Vectoraster is a graphics design app for creating custom vector halftones, stipple designs or animated raster effects based on imported images or dynamic elements like gradients, text or noise fields.
The halftone patterns and point shapes can be changed and varied across the pattern to produce many different styles. The resulting effect is always shown, with the preview updating in real time as you change parameters. The result can then easily be exported as vectors to SVG, PDF or EPS files, as images to JPEG, PNG or TIFF, or simply copied and pasted into most graphics software.
With Vectoraster 8 you can now also animate all these effects to create transitions, video backgrounds or other effects to use in your motion design projects. The result can be exported either as GIF, MOV or MPEG4 video files or a sequence of frame pdf or image files.
Inspiration
There is a collection of projects that could work as inspiration for what you could use Vectoraster for here on Behance:
"To sum it all up, Vectoraster is a highly customizable OS X application that helps you create vector-based raster patterns with just a couple of mouse clicks."
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 Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This adds some initial CMYK color support and interface optimizations along with a couple of bug fixes.
Changes and improvements
Added support for CMYK and other non-rgb color models in static colors (varying dynamic point colors will still convert to RGB in rendering and exports). CMYK colors are only supported in PDF exports.
Improved interface performance.
Improved support and handling of pasting graphics as source image layers.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug where exporting to CSV or SVG would result in the preview going blank.
Fix issue with new source images pasted in getting the wrong initial size.
Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.
2023-08-22
Vectoraster 8.5.4 released
A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This adds some new functionality with support for complex unicode characters in text rasters (like SF symbols and ligatures) and some new point index options where you can chose to vary raster parameters based on the row or columns in the raster pattern for some new interesting effects.
Changes and improvements
Added new point Row, Column or Row+Column index source options, letting you base parameters on the row or column of the point.
Added support for complex multi-byte unicode characters like SF symbols and ligatures in text rasters.
Added Lost Minds Mastodon link to Help menu.
Added some more helpful information to error messages when failing to load files.
Bugfixes
Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.
2023-07-13
Vectoraster 8.5.3 released
Another smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released with some fixes and smaller changes, this time relating to file imports.
Fixes and improvements
Fixes issue with incorrect physical sizes when importing image source layers.
Better error messages on file access permission issues when importing files.
2023-06-01
Vectoraster 8.5.2 released
Another smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released with some bugfixes and smaller changes.
Fixes and improvements
Point size is now renamed Line length for simple line points.
Properly deactivate color well and close the color picker when hiding an active color parameter.
Fixes the preview sometimes not reverting correctly back to the current time after exporting an animation.
Fixes an issue where the source layers list would not display correctly after reordering sources.
Fixes some precision issues in applied Multiscale when using the slider instead of the scale field.
Sparkle version checking framework updated.
2023-05-22
Vectoraster 8.5.1 released
A smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This updates some legacy components for future compatibility and fixes some issues introduced in the 8.5.0 update.
Changes and improvements
Updates components for future compatibility, raising minimum required macOS version to 10.15.
Fixes a bug where animation exports would not correctly apply a scaled export size.
Fixes using the animation export panel size slider while the height or width field is active.
Vectoraster 8 now requires macOS 10.15 or later to run.
2023-05-12
Vectoraster 8.5.0 released
A new bigger update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. The new version brings support for multiple custom point shapes, something that has been requested for a long time. So now you can use a set of different imported shapes or images for the points, and use them in sequence, at random or based on your sources. Along with this the backend has also been rebuilt a little to make rendering and generation more responsive along with a bunch of other improvements and fixes.
Vectoraster 8.5.0 Changes and improvements
Multiple custom shape support use different imported point shapes based on sources, index or at random.
Improved generation/rendering with better performance, responsiveness and stability.
Source opacity point removal with a new alpha threshold parameter. Makes it easy to remove points regardless of size where the source image is transparent.
Animated GIF import support for Video source layers.
Point fill opacity can now be applied to bitmap custom shapes as well.
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug with Multi-scale where clicking Apply button while typing in a value would not apply the scale.
Fixed an issue with quicktime video exports dropping frames if the encoder was busy.
Fixed a bug where animation export panel size fields would show the wrong values.
Fixed a bug where some settings would reset when re-opening the settings panel.
2023-04-21
Vectoraster 8.4.11 update
Another small update of Vectoraster 8 has been released today. This update fixes a couple of issues with bitmap based format exports and makes the animation timeline a little easier to work with.
Bug fixes
Fixes a bug with jpg export pixel aspect.
Fixes an export dialogue bug whith bitmap format height/width would not be displayed correctly.
Clicking in the animation timeline now deselects any selected value field, so you can use spacebar to play/pause.
2023-03-16
Vectoraster 8.4.10 update
A small update of Vectoraster 8 has been released today. This update is just a bug fix to a bundle validation issue that caused an error message when trying to start v8.4.9 on some systems.
Purchase process
The online purchase process is handled quickly and securely by Paddle.com.
After you complete your purchase you will immediately be given access to your license codes and information on how to unlock the full version of your software. You will also be sent two e-mails from Paddle to the address you've specified. One receipt for your records and one titled "Your <Product> Paddle.com Order" containing your license code and unlocking information.