Layers are the backbone of all objects in an AutoCAD drawing. This section covers guidelines for managing layers as well as the commands and options associated with layers.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:00
Layers are the backbone of all objects in an Autocad drawing.
00:04
This section covers guidelines for accessing navigating
00:07
and using the layer properties manager.
00:10
After this video, you will learn to
00:12
navigate and use the layer properties manager pallette,
00:15
adjust column widths individually or globally
00:19
sort the layer list based on properties,
00:22
use the visibility states of on off freeze thaw
00:26
and locked, unlocked
00:28
for this video. We're going to be using the supplied drawing called Villa project.
00:33
Please open that file. Now
00:35
first you'll need to know how to access the pallet.
00:38
It can be found in the home tab under the layers panel.
00:41
It's the biggest icon there.
00:43
If you prefer the keyboard,
00:45
you can simply type in layer on the command line or it's alias L A,
00:49
the layer properties manager pallet should appear on your screen,
00:52
adjust the size to your preference,
00:54
making sure all of the columns appear.
00:57
We're going to go through everything in the pallet,
00:59
but I'd like to start with the column width.
01:01
I'm using a default installation
01:03
and as such, the columns are too condensed for my taste.
01:06
Let's look at some different ways we can change how they look
01:10
you can do one column at a time if you like
01:12
put your mouse cursor over the separator between name and the on column next to it
01:17
depress and hold your mouse key to drag it back and forth
01:20
or just double click.
01:22
And it will expand the name column to the size of its longest layer name.
01:26
You can do this with any column in the pallet.
01:29
If you use the double click method,
01:31
be careful to make sure that you're hovering on the separator
01:34
with the double arrow icon showing
01:36
if you double click within a header itself,
01:39
you'll be resorting the layer list per that column.
01:42
If you want to do them all though,
01:44
there's a couple of faster ways this time hover over any
01:47
column title and right click to call up the pop up menu
01:50
from here. You can turn columns on or off.
01:53
But what we're looking for are the tools at the bottom
01:56
here.
01:57
You'll find some tools to help you display the columns in a more readable format.
02:01
There are two groups
02:02
maximize and optimize.
02:04
You can do just the one you clicked on or all at once.
02:08
What's the difference?
02:09
Optimize changes the width of all columns to fit the content in each column.
02:14
Click on,
02:15
optimize all and you'll see the column widths change based on their content.
02:20
Notice the on freeze and lock headers are still truncated,
02:24
right, click again on a column header
02:26
this time, click on maximize all
02:29
maximize changes the width of the select column to fit the
02:32
column header and the data that's contained in the column.
02:36
You should now see each column at least as wide as its header and possibly wider.
02:41
If its content is wider.
02:43
For this video, we'll keep all of the columns maximized.
02:46
In practice, this may make the entire palette too wide for you.
02:50
Let's go over the different parts of the layer properties manager pallet.
02:54
This drawing has around 40 layers in it.
02:57
But often the layer list is much longer
02:59
on the order of hundreds or even thousands of layers,
03:02
especially if a complex Xref structure is involved.
03:05
The layer pallet has some tools to help you find and display exactly what you need.
03:10
We'll start in the upper right corner where you'll see a search box.
03:14
It uses wild cards to help you find layers with specific text within them.
03:18
When you click on it, your cursor will appear just before the asterisk.
03:22
I'll enter F to find only layers that start with F
03:27
click the red X to end the search.
03:30
Next in the upper left corner just below the prompt showing you the current layer.
03:34
You'll see three icons.
03:36
The two left ones are your filters. First is properties.
03:40
Next is the group filter icon.
03:42
Finally to the right of the separator bar, you'll find the layer state manager icon.
03:48
Finally, on the far left of the layers panel, you'll find the filters tree
03:52
the defaults are all and all used layers and possibly
03:56
some others based on the status of your drawing.
03:59
When you build your own filters, they'll be shown here.
04:02
Also at the bottom is an invert filter check box.
04:05
Finally, there are two left facing chevrons at the top and bottom.
04:09
If you find that you never use filters or you
04:12
just want to collapse the box to make more space,
04:14
you can do that here.
04:16
The next section of icons are just above the first two columns of the layer list
04:20
from left to right. They are
04:22
new layer,
04:23
new layer frozen in all view ports,
04:25
delete layer
04:27
and set current.
04:28
The first icon creates a new layer.
04:30
The thing to remember about it is that it will make the
04:33
layer just after the layer you have highlighted by your mouse cursor.
04:37
It also takes on all the properties of that layer. Let's see it in action,
04:41
select the a floor level layer in the layer list.
04:44
It should be highlighted blue.
04:46
Now click on the new layer icon,
04:48
you'll see the new layer created.
04:50
Its name field is activated to accept a new name other than its default of layer one.
04:56
You'll also notice that its color is also 251
04:59
and its line type is center just like a floor level.
05:02
I'll press enter to accept the default name
05:05
since this was just an example and we know nothing is on this layer,
05:09
we can demonstrate using the layer delete icon as well.
05:12
You can only delete a layer that does not have anything on it.
05:16
How about a quick tip?
05:18
What if you need to create multiple new layers that
05:20
all have the same properties as your source layer?
05:23
Remember the new layer tool tip. Let's see that again.
05:27
Notice it also shows the keyboard shortcut for it.
05:30
Here. It's alt in,
05:32
let's again highlight a floor level. Now instead of using the icon,
05:37
press alt in on the keyboard and press enter,
05:40
do alt in and enter again four or five times each
05:43
time you'll get a new layer based on those properties,
05:46
just rename them and you're ready to go.
05:49
By the way, you can rename a layer at any time by highlighting the name,
05:53
then single clicking again to turn it into an edit field.
05:56
But be careful not to make that second click
05:58
too quickly as that will set the layer current.
06:01
For that reason, I suggest using the F two key to highlight the name to change.
06:07
Let's delete the new layers we just created all at once.
06:09
Highlight the top layer with your mouse cursor.
06:12
Then while holding down the shift key on your keyboard, click on the bottom layer,
06:16
they should all be highlighted down.
06:18
You can click on the delete icon or use its shortcut of alt D.
06:22
You can also just use the delete key on your keyboard.
06:26
Our final group of icons to discuss appear in
06:28
the upper right corner under the search box.
06:31
On the left is the refresh icon
06:33
in the middle is toggle override icon.
06:36
And on the right is a gear icon to get you to the settings dialogue.
06:41
Finally, let's talk about the layers themselves,
06:44
their states and their properties.
06:46
I'll be using a single layer in my examples.
06:48
But what you'll see will appear to all layers you have selected,
06:52
first of all
06:53
just to the left of the layer name is the status column.
06:56
A green check mark means it's the current layer.
