Easily Fill Shapes Using Scripts in Illustrator

Illustrator Scripts

Sometimes, some processes that we must do to make a design can take a long time, like covering a large area with multiple graphics. Of course you can use a pattern to fill those areas, but if you want that the filll does not look repetitive, you probably have to make the fill by hand which is a time consuming task. Fortunately, there are scripts available for Illustrator that make this whole process for us. So today, I will show you how to easily fill a shape with multiple graphics almost instantly with the use of scripts.

But before we begin, please download the Fillinger script file from GitHub on your computer: Download.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will make mine at 1800 x 1200 px.

Step 2

Using your prefered method, draw the shape you want to fill with your graphics. In this case, I will make a simple circle to better illustrate how the script works. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and make a circle in the middle of your artboard.

Step 3

Place/import all the graphics you want to use to fill your shape into the artboard. In this case, I will be using a selection of icons included in the Linia Icon Set that you can download right here at Medialoot.

Step 4

Go to Select > All.

Step 5

Go to File > Scripts > Other Scripts. Locate the "fillinger.jsx" file on your computer and click the Open button.

Step 6

In the Fillinger panel, and under "The Item to Fill is" be sure to check "Below" (since our shape is below our graphics) and also check the "As in [Layers]" option in case you have your shape and graphics on different layers.

Step 7

Next, enable or disable the 3 bottom options according your preferences.

Step 8

Under "Rotate items" choose if you want to rotate the items randomly or By Value and set any angle you want. Here I will set the value to 0 because I do not want to rotate the items.

Step 9

Lastly, set any number you like for the Size, Distance and Resize values and click OK in the Fillinger panel.

Some Final Notes:

Now that you know how to quickly fill shapes with multiple graphics in Illustrator, you can use this script to fill any kind of shape with multiple type of graphics in no time like in the examples below.