with the following fixes and improvements:

• Added an Import Image menu item as an alternative method of adding import nodes via selecting a file.
• Fixes a crash when trying to apply a group pack node on a single element.
• Fixes a bug where deleting a node with connections between parameters in the node would leave loose connections behind.
• Fixes an issue where the locked aspect of recently imported image sizes would not be correct if the parameter was changed.
• Added node warning messages explaining Group Distribute and Group Pack nodes have no effect with a single element input.
• Fixes some formatting in the node reference and a bug showing parameter options in the help text that should be hidden.

A new updates of Patternodes 3 have been released, with some additional fixes and improvements:

• When a node has a warning related to missing input or output connections the socket now gets a visual mark to help show where the problem is.
• Changed preferences interface so changes are applied immediately.
• Fixes an error message about incorrectly triggering on exports.
• Added some improved error messages for export issues.

Two small updates of Patternodes 3 have been released, with some additional fixes and improvements:

• Fixes issues with Change Clip node not correctly being able to invert some clipping paths.
• Fixes value parameters sometimes staying disabled after input connections are removed.
• The Change Clip node now doesn't show the Apply To mode control since it's not relevant.
• Smoother handling of remotely deployed license unlocking, not showing the trial mode notice while the license is verified.
• Prevents a flicker of node warning messages as new nodes are added on connections.
• Fixes a Random Value node issue where the min value would be left disabled after off turning +/- range.

Thanks to everyone sending feedback, reporting bugs and issues so we can get them fixed!

Today another small update of the new Patternodes 3 has been released, with some additional fixes:

• Fixes incorrect size of exported SVG elements when exporting with a scaled export size.
• Fixed a crash using apply to Single mode in Change Replace node.
• Fixes an issue where exported GIF animations would sometimes get incorrect color palettes on macOS 11 and earlier.
• Optimization of value function graph UI updates.

After the release of Patternodes 3 and the influx of new and upgrading users there's now a first little update fixing some issues with the new version. There's also a new update of Patternodes 2 now available, backporting a couple of bugfixes found during the development of Patternodes 3, to ensure that Patternodes 2 is a stable as possible for the users who want to keep using that.

3.0.1 Fixes:

• Fixes macOS App Sandbox blocking file system access to export animations as numbered files in some cases.
• Fixes Repeat Grid node spacing aspect in Hex pattern mode while allowing still input.
• Fixes clicking disabled parameter fields still selecting them for preview edit.
• Fixed Change Pivot node not correctly finding automatic pivot locations for some asymmetrical shapes.

The third generation of the macOS parametric design application Patternodes has now been released. Click below for more information, or download and try it out for free now!

Patternodes is a tool for creating graphical patterns, animations or illustrations. This is done using a node-based interface where you define a sequence of connected nodes that describe the design, each representing graphical elements, changes or repetitions.

Main changes and new features of Patternodes 3

• Improved animation features. New keyframe-based Animation timeline and new Time Function node for animated noise and repeating functions.
• Improved drag editing. Improved support for selecting and editing node parameters by clicking and dragging in the preview.
• Redesigned interface. Cleaned up modern interface style with support for dark/light mode and animations.
• Improved performance. Rebuilt core components for faster generation and a more responsive interface.
• Redesigned dynamic index features. Clarified system for generating dynamic input to nodes.

For a full change list see the Version history

Another small update to Patternodes 2 has been released, with a couple of fixes to bugs found and fixed during Patternodes 3 development

• Fixes undo and redo not working when the separate preview window was active.
• Fixes an issue with the Change Pivot node failing to correctly calculate pivot of groups that already have a modified pivot.
• Fixes an issue where offsetting some elements in an already rotated group of elements could offset the entire group.

Patternodes 3 is now in beta testing, find out more at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Another update to Patternodes has been released.

• Fixes an issue where the export save dialogue could become unresponsive when exporting a second time on macOS 12.1.
• Math expressions and all value fields now correctly evaluate asin() and acos() functions.
• Fixes an inconsistency in Group Apply Function node when using multiple periods of a non-continous function.
• Fixes a UI issue with the node reference table view columns on macOS 11 and later.

Patternodes 3 is now in beta testing, find out more at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Patternodes 3, the next generation of the node based procedural 2D-graphics app Patternodes is now in beta testing.

Main changes and new features

• Improved animation features. New keyframe-based Animation timeline and new Time Function node for animated noise and repeating functions.
• Improved drag editing. Improved support for selecting and editing node parameters by clicking and dragging in the preview.
• Redesigned interface. Cleaned up modern interface style with support for dark/light mode and animations.
• Improved performance. Rebuilt core components for faster generation and a more responsive interface.
• Redesigned dynamic index features. Clarified system for generating dynamic input to nodes.

You can find out more and sign up to be a tester or get notified on release at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Now there's a new update to Patternodes, this update is a hotfix of the 2.4.9 update that had some problems with the new group pivot point calculations and was therefore rolled back.

• Fixes a bug fram 2.4.8 that prevented adding new nodes by dragging and dropping a new connection.
• Fixed inner diameter parameter in Element Shape node arc pie wedge shapes.
• Fixed issues with loading older version files with pie wedge shapes.
• Some performance improvements.

Another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a couple of fixes and improvements.

• Fixes a bug in 2.4.8 that prevented adding new nodes by dragging and dropping a new connection.
• Fixes an issue where offsetting selected elements in a group with the Change Transform node might cause the entire group to also move unexpectedly.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Today as a result another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a couple of fixes and improvements.

• Preview view scroll position is now saved in pnds documents.
• Some fixes related to saving/loading files with broken connections.
• Fix the Element Shape node Arc pie wedge toggle being inverted.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

As development of the next major update Patternodes 3 continues, Patternodes 2 has also gotten some attention this week. And today as a result another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a number of bug fixes.

• Fixes Change Pivot alignment presets not aligning the pivot point correctly.
• Fixes a crash related to selection rendering while drag editing some offset parameters.
• Fixes bug in the Group Arrange node that prevented arranging just selected elements in some cases.
• Fixes an issue with incorrect value function graph axis scales in the Apply Function node.
• Fixes a node UI bug where the apply to mode would appear to change when disabling a node.
• Fixes an issue where exported SVGs with imported svg elements could get problems with double id for some svg tags.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A small update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This updates mainly improves the Element Import node, with better support for importing EPS and SVG files generated by Affinity software and improved handling of various problems.

• Improved support for imported SVG and EPS of custom point shapes exported from Affinity software.
• Added support for even-odd fill mode in imported of custom point shapes.
• Better handling of problems when importing vector graphics from EPS/PDF/SVG files.
• Changes to make Color, Value and Element list nodes more consistent in appearance and function.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This time with the usual batch of fixes, but also some small additions and improvements to the Group Apply Function node, Value nodes and a refresh of the Sample files library included in the application. If you haven't checked them out in a while it might be worth a look!

• Improved Group Apply Function graph to be more responsive during animations and better show period offsets.
• Improved Group Apply Function node, making it easier to apply exact multi-period functions.
• Added an input socket to the basic Value node.
• Repeater nodes now correctly show the Dynamic input settings when connected directly to Element list nodes.
• Fixed an issue with Group Randomize nodes sometimes not loading correctly when opening older files.
• Updated Sparkle version checking library.
• Updated Sample files library available from Help menu.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new maintenance update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This fixes a couple of different issues, and will hopefully resolve some long standing issues that prevented the software from running on macOS 10.11. There aren't that many users who are still on macOS 10.11, but it's been a shame that they haven't been able to update since 2.3.0 and hopefully this will mean they get access to the latest imprevements and fixes as well.