06:58
In our example,
06:59
file all of the other layers on the first page of the list have light blue trapezoids.
07:04
That means they have objects on that layer.
07:06
A white trapezoid indicates that the layer doesn't contain any objects.
07:10
There are six other icons that can appear
07:13
based on things like viewport and override status.
07:16
Next is the layer name, column
07:19
note also the little up arrow on the right side of the column title
07:22
that's indicating that the list is sorted in an ascending manner via this column.
07:27
You can sort on any column you like
07:29
just click on the column header to sort on it or reverse to sort on that column
07:34
here.
07:34
I'll click on the color header to sort by color, either a sending or descending.
07:39
This is very common too.
07:41
It's an easy way to group your layers by color
07:44
display status or whatever property you need.
07:47
Now come the display states, which is our focus for this video
07:51
for this exercise.
07:52
Set up your editor to look similar to this so
07:55
that you can see most of the ground floor plan
07:58
first is on off.
07:60
It's shown as either a yellow light bulb or on or a blue light bulb or off.
08:06
Turning a layer to off keeps the layers from displaying.
08:09
Click on the light bulb next to the A and O
08:12
dims.
08:12
You should see that the dimensions in the ground floor plan are no longer displayed.
08:17
Let's turn it back on by clicking the icon again.
08:21
Next to that is the freeze thaw icon shown as
08:25
a yellow sun when thawed and as a blue snowflake,
08:28
when frozen
08:29
click on it to freeze a Anno
08:31
dims,
08:32
you should see that the dimensions in the ground floor plan are no longer displayed
08:36
exactly the same as one off. You're probably wondering why.
08:41
So I'll offer a very brief history lesson
08:43
back in the early days of Autocad
08:45
memory resources were scarce,
08:48
turning a layer off simply suppressed its display,
08:51
but it was still considered to be rebuilt during a region
08:55
freezing was developed, not only to suppress the display, but to also in essence,
08:60
hide it from the graphics engine.
09:02
In theory,
09:03
regions would be faster
09:05
in time computers got better. And today they appear to do exactly the same thing.
09:10
Most companies choose one or the other as a standard practice.
09:14
Sometimes they use one off for temporary short term changes
09:17
and free thaw for long term.
09:20
However,
09:21
there's never a good reason to set them both for
09:23
the same layer one or the other will do.
09:26
All right.
09:27
Next is lock shown as an open padlock when unlocked and a closed padlock when locked,
09:32
when locked a layer is still visible, although it will appear faded,
09:37
it cannot be selected for editing commands but it
09:40
can be selected and snapped to for creating geometry.
09:43
Click on the lock icon for the A AO
09:46
dims layer,
09:47
you should see the dimensions on the ground floor plan have become faded.
09:51
Hover over one of the dimensions.
09:53
You should see a small lock badge next to your cursor,
09:57
start a line command near the dimension,
09:59
drag 0.2 near the locked dimension. So that an O snap appears.
10:03
This is an example of using a locked entity to accurately place geometry.
10:08
I'll just escape to get out of our example,
10:11
you can adjust the amount of fading that is applied to a locked layer.
10:15
Click on the gear icon in the upper right.
10:18
This will display the layer settings, dialogue
10:21
among a lot of other tools and settings.
10:23
You'll find a slider that lets you control the amount of fading for locked layers,
10:27
pull the slider left to decrease the fading or to the right to increase it.
10:31
Let's set it to about 80%.
10:34
Click the OK button and you'll see that our locked
10:36
layer is now much more faded than it was.
10:39
You could set the fade control to 0% to display it without fading.
10:43
But the fade provides a nice visual cue that the layer is locked.
10:47
And most people like having it on.
10:49
If you prefer, you can also find the locked layer fade control.
10:53
In the additional tools portion of the layers panel in the ribbon,
10:57
you may like it this way better as it updates
10:59
the layer fade in real time as you change the slider
11:03
better. Yet, if you know your preferred value,
11:05
just click on the percentage value and change it there.
11:08
I'll demonstrate that by setting it back to 50%
11:12
I'll unlock A
11:13
O
11:13
dims by clicking on its lock icon
11:15
and close the layer properties manager to end this video.
00:00
Layers are the backbone of all objects in an Autocad drawing.
00:04
This section covers guidelines for accessing navigating
00:07
and using the layer properties manager.
00:10
After this video, you will learn to
00:12
navigate and use the layer properties manager pallette,
00:15
adjust column widths individually or globally
00:19
sort the layer list based on properties,
00:22
use the visibility states of on off freeze thaw
00:26
and locked, unlocked
00:28
for this video. We're going to be using the supplied drawing called Villa project.
00:33
Please open that file. Now
00:35
first you'll need to know how to access the pallet.
00:38
It can be found in the home tab under the layers panel.
00:41
It's the biggest icon there.
00:43
If you prefer the keyboard,
00:45
you can simply type in layer on the command line or it's alias L A,
00:49
the layer properties manager pallet should appear on your screen,
00:52
adjust the size to your preference,
00:54
making sure all of the columns appear.
00:57
We're going to go through everything in the pallet,
00:59
but I'd like to start with the column width.
01:01
I'm using a default installation
01:03
and as such, the columns are too condensed for my taste.
01:06
Let's look at some different ways we can change how they look
01:10
you can do one column at a time if you like
01:12
put your mouse cursor over the separator between name and the on column next to it
01:17
depress and hold your mouse key to drag it back and forth
01:20
or just double click.
01:22
And it will expand the name column to the size of its longest layer name.
01:26
You can do this with any column in the pallet.
01:29
If you use the double click method,
01:31
be careful to make sure that you're hovering on the separator
01:34
with the double arrow icon showing
01:36
if you double click within a header itself,
01:39
you'll be resorting the layer list per that column.
01:42
If you want to do them all though,
01:44
there's a couple of faster ways this time hover over any
01:47
column title and right click to call up the pop up menu
01:50
from here. You can turn columns on or off.
01:53
But what we're looking for are the tools at the bottom
01:56
here.
01:57
You'll find some tools to help you display the columns in a more readable format.
02:01
There are two groups
02:02
maximize and optimize.
02:04
You can do just the one you clicked on or all at once.
02:08
What's the difference?
02:09
Optimize changes the width of all columns to fit the content in each column.
02:14
Click on,
02:15
optimize all and you'll see the column widths change based on their content.
02:20
Notice the on freeze and lock headers are still truncated,
02:24
right, click again on a column header
02:26
this time, click on maximize all
02:29
maximize changes the width of the select column to fit the
02:32
column header and the data that's contained in the column.
02:36
You should now see each column at least as wide as its header and possibly wider.
02:41
If its content is wider.
