Basics about Layer

What we can do with Layer

With Layer, we can organize complex objects or graphics in good order. We can change the color, linetype, lineweight, and some other properties. We can put some objects with similar properties on the same layer, for example, we can put text, dimension on a separate layer. Layer is a useful tool for managing objects effectively.

  There are two basic functions of Layer in CAD, one is to organize and manage objects, another is to control the properties such as linetype, lineweight, and color.

* What is layer in CAD?

The concept of the layer may be too vague or abstract to some beginners. But just think that you are drawing a portrait and you would draw the hair, clothing, accessories on one piece of paper, that’s how we draw a portrait. However, there is another way to do it: use several pieces of transparent paper and draw hair, clothing, and accessories on different paper properly. Imaging that we can put all the paper together and get a complete portrait with the hair, clothing, and accessories in the right place.

Many would ask: why would we draw them separately? If you want to change haircut, you only need to edit the hair transparent paper. The layer in CAD is just like the transparent paper we mentioned above. We can draw different objects on specified layers. For example, we put all the BHATCH on “Hatch” layer, and when we don’t want to see the effect, we can close the “Hatch” layer and all the BHATCH would be hidden.

* Layer Properties Manger

 In CAD, all operations relating to the layer are done in the Layer Properties Manager. Let’s see how Layer Properties Manager works.

1. Click the “Layer Properties” button to open the “Layer Properties Manager”.

Or enter LA (Layer), as shown in the following picture.

2. CAD system will list all the layer in the Layer Properties Manager as shown in the following picture

* Create, Delete and set to current layer

1.Click the button as shown in the following picture to create new layers.

Although we tend to put all objects on one layer just like we draw on the paper, it’s not a good habit. We should learn to use layer to categorize and organize our objects, this good habit benefits us in the long run. There is not a limit for how many layers we can have, but this doesn’t mean that we can create as many layers as we want, too many layers may also make your drawings hard to manage.

2. Select the layer that you want to delete, and click the delete button as shown in the following picture.

Please note that in some cases, we are unable to delete the layer, as shown in the following picture.

3. Select the layer that you want to set as the current layer and click the Set Current button as shown in the following picture. By default, all objects drawn later on will be on the current layer.

We can use the Set Current to switch between different layers.

* Set the layer properties

1.Layer On and Layer Off

We can switch layer on and off by clicking the button shown in the following picture. If the layer is on, all objects on it are visible; If the layer is off, all objects on it are hidden.

2. Lock and unlock layers

We can lock and unlock layers by clicking the button shown in the following picture.

We can’t edit layers if they are locked.

3. Change the layer color

The Layer itself is transparent, so the color here refers to the color of some objects on it.

The cursor indicates the button for changing the layer color, and from it, we can see what color applies to the layer, as shown in the following picture.

Click with your mouse and the Select Color panel would pop up, we can select a color from the popped-up panel and click OK to confirm your change.

4. Change lineype and lineweight

Similar operations of color property applied to the change of linetype and lineweight.

Conclusion: Layer is a very useful tool and the more skillful you become at CAD, the more often you’ll like to use Layer, because it greatly improves efficiency.