Grouping Objects

Let me first explain why you would group different objects.

A first reason for this is to move them all in one go.

A second reason is, when you apply an effect on a group, this effect will give the same result when you apply this to individual objects.

An example makes this clear.

In the picture below I have two identical logos consisting of several objects.
The left (1) is not grouped, the right (2) is grouped.

When I move the blue background in the logo on the left, only this background is moved. I do the same with the right logo, the entire logo moves.

In the second example I will give exact same shadow effect to the two logos.

Select all elements from the logo on the left.

How you do that you should already know, but for those who have forgotten:

Choose the “Select” button in the toolbar and drag the mouse pointer over all objects of that logo.

Then click the “Effect” in the menu bar.

Select “Stylize” in the drop-down menu and click “Drop Shadow”.

Do the same for the right logo.

The only difference here is that you now need to select just one object, as the objects are grouped.

The difference is clear I think.

On the left, each object in the logo has a shadow, while on the right only the blue background has a shadow.

Before I forget.

How to group your items:

By first selecting all, then clicking on the “Object” button in the menu bar and select “Group” in the drop-down menu.

A second way is to select all this first, then right-click in your document, then choose “Group” in the drop-down menu.

How to un-group objects:

Do exactly the same, just choose the “Ungroup”. Quite logical.

 

Editing Groups

Making changes in a group or rather an object from a group, is done in isolation mode.

Double-click the object in the group you want to make changes to.

This brings that certain property (1) in the group into isolation mode.

Make the changes (2) and then click on the right arrow (3) that appears at the top of the document.

This takes you back to the “Normal” mode (4).

Why would you make changes to a group?

In the above example, you can first un-group them all, then apply the changes and then apply the effect again. That will not always work.  But when you create a lot more complicated group, you’ll be glad you can make changes in one part of a group and hence do not have to perform the whole series of operations again.

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