02:43
For this video, we'll keep all of the columns maximized.
02:46
In practice, this may make the entire palette too wide for you.
02:50
Let's go over the different parts of the layer properties manager pallet.
02:54
This drawing has around 40 layers in it.
02:57
But often the layer list is much longer
02:59
on the order of hundreds or even thousands of layers,
03:02
especially if a complex Xref structure is involved.
03:05
The layer pallet has some tools to help you find and display exactly what you need.
03:10
We'll start in the upper right corner where you'll see a search box.
03:14
It uses wild cards to help you find layers with specific text within them.
03:18
When you click on it, your cursor will appear just before the asterisk.
03:22
I'll enter F to find only layers that start with F
03:27
click the red X to end the search.
03:30
Next in the upper left corner just below the prompt showing you the current layer.
03:34
You'll see three icons.
03:36
The two left ones are your filters. First is properties.
03:40
Next is the group filter icon.
03:42
Finally to the right of the separator bar, you'll find the layer state manager icon.
03:48
Finally, on the far left of the layers panel, you'll find the filters tree
03:52
the defaults are all and all used layers and possibly
03:56
some others based on the status of your drawing.
03:59
When you build your own filters, they'll be shown here.
04:02
Also at the bottom is an invert filter check box.
04:05
Finally, there are two left facing chevrons at the top and bottom.
04:09
If you find that you never use filters or you
04:12
just want to collapse the box to make more space,
04:14
you can do that here.
04:16
The next section of icons are just above the first two columns of the layer list
04:20
from left to right. They are
04:22
new layer,
04:23
new layer frozen in all view ports,
04:25
delete layer
04:27
and set current.
04:28
The first icon creates a new layer.
04:30
The thing to remember about it is that it will make the
04:33
layer just after the layer you have highlighted by your mouse cursor.
04:37
It also takes on all the properties of that layer. Let's see it in action,
04:41
select the a floor level layer in the layer list.
04:44
It should be highlighted blue.
04:46
Now click on the new layer icon,
04:48
you'll see the new layer created.
04:50
Its name field is activated to accept a new name other than its default of layer one.
04:56
You'll also notice that its color is also 251
04:59
and its line type is center just like a floor level.
05:02
I'll press enter to accept the default name
05:05
since this was just an example and we know nothing is on this layer,
05:09
we can demonstrate using the layer delete icon as well.
05:12
You can only delete a layer that does not have anything on it.
05:16
How about a quick tip?
05:18
What if you need to create multiple new layers that
05:20
all have the same properties as your source layer?
05:23
Remember the new layer tool tip. Let's see that again.
05:27
Notice it also shows the keyboard shortcut for it.
05:30
Here. It's alt in,
05:32
let's again highlight a floor level. Now instead of using the icon,
05:37
press alt in on the keyboard and press enter,
05:40
do alt in and enter again four or five times each
05:43
time you'll get a new layer based on those properties,
05:46
just rename them and you're ready to go.
05:49
By the way, you can rename a layer at any time by highlighting the name,
05:53
then single clicking again to turn it into an edit field.
05:56
But be careful not to make that second click
05:58
too quickly as that will set the layer current.
06:01
For that reason, I suggest using the F two key to highlight the name to change.
06:07
Let's delete the new layers we just created all at once.
06:09
Highlight the top layer with your mouse cursor.
06:12
Then while holding down the shift key on your keyboard, click on the bottom layer,
06:16
they should all be highlighted down.
06:18
You can click on the delete icon or use its shortcut of alt D.
06:22
You can also just use the delete key on your keyboard.
06:26
Our final group of icons to discuss appear in
06:28
the upper right corner under the search box.
06:31
On the left is the refresh icon
06:33
in the middle is toggle override icon.
06:36
And on the right is a gear icon to get you to the settings dialogue.
06:41
Finally, let's talk about the layers themselves,
06:44
their states and their properties.
06:46
I'll be using a single layer in my examples.
06:48
But what you'll see will appear to all layers you have selected,
06:52
first of all
06:53
just to the left of the layer name is the status column.
06:56
A green check mark means it's the current layer.
06:58
In our example,
06:59
file all of the other layers on the first page of the list have light blue trapezoids.
07:04
That means they have objects on that layer.
07:06
A white trapezoid indicates that the layer doesn't contain any objects.
07:10
There are six other icons that can appear
07:13
based on things like viewport and override status.
07:16
Next is the layer name, column
07:19
note also the little up arrow on the right side of the column title
07:22
that's indicating that the list is sorted in an ascending manner via this column.
07:27
You can sort on any column you like
07:29
just click on the column header to sort on it or reverse to sort on that column
07:34
here.
07:34
I'll click on the color header to sort by color, either a sending or descending.
07:39
This is very common too.
07:41
It's an easy way to group your layers by color
07:44
display status or whatever property you need.
07:47
Now come the display states, which is our focus for this video
07:51
for this exercise.
07:52
Set up your editor to look similar to this so
07:55
that you can see most of the ground floor plan
07:58
first is on off.
07:60
It's shown as either a yellow light bulb or on or a blue light bulb or off.
08:06
Turning a layer to off keeps the layers from displaying.
08:09
Click on the light bulb next to the A and O
08:12
dims.
08:12
You should see that the dimensions in the ground floor plan are no longer displayed.
08:17
Let's turn it back on by clicking the icon again.
08:21
Next to that is the freeze thaw icon shown as
08:25
a yellow sun when thawed and as a blue snowflake,
08:28
when frozen
08:29
click on it to freeze a Anno
08:31
dims,
08:32
you should see that the dimensions in the ground floor plan are no longer displayed
08:36
exactly the same as one off. You're probably wondering why.
08:41
So I'll offer a very brief history lesson
08:43
back in the early days of Autocad
08:45
memory resources were scarce,
08:48
turning a layer off simply suppressed its display,
08:51
but it was still considered to be rebuilt during a region
08:55
freezing was developed, not only to suppress the display, but to also in essence,
08:60
hide it from the graphics engine.
09:02
In theory,
09:03
regions would be faster
09:05
in time computers got better. And today they appear to do exactly the same thing.
09:10
Most companies choose one or the other as a standard practice.
09:14
Sometimes they use one off for temporary short term changes
09:17
and free thaw for long term.
09:20
However,
09:21
there's never a good reason to set them both for
09:23
the same layer one or the other will do.
09:26
All right.
09:27
Next is lock shown as an open padlock when unlocked and a closed padlock when locked,
09:32
when locked a layer is still visible, although it will appear faded,
09:37
it cannot be selected for editing commands but it
09:40
can be selected and snapped to for creating geometry.
09:43
Click on the lock icon for the A AO
09:46
dims layer,
09:47
you should see the dimensions on the ground floor plan have become faded.
