How do I change object shape by iteration/permutation?

Question

I am a design student and have been given the task to create a grid of shapes in illustrator by permutation (I would say it´s iteration but then again I have little programming experience). You can see the desired output in the following image. My question: Is there an easy way to achieve this via javascript or even better in adobe illustrator via GUI ? Thanks :) Grid of sample shapes

Answer 1

You obviously can do a half of the work with the Blend Tool:

I see no way to do all the work automatically. You still need to draw the four triangles, and put them on the corners. Then to apply the Blend Tool to make two rows or two columns, expand them and apply the Blend Tool again over the six rows or eight columns. Not a big deal actually.

Of course all of this can be done with a script. But why for? A script solution makes sense if a task should be repeated many times or something like that. Or it makes sense as a scripting learning.

Here is my AI file

Update

You can do a little bit less manual work if after making of the two basic rows (or columns) you convert each one into a compound path (Cmd+8). This way you will need to apply Blend Tool not six (or eight) times but just once:

(The upper and lower rows are compounds paths)