• Fixed some stability issues drag-moving complex font character elements.
• Restored support for legacy macOS 10.11 (a bit experimental).
• Fixed incorrectly offset node preview of elements with offset pivot points.
• Fixed Repeat Random node not hiding/showing some parameter fields correctly when using artboard size and no minimum spacing.
• Apply Graphics node now has a random seed field when applyin to removal chance.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Another update of the parametric 2d vector design app Patternodes, with a mixed bag of improvements, fixes and some new features.

• Improved preview updating frequency when rendering complex output and animation previews.
• Node value fields and formula fields now support the % modulus operator (ex: 10 % 4 will output 2).
• Node value fields and formula fields now support the round() function (ex: round(1.9) will output 2).
• Change nodes Selected Single apply to mode now loops around to restart at the first element if the offset is greater than the number or elements, consistent with other counted selections.
• Fixed Change Replace node not allowing Each or Selected apply modes even though the input is a group.
• More small interface adjustments on macOS 11.
• Updated a number of outdated tooltips and help texts.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

We're starting off the new year with a small update of Patternodes, this time mostly some fixes and adjustments for running on macOS 11 (Big Sur) and soem rare number formatting issues.

• Some interface fixes on macOS 11 (Big Sur).
• Fixed some number formatting issues with value fields when using comma as a thousands separator.
• Value fields should now correctly show comma as the decimal separator based on your system settings.
• Made trial mode watermark a little more subtle.
• Removed a redundant search field from the Help menu.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Another update to Patternodes, this time just some smaller fixes mainly around the .pnds file format.

• Preview rendering scale fixes on retina screens.
• Changes to .pnds file format for improved future compatibility.
• Update to Finder quick look preview component.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new version of the node based pattern and parametric design app Patternodes 2 has been released. This update brings a number of new improvements to the random repeater node, a new removal chance mode in the apply function/graphics nodes and improvemnts to SVG imports and exports. The app is now also a itel/apple silocone universal binary and of course there's a bunch of little bug fixes as well.

• Improved Random repeater node with new radial mode and option to set a minimum distance between repeated elements.
• Gradual removal. Apply Function and Apply Graphics nodes can now be used to apply a gradual removal chance to elements.
• Improved SVG exports with greatly reduced file-size using svg-symbols for images and embedding of imported SVG elements.
• Improved SVG path importing, with support for matrix() group transforms often used by Affinity Designer.
• Apple Silicon native support.
• Fixes a bug where the little pivot point markers would not show correctly in the Change Pivot node previews.
• Fixes a bug with some invalid connections not being removed after replacing nodes.
• Fixes a bug where replacing a change nodes with group nodes could lead to an invalid apply-to mode in the group node.
• Update to Sparkle updating library.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Due to technical problems at our payment handling provider paddle.com it's currently not possible to purchase licenses for Vectoraster or Patternodes.

Paddle has acknowleged the problems and are saying that they are working on a solution, you can follow the status of this at their status page. Or you can simply come back a little later here and see if the purchase links have started working again. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope this will be resolved swiftly.

Update: The problems have now been resolved and purchasing should work as usual again.

A new version of the pattern and motion design app Patternodes 2 has been released. This update brings improvements to the export dialogues, primarily making it easier to export to a different size than the current artboard or preview size, along with a number of other little fixes and improvements.

• New export size settings lets you easily export animations or graphics at a different size than the current artboard.
• Added item in Help menu for the new system for feedback and voting on future development.
• Fixes a bug with some export settings not being properly saved per document.
• Fixes a bug with the Group Select node preview sometimes not showing the mask element when it should.
• Fixes a bug where disconnected nodes didn't properly update their previews.
• The node replace/add context menus now include the node type level for clarity even if there's only one possible type.
• Added a new warning message to completely disconnected nodes explaining they won't do anything.
• New method for logging technical warnings without relying on system log.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

We get a lot of feedback and great ideas from you users. This is always very useful, as it helps us understand how the software is used and how we can make it better.

To make it easier to send feedback we've now set up a new simple system for this to help guide the future development of our applications. Basically it's just a simple list, linked from each product page, with ideas for future features. In this list you can then just click to vote on the features you think would be most useful to you.

If you're interested you can also sign up with your e-mail, and if you do we'll notify you if any of the features you've voted for are implemented.

A new version of the vector pattern and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. This update expands and improves the Inside clipping functionality by adding this capability to the Group Apply function and Group Apply graphics nodes. Just like in the Transform nodes previously this lets you transform the content in clipped elements in an easy way.

• Apply Function and Apply Graphics now also have an Inside clipping option.
• Fixes a bug where Inside clipping transform option would sometimes be hidden, even if the input graphics was clipped.
• Fixes a bug where the Apply to mode selector would sometimes be incorrectly disabled in Group: Apply function nodes.
• Stability improvements for changing connected node types using the Replace node menu.
• More helpful feedback messages when entering incorrect license information.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Another update of the vector pattern and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. This time with some usability improvements to make it easier to work with nodes and connections, some preview bug fixes and preparations for future updates.

• Value field hover controls are now hidden while dragging connections.
• Added new Nodes menu item to toggle node grid snap on/off.
• Added new Display menu item to toggle selected node element outlines on/off.
• Fixes some pixel gap issues with the finder Quick Look previews of repeating pattern .pnds files.
• Fixes incorrect pivot location of elements after offsetting content inside of clipped element groups.
• Added deprecation warnings to the artboard node mirroring settings that will be removed in a future update. Please use the Repeat Mirror node instead.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new update of the vector pattern and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. This time with some improvements making it easier to work with clipped elements, some value field improvements and some bug fixes.

• New 'Inside clipping' transform mode for Transform and Randomize nodes makes it easy to transform the content elements with a clipping mask.
• Pressing Esc while editing value fields now reverts their value.
• Improvements to parsing math expressions in value fields.
• Fixed a crash when adding an unconnected Make seamless node.
• Some under the hood improvements to the node reference help window.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new maintenance update of the pattern creation and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. This new version doesn't bring any big new features, but several smaller improvements and fixes.

• Improved quality for exported h264 compressed video files.
• Some minor macOS 11 compatibility changes.
• Added a setting controlling if a new document should be opened at startup.
• Fixed some issues with exporting to filenames with spaces in them.
• Fixed Little Snitch internet access policy so it now properly describes the purpose of update and license check connections.
• Fixed incorrect error message when entering incorrect license details.
• Improved technical info and error logs for support and bug reports.
• Updated Sparkle updating framework.

You can find the full change log in the version history. Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

If you're interested in Patternodes and want to get started with some basics there's now a tutorial with an introduction to animation in Patternodes over at Generative Hut. Just click below!

A new version of the pattern creation and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. This new update add support for encoding exported videos in h.264 codec for improved compression, and all export settings are now saved per file. The update also fixes a couple of interface bugs and layout issues in the built in node reference.

You can find the full change log in the version history. Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new version of the pattern creation and animation app Patternodes 2 has been released. It seems like the performance optimizations in Patternodes 2.3.0 caused a couple of bugs with the previews flickering or not updating correctly and the new update mainly focusses on fixing those problems.