09:51
Hover over one of the dimensions.
09:53
You should see a small lock badge next to your cursor,
09:57
start a line command near the dimension,
09:59
drag 0.2 near the locked dimension. So that an O snap appears.
10:03
This is an example of using a locked entity to accurately place geometry.
10:08
I'll just escape to get out of our example,
10:11
you can adjust the amount of fading that is applied to a locked layer.
10:15
Click on the gear icon in the upper right.
10:18
This will display the layer settings, dialogue
10:21
among a lot of other tools and settings.
10:23
You'll find a slider that lets you control the amount of fading for locked layers,
10:27
pull the slider left to decrease the fading or to the right to increase it.
10:31
Let's set it to about 80%.
10:34
Click the OK button and you'll see that our locked
10:36
layer is now much more faded than it was.
10:39
You could set the fade control to 0% to display it without fading.
10:43
But the fade provides a nice visual cue that the layer is locked.
10:47
And most people like having it on.
10:49
If you prefer, you can also find the locked layer fade control.
10:53
In the additional tools portion of the layers panel in the ribbon,
10:57
you may like it this way better as it updates
10:59
the layer fade in real time as you change the slider
11:03
better. Yet, if you know your preferred value,
11:05
just click on the percentage value and change it there.
11:08
I'll demonstrate that by setting it back to 50%
11:12
I'll unlock A
11:13
O
11:13
dims by clicking on its lock icon
11:15
and close the layer properties manager to end this video.
Layer commands in AutoCAD help you manage your layers and keep your drawings organized. Discover how to use these commands and work with settings in the Layer Properties Manager palette.
After completing this video, you will be able to:
Step-by-step guide
Transcript
00:00
Drawings can accumulate a large number of layers and being able to
00:04
filter your layer list is an important part of your productivity.
00:07
This video teaches you how to create and use both types
00:11
of layer filters along with creating and importing layer states.
00:16
After this video, you will learn to
00:18
create and use group filters,
00:20
create and use property layer filters,
00:23
improve your workflow using the invert filter tool,
00:26
create and import layer states.
00:30
For this video, we're going to be using the supply drawing called Villa project.
00:34
Please open that file. Now
00:37
the tools we'll be using in this video are
00:39
all contained within the layer properties manager pallet.
00:42
So let's open it. Now
00:44
from the home tab of the ribbon,
00:45
you can find it within the layers panel.
00:48
It's the largest icon there.
00:49
Feel free to resize and position it to your liking.
00:54
We'll start in the upper right corner where you'll see a search box.
00:58
When you click in it,
00:59
the prompt goes away and you'll get a flashing
01:02
cursor along with a very small asterisk behind it.
01:05
This is a wild card character.
01:07
Autocad supports 10 different types of wild cards.
01:10
Probably the most useful of which is the asterisk,
01:14
which will match any string and can be used anywhere in the search string.
01:18
Let's search for a layer that we know has the word tree within it
01:22
since we don't know exactly where the string falls in the layer name,
01:26
add another asterisk in front.
01:28
Your filter box should now read asterisk,
01:31
cursor, asterisk,
01:33
begin typing and enter T and R. You'll see the layer list update in real time.
01:39
Finish the string with another E and E.
01:42
Your search string should now read asterisk tree, asterisk.
01:47
Your list should be paired down to two layers,
01:50
one with the word tree and the other with the word trees.
01:53
That's because of the trailing asterisk,
01:55
remove it to get down to one layer with the word tree in it.
01:59
When you're done, you can click the red X to end your search.
02:03
As you can see, searching with wild cards is a bit of a learned art.
02:07
But once you master it, you'll find it to be extremely powerful.
02:11
The other thing to note while the technical term of this wild card is asterisk,
02:16
you'll often hear it referred to as star.
02:18
If you do just know that it's the same thing.
02:22
There are two types of layer filters available
02:24
to you from within the layer property manager.
02:26
One is a property filter and the other is a group filter.
02:30
Let's begin by looking at the property filter
02:34
of the three icons above the filters panel, new property filter is on the left
02:39
click on it to display the layer filters properties dialog.
02:42
You may need to resize it to roughly match what I'm showing.
02:46
The first thing you'll want to do is give it a
02:48
name as the filter name field is already in edit mode.
02:52
Make it something descriptive. Let's call it arch floor.
02:57
Notice there are two other parts to the dialog
02:59
below the name is where you define your filter definitions.
03:03
And below that, the filter preview,
03:05
which at this point looks just like the all filter in the layer palette
03:09
as we add or remove filter definitions. This panel will update to show the results.
03:15
Let's build a few filters to show you how it works.
03:18
In our case, we want to filter out based on the name
03:22
you can filter based on any layer property.
03:24
Click on the cell below name in the filter definition panel,
03:28
you'll see that just like the search box. It pre populates with an asterisk wild card
03:33
type in a dash flor
03:38
to the left of the asterisk.
03:39
You should notice that as you type the preview list below it updates in real time
03:44
and don't worry about the upper or lower case of the letters AUTOCAD ignores that
03:49
you should be left with a list of only the layers that start with a dash four
03:53
click. OK. To save the filter,
03:56
you should now see your new filter in the
03:57
list active with only the matching layers displayed.
04:01
This is a very common workflow especially in companies
04:04
that use the national CAD standard layering convention.
04:07
Typically layers are filtered per discipline
04:09
based on the discipline designator such
04:11
as a dash for architectural S dash for structural and so on.
04:16
Often these filters are built into their templates.
04:19
Right? Click on the new filter name to display a pop up menu. With many options
04:24
from here,
04:25
you can control the entire filter's visibility status lock status or isolation
04:30
in the middle.
04:30
You can start a new properties filter or convert a property filter to a group filter
04:35
near the bottom.
04:36
You can rename your filter, delete it or re access its properties to edit.
04:41
We're going to build on our new filter.
04:43
So click on properties to bring the dialog back up.
04:47
A filter row can have more than one filter criterion.
04:51
In our example,
04:52
you might want all layers that start with a dash
04:54
four but also you want only those that are red
04:58
on the same row as the name filter. Click on the color cell.
05:02
A small glyph will display on the right side.
05:05
Click it to bring up the select color dialog,
05:08
select the red swatch and click. OK.
05:11
You'll see that your filter list. Now only shows a dash four layers that are red.
05:17
One more quick scenario with building your property filters.
05:20
So far we've made a boolean and query that is a name and a color.
05:26
What if you want all the A dash floor layers that were red or Cyan,
05:30
which is a Boolean or query.
05:33
Let's see how that's done,
05:35
right? Click on the row that has your filter definitions,
05:38
then click on duplicate row.
