Repeat Command

protograf allows you to directly define where elements, that make up your design, should be placed within a page, or over a series of pages within a Deck, but it also includes commands that let you place, or “layout”, elements in a more repetitive or regular way within a page.

This is part of the set of commands use for Layouts.

Overview

The Repeat() command is designed to repeat a shape across a rectangular grid pattern.

Apart from the Repeat() command described here, there are also these other commands which allow you to layout elements in a more repetitive or regular way within a page:

• Sequence

• Track

• RectangularLocations

• TriangularLocations

Usage

The Repeat() command accepts the following properties:

• shape - this is one of the Core Shapes available, for example, a circle or rectangle; the properties of that shape will determine where the first one in the sequence is drawn; the shape command should always be specified with a lowercase initial so that Repeat() can handle the drawing

• cols - the number of columns (across) for which the shape is repeated

• rows - the number of rows (upwards) for which the shape is repeated

• interval - the distance between each repeat of the shape; this defaults to 0 (zero) not 1

• interval_x - the distance between each repeat of the shape in the horizontal direction (between columns); defaults to the interval value

• interval_y - the distance between each repeat of the shape in the vertical direction (between rows); defaults to the interval value

• across - a set (list of whole numbers surrounded by curved brackets) containing only those column numbers which should be active

• down - a set (list of whole numbers surrounded by curved brackets) containing only those row numbers which should be active

All the examples below make use of a commonly-defined shape (a circle with a light green fill color).

marble = circle(cx=1, cy=1, radius=0.25, fill="chartreuse")

Example 1.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=5) In this case, because there is no interval between either the columns or the rows, the shape is not drawn anywhere else except at the start location.

Example 2.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=5, interval=1) In this case, there is an interval of 1 cm — which is applied to both the columns and the rows — and so the shape is drawn at 20 different locations.

Example 3.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=4, interval_x=0.75, interval_y=1.25) In this case, there are different intervals between the columns versus the rows; so the shapes are closer together between the columns (interval_x of 0.75 cm) and further apart for the rows (interval_y of 1.25 cm); the shape is here drawn at 16 different locations.

Example 4.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=5, interval=1, across=(2, 4)) In this case, there is the same interval of 1 cm between the columns and the rows; however, the across property sets only two of the columns as being active, and so the shape is only drawn at 10 different locations.

Example 5.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=5, interval=1, down=(1, 3, 5)) In this case, there is the same interval of 1 cm between the columns and the rows; however, the down property sets only three of the rows as being active, and so the shape is only drawn at 12 different locations.

Example 6.

This example shows the Repeat created using differing values for its properties. Repeat(marble, cols=4, rows=5, interval=1, across=(2, 4), down=(1, 3, 5)) In this case, there is the same interval of 1 cm between the columns and the rows; however, the across property sets only two of the columns as being active, and the down property sets only three of the rows as being active, and so the shape is only drawn at 6 different locations.