• Fixes flickering or lack of updates in the main preview in some situations.
• Fixes a bug where the selection markers wouldn't update properly after deleting multiple nodes.
• Fixes node previews not updating correctly when graphic input is removed or the node is disabled.
• Node element caching is now always on instead of being a performance option.
• Adds deprecation warnings shown when using some legacy node types, along with a new option to turn these warnings off.
• Improvements to the Feedback dialogue technical info logs

A new version of Patternodes 2 has been released. This new updates adds some new features with new functionality related to animation and randomization nodes, but primarily it brings a lot of performance improvements and bug fixes. The update also fixes a couple of issues related to working on a retina mac and some problems importing legacy files from Patternodes 1.

• Greatly improved performance especially for working with animations and files with many elements.
• New Plateau Animated value function making it easier to make interesting animations where a value transitions between two constant levels.
• New Randomize Deep Change option in Group Randomize and Randomize Color nodes for applying individual changes to all sub elements without needing to flatten the group first.
• You can now rename Color nodes just like Value nodes.
• New setting for default new document size.
• New setting to include a set of default nodes or not in new documents.
• Improvements to editing values of linked node parameters.
• Connection context menu now shows total number of sub elements in multi-level groups.

• Fixes fullscreen preview being incorrectly scaled on retina screens.
• Fixes a potential hang when importing some legacy Patternodes 1 files.
• Fixes long delay when closing files with a lot of pattern elements.
• Fixes importing legacy Patternodes 1 files Randomize and Randomize Color nodes.
• Improved performance importing legacy Patternodes 1 files.
• Fixes a bug where the bottom pattern preview view would be the wrong size after closing the separate preview panel.
• Fixes a bug where drag offset markers wouldn't be properly updated when opening or closing the separate preview panel.
• Fixes incorrect total update times in the render info panel.

The original 2.2.9 update to Patternodes had a bug in it that prevented new created unconnected nodes from displaying correctly. So now there's a quick fix 2.2.91 version available that fixes this problem. Thanks to everyone who reported this problem right away so we could fix it quickly!

Another update to the pattern creation and animation app Patternodes has been released. This time the focus is on fixing some bugs reported by users along with improving the memory management.

• You can now pan around the node graph by dragging with middle mouse button.
• Improved memory management.
• Fixes animation export as numbered PDF files.
• Fixes problem with properly loading some connections to Change node selection parameters.
• Fixes Element index menu node icons being the wrong size.

The pattern creation and animation app Patternodes has been updated again. This time mostly a bunch of smaller tweaks and improvements.

• Added/fixed support for importing many more image formats, including photoshop psd, tga, raw and more.
• Improvements to the Finder Quick Look file .pnds previews.
• Improved interface performance.
• Additional license information is now available from the About window.
• Improved connection security and handling of network problems during license syncing.
• Rendering info statistics panel is now an overlay in the main preview instead os a separate panel.

A new update for the vector graphics pattern and animation tool Patternodes 2 is now available for download. This new updates brings some new features and improvements to the Text node and Clipping mask node, as well as numerous other small fixes and improvements.

• Improved Text element node with support for dynamic value based text and a new Text box mode with for better aligning and layout control. NOTE: This may mean some layout changes are needed for files using the old text node multi-line mode.
• Improved Clipping mask node now has an invert option that lets you use what's outside the clipping mask instead, and can be used to remove existing clipping paths.
• Math nodes now resize automatically to fit longer formulas.
• Fixes a bug where clicking out of the Artboard node size fields would revert values instead of applying changes.
• Leaving value fields empty now set them to 0 instead of showing a formula parsing error.
• Fixes a couple of issues with importing legacy Patternodes 1 files.
• Fixes bug with renaming artboard layers in some situations.
• Fixed a bug where the animation duration would initially be incorrect when loading longer animation files.
• You can now access pictures from your Photos albums when browsing to import graphics.
• Improved performance.

A new update for Patternodes 2 is now available for download. This is a smaller update that primarily improves artboard layer management and node reference, but it also fixes some interface issues on macOS 10.13.

• Artboard layer management. You can now add, remove, rename and rerorder the layers in the Artboard node.
• Fixes a bug causing node connections to render incorrectly on macOS 10.13.
• Fixes and improvements to the Node reference interface.
• Fixes a bug with the menu items for selecting linked nodes were disabled.

Another update for Patternodes 2 is now available for download. This version add two new nodes, Distribute and Pack, to let you work with spacing for elements in a group. For example useful if you first want to to some controlled randomizing of the lements, and then space the elements in a controlled way based on their new positions or sizes. Along with this the update also brings another set of fixes and improvements to various other areas of the application. Enjoy!

• New Group Pack node letting you pack elements in a group horizontally or vertically with a set margin.
• New Group Distribute node letting you distribute elements in a group evenly horizontally or vertically.
• Fixes some graphical glitches in the preview view on high zoom on macOS 10.14.
• Better feedback when value fields fail to parse expressions or parameter formulas.
• Fixes some bugs with preview display scale after exporting.
• Smoother opening/closing of the separate preview panel.
• More improved node warning messages and warnings interface components.
• Better handling of problems when loading corrupted/unsupported and legacy files.
• Fixes some incorrect descriptions in the node reference.

Patternodes 2 has been updated and the new version is now available for download. This version adds a couple of small improvements, but mainly fixes a couple or bugs and problems related to importing and pasting in graphics from other apps to use in Patternodes.

• The Grid repeater node now offers a grid height output socket in hex grid mode to make it easier to make seamless hex grids.
• The Element list node now supports input of up to 20 different elements instead of 10.
• Improvements to pasting/dragging graphics into the node graph.
• Fixes a bug where multiple pasted/imported graphics with the same name could be replaced with the same graphic when loading a file.
• Fixes some selection outline problems.
• Fixes a bug where exporting with a transparent background could instead export a solid black background.

Another update of Patternodes 2 is now available for download. This version adds a new group Explode node, that makes it easy to move group elements in relation to their center (pivot), and greatly improves the inline warning messages interface to make it easier to understand when something is going wrong and how to fix it.

• New Group Explode node A new node that makes it easy to move elements in a group away from or towards the group pivot point.
• Better warnings UI Improved inline interface for node warning messages and more warnings.
• Smart initial node values Value and color nodes created by dragging from a parameter input socket now start out with the socket value.
• Fixed a bug with element nodes created by dragging from Artboard node sockets getting double connections.
• Added link to the lost code form in license code entry interface.

Another update of Patternodes 2 is now available for download, with further bug fixes and focus on usability improvements and expanding the dynamic elements and parameters features.

Most noticable is the new way you can quickly add new nodes connected to a parameter by simply dragging out a connection from the parameter and letting go in the editor. This will then let you select a new node to add, connected to the parameter. For example, it makes it very easy to say a parameter should be controlled by an animated or random value.

For more advanced users this update also makes some changes to how repeaters apply their spacing and transofrmations parameters, making it possible to use dynamic values to change the spacing based on for example row or repeater index.

• Quicker node creation You can now add new nodes by simply draggin out a connection from any node socket and releasing.
• Repeater nodes dynamic offsets (Repeat Transform, Grid and Radial) now work better with dynamic offset/scaling/rotation parameter values.
• You can now zoom in the preview with trackpad pinch gestures.
• Improvements to retaining node connections when changing node types.
• Fixed some undo/redo bugs related to changing connections.
• Fixed Artboard node set size preset menu shortcuts.
• Fixed Artboard node background opacity not updating correctly with connected values.
• Apple application notarization (New Apple security requirements).
• Improvements to update checking.
• Updates to sample files. (Available from the Help menu)

Another update of Patternodes 2 is now available for download. The main focus of this update is further usability improvements to make it easier to work with and understand the software. One big improvement is you can now drag and drop files into the node editor or into import nodes, and life will be a little easier for one-button mouse users as you can now use either left or right click on connections to access the connection menu.