05:41
Also make note this is how you delete a row as well. Should you ever need to,
05:45
all of your filter definitions will be copied to the second row.
05:49
Click on the color cell in the duplicated row
05:51
and click the glyph within it.
05:53
This time, change it to
05:55
Cyan
05:55
click. OK?
05:57
Now your filter preview will show only the A
05:59
four layers that are either red or Cyan
06:03
click. OK? To dismiss the property's dialogue,
06:06
your new properties filter is an active query.
06:09
If a layer that is displayed changes one of its properties, your list will change
06:13
here, I'll change a color to green. It will no longer be in the list.
06:20
I'll undo that to make it red again.
06:23
The other type of filter is called a group filter and it works differently.
06:27
Basically, it starts out empty and then you drag layers into it.
06:32
Let's see that in action
06:33
start by clicking on the second filter icon above the filters list.
06:38
A group filter doesn't have a dialog interface.
06:40
It just creates a new filter in the tree list.
06:43
But like the property filter, you'll be prompted right away for a name.
06:47
Let's call it red layers. As I said, it's empty to begin with.
06:52
Let's go back to the built in all filter
06:54
and then click on the color header to sort by color.
06:58
Click it again to change the sort to a sending
07:00
the red layers should be at the top
07:03
using your shift key, select the six red layers
07:06
drag and drop them onto your new group filter.
07:09
The layers will deselect but still appear in the all filter,
07:13
change your filter to red layers and you will see
07:16
the six layers you just moved into the group.
07:19
So through various methods, possibly including the filters you just created.
07:23
You have the very important task of getting your layers set up the way you need to,
07:28
you can save those settings to a layer state within the drawing
07:31
and even export it for use elsewhere or just for safekeeping.
07:35
Let's make some changes to our layers. Before we get started,
07:38
click on the name hitter to resort alphabetically and by name,
07:43
click on the arch floor filter,
07:45
then double click on a
07:46
floor to make it current
07:48
at the bottom of the filters list, you'll see an invert filter check box,
07:52
click on it and it will reverse the effects of the selected filter.
07:56
Now we have everything except the A
07:59
four layer showing.
08:00
Click on the A AO dash
08:02
dims layer near the top,
08:05
then control a on your keyboard to select all of the displayed layers.
08:09
Click on any thaw icon to toggle them all to freeze.
08:13
You should see that most of the layers in the drawing are now frozen
08:16
and do not display
08:18
single click on the A dash, no dash dems
08:21
layer to exit the multiple layer selection.
08:25
Now click on the third icon above the filters list,
08:29
the layer states manager will appear.
08:31
You'll see a list of the layer states in your drawing.
08:34
This list should be empty. Now
08:36
on the right,
08:37
you'll see some buttons.
08:39
You can create a new filter update an existing one,
08:42
edit rename or delete.
08:45
We'll see import in a moment. But this is where you can also choose to export
08:49
below the filter states list.
08:51
There is a check box to exclude listing any layer states within your X refs
08:55
below that are your restore options.
08:58
When you restore a layer state,
08:60
you can choose to turn off layers not found in the state
09:03
or apply properties in viewport overrides.
09:05
Finally at the bottom are your restore close and help buttons.
09:10
We're going to create a new state. So click the new button
09:13
set the name of the new layer state to
09:16
not arch floor layers.
09:18
Click OK?
09:19
You'll see your new layer state saved and listed.
09:22
You'll have great control over what property is saved in the state.
09:26
Click on the right facing circled Chevron next
09:28
to the help button to expand the dialog
09:31
check or uncheck a property as needed
09:33
by default, they are all enabled and therefore saved in the layer state.
09:38
You can leave the side panel expanded or contracted as you wish.
09:41
Click on the close button to dismiss the dialogue.
09:44
Nothing seems to happen as you have.
09:46
In essence just taking a snapshot of your current layer configuration.
09:51
Let's take a look at the import and export functions.
09:54
Click on the layer states icon again,
09:56
followed by clicking on the import button in the lower right.
10:00
Make sure the file type is set to LS in the import layer state dialogue.
10:05
Open the floor plant grayscale dot las file from the data set for this video
10:10
and then click open,
10:12
you'll get a dialog saying that the layer state was successfully imported.
10:16
We want to switch to that state. So click on the restore state button.
10:21
You should see the floor plan layers change color
10:23
to become gray or color eight in AUTOCAD.
10:26
Let's restore the drawing to the state that you saved a few minutes ago.
10:30
Open the layer state's manager again,
10:32
click on not arch floor layers that you just created, then click on restore
10:37
the dialogue will dismiss
10:39
and the layer states that you previously saved will be displayed.
10:42
I'll close the layer properties manager to end this video.
00:00
Drawings can accumulate a large number of layers and being able to
00:04
filter your layer list is an important part of your productivity.
00:07
This video teaches you how to create and use both types
00:11
of layer filters along with creating and importing layer states.
00:16
After this video, you will learn to
00:18
create and use group filters,
00:20
create and use property layer filters,
00:23
improve your workflow using the invert filter tool,
00:26
create and import layer states.
00:30
For this video, we're going to be using the supply drawing called Villa project.
00:34
Please open that file. Now
00:37
the tools we'll be using in this video are
00:39
all contained within the layer properties manager pallet.
00:42
So let's open it. Now
00:44
from the home tab of the ribbon,
00:45
you can find it within the layers panel.
00:48
It's the largest icon there.
00:49
Feel free to resize and position it to your liking.
00:54
We'll start in the upper right corner where you'll see a search box.
00:58
When you click in it,
00:59
the prompt goes away and you'll get a flashing
01:02
cursor along with a very small asterisk behind it.
01:05
This is a wild card character.
01:07
Autocad supports 10 different types of wild cards.
01:10
Probably the most useful of which is the asterisk,
01:14
which will match any string and can be used anywhere in the search string.
01:18
Let's search for a layer that we know has the word tree within it
01:22
since we don't know exactly where the string falls in the layer name,
01:26
add another asterisk in front.
01:28
Your filter box should now read asterisk,
01:31
cursor, asterisk,
01:33
begin typing and enter T and R. You'll see the layer list update in real time.
01:39
Finish the string with another E and E.
01:42
Your search string should now read asterisk tree, asterisk.
01:47
Your list should be paired down to two layers,
01:50
one with the word tree and the other with the word trees.
01:53
That's because of the trailing asterisk,
01:55
remove it to get down to one layer with the word tree in it.
01:59
When you're done, you can click the red X to end your search.
02:03
As you can see, searching with wild cards is a bit of a learned art.
02:07
But once you master it, you'll find it to be extremely powerful.
02:11
The other thing to note while the technical term of this wild card is asterisk,
02:16
you'll often hear it referred to as star.
