Instanced groups in Illustrator

Question

Creating instanced copies of a group is a fantastic feature in many illustration or 3D softwares. Being able to instance content in groups and subgroups to easily change visuals across an entire document, or to create and iterate on complex patterns.

How is this still not a thing in Illustrator?
Or, is there, and it's just deeply hidden?

For reference, check out Sketchup's instancing features, which in itself just makes building complex combination geometry a delight.

It there a third party plugin or something similar that can achieve this today?

Rob de Winter · Accepted Answer

Hey! It's a bit hidden nowadays, but you can make instances using symbols. Open the Symbols panel (Window > Symbols), then drag your objects into the Symbols panel (see screenshot below). Then you can drag them back into your document to make instances.

And... you can also use the Symbol tools (now hidden by default inside the Edit Toolbar button).

Also take a look at this page:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/symbols.html

I hope this helps!

Ton Frederiks · Answer

Did you have a look at the Appearance panel? It lets you create very complex editable objects from simple shapes using effects.

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