What is an instance in Adobe Animate?

An instance in Adobe Animate refers to a specific occurrence of a symbol that has been placed on the stage. When you create a symbol, you are essentially creating a template, and when you drag that symbol onto the stage, you are creating an instance of it. This instance can be modified independently from the original symbol, allowing for unique properties like position, scale, rotation, and color without affecting the original symbol or other instances.

Using instances is a fundamental aspect of working with symbols in Adobe Animate, as it helps streamline the design process by keeping your project organized and efficient. Each instance can have its own behaviors, such as interactivity through ActionScript or additional animations. This flexibility is what makes instances crucial for animators and designers, enabling them to create rich and dynamic animations based on a single symbol.

Other choices focus on different features or tools within Adobe Animate, which do not accurately describe the concept of an instance as clearly as the correct answer does.