- a range option ie random values between a & b
or - a value and % variation ie val +/- random value.
they both take up the same real estate and some situation do naturally tend to one method or the other.
or do you have another goto solution ?
Sometimes I use timestamp(). Especially for naming temporary objects or files. Most of the times I use option 1.
To me it all depends on the action. Certain actions will require control over the limits while for others the limits may not be so relevant.
For example, for moving the artist might need to have control over the coverage area, so a range of values might be better, being it lineal, rectangular or circular.
Similar for rotations, you might want to decide how much the objects can be rotates, which is hard to define as percentage.
It is not the case of scaling, where a percentage may feel more natural. However you could still apply lower and upper bounds.
Another option that could be useful is to add a step parameter besides the bounds. For example for rotating you could have a lower and upper bound of -+60 degrees with a step of 10 degrees, so you would end having 13 random possible rotations.
Whenever possible, while harder to develop, I think it is good to implement all possible options and let the artist decide what is better.
I would say definitely 2. option.
Meaning layering some randomness/noise with predefined values/order .
I almost always use #1
#2 in my case is:
x + (random -a a)