Scan Lines Action

Type of Action: Item Action (to use it, select an item and go to Item>Actions to choose the Action from the list).

What the Action can do: This Action lets you do the following:
  • It lets you create an effect of alternating lines and image content so it appears that scan lines have been used across or down the image.
To apply the Action, select a graphic item containing an imported image, go to Item>Actions and choose Scan Lines. With the item selected, see the options in the Actions palette:


  • Enabled: This option is checked by default. When checked you will see a live preview of the effects applied when options are used in the Actions palette. To see a "before and after" of the original image (with and without the Action applied), switch the Enabled option on and off. Remember to leave it checked when you have finished.
  • Scan columns: Checking this option changes the scan line direction from the default of Horizontal to Vertical.
  • Offset: This moves the start of the scan lines so you can choose where to place the initial line. Choose a value of between 20 and -20.
  • Odd Width: The "Odd" values for the Action control the scan lines (ie, the lines which strip out the content of the imported image), so increasing the width will make the scan line width wider. Choose a value between 1px and 20px.
  • Odd Color: Choose a color for the scan lines. The default is to use White.
  • Odd Amount: By default this is set to 100% which means that the color used for the scan lines is completely opaque. Using a value of less than 100% means that the scan line color becomes more and more transparent (to show the image through the scan line) to the point where 0% makes the scan lines invisible.
  • Even Width: The "Even" values for the Action control the lines of the imported image, so increasing the width will make the stripe of image content wider. Choose a value between 1px and 20px.
  • Even Color: Choose a color to be used on top of the stripes of image content. The default is None, which means that only the image itself shows in those stripes.
  • Even Amount: If you use a color in the Even Color swatch, this slider lets you set the opacity for that color so that the higher the value is set the more opaque the color becomes. Note that even if None is chosen in the Even Color swatch, using an amount greater than 0% will work the same as choosing White.

Examples

Below you can see examples of how the original image (shown first which the Action disabled) will look when the options displayed in the Actions palette alongside each sample has been set up.