Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 213)

206 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Selecting and arranging objects
Grouping and expanding objects
Group or ungroup objects
You can combine several objects into a group so that the objects are treated as a single unit. You can then move or
transform a number of objects without affecting their attributes or relative positions. For example, you might group
the objects in a logo design so that you can move and scale the logo as one unit.
Grouped objects are stacked in succession on the same layer of the artwork and behind the frontmost object in the
group; therefore, grouping may change the layering of objects and their stacking order on a given layer. If you select
objects in different layers and then group them, the objects are grouped in the layer of the topmost selected object.
Groups can also be nested—that is, they can be grouped within other objects or groups to form larger groups. Groups
appear as <Group> items in the Layers panel. You can use the Layers panel to move items in and out of groups.
1 Select the objects to be grouped or the group to be ungrouped.
2 Choose either Object > Group or Object > Ungroup.
See also
“ Layers panel overview ” on page 215
Expand objects
Expanding objects enables you to divide a single object into multiple objects that make up its appearance. For example,
if you expand a simple object, such as a circle with a solid-color fill and a stroke, the fill and the stroke each become a
discrete object. If you expand more complex artwork, such as an object with a pattern fill, the pattern is divided into
all of the distinct paths that created it.
You typically expand an object when you want to modify the appearance attributes and other properties of specific
elements within it. In addition, expanding objects may be helpful when you want to use an object that is native to
Illustrator (such as a mesh object) in a different application that doesn’t recognize the object.
Before (left) and after (right) expanding an object that has a fill and stroke
Expanding is particularly helpful if you are having difficulty printing transparency effects, 3D objects, patterns,
gradients, strokes, blends, flares, envelopes, or symbols.
1 Select the object.
2 Choose Object > Expand.
If the object has appearance attributes applied to it, the Object > Expand command is dimmed. In this case, choose
Object > Expand Appearance and then choose Object > Expand.
3 Set options, and then click OK:
Object Expands complex objects, including live blends, envelopes, symbol sets, and flares.