From the course: Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced
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How symbols work - Illustrator Tutorial
From the course: Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced
How symbols work
The subject of this chapter is symbols. Save the piece of artwork as a symbol and you can replicate it as many times as you like. Those copies, called instances remain linked to the symbol. Modify the symbol and all instances updating kind. Symbols offer three advantages; first if you're preparing artwork for Flash, they make your files more efficient. Second, you have 9-slice scaling that means you can specify how an object scales, so that certain parts remain fixed while other parts stretch or squish and third, symbols are fantastic for repeating artwork. Need to update a bunch of cell phone icons on your company's site? Goodbye iPhones, hello androids or vice versa plus you can use the Symbol Sprayer tool to paint a pattern of artwork in a single brushstroke and some of Illustrator's best features require symbols to work their magic. Did I see three advantages? Apparently, I meant five. See, they're reproducing already. Here's how they work.
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Contents
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How symbols work1m 2s
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The power of symbols5m 1s
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Creating new symbols6m
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Enabling the new 9-slice scaling4m 24s
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Adjusting your 9-slice scaling guides6m 54s
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Previewing and acquiring symbols4m 12s
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Finding a symbol and creating an instance4m 13s
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Duplicating and replacing instances4m 19s
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Breaking a symbol link and envelope fidelity5m 26s
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Distorting and expanding a symbol4m 54s
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Updating an existing symbol definition3m 40s
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Recoloring a symbol definition4m 13s
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Applying a basic "local" color adjustment5m 20s
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Applying a more elaborate local color adjustment5m 4s
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Laying down a random symbol set5m 35s
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The eight symbolism tools6m 55s
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Editing selected instances4m 11s
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