Today a funny trick using Python that allow you to control the mouse movements (move, click, drag, recognize RGB and much more…).

Configure the environment

I assume that python is installed on your local machine, you know virtualenv and pip.

I want to introduce :

pyautogui

Python AutoGUI is a native library used to control the mouse in every environments (Windows, Linux, macOS).

Install it using pip if needed:

$ pip install pyautogui

Start with a simple example:

(env) [~/Desktop/PythonEXL/env]$ python
Python 3.8.5 (default, Aug 20 2020, 11:17:08)
[Clang 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import pyautogui
>>> pyautogui.position()
Point(x=-741, y=953)

We have now the mouse position in the screen. (In my case the value is negative, due to multiple monitors installed).

You can read more here: https://pyautogui.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html.

Move the mouse

You can use the moveTo or moveRel where the first one move the mouse to a position, the second one move the mouse pointer relatively starting from your current position.

>>> import pyautogui

>>> pyautogui.moveTo(100, 100)
>>> pyautogui.moveTo(100, 100, duration=1.5)

>>> pyautogui.moveRel(200, 0)
>>> pyautogui.moveRel(200, 0, duration=2)

The duration is a sort of animation between transitions.

Mouse events

You can click using left, middle and right button. Single click, multiple clicks. Drag.

>>> import pyautogui

>>> pyautogui.click()

>>> pyautogui.position()
Point(x=-824, y=417)
>>> pyautogui.click(-824,417)

>>> pyautogui.doubleClick()
>>> pyautogui.rightClick()
>>> pyautogui.middleClick()

>>> pyautogui.dragRel(0, 100, duration=100, button='left'

Photoshop drawing using Python

This is the final scope of my article, how to automatically draw complex shapes in photoshop using math and trigonometric formulae.

Of course this example is a funny one, but I’ve achieved that can be done. Now I need to review the trigonometry exams.

A useful method you can use to decide the color of your shapes is:

displayMousePosition()

that print the current mouse position in real-time al also the RGB color founded below the cursor pointer:

>>> pyautogui.displayMousePosition()
Press Ctrl-C to quit.
X: -1196 Y:  823 RGB: (128, 100, 200)
>>>

Draw a 3D pipe, more-or-less

In a completely unmanaged and random way…

Here the code to take inspiration and make something better than this:

import pyautogui
import math
import random

distance = 200
delta = 5
button='left'
delay=0.1

pyautogui.click() # click on photoshop for docus

while distance > 0:
  pyautogui.dragRel(distance, random.randint(0, 10), duration=delay, button=button)
  distance = distance - delta
  pyautogui.dragRel(random.randint(0, 10), distance, duration=delay, button=button)
  pyautogui.dragRel(-distance, random.randint(0, 10), duration=delay, button=button)
  distance = distance - delta
  pyautogui.dragRel(random.randint(0, 10), -distance, duration=delay, button=button)

Enjoy code drawing!