Most of the changes however relate in one way or the other to the dynamic repeater elements feature, and aim at making this easier to use and understand. Now all repeater indexes will be available all the time, and dynamic elements will be enabled by default if you connect repeater or element parameters to something dynamic (like an index or random value). The connection previews also now show the number of iterations generated for dynamic elements that are generated multiple times.

• Drag and drop support for importing files into the node editor or into an existing Element Import node.
• Left-click now also brings up the connection context menus, with better visual hover feedback.
• Fixes and improvements to dynamic element repeater functionality.
• You can now zoom the preview with option (alt) scroll wheel, and you can scroll a little beyond the edge of your artboard.
• The node connection preview now shows number of generations for dynamic elements.
• Fixes some undoing/redoing bugs.
• Improved performance and memory management.
• The Custom Loop repeater node is deprecated and will soon be removed (use other repeater dynamic elements and indexes instead).

The recent influx of new Patternodes 2 users has meant a lot of new feedback and bug-reports have been coming in. So here's another update of Patternodes 2with further improvements and fixes. I think all users will notice some nice usability improvements when it comes to handling connections, previews and adding nodes on connections.

While perhaps a little technical the most exiting to me is probably the new method for re-using random parameter values in dynamic elements by linking to parameters using random values. For example assigning a random size to elements and then assigning an opacity based on the size like in the example above.

• Improvements to adding and removing nodes on value or color connections.
• Improvements to connection preview (right-click connections) for graphics connections and color connections.
• You can now reuse the same random value by linking one parameter to a random value node, and then others to that parameter. A new sample file 'Reusing random values' showing this added.
• The Group Arrange node can now be applied to selected elements only and move these to the front or back of the group.
• In all change nodes apply to random selection now lets you offset this random selection.
• Re-structured and cleaned up the preferences panel, removing some old redundant settings.
• Updates to manual and sample files (Find them in the Help menu).
• Fixes a bug with the Align node align group elements left and top.
• Fixes a bug where math nodes converted from other value nodes would not work properly.
• Fixes a bug where automatic spacing calculations would not update automatically when the artboard size was changed by a connected value node.
• Fixes interface problems for macOS 10.14 users with dark mode.

A new version of the node-based vector pattern and animation design application Patternodes has been released. The new version adds a bunch of small additions, fixes and improvements, and is now available as a free update for all users.

• The Arc wedge shape in the Element Shape Node can now be given an inner diameter.
• Rounded polygons and Star shapes in the Element Shape node can now get pointy negative rounding.
• Added support for relative adjustments in the Change Opacity and Change Stroke nodes.
• New context menu shortcuts on the Artboard node to apply preset artboard sizes.
• Improvements to node connection usability.
• Improvements to node placement when adding new nodes on connections.
• Fixes a bug with the Group Apply Function node, pivot distance mode for groups of element groups.
• Fixes a bug with incorrect first regeneration when toggling dynamic elements off and on in repeater nodes.
• Apple Hardened runtime security features.

Today another update of Patternodes has been released. The new version adds some improvements for finder previews (like icon thumbnails and sharper vector-previews for less complex graphics), and fixes some bugs. Update from within the application or download the new version and try it out free using the link below.

• Improvements to Finder previews and thumbnails for .pnds files.
• Fixes some problems with SVG exports.
• Fixes a rare network full version unlocking bug.

A new version of the node-based vector pattern and animation design application Patternodes has been released. The new version fixes a couple of bugs and adds some minor interface tweaks, but the main change is an overhaul of the rendering back-end. This should result in better performance and stability, and a more stable foundation to build future update on.

• Performance improvements with new multithreaded rendering backend.
• Improvements to preview zooming and panning.
• You can now click/drag in animated value node graphs to change the current animation time.
• New and updated sample files (accessed from Help menu).
• Fixes some bugs with element clipping path rendering.
• Fixes some bugs with group-index based generation.
• Fixes some control clipping bugs on macOS 10.14.

Today a new update to the graphic pattern and animation tool Patternodes 2 was released. The new version is available for download here on the site for new users, or as an update in the application for existing users.

• Imported SVG image elments can now be used in Image mode as well as Path mode.
• Further improved SVG vector path importing.
• Updates to license entry and trial-mode interfaces.

Today a new update to the node-based vector graphics tool Patternodes 2 was released with some new features, fixes and improvements.

• New Repeat Mirror node that mirrors and clips elements to with one or more mirror planes.
• Improved SVG vector path importing.
• Exported MPEG4 animations now get the default file extesion .mp4 instead of .mepeg4.
• Fixes some problems caused by setting a 0x0 artboard size.
• Fixes node preview display bug with element performance caching disabled.
• Improved diagnostics for some installation and network problems.

The node-based parametric vector pattern and animation tool Patternodes 2 is now on sale, 50% off the regular price during August. So if you're looking for something new to try out during those long (or too short) summer days, now's a great time to check it out.

Patternodes has now been updated to version 2.1.3. This update fixes some compatibility problems with macOS 10.11 and earlier, and fixes a bug with misalignment of selection outlines on retina macs.

We've had some reports regarding problems with the latest updates of Vectoraster 7 and Patternodes 2 on systems running macOS 10.11 or earlier.

While we're working on fixing these we've rolled back the initial download versions here on the site to the previous versions, and restricted updates to users with macOS 10.12 or later. This means the users with macOS 10.12 or later can still update and everything should work fine, but users with earlier macOS version can still use the products until the problem is fixed so they can update too.

Today another update to Patternodes 2 was released. This update brings some additional usability improvements and bugfixes.

• Math node formulas now let you edit constants in formulas using the hover control sliders, steppers etc like regular values.
• Improvements to node index selection controls.
• Improvements to version checking and updating.
• Improvements to purchase/unlock dialogue.
• Added selected artboard outline.
• Fixed a bug with Group Apply Function node element selection offsets.
• Fixed a bug with adding clipping masks to transformed element groups.

Today a new smaller update to Patternodes 2 was released. This update primarily fixes a couple of bugs in the 2.1.0 release. The new version also adds a new feature that highlights elements in the preview created or modified my the currently selected node. This doesn't affect export and you can turn it off in the settings if you don't want it, but hopefully it'l make it easier for everyone to keep track of what nodes apply to what elements.

A new update to Patternodes 2 has now been released. This update adds a lot of new features making the dynamic elements and element index features more powerful, as well as adding a lot of other improvements along with a new Align node and some bug fixes.

• New Element Index node lets you access different repeater indexe values (like Row, Column etc) when using repeaters with dynamic elements enabled.
• New Align node lets you align elements in relation to the artboard or internally in a group.
• New Element list node allowing you to use different alternative elements in a dynamic repeater pattern.
• Improved Value List and Color List nodes, with built in element index modes and a new index offset parameter great for animating random or index-based value sets.
• Node connections now have drag handles at both ends by default, and there a new setting to control what ends have handles.
• The Repeat Transform node now has an Auto spacing mode, calculating spacing based on count and total repetition area similar to the Repeat Grid node.
• Option to skip frames in animation previews when rendering is slow.
• Math formula parameter fields can now be edited while a preview animation is running, just like value fields.
• Fixes a bug that could cause the value parameter hover controls to disappear in some situations.
• Fixes a bug that could cause tinted bitmap image elements to render at low resolution.
• Fixes a bug with pivot point adjustments for element groups.