02:18
If you do just know that it's the same thing.
02:22
There are two types of layer filters available
02:24
to you from within the layer property manager.
02:26
One is a property filter and the other is a group filter.
02:30
Let's begin by looking at the property filter
02:34
of the three icons above the filters panel, new property filter is on the left
02:39
click on it to display the layer filters properties dialog.
02:42
You may need to resize it to roughly match what I'm showing.
02:46
The first thing you'll want to do is give it a
02:48
name as the filter name field is already in edit mode.
02:52
Make it something descriptive. Let's call it arch floor.
02:57
Notice there are two other parts to the dialog
02:59
below the name is where you define your filter definitions.
03:03
And below that, the filter preview,
03:05
which at this point looks just like the all filter in the layer palette
03:09
as we add or remove filter definitions. This panel will update to show the results.
03:15
Let's build a few filters to show you how it works.
03:18
In our case, we want to filter out based on the name
03:22
you can filter based on any layer property.
03:24
Click on the cell below name in the filter definition panel,
03:28
you'll see that just like the search box. It pre populates with an asterisk wild card
03:33
type in a dash flor
03:38
to the left of the asterisk.
03:39
You should notice that as you type the preview list below it updates in real time
03:44
and don't worry about the upper or lower case of the letters AUTOCAD ignores that
03:49
you should be left with a list of only the layers that start with a dash four
03:53
click. OK. To save the filter,
03:56
you should now see your new filter in the
03:57
list active with only the matching layers displayed.
04:01
This is a very common workflow especially in companies
04:04
that use the national CAD standard layering convention.
04:07
Typically layers are filtered per discipline
04:09
based on the discipline designator such
04:11
as a dash for architectural S dash for structural and so on.
04:16
Often these filters are built into their templates.
04:19
Right? Click on the new filter name to display a pop up menu. With many options
04:24
from here,
04:25
you can control the entire filter's visibility status lock status or isolation
04:30
in the middle.
04:30
You can start a new properties filter or convert a property filter to a group filter
04:35
near the bottom.
04:36
You can rename your filter, delete it or re access its properties to edit.
04:41
We're going to build on our new filter.
04:43
So click on properties to bring the dialog back up.
04:47
A filter row can have more than one filter criterion.
04:51
In our example,
04:52
you might want all layers that start with a dash
04:54
four but also you want only those that are red
04:58
on the same row as the name filter. Click on the color cell.
05:02
A small glyph will display on the right side.
05:05
Click it to bring up the select color dialog,
05:08
select the red swatch and click. OK.
05:11
You'll see that your filter list. Now only shows a dash four layers that are red.
05:17
One more quick scenario with building your property filters.
05:20
So far we've made a boolean and query that is a name and a color.
05:26
What if you want all the A dash floor layers that were red or Cyan,
05:30
which is a Boolean or query.
05:33
Let's see how that's done,
05:35
right? Click on the row that has your filter definitions,
05:38
then click on duplicate row.
05:41
Also make note this is how you delete a row as well. Should you ever need to,
05:45
all of your filter definitions will be copied to the second row.
05:49
Click on the color cell in the duplicated row
05:51
and click the glyph within it.
05:53
This time, change it to
05:55
Cyan
05:55
click. OK?
05:57
Now your filter preview will show only the A
05:59
four layers that are either red or Cyan
06:03
click. OK? To dismiss the property's dialogue,
06:06
your new properties filter is an active query.
06:09
If a layer that is displayed changes one of its properties, your list will change
06:13
here, I'll change a color to green. It will no longer be in the list.
06:20
I'll undo that to make it red again.
06:23
The other type of filter is called a group filter and it works differently.
06:27
Basically, it starts out empty and then you drag layers into it.
06:32
Let's see that in action
06:33
start by clicking on the second filter icon above the filters list.
06:38
A group filter doesn't have a dialog interface.
06:40
It just creates a new filter in the tree list.
06:43
But like the property filter, you'll be prompted right away for a name.
06:47
Let's call it red layers. As I said, it's empty to begin with.
06:52
Let's go back to the built in all filter
06:54
and then click on the color header to sort by color.
06:58
Click it again to change the sort to a sending
07:00
the red layers should be at the top
07:03
using your shift key, select the six red layers
07:06
drag and drop them onto your new group filter.
07:09
The layers will deselect but still appear in the all filter,
07:13
change your filter to red layers and you will see
07:16
the six layers you just moved into the group.
07:19
So through various methods, possibly including the filters you just created.
07:23
You have the very important task of getting your layers set up the way you need to,
07:28
you can save those settings to a layer state within the drawing
07:31
and even export it for use elsewhere or just for safekeeping.
07:35
Let's make some changes to our layers. Before we get started,
07:38
click on the name hitter to resort alphabetically and by name,
07:43
click on the arch floor filter,
07:45
then double click on a
07:46
floor to make it current
07:48
at the bottom of the filters list, you'll see an invert filter check box,
07:52
click on it and it will reverse the effects of the selected filter.
07:56
Now we have everything except the A
07:59
four layer showing.
08:00
Click on the A AO dash
08:02
dims layer near the top,
08:05
then control a on your keyboard to select all of the displayed layers.
08:09
Click on any thaw icon to toggle them all to freeze.
08:13
You should see that most of the layers in the drawing are now frozen
08:16
and do not display
08:18
single click on the A dash, no dash dems
08:21
layer to exit the multiple layer selection.
08:25
Now click on the third icon above the filters list,
08:29
the layer states manager will appear.
08:31
You'll see a list of the layer states in your drawing.
08:34
This list should be empty. Now
08:36
on the right,
08:37
you'll see some buttons.
08:39
You can create a new filter update an existing one,
08:42
edit rename or delete.
08:45
We'll see import in a moment. But this is where you can also choose to export
08:49
below the filter states list.
08:51
There is a check box to exclude listing any layer states within your X refs
08:55
below that are your restore options.
08:58
When you restore a layer state,
08:60
you can choose to turn off layers not found in the state
09:03
or apply properties in viewport overrides.
09:05
Finally at the bottom are your restore close and help buttons.
09:10
We're going to create a new state. So click the new button
09:13
set the name of the new layer state to
09:16
not arch floor layers.
09:18
Click OK?
09:19
You'll see your new layer state saved and listed.
09:22
You'll have great control over what property is saved in the state.
09:26
Click on the right facing circled Chevron next
09:28
to the help button to expand the dialog
09:31
check or uncheck a property as needed
09:33
by default, they are all enabled and therefore saved in the layer state.
09:38
You can leave the side panel expanded or contracted as you wish.
09:41
Click on the close button to dismiss the dialogue.
09:44
Nothing seems to happen as you have.
