Using the Symbol Tools

Tute : Using the Symbol Tools

What are Symbols
It takes a lot of time and effort to create a vector. And at times we reuse the same vectors but for that we re-create / duplicate the vector, which in tern increases the file size. So, instead of creating a new vector everytime, we can convert these vector images to symbols and use symbol instance whenever required.
And now in CS5, we have the option to create graphic/movie clip type symbols, which we can export and use in Adobe Flash.
How to use Symbol Instance
Symbols are very easy to use. When we open a new Illustrator document, towards the right of the window along with the other tool icons we can see a clover shaped icon. If this clover icon is not available, Go to Windows > Symbols.

The Symbols panel looks like the one displayed below:.
After clicking this clover icon, the panel that appears will have a set of ready-to-use symbols provided by Adobe Illustartor CS5.
How to work with symbols?
Method 1:

• Select the symbol
• Drag it to your artboard.

Method 2:

• Select the symbol
• Select "Place Symbol Instance" icon found at the bottom of the Symbols panel

Symbol Libraries
As the name suggests, it is a library of symbols which are available in different categories. There are three different ways / methods to open these symbol categories:

Method 1:

• Select "Symbol Libraries Menu" icon found at the bottom of the symbols panel.
• A list of symbol categories will open.
• Select a category, a new window panel will open displaying all the symbols available in that particular category.
• Now if you choose a symbol, chosen symbol will be automatically added to the Symbols panel.
  
  
  
  

Method 2:

• From the drop-down menu (see the image below) > Open Symbol Library.
• A list of symbol categories will open.
• Select a category, a new window panel will open displaying all the symbols available in that particular category.
• Now if you choose a symbol, chosen symbol will be automatically added to the Symbols panel.
  
  

Method 3:
Windows > Symbol Libraries > Symbol.
How to save a Symbol into a user defined directory:

• Select the symbol which needs to be copied to a user defined directory.
• Select "Symbol Libraries Menu" icon > Save Symbols > browse it to the desired directory > provide a new name to the symbol and save.
  
  

To view the symbols saved in user defined directory, from the drop-down menu,
select Open Symbol Library > User Defined > Symbols.


How to create New / Custom Symbols
There are multiple ways / methods to create a new / custom symbol.

Method 1:

• Create a vector.
• Drag it into the Symbols panel. This will convert your vector into a symbol.

Method 2:

• Create a vector.
• Select the vector and with vector being selected, select the "New symbol" icon from the bottom of the symbols panel.
• A dialogue box appears.
• Provide a name to your symbol.
• You also have an option to change symbol attributes like registration point and type (a movie-clip, graphic). People familiar with Adobe Flash will definately understand registration point and symbol types.
• Click OK.

Please note: Selecting symbol type movie clip or graphic hardly matters if the symbol is used only in Illustrator. This would help if you are planning to export the symbol to Adobe Flash.
How to Delete Symbols
After you have added a symbol into the symbols panel, you can always go ahead and delete the same if you dont want it anymore. For this you need to

• Select the symbol and
• Select 'Delete' icon found at the bottom of the symbols panel.
  
  

How to Duplicate Symbols
As explained earlier, the "New Symbol" icon is used to create a new symbol. But it can also be used to Duplicate Symbols. For this -

• Select the symbol you want to duplicate, and
• Drag and drop it onto the "New symbol" icon.

Illustrator will duplicate the symbol and save it with the original symbol’s name plus a number. (say 'circle' to 'circle 1'). We can always change the name from the "Symbol Options" icon which is again present at the bottom of the symbols panel.


How to Edit Symbols
To edit a symbol,

• Select a symbol (to edit)
• Select "Edit Symbol" from the drop-down menu.
• This will make the symbol editable and show it in a 9-Slice Scaling grid.
  
  

If you just want to modify the symbol on your artboard and not the original symbol that is in your symbols panel, select the symbol instance on the artboard and break the link first. The symbol can now be edited using any tool in the Tool menu, just like we edit any other regular vector.
Break link to Symbol:
When we place a symbol on your artboard and try to edit it, the changes brought in the symbol modify the originial symbol as well. To avoid this, we make use of "break link" option, and edit the symbol available in your artboard. That means, when we change / edit symbol present on our artboard with the break-link selected, the changes are not reflected on the original symbol.

To do this, we can either

• Select the symbol on the artboard and Select "Break link to Symbol" from the bottom of the symbols panel, or
• Select the symbol on the artboard and Select the same option from the drop-down menu.
  
  

Other Tools
There are many other tools that can be used along with the Symbols in Illustrator. One of these is the Symbol tools ( referred as “Symbolism Tools” by Adobe). With the help of these Symbol tools along with the tools already available , we can design detailed graphics in no time.
How to display multiple symbol instances in your artboard:
To display multiple instances of single symbol in your artboard, we make use of a symbol tool, called "Symbol Sprayer Tool"

• Select the symbol you want to multiply from the symbols panel.
• Then select the "Symbol Sprayer tool", from the Tool box on the left.
• Press and drag the 'sprayer' tool on your artboard. Example is displayed below.
  
  

To Edit the arragement of the sybmol instances found in the above screen shot, please play around with tools like "Symbol Shifter Tool", "Symbol Scruncher Tool", "Symbol Sizer Tool", Symbol Spinner Tool and many more found in the tool kit . You will only be more surprised with how much of precision all the above mentioned Symbolism Tools function.
With this we end this tutorial.We hope our explanation is simple to follow. Do write in with your inputs/suggestions and doubts, if any.
Tags: Adobe Illustrator CS5 basic tutorials, Adobe Illustrator CS5 Symbol feature.

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