Another update of the vector pattern and animation application Patternodes 2 has been released. Primarily the new version adds SVG export support, but also fixes some bugs:

• Adds SVG format export support, including animated SVG export of animations(!).
• Improved image quality (lower compression) in MOV and MPEG4 animation exports.
• Fixes a bug with centering arc path elements in the Change Pivot node.
• Fixes a bug with the Apply Function node horizontal/vertical mode used on rotated groups.

A new update of the vector pattern and animation application Patternodes 2 has been released with the couple of fixes and improvements:

• Fixes a scaling bug in MOV, MPEG4 and GIF animation exports on retina macs.
• Improved node illustrations and descriptions in the built-in node reference guide.
• Some smaller fixes and adjustments in node interfaces.

Today a small bug-fix update for the newly released Patternodes 2 has been published.

• Fixes some stability problems.
• Fixes a bug with the Make Seamless repeater in Demo mode on retina displays.
• Fixes a bug where pasting copied nodes from Patternodes 1 could cause problems.
• Improved node editor scrolling when dragging close to the edge.

The second generation of the mac vector pattern design and animation application Patternodes has now been released. Click below for more information, or download and try it out for free now!

• Fewer more versitile nodes. Many node types have been combined into more capable ones. This will let you do more with fewer nodes and make it easier to try new things and play around with the software without having to replace or add new nodes.
• Improved usability. Many improvements to make the basic tasks of editing values and working with nodes and connections smoother and quicker.
• New artboard node with layers. The old document and output nodes have been combined into a single Artboard output node with multiple output layers along with artboard size and settings.
• Language and naming changes. Many concepts have been renamed to be more in line with industry standards and/or common language to make them easier to understand. For example, the old Transform nodes are now called Change nodes and the old Array Elements are now simply called Groups.
• Change node apply-modes. Most of the nodes changing graphics (like changing color or transformation) now have built in support to toggle between applying their change to the group, each individual element in the group, or a selected subset of elements in the group. This replaces many array operation nodes and removes the need for a lot of splitting and combining you had to do in Patternodes 1.
• More powerful nodes. More or less every node, for creating shapes, transforming or repeating elements have had little additions and improvements to enable new uses and improve existing functionality.
• Improved animation exports. Support for exporting longer animations at higher resolutions in more formats.

For more details see the Version history

The second generation of the macOS procedural graphics design and pattern creation tool Patternodes is now in beta testing. The new version will be an overhaul of more or less everything in the application, with new features and improvements across the board.

You can read more about Patternodes 2 by clicking below. And if you like what you read you can sign up to be notified when it's released.

A nice and comprehensive review of PatterNodes has been published over at CreatevePro.com.

Could be especially interesting to hear the reasoning on trying the software as a new user, interested in creating graphical patterns but unfamiliar with the node-based procedural approach.

Today a new update patch to the parametric pattern creation software Patternodes has been released, you can download it for free or use the update feature in the application to update.

• Fixes a bug where exported animated GIFs would not loop properly in some browsers.
• Fixes some problems with resizing of preview and note nodes.
• Improved feedback and bug-reporting dialogue for users not using the Apple Mail client.
• Added links to lostminds.com support and Patternodes 2 beta testing information to the Help menu.

This will likely be the last update of Patternodes 1.x.x, as the next big update Patternodes 2 is now in development.
If you want to help beta test the new version or find out more, you can do so at lostminds.com/patternodes/beta_testing.php.

EDIT: This update was initially released as 1.8.3, but that build had some problems so it was rolled back fixed and re-released as 1.8.4.

Today a new update to the procedural vector graphics and pattern creation tool PatterNodes has been released.

• Added basic (slightly experimental) support for importing SVG custom vector shapes.
• Improved support for importing EPS custom vector shapes exported from Sketch.
• Fixes a bug where adding a value node (like Multiply) on a value connection would sometimes result in an extra faulty node connection.
• Fixes some interface bugs with scroll bars in the Node Editor view.

Today a new smaller update to the node-based vector graphics application PatterNodes has been released.

• Improved the random value node so that you can now specify increments/steps for the random values to be rounded to, like even multiples of 45 or 90 for angles.
• Greatly improved responsiveness and memory management while exporting large/long animations.
• Added a new warning message for when a node scales the output graphics to 0 size, making it disappear, which can be confusing in some cases and usually unintentional.

Today a new free update to the node-based vector graphics and pattern design application PatterNodes was released. The update adds a whole slew of smaller improvements and bugfixes aimed at making the software smoother to use and improving integration for copying and pasting vector graphics in/out of PatterNodes.

• Improvements to pasting in vector graphics. PatterNodes will now attempt to extract information about stroke, fill and size to create a similar custom shape node if possible. There's also a new setting in the preferences if you prefer vector graphics to be pasted in as an image node instead.
• The feature to automatically connect newly added element nodes is now a little smarter, connecting new element nodes to existing nodes where there is an empty Graphics socket if there is one. If not, the new node is connected directly to the output and the element is centered in the tile to be more visible.
• Adding a new Array Split node on a connection now automatically connects both the A and B graphical outputs for you.
• There is now a new Export setting where you can set if you want the copied output tile to be scaled to the current preview display scaling or not, as well as set if you want the copied vector output to be in mm or points.
• Fixes a bug where element previews would sometimes render offset vertically on retina display systems.
• Improvements to parsing custom vector graphics that are not closed shapes.
• Fixes a rendering bug where imported vector graphics images would sometimes be rendered at low resolution in the preview if they were rotated.
• Clicking a file export completed notification in the notification center now opens the enclosing folder in Finder so you can easily find the file.
• Zoom changes and animation in full screen preview mode now properly respects if the repetition display opacity is set to 0.
• Changed some warning messages to make more sense and be shown at more appropriate times.

Today another small update to the parametric vector graphics and pattern application PatterNodes was released.

The new version fixes a couple of bugs and inconveniences, and adds a new feedback / bug-report feature in the application.

Download it now and try it out for free if you're new to PatterNodes, or just update from within PatterNodes if you're already using it.

Today a new update to the Mac procedural graphics and pattern app PatterNodes was released. The new version fixes a few bugs, but more importantly improves compatibility with importing vector shapes from EPS files and pasted in vector graphics.

Click below to find out more and try it out for free.

An update to PatterNodes was just released. The new version fixes a couple of annoying interface bugs and improves networking security for updates and product activation.

Download the new version for free on the product page or update to the latest version from within the application.

A new update to the node based pattern/parametric vector-graphics application PatterNodes has just been released. The update primarily focuses on fixing bugs and improving various annoyances in the interface to make working with the application smoother, but also adds some new features to the Array Function nodes letting you base transformations on the distance from the array pivot (rotation/scaling center). The location of this can of course be changed by moving the array pivot point, giving you a lot of new possibilities.