09:46
In essence just taking a snapshot of your current layer configuration.
09:51
Let's take a look at the import and export functions.
09:54
Click on the layer states icon again,
09:56
followed by clicking on the import button in the lower right.
10:00
Make sure the file type is set to LS in the import layer state dialogue.
10:05
Open the floor plant grayscale dot las file from the data set for this video
10:10
and then click open,
10:12
you'll get a dialog saying that the layer state was successfully imported.
10:16
We want to switch to that state. So click on the restore state button.
10:21
You should see the floor plan layers change color
10:23
to become gray or color eight in AUTOCAD.
10:26
Let's restore the drawing to the state that you saved a few minutes ago.
10:30
Open the layer state's manager again,
10:32
click on not arch floor layers that you just created, then click on restore
10:37
the dialogue will dismiss
10:39
and the layer states that you previously saved will be displayed.
10:42
I'll close the layer properties manager to end this video.
Drawings can accumulate a large number of layers and being able to filter your layer list is an important part of your productivity. Learn how to create and use both types of layer filters, and create and import layer states.
After completing this video, you will be able to:
Step-by-step guide
Transcript
00:00
It's not uncommon for multidiscipline offices to
00:03
have the need to change layer colors,
00:05
line types and more in layout view ports.
00:08
In
00:08
this video,
00:09
you'll learn how these layer overrides work and how to apply them.
00:13
After this video,
00:15
you will learn to
00:16
use the layer properties manager to display viewport layers,
00:20
assign different property settings to multiple viewpoints,
00:23
identify and remove viewport overrides
00:27
for this video. We're going to be using the supply drawing called Villa project.
00:31
Let's open that file. Now
00:34
this video will be focusing on layers
00:36
and their properties within layout view ports.
00:39
Switch to the layout titled first floor plan.
00:42
You should see the sheet pan to the right side a bit.
00:45
Now you need to open the layer properties manager pallet
00:49
for this exercise resize it similar to what I have.
00:52
Pull the right side out to display all of the columns.
00:55
If they are not already,
00:57
please maximize all of the columns by right clicking
00:59
on a column header and choosing maximize all columns.
01:03
Now that the layout view and the pallet are displayed as we want,
01:07
you may notice more information is displayed than what you're used to in model space
01:11
let's click on the model space tab with the pallet still open,
01:15
you should see fewer columns in this tab.
01:18
Now go back to the first floor plan layout tab
01:21
and you should note that when in a layout,
01:23
you'll see five new columns each beginning with VP, which stands for Viewport.
01:28
It's worth noting here that this difference in
01:30
columns only appears to the model space tab.
01:34
You'll see the extra columns. If you enter model space from a layout view.
01:38
The reason they're different is because each Viewport has its own layer
01:41
property settings which are independent of each other and of model space
01:46
freeze color line type, line weight and transparency
01:49
all have a corresponding viewport specific setting.
01:53
These columns work just like any others
01:55
including sorting by clicking on a header,
01:58
click on the name header to return the list to sort descending by name.
02:03
Let's change some layer properties in these view ports to demonstrate
02:07
to keep things fairly simple,
02:08
we'll be working with the display and color properties.
02:11
So resize the layer pallette to show VP color as the
02:14
last column by pulling it in from the right edge.
02:17
Your view should look similar to my own where you can see both
02:20
the enlarged restroom along with the same room on the overall plan,
02:25
double click inside the enlarged plan viewport to make it active.
02:29
We're going to use the layer freeze tool from the layers panel
02:32
in the ribbon to freeze a couple of layers in the viewport.
02:35
But first we're going to talk about some settings for it.
02:39
Click on the layer freeze tool.
02:41
It will prompt you to select a layer to freeze.
02:43
But if you have dynamic input turned on as I do,
02:47
you'll see a down arrow at the end indicating some additional prompts
02:50
on the command line. You'll see settings and undo
02:54
I'll use the dynamic version and arrow down,
02:56
then arrow down again to highlight and finally select settings
03:00
from the command line type in S or click on the word.
03:04
You'll see two options, select view ports and block selection,
03:08
highlight and select view ports.
03:11
You'll now see another two options.
03:13
You can set the command to either freeze or VP freeze.
03:16
Make sure you're set to VP freeze which
03:19
will freeze an object in the current viewport only
03:22
if it's set to freeze, it will freeze all objects in all view ports.
03:27
The other main option,
03:28
block selection controls how the layer will be
03:31
frozen when nested within a block or XF.
03:34
These same controls are also found in the layer off tool
03:38
press enter to set it to VP freeze and return to the select object prompt.
03:43
Now that we've made sure our viewport settings are correct.
03:46
Select the green call out rectangle from within the active viewport.
03:50
It will immediately become frozen and disappear.
03:53
Click again on either piece of cyan
03:55
text to freeze that layer. Also
03:57
finally select the gray roof hatching to freeze it,
04:01
press enter on your keyboard to exit the command.
04:04
At this point.
04:05
You should notice that the layer settings you just made
04:08
only apply to the viewport in which you made them.
04:10
The overall viewport on the left does not have the changes.
04:14
Also note that two of the layers in the property manager pallet
04:18
have the VP freeze icon changed to indicate
04:21
them as being frozen in the current viewport.
04:24
Let's change a couple of colors in the viewport. Also
04:29
in the pallette find the layer named a dash floor
04:32
APL.
04:34
Click on its cyan layer swatch from the VP color
04:37
column and change it to dark blue and click.
04:40
OK?
04:41
Do the same for the layer named a dash door.
04:44
Notice again the colors change in that viewport but not in the other
04:48
to further demonstrate the independence of Viewport settings.
04:52
Let's now activate the floor plan viewport
04:55
in the layer pallet, change the VP color of layer a floor
04:59
APL to be red.
05:01
You'll see it change in two places in the overall plan, Viewport
05:05
but not in the enlarged plan.
05:07
Do the same for the layer named a dash door.
05:10
These independent settings we've just made are called Viewport overrides and
05:14
they can be viewed and managed from the layer properties pallette
05:17
to demonstrate this.
05:18
Let's first activate paper space by typing in PS and enter on the command line.
05:24
Your active viewport will deactivate
05:26
a door should still be highlighted
05:28
single click on layer zero to change the highlight.
05:32
Please notice that there are now the two standard entries in
05:35
the filters tree of the pallet all and all used layers.
05:39
Let's reactivate the enlarged plan viewport by double clicking within it.
05:44
You'll now notice a new entry in the filters list called Viewport overrides.
05:48
This entry is also how you know that a
05:50
Viewport contains overrides as if the viewport does not.
05:54
This entry won't appear in the tree.
05:56
Click on the VP overrides filter.
