Graphic Symbols
Changing Symbol Instances
Symbol Instances have one very attractive feature, which adds a lot of flexibility to image use. Even if you cannot change internal drawings that compose the symbol without changing all instances it is possible to change some individual instance parameters. Actually you can change a lot for each separate instance.
Return to your exercises where you “bred” several ball instances on the stage.
Select one of the balls (only highlight without double-clicking. You need see the blue rectangle containing the symbol).
In the Properties Inspector you will see the properties relevant to symbol not to drawing. Behavior is “Graphic” – of course – we’ve created a graphic symbol. There are four coordinate and size textboxes – the same as for any drawing. Change the W and H of the symbol. In our example we had them as 83X 83 – we’ll change them to 200 X 200.
As a result you may see that only one of the instances has changed.
Highlight next ball and now use Free Transform Tool. You may change circle to the long oval and even rotate it. Again it applies only to an individual instance.
Now something more exciting. Highlight one more symbol and click the combobox with the word Color. Select Alpha item from the list. One more input box will appear on the left with the percent numbers. Change the percentage to 50% and your symbol becomes semitransparent. You may change transparency from invisible to solid through all the stages.
Play with other symbols changing their Brightness, Tint and Advanced settings (which includes a combination of all properties mentioned above).
You will see that sometimes you may change the appearance of an Instance dramatically. Still all them belongs to the same Symbol. All individual changes do not influence internal drawings and they actually very “lightweight” – so they don’t add much to the size of the file.
You have noticed that symbols may be placed on the stage one above another and they are not mixed together like simple drawings. It means you can place them in the same layer without fear. If you want to stack one symbol above another and it's currently appears beyond ( they are stacked in the order of their creation on the stage) -you may rearrange them with Menu-Edit-Arrange-Send Back or Send Forward