Layers

A Layer is a named level of the drawing with its own colour, line type and line widths. Every element lies on exactly one layer; the eye and the lock of a layer act on all its elements at once.

This page describes the relationships. Step by step: Create and assign layers, Merge and clean up layers. Field by field: “Layers” section, “Edit Layer” dialog, “Delete layer” dialog, “Move / copy layer contents” dialog.

What a layer defines#

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Factory layers#

A new drawing comes with five layers:

At start SICHTBAR is the active layer. The layer names are German in every language. The layer list belongs to the drawing and is saved with it; the program also keeps it in the settings (Export includes it, Factory settings restores the five factory layers).

Active layer#

Every new element lands on the active layer and takes its colour and screen width; its line type stays “from layer”. You choose the active layer by clicking the row in the “Layers” section, in the drop-down of the header bar or by picking up attributes. The row is highlighted in blue; the status bar shows “● Name” at the bottom left, in red when the active layer is locked.

A second quick click on the same row (within 0.4 s) opens the “Edit Layer” dialog.

Auto mode “0”#

The topmost row “0 · Auto (vom Objekt)” is not a layer but a mode: the result of functions such as Offset, Trim or arrays takes the layer of the clicked object instead of moving to the active layer. A click on the row switches the mode on (“Layer mode: auto (from the object)”); choosing a real layer switches it off. Status bar and header bar then show “0 · Auto”. The row text is German in the English interface (v3.0.23).

Eye and lock#

The eye hides all elements, hatches and — since v3.0.22 — all dimensions with this layer. Hidden objects are neither drawn nor snapped, selected or printed; their dimensions disappear with them. A dimension without a layer (legacy) is not affected by the eye and follows only the “Dimensions” system switch.

The lock keeps the elements visible but prevents selection and editing: clicking an element reports “Element is on locked layer “…” — unlock the layer to edit”; the rubber band skips locked elements; locked dimensions open neither dialog nor menu. Locked elements are still snapped and printed.

For all layers at once the “Layers” section has collective switches (see “Layers” section): 👁 all on/off, ◐ invert visibility; in the title row 🔓 unlock all, 🔒 lock all, ◑ invert locking.

Colour, line type and width#

Every element carries colour, screen width and optionally its own line style itself. The values come from the layer only at three moments:

• when drawing (active layer),
• on “OK” in the layer editor — colour and screen width are written onto all elements of the layer (own line styles stay),
• when re-assigning via the “Properties” panel (field “Layer” or “To layer”) — colour and width of the target are adopted.

The line type, by contrast, is read from the layer continuously as long as the element carries “— from layer —”. An own line style in the “Properties” panel overrides it for this element only (“Properties” panel).

Only the layer knows the print width: in print its value “Width (printer mm)” applies; the print dialog lists all layers with their widths and saves them as print profiles — mapped by layer name, so a profile also fits other drawings with equally named layers.

The “Layers” section#

The section is described field by field on the page “Layers” section. In short: “＋ New” creates a layer and makes it active (New layer), “✎ Edit” opens the editor of the active layer, 🗑 asks what to do with the elements (Delete layer), the search field filters the list by number or name.

System layers#

Below the layer list are seven switches for whole object types. They are not layers but global eyes: “Dimensions”, “Remarks”, “Hatches”, “Constraints”, “Images”, “Text”, “Leaders”. A click hides or shows the type (status bar “Dimensions hidden” / “… visible”); the state is saved with the drawing.

“Constraints” hides only the symbols of the constraints — the constraints themselves stay in force (Constraints).

Header bar above the drawing area#

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The header bar gathers the structure switches needed all the time while drawing: layer drop-down (with “Auto”), drawing Z level (Z levels), “💉 Pick up [J]” and the three switches of the session view. It is visible only with the tools “Select” and “Move”; field by field: Header bar.

Isolate and hide#

Isolate shows only the selected objects, Hide removes the selected ones from view, Show all brings everything back. Both are a pure session view: never saved, everything is visible after loading; layer and block eyes are untouched.

The commands sit in the header bar and in the right-click menu of the drawing area; without a prior selection the post-selection starts. Everything else on the page Isolate and hide.

Deleting a layer#

Deleting is possible only while a second layer remains (“At least one layer required”). The dialog shows what lies on the layer (elements, hatches, dimensions) and offers two ways: move the objects to a freely chosen layer — locked and hidden targets are allowed and marked 🔒 or 👁‍🗨 — or delete them too. If locked or hidden objects lie on the layer, a second confirmation with the counts follows. If the layer was active, another one becomes active; a hatch default layer pointing to the deleted layer switches to the target. Field by field: “Delete layer” dialog.

Moving and copying contents#

From the layer editor (“⇢ Move contents …”, “⧉ Copy contents …”) or from the command search you move all elements, hatches and dimensions of a layer to another one — to merge two layers — or copy them in place onto another or a new layer. Optionally the objects keep colour and width, or they take colour, width and line type of the target; when moving, the emptied source layer can be deleted right away. A locked source or target is confirmed. Commands: Move layer contents, Copy layer contents; dialog: Move / copy layer contents.

Pick up attributes (J)#

“💉 Pick up [J]” in the header bar (or key J) makes the layer of an existing element the active layer and adopts its properties for further drawing: the snap mode switches to Free, the button turns orange, the status bar asks “Pick up attributes: click the element whose properties should be adopted (ESC = cancel)”. If the element differs from its layer in colour, line type or width, this deviation is kept as an override for new objects (status bar “Attributes adopted: layer »…« + Override (…)”); for texts the text style, for leaders the arrow style is added. A click on a dimension adopts its dimension attributes, a click into a hatch pattern, layer and opacity. The override appears as a badge in the status bar; a click on it or choosing a layer resets it (“Override reset — new objects ByLayer again (from the active layer)”).

Layers of dimensions, hatches and blocks#

• Dimensions get a layer when created since v3.0.21: the one from the setup field “Dimension layer” if a layer with that name exists, otherwise the active one (Dimensioning, “Layer name” field). In the “Properties” panel the layer of a dimension can be changed afterwards.
• Hatches lie on the layer from the hatch settings, otherwise on the active one (“Hatch” dialog).
• Block instances are elements with their own layer; the geometry inside the definition keeps the layers of its elements. When a layer is deleted or its contents moved, the contents of all block definitions are re-assigned too (Blocks).
• Viewports of a sheet can hide individual layers only in that viewport (“Layers in this viewport”) — topic paper space.
• DXF: on import layers are taken 1:1 or mapped via a profile, on export likewise (DXF profiles). Dimensions without a layer end up on “BEMASSUNG” in the DXF.

Related topics#

• Groups — bundling elements with their own eye and lock
• Z levels — order of overlapping objects
• Line types — the eight types and their pattern values
• “Properties” panel — layer, colour, width, line style per element