Changes and additions

• New "Pivot distance" input option for the Array Function node and Change order node, letting you apply transformations or change the order of array elements based on their distance to the pivot point (rotation/scaling center) of the array.
• Improved "Add node on connection" and "Add node after" features that more reliably connects the new node properly and moves other nodes only when needed.
• Some more interface option icons, like illustrations for the different Function node functions.
• Fixes/changes/improvements to the array function node, especially relating to changing the function offset. This should hopefully make it much easier to make nice looping animations using the node. Two spinning loading indicator examples have been added to the sample files.

• Fixed some incorrect element size calculations on Mac OS X 10.11, affecting amongst other things the previews in the context menu for graphics connections.
• When clicking and dragging to move nodes it should no longer be possible to accidentally edit or create connections behind the node in the same location.
• Value and color connection preview should now be shown correctly even for connections that are not part of generating the currently displayed output.
• Line elements with the "extend to edges" option enabled should now render properly in repeated exports. NOTE: The extend to edges line element feature is a bit problematic as it doesn't work like other graphic elements, so support for it will likely be removed in a future version.
• Fixed a bug with restoring connections when undoing adding nodes in some cases.
• Export panel repetition fields now display correctly and allow stepping up/down with arrow keys like other value fields.

Another week, another update with a couple of small fixes and improvements to PatterNodes.

Changes in version 1.7.3

• Expanded/corrected a lot of the node help texts, available in the Node Reference help feature and the interface tool tips.
• Replacing an element node with a new type no longer automatically connects it to the output as if it was a newly added element node.
• Fixed some bugs with using arrays of clipped elements as input into an Array Merge node.

Based on all the new user feedback, idea and bug-reports we've received from all the new PatterNodes users from the MacUpdate deal we're now releasing a new updated version.

If you still haven't gotten around to it, there is still one more day left of the deal!

Changes in version 1.7.2

• All value fields now parse basic math expressions like 3+4 or 23/4, sin(90) etc.
• Newly added element nodes are now automatically connected to the output node (can be turned off in the preferences).
• Adding an animated value node now also automatically adds an animation info node if there isn't one in the document.
• Some improvements to the array split and array replace nodes.
• Made some error handling and warning messages more graceful and helpful.
• Fixed a bug where the background color would only cover one tile when using the export repeated option.
• Fixed some undo/redo bugs related to deleting/recreating nodes.

A small update for PatterNodes has now been released, with a couple of bugfixes and improved support for using either comma or period as you decimal separator in value fields.

More importantly, this week there's a promo drive over at MacUpdate for PatterNodes this week (11 Jan to 17 Jan). Starting today with PatterNodes at 50% off!

• Animation. The new Animation info and Animated value nodes let you create animations in by defining an animation and how a specific value should vary over the course of the animation. The animations can then be exported as numbered JPG or PNG files, animated GIFs or QuickTime mov-files.

• Added a couple of new functions like Ease, Linear Peak and Ease Peak to the array function node and animated value node.
• Added a Cap to end values option to the Array function node, outputting a static value before and after the function period instead of just repeating the function.
• Improved element array and path element bounding box calculation precision, improving sizemode scaling and rotation precision.
• Renamed the Tile info node to "Document info" with document size instead of tile size along with some other utility nodes (like notes and previews) to reduce the risk of confusing them with repeaters.
• Added icons to the add node menu sections and some document nodes.
• Added and improved some warning messages

• Fixed a crash on using the Array function node in count mode on element arrays with just one element.
• Fixed a crash on setting the angle to zero in an arc element node.
• Fixed a problem with Mac OS X 10.11 App Transport blocking version checking and full version unlocking.
• Fixed enabling of revert to saved-item in the File menu.
• Fixed a bug where the second value in a linked value pair might not be the same as the first if the first was connected to a random value node.

• Fixed a bug with Copy pattern vectors.
• Fixed a bug and a potential crash with ligatures in text nodes.
• Added a warning message about sample files not being updated if the application has been moved out of its original folder.

A new version of the mac parametric design-/pattern-/visual programming-tool PatterNodes was just updated to v1.6.8. Get it while it's hot!

• New Array Split Mask node. New node that lets you split arrays of elements (like a grid) into two separate arrays based on a graphical Mask input element.
• Interface improvements. Several tweaks and improvements, including new interface controls to quickly link pairs of parameters (like X and Y Scaling, or rows and columns in a repeater) in the same node.

• Repeat Grid and Alternating Grid nodes now have a "Remove last row/column" option that can be used together with the Auto spacing mode to repeat one row/column less, which is useful if you want to use a Seamless repeater node after it to make a random pattern seamless.
• Repeat Grid and Alternating Grid nodes now have a context menu shortcut to adjust the number of rows/columns to fill the current tile size.
• Fixed a bug making the preview sometimes render incorrectly while live-changing the preview display scale if the pattern used a Seamless repeater node.
• To make it easier to find the a node type to add, you can now find the same node type under multiple categories (for example the array node "Randomize color" under both Array operations and Color). This also applies to the Node reference help function.
• The graphics connection previews (right-click or control click on the connection) now show what type of elements (array, path or image) are sent in the connection.
• Fixed bugs with very short connections, where control-clicking would not show the context menu and connection previews.
• Added warning if there are multiple identical connections between two nodes, since this might be hard to see and is probably not intentional.
• Fixed a bug with connections in the node editor view not updating correctly when undoing moving a node.
• Updated a lot of sample and tutorial files to make use of new nodes and features.

• New scaling re-size mode. Nodes that scale elements, like the Repeat Transform-node or Scale-node, now have an alternate "Size mode" that lets you set a fixed size change instead of a scale factor.

• Added a Quick Help panel that is shown on the first launch to help new users get started. It can also be accessed from the Help menu.
• Some bug fixes and improvements to preview drag value editing, you can now hold shift to make it easier to drag offsets in straight lines or change scale uniformly.
• Added Justify to the Text node text alignment modes.
• Fixed bug with Array Function where the fill and stroke adjustments would not be applied to the correct parameters.
• Some internal changes to Scale and Offset nodes to make it easier to switch between them and Transform nodes.
• Some performance improvements.
• Added a Technical info panel accessible from the Window menu, mostly for debugging and performance optimization use.

• New Apply image node. A node that lets you use data from an image (or other element) to apply to elements in an array based on their position in the image. For example scaling or setting the fill color. In other words, much like Vectoraster lets you do, but to any array of any type of graphical elements.
• Improved Text node. The Text Character node is renamed and now works better with longer strings, supporting line breaks, text alignment, line spacing, kerning, removing unprintable characters and scaling glyphs more consistently.
• New Clipping mask node. A node that lets you apply a clipping mask to graphical elements using another element as the mask.

• Added a convenience angle parameter to the Line element node, letting you rotate the line without adding another node.
• Adjusted the dynamic value slider ranges to be 0-2, 0-10, 0-50, 0-200 and 0-1000.
• Added a convenience "adjust tile size to output" item to the Tile Info node context menu, it attempts to adjust the size of the pattern tile to fit the current graphics.
• Full screen preview now shows just a single tile if the tile repetition display setting is set to zero.
• Fixed a bug in the Array Split node that would sometimes transform elements incorrectly (for example text characters) when splitting some element arrays.
• The Array Split node now has a hide toggle like many other nodes. When hidden, the full original array is output in A, and nothing in B.
• Fixed quick look Finder previews for PatterNodes documents with large tiles so that they are scaled down to show the entire tile instead of being cropped.
• Fixed demo mode watermark placement and scaling to make sure the information about removed elements in demo mode exports is clearer.
• Fixed a bug with rendering value function previews for constant values.
• Some fixes of context menu preview for graphics connections.
• Updated a lot of sample files to work better with node changes the last couple of updates.
• There's now a notification at startup that lets you know if new sample files or tutorial files have been added after an update.
• Added an item to the Help menu to open the Sample files folder.

