Groups

A group is an empty container. It isn’t drawn, but its children inherit its position, rotation, and scale, like any other parent in the Hierarchy. Use groups to:

• Organize related objects, so you can select, move, and hide them together.
• Add a pivot, so you can rotate or scale objects from a point other than their own origin. See Using groups as pivots.
• Mark a point for a constraint or other feature to target. See Target style.

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Creating a group

• From a selection: Select objects and press Cmd + G (macOS) or Ctrl + G (Windows).
• With the Group tool: Press G, click the artboard to add an empty group, then drag objects into it in the Hierarchy.

To remove a group and keep its children, select it and press Cmd + Shift + G (macOS) or Ctrl + Shift + G (Windows).

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Using groups as pivots

Each object rotates and scales around its own origin. Nesting it in a group adds a second origin, and the group’s rotation and scale move the object around that point. Nest more groups to add more pivots, and animate each one separately. In motion graphics this is often called a transform space. For example, a moon can spin on its own axis while it orbits the Earth:

• An Earth group rotates the Earth.
• A Moon group sits at the Earth’s center and rotates, carrying the moon around the Earth.
• Inside it, a group at the moon’s center rotates the moon on its own axis.

To change where a group rotates and scales from without moving its children, use Freeze.

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Target style

Set a group’s Style in the Inspector to choose how it appears on the stage.

• Group is the default. A group only shows an icon on the stage when it’s empty.
• The Target styles always show an icon on the stage, even when the group has children. Choose a circle, square, or triangle, at full or small size.

Targets are directly selectable on the stage without Deep Select. This makes them useful as handles for constraints, such as an IK target for a foot. The style only affects the editor.