Illustrator 30.3 bug: Use Preview Bounds ignored for effects applied directly to symbol instances
In Illustrator 30.3, I appear to have found a bug related to bounding boxes and the Use Preview Bounds preference.
When an effect is applied directly to a symbol instance, Illustrator seems to ignore the Use Preview Bounds setting and behaves as though preview bounds are enabled for that object. This does not happen when the same effect is applied to the symbol definition itself, which has always used preview bounds, regardless of the preference setting, and it does not happen when the symbol instance is placed inside a group and the effect is applied to the group instead (good to know for a workaround).
Observed behavior:
Use Preview Bounds disabled
Effect, such as a drop-shadow, applied directly to a symbol instance
Bounding box still expands to include the effect’s visible extent
To be clear, I am not referring to an effect applied to any elements of a symbol (within the symbol's definition); this has always used preview bounds with necessity, regardless of the preference setting.
Expected behavior:
With Use Preview Bounds disabled, the bounding box should remain based on the object/path bounds rather than the effect extent. For example, adding a drop-shadow to a instance of a symbol should have the same effect on the bounding box as adding the same drop-shadow to any other object.
Workaround:
Group the symbol instance and apply the effect to the group, not directly to the symbol instance. If you have already applied the effect to the symbol instance, simply move it to the group using the target control in the Layers palette.
This seems like a regression in how Illustrator handles bounding boxes for symbol instances with live effects. If others can reproduce this, it would help confirm whether this is a broader issue in 30.3.
David Burkhart
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