Four more seamless sample patterns made with PatterNodes have now been added on ourBehance page.

On the project page for each pattern you can read how they were made, see the PatterNodes pattern definition and even download the files for the patterns to play with them yourself.

• Improved element pivot adjustment node. Remade the way the Transform offset pivot node works, it now has a nice preview showing where the pivot point is and a new automatic Center option to center the pivot. While this changes the way this node worked before it should now be much easier to understand and use.
• Combined similar nodes. To reduce the number of different nodes to keep track of several related nodes have been combined into single nodes with more options, see the list below for more details. When loading old files the nodes should be converted automatically.

• The Array Split and Array Split Random nodes have been joined into a single Array Split node.
• The Array Reverse order and Array Randomize order nodes have been joined into a single Array Change order node. This new node can also reorder the elements based on their position.
• The Color and Numeric Color have been joined into a single Color node, this also makes it easier to switch between different color models.
• You can now zoom the preview in/out using command +/-, this also works while in full screen pattern preview mode.
• Improved help with tool-tips for some node mode selection alternatives. These help texts are now also shown in the node reference list.
• Improved drag offset editing so that it now affects offset instead of rotation angle in Transform, Array Transform and Repeat Transform nodes.
• Improved node-preview rendering of elements with offset pivots.
• Some interface performance optimization and improvements to node selection/de-selection.

Just uploaded a couple of sample seamless patterns made with PatterNodes on Behance.

On the project page for each pattern you can read how they were made, see the PatterNodes pattern definition and even download the files for the patterns to play with them yourself. If you use Behance you can leave comments and follow to get more sample patterns in the future.

• Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur when opening files with embedded custom vector graphics.
• When replacing an Image node with a Custom Shape node (or the other way around) the new node now tries to reuse the same image, so you don't need to re-import it.
• When replacing a selected node with a new node type, the new node is now also selected.
• Updated the manual a little with a better explanation about how imported graphics work and added a reference to the built-in Node Reference list for more details.
• Improved the Repeat Seamless node so that repeated elements for outside the pattern tile are now automatically removed, making exports cleaner.

• Multi-layer radial repetitions. Improvements to the Radial repeater node allowing you to add multiple layers with angle, count and radius offset per layer.
• Improved editing of offset and angle values. X/Y values (like offset or position) or rotation angle in selected nodes can now be edited by clicking and dragging directly in the pattern preview panel. When this is possible a little blue icon is shown next to the value fields and in the corner of the pattern preview.

• Change to Radial repeater "rotate elements" option to be more intuitive (may break/change some existing patterns).
• New Element Count value node. Similar to the Element size node it returns the count of elements in a connected graphics array. Useful for remapping the array index value to something automatically.
• Improved parsing of pasted vector graphics in Custom shape nodes, avoiding duplicate curves for elements with both stroke and fill, as well as some problems with strange offsets.
• New preferences added for editing and exporting, like snapping to grid, display of connection previews and export clipping rectangles.
• Fixed a bug where PatterNodes would crash if you set both the A and B ratio to 0 in array split nodes. Now you just get no output instead.
• Fixed a bug where moving newly created Preview Nodes would move it to the top left corner the first time it was moved.
• Fixed some problems for users with non-administrator user accounts, like in schools or big companies.
• Updated and added new sample patterns and tutorial files to show new functionality.
• Fixed a bug causing copied vector graphics to sometimes have an unnecessary clipping rectangle.

• New Array Merge node. Letting you chain multiple array operations in new ways, for example splitting an array to modify some elements, then joining it back together to apply another effect to all elements.
• Color Gradient and Color List nodes. New nodes giving you better and more convenient control over color patterns and gradients applied to an array of pattern elements based on some value (like the element array index).

• New Value List node that lets you specify a list of values and outputs one of them based on an input index value.
• Fixed a couple of bugs with the Random Value node that would incorrectly give infinite loop warnings when both the min and max parameters would be connected.
• Added a +/- range option to Random value and Value Remap nodes, making it more convenient to set symmetrical ranges around 0.
• When copying/exporting vector graphics that do not stick out over the tile edges no clipping rectangle is added, making it more convenient to copy them straight into wherever you want to use the graphics.
• Improved error messages for network problems and handling incorrectly formatted e-mail accounts when unlocking the full version.
• Fixed a bug where duplicating note nodes would not copy the note text.
• Fixed a bug where deleting text in a save dialogue could delete selected nodes in the background.
• Fixed a bug where the Array Transform node Scale Y field would not be properly disabled when uniform scaling was selected.
• Fixed a bug where the Array Transform node would not let you scale elements to 0.
• Fixed a few display bugs with the hover value controls.

Bittbox is featuring our Mac parametric pattern creation tool PatterNodes, and together with that we are giving away ten licenses. So go over there and check it out!

Almost at the same time PatterNodes has also been featured on CreativeMac (along with a bunch of other Digital Media Network sites), you can read that here.

• New Array Index value node. Similar to the repetition index value node, this node lets you use the element index in an array in any array operation. For example you can use the number of the element to control how much it is scaled in an Array Transform node, or how the color is adjusted in an Adjust color node.
• New and improved value function nodes. Two new value function nodes have been added: Value Remap, that linearly maps values from one range to another, and Value Cap, that lets you cap values with a max and min value. And more convenience functions (like (A+B)/C) have been added to the Value Function node. All to make it easier to make interesting use of for example the Array index value.
• Improved value/color connection previews. Just like the graphics connections you can now see previews of colors and values in connections in the context menu by right-clicking them. For values that vary it shows the range of the values and a graph of how the values vary. For colors it shows a spectrum/gradient of the colors.

• Added a new Numeric Color node, that lets you define a color using RGB, CMYK och HSB values, that can in turn be connected to other nodes.
• Array Function node now has a nice preview graph of the function value to make it easier to understand and work with the period, offset and function parameters.
• Like color and graphics connections, value node connections are now automatically reconnected to nodes before/after a value node when it's deleted or unlinked.
• Reorganized the node context menu a little so that more often used items are higher up.
• Changes to selecting linked nodes before/after a node which also improve how nodes are moved when new nodes are added on connections.
• If you add multiple Output nodes they now get a Layer parameter you can use to control the order in which they are added to the pattern.
• Changes to a few node icons, and new icons added for a few parameters.
• For convenience the Element Size node now outputs the size of the last connected element if the Graphics element is disconnected, instead of reverting to 0, which could cause problems.
• Fixed a bug where hidden parameter sockets would still get highlighted when new connections are created.
• Fixed a bug where the background of element previews would sometimes not change when the pattern background color is changed.
• Fixed a bug when connection would sometimes incorrectly remain after replacing a node with a different type where the parameter existed but was hidden.

Demo videos

Today another update to PatterNodes was released with the following improvements.

• Help: Node reference list. There's now a built in reference list with descriptions of all available node types and their parameters. For each node type there are also links to sample files where the nodes are used so that you can see them in action. The reference can be accessed from the Help menu or the by right-clicking a node in the editor.
• Improved value sliders. The hover value slider controls now show the current slider max/min values to better show when these are dynamically updated and adapt to parameter value limits better.

