Grid & particle combo.

While each Geomancy plugin specializes in different imagery, all three plugins have a common setup. A particle system generates the shapes. Then a Grid system controls how the particles look and behave.

This allows you to set up a structured composition, then easily break the structure, giving you a lot of flexibility when designing. The 'Randomness' parameters are useful for this as well.

Use a particle system (they're friendly).

Because they are generated from a particle system, Geomancy shapes are easy to create and animate. Who wants to sit around and keyframe 50 or 60 lines or boxes? The greatness of particle systems is they do a lot of work for you.

In GridLines and GridSquares, particles are generated from their 'Producer Point'. As you adjust the 'PP', you change the way the particles spurt out from their birth point. In HairLines, set the 'Line Compression' params to affect the generation point.

TOP: GridLines 'Producer Point'. BELOW: HairLines 'Compression'.

You can easily change the look of the particles, their movement, and their grid constraint. The two GridLines animations below were quickly made distinct by adjusting particle attributes like 'Speed', 'Vertical Line' direction, 'Horizontal Line' direction, and 'LifeSpan'.

Line particles move around horizontally and fade quickly [play]

Line particles move upwards and stay onscreen [play]

Use the underlying grid.

All of the plugins couple their particles to a grid. This underlying 'Grid' sets up how the particles move around and behave.

The 'Grid' controls the movement and behavior of the shape particles, with a lot of variation built in. Constrain the particles to a specific location; have them loosely follow the grid system; or even ignore the grid completely.

The Grid has general setup controls like overall 'Height' and 'Width' and number of 'Rows' and 'Columns'. It also has an option of matching its size to the layer the plugin is applied to. You can 'Show Grid' visibility for an easier setup.

By default, the particles move in a constrained path along the grid. If you don't want the grid to be obvious, however, it's easy to deviate your particles.

In GridLines and GridSquares, you can use 'Grid Adherence'. These controls specify how far off the lines should be, and what percentage of them should do so. In HairLines, you can set a 'Displacement' factor.