Studio offers two ways to gather layers together for collective editing and alignment: Groups and Containers.
To convert a group to a container, select the group and, near the top of the inspector, click Container. To revert the container to a group, select the container and click Group.
Containers vs Groups
Think of it this way: a Studio container behaves like a mini artboard within an actual artboard.
To view the specific differences between containers and groups, check out the following table:
Task |
Containers |
Groups |
---|---|---|
Scale / Transform |
If the layer position is fixed, transforming the container will not modify the child layer. |
Child layers scale uniformly when transforming the parent group. |
Position |
Child layers’ X and Y values for placement behave relative to the container boundaries rather than the artboard boundaries. |
Child layers’ X and Y values for placement behave relative to the artboard boundaries rather than the container boundaries. |
Boundary indicators |
When dragging or resizing child layers, a solid outline appears to indicate the boundaries of the container. (This is also true of components.) |
When dragging or resizing child layers, a dashed outline appears to indicate the new boundaries that will be applied to the group. |
Pin |
Pinning options for child layers are relative to the container boundaries. |
Pinning options for child layers are relative to the artboard. |
Pinning within groups
Layers pinned within a group are relative to the artboard, not the group. You can also pin any locked layers.
Pinning within containers
When you convert a group of layers to a container, you can pin the layers relative to the container rather than the artboard.
If you need to resize a container, but you don't want to scale a layer within that container, unpin the layer from the edge of the container you are resizing.
Note: In order to unpin from a side, you may also need to pin the layer to the opposite side of the container you're resizing.