• Change to some node default values and colors.
• Opacity values are now capped to values between 0 and 1.
• There is now a "No background" option in the tile info node that makes the background transparent. This replaces the old method of setting an alpha value of the color in the background color well, and will hopefully be easier to understand.

Today a new, update to PatterNodes was released with a bunch of new fixes and improvements.

• Interface updated. Graphical tweaks to multiple parts of the interface, most noticeable most nodes now have little icons to make them easier to understand and the connection sockets are more compact.
• Array replace node. A new node that lets you replace the elements in an array with copies of another node. Combined with the array split node this lets you replace for example every other element in an array with something else at the same location.
• Improved Arc element nodes. The arc elements can now be filled and an option has been added to make them pie wedge-shapes instead of just circle segments.

• Improved hiding/disabling of node parameters that are currently not usable or meaningful.
• Double-clicking on a node title now lets you rename it for nodes you can rename (such as value and color nodes).
• You can now enter exact values for zoom level, and even use arrow key stepping in the zoom field just like in the other fields.
• Changed element array pivot position calculation to give more accurate and consistent results.
While this could make some cases look different, it will improve accuracy in rendering and give more predictable results when transforming arrays.
• Fixed a bug where right-clicking while dragging a connection could leave an unattached connection instead of removing it.
• Fixed a bug that would make preview images of elements based on random values unstable.

Today a new, slightly bigger update to PatterNodes was released with a lot of fixes and improvements:

• Font character elements. A new element node type has been added, letting you add text characters from any installed font to your pattern.
• Context menu previews. Right-clicking any graphics connection now shows you a preview of the graphics in the connection in the context menu, so you quickly inspect and hopefully understand how your pattern node-networks work more easily.

• When right-clicking a connection this connection is now highlighted to make it easier to see which connection you?re operating on.
• When right-clicking a connection there is now an option to remove the connection.
• Improved stability on Mac OS X 10.8.

• Multiple graphics connections connected to the same socket now retain the correct order when drawn, making it easier to see in which order they will be added to the node.
• Fixed some problems with automatically moving nodes out of the way when adding a new node on an existing connection.
• Fixed preview node display of pattern elements with offset pivot positions.
• Fixed a graphics bug with node titles after renaming nodes manually.
• Fixed undoing/redoing renaming nodes.
• Fixed a bug that allowed you to duplicate the Tile info node, there should only be one of these.
• Fixed a bug where duplicating note nodes would not duplicate the note text properly.
• Fixed some bugs with the Custom shape element node.
• Fixed a bug where setting a negative Array split proportion would result in a crash, now you get a warning and 0 will be used instead.

Today another update to PatterNodes was released with some further bug fixes:

• You can now hold option and drag a node to quickly make a copy of it (works just like duplicate).

• Fixed a bug where the scroll-bars would not always be shown/hidden correctly in the separate pattern preview panel.
• Fixed a bug where unlinking nodes with a lot of connections could cause a crash.
• Fixed a bug where the proportion counts in the new array split nodes would not load correctly from saved files.

Today another update to PatterNodes was released with some new features and bug fixes:

• Further improved the Array Split node, you can now configure more advanced split patterns.
• Added a new Array Split Random node that works similarly to the Array Split node, but splits the elements at random according to a set ratio instead of in sequence.
• The help / Manual item now opens a copy of the manual embedded in the application bundle instead of from the application folder in case you moved the app.
• Added a new "Edge element centers" mode to the size calculation node, using this mode you can easily calculate the report size of a grid-repetition based pattern (see sample files).
• The application no longer creates/replaces the application folder files if it has been put in to the system Applications folder. If you want to keep your sample files updated, just move the entire folder to Applications.
• When adding new nodes on an existing connection, nodes to the right are now automatically moved out of the way if there is not enough space for the new node.
• Added a "Short odd rows" option to the alternating grid repeater node. When this is enabled, the odd rows get one element less than the even rows.

• Fixed connection rendering so that the connection you currently edit/drag is always on top.
• Fixed a bug where removing a graphics connection could cause problems if it prompted a warning in the tile info node.
• Fixed a bug where the separate pattern preview window would sometimes show an incorrect filename in the title.
• The separate pattern preview window now goes into the background properly when PatterNodes is not active.
• Tweaked the way tile size is calculated when combined with auto spacing to avoid some loop problems.

Today a more substantial update to PatterNodes was released with some new features and a couple of bug fixes:

• Added a new separate preview window mode as an alternative to the preview in the bottom part of the document window. Activated by a new button in the bottom right, or via the Window menu item. Great for multi-monitor setups and complex patterns!
• Added a new "Export again" item to the File menu, this lets you quickly export the pattern again to the same format and file previously used, skipping the save dialogue. This can be very useful when you work with linked files, for example in web development.
• Improved the Array Split node to support more different ratios and added an Offset parameter that shifts the split counter.
• Improved adding an Array Split node to an existing connection, this now connects the new split-node better.
• Added shortcuts in the node context menu of element nodes (shapes, graphics etc) to quickly set the position of to 0,0 or the tile center.
• The value hover controls (value slider and stepper) are now shown to the left of the field instead if they would not fit on screen to the right of the field.
• Improved connection rendering so that connections are now layered among the nodes and no longer always drawn on top of all nodes.

• Fixed a crash on making a new connection that would cause an infinite loop between parameters within the same node. Now an error message is shown instead as intended.
• Fixed a crash when linking the Array Split node graphics outputs back in a way that would make an infinite loop.
• Fixed a small bug where the node shadow would not be rendered correctly after undoing moving the node.
• Fixed a bug where the warning messages counter would not be placed correctly in the top right corner of the editor view in some cases.
• Another fix to file version checking, turns out the first attempt didn't quite fix it.
• Fixed a bug where the split-view preview would be offset if the view had been resized all the way down and then opened up again.

This update also includes changes to Apple required code-signing and the Sparkle updating framework, but hopefully that should not cause any problems.

Click the link below for download, screenshots and more information.

Today, September 18:th we're running a 24h promo with MacUpdate, offering our parametric pattern creation tool PatterNodes at 50% off!

As usual you can download and try it out for free, but for today only you can then buy the full version for just $9.50

Today a small update to PatterNodes was released with a couple of little fixes:

• Fixed the Array Function node Fill opacity and Stroke opacity modes, so now making transparency gradients works properly.
• Added some improved error messages when entering incorrect information to unlock the full version, and a new "Unregister" button to allow users to change license.
• Fixed an incorrect file version warning message.

Click the link below for download, screenshots and more information.

The new application PatterNodes has now been released and is available for download.

PatterNodes is a tool for creating graphical patterns, gradients or illustrations based on repetitions. This is done by defining the pattern in a node-based interface. As the nodes can be freely combined and connected this gives you a very flexible and powerful interface that lets you tweak any aspect of the pattern and see the end result in real time.

PatterNodes is free to download and try, it then costs $19 to unlock the full version.

Click the link below for download, screenshots and more information.

For quite some time now I've been working on a new Mac pattern and illustration tool, based on some ideas I got during the development of Vectoraster. As it's now nearing completing I figured it was time to tell you a little about it.

The new application is called PatterNodes, and it's a sort of procedural or parametric tool for creating graphical patterns, quite unlike anything else on the market. Using a node-based interface it lets you construct complex patterns, where (just like Vectoraster) you can tweak and adjust any aspect and see the results in real-time.

Click the link below for screenshots and more information, and if you like what you see you may even be able to help out beta test it.