Group Overlapping Objects
A very casual and time-consuming operation, especially because we lost Object Lasso (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/44462988-bring-back-object-lasso-tool) — drag a marquee around objects, hit Gtrl+G, drag another, group again... repeat dozens of time, especially if you draw icons or something similar for stocks.
What if Illustrator was able to do it for us?
Scan the selection, search for overlapping objects and create groups?
What if it could do that in two modes: simple, by intersecting boundaries, and advanced, when true outlines being checked?
What if it could do that with a tolerance also? Like if object are, say, 10 pixels apart, group them still?
There is a script by John Wundes — https://github.com/johnwun/js4ai/blob/master/groupOverlappingObjects.js — which can do that, but it starts to skid on hundreds of objects and only does the boundaries check.
AdminEgor Chistyakov
(Admin, Adobe Illustrator)
shared this idea
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There is another script, by Sakari Niittymaa, that can auto-group using a set distance:
https://github.com/Creatide/AI_Group-By-Distance
Unfortunately it’s an abandoned experimental tool, and it often ruins the z-order and misses some objects.(Edited by admin)