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Connie430

: How can I make Symbols in Illustrator like I would in Flash? I have a quite complex draw in Illustrator (let's say, lots of vectors and that), and I have to make a mosaic for printing a

@Connie430

Posted in: #AdobeIllustrator #PrintDesign #Symbols

I have a quite complex draw in Illustrator (let's say, lots of vectors and that), and I have to make a mosaic for printing a hole page of them.

It's complex enough to be memory-heavy, so when I try to fill the page by copypasting them Illustrator runs out of memory.

Besides, there's no need to create copies of the objects - I just want replicas of them which I won't modify.

So I remembered Flash symbols, and that's exactly what I want.

How can I get those in Illustrator? Can I convert my draw to a symbol? Rasterizing's not an option.

Is there any better way to make a mosaic?

Thanks

PS: I've seen in Does the usage of symbols improve illustrator performance? that they talk about symbols, but couldn't find anything else about them.

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@BetL875

Another approach to this particular situation is to use a relatively obscure (in my opinion, anyway) feature of the Transform Effect. It's under Effect > Distort and Transform > Transform and not under Object > Transform.

The Transform effect doesn't create copies of your object, so it's light on memory. It is also a live effect, so if you change the original object all of the copies will update automatically. In the dialog, turn on Preview, put an arbitrary number (2 or 3 is fine) in the Copies field, adjust the Horizontal or Vertical Move value until you see the spacing you want, and update the Copies field to taste. Click okay, then apply a second effect on the other axis.



You will end up with a single object on the page and multiple apparent copies.

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@Alves566

Window > Symbols (Shift+Ctrl+F11)

It's probably already open in a tab by your Swatches and Brushes

Then you can just select your objects as a group and drag them right onto that window and it will prompt you to make them into a Symbol as a Graphic or Movie Clip.

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