05:58
The layer list will change to show only the layers that have any layer overrides
06:03
the names and overridden properties will be highlighted.
06:07
Please note that Autocad does not consider a VP freeze to be an override
06:12
but color line type line weight and transparency are
06:16
right. Click on the overrides filter to display its pop up menu.
06:20
Here you can change the visibility lock status,
06:23
Viewport free thw settings or isolation of all override controls.
06:27
In that Viewport,
06:29
I'll press cancel to dismiss the pop up menu.
06:32
Let's click now on the all filter to show all layers
06:35
single click on layer zero again to highlight it
06:39
here,
06:39
you have a couple of visual cues as well that tell
06:43
you that there are Viewport overridden layers in your active viewport.
06:47
You'll see that a dash door and a dash floor.
06:50
A PPL are highlighted.
06:52
The status icon is changed to indicate they have
06:54
overrides and the overridden properties are highlighted as well.
06:59
You can turn this highlighting off by
07:01
clicking on the toggle override highlight icon
07:04
in the upper right corner of the palette,
07:06
these will not appear if no Viewport is active,
07:09
I'll quickly change to paper space and you'll
07:12
see these icons and highlights go away.
07:14
When I reactivate the viewport, they'll return
07:17
right, click anywhere on the layer list.
07:20
This will display the standard layer tools pop up
07:22
menu where you can do all kinds of things.
07:24
Since we have overrides, the remove Viewport overrides for menu item is activated
07:30
hover over the menu item to expand the flyout menus.
07:34
You can remove overrides from your selected layers in
07:37
the current viewport only or in all view ports
07:39
or
07:40
you can have the same two options that you can apply to all layers.
07:44
Let's remove the color overrides we made by selecting all layers in all view ports.
07:49
Notice that the Viewport override filter is also removed.
07:53
I'll return to paper space and close the
07:55
layer properties manager pallette to end this video.
00:00
It's not uncommon for multidiscipline offices to
00:03
have the need to change layer colors,
00:05
line types and more in layout view ports.
00:08
In
00:08
this video,
00:09
you'll learn how these layer overrides work and how to apply them.
00:13
After this video,
00:15
you will learn to
00:16
use the layer properties manager to display viewport layers,
00:20
assign different property settings to multiple viewpoints,
00:23
identify and remove viewport overrides
00:27
for this video. We're going to be using the supply drawing called Villa project.
00:31
Let's open that file. Now
00:34
this video will be focusing on layers
00:36
and their properties within layout view ports.
00:39
Switch to the layout titled first floor plan.
00:42
You should see the sheet pan to the right side a bit.
00:45
Now you need to open the layer properties manager pallet
00:49
for this exercise resize it similar to what I have.
00:52
Pull the right side out to display all of the columns.
00:55
If they are not already,
00:57
please maximize all of the columns by right clicking
00:59
on a column header and choosing maximize all columns.
01:03
Now that the layout view and the pallet are displayed as we want,
01:07
you may notice more information is displayed than what you're used to in model space
01:11
let's click on the model space tab with the pallet still open,
01:15
you should see fewer columns in this tab.
01:18
Now go back to the first floor plan layout tab
01:21
and you should note that when in a layout,
01:23
you'll see five new columns each beginning with VP, which stands for Viewport.
01:28
It's worth noting here that this difference in
01:30
columns only appears to the model space tab.
01:34
You'll see the extra columns. If you enter model space from a layout view.
01:38
The reason they're different is because each Viewport has its own layer
01:41
property settings which are independent of each other and of model space
01:46
freeze color line type, line weight and transparency
01:49
all have a corresponding viewport specific setting.
01:53
These columns work just like any others
01:55
including sorting by clicking on a header,
01:58
click on the name header to return the list to sort descending by name.
02:03
Let's change some layer properties in these view ports to demonstrate
02:07
to keep things fairly simple,
02:08
we'll be working with the display and color properties.
02:11
So resize the layer pallette to show VP color as the
02:14
last column by pulling it in from the right edge.
02:17
Your view should look similar to my own where you can see both
02:20
the enlarged restroom along with the same room on the overall plan,
02:25
double click inside the enlarged plan viewport to make it active.
02:29
We're going to use the layer freeze tool from the layers panel
02:32
in the ribbon to freeze a couple of layers in the viewport.
02:35
But first we're going to talk about some settings for it.
02:39
Click on the layer freeze tool.
02:41
It will prompt you to select a layer to freeze.
02:43
But if you have dynamic input turned on as I do,
02:47
you'll see a down arrow at the end indicating some additional prompts
02:50
on the command line. You'll see settings and undo
02:54
I'll use the dynamic version and arrow down,
02:56
then arrow down again to highlight and finally select settings
03:00
from the command line type in S or click on the word.
03:04
You'll see two options, select view ports and block selection,
03:08
highlight and select view ports.
03:11
You'll now see another two options.
03:13
You can set the command to either freeze or VP freeze.
03:16
Make sure you're set to VP freeze which
03:19
will freeze an object in the current viewport only
03:22
if it's set to freeze, it will freeze all objects in all view ports.
03:27
The other main option,
03:28
block selection controls how the layer will be
03:31
frozen when nested within a block or XF.
03:34
These same controls are also found in the layer off tool
03:38
press enter to set it to VP freeze and return to the select object prompt.
03:43
Now that we've made sure our viewport settings are correct.
03:46
Select the green call out rectangle from within the active viewport.
03:50
It will immediately become frozen and disappear.
03:53
Click again on either piece of cyan
03:55
text to freeze that layer. Also
03:57
finally select the gray roof hatching to freeze it,
04:01
press enter on your keyboard to exit the command.
04:04
At this point.
04:05
You should notice that the layer settings you just made
04:08
only apply to the viewport in which you made them.
04:10
The overall viewport on the left does not have the changes.
04:14
Also note that two of the layers in the property manager pallet
04:18
have the VP freeze icon changed to indicate
04:21
them as being frozen in the current viewport.
04:24
Let's change a couple of colors in the viewport. Also
04:29
in the pallette find the layer named a dash floor
04:32
APL.
04:34
Click on its cyan layer swatch from the VP color
04:37
column and change it to dark blue and click.
04:40
OK?
04:41
Do the same for the layer named a dash door.
04:44
Notice again the colors change in that viewport but not in the other
04:48
to further demonstrate the independence of Viewport settings.
04:52
Let's now activate the floor plan viewport
04:55
in the layer pallet, change the VP color of layer a floor
04:59
APL to be red.
05:01
You'll see it change in two places in the overall plan, Viewport
05:05
but not in the enlarged plan.
05:07
Do the same for the layer named a dash door.
05:10
These independent settings we've just made are called Viewport overrides and
05:14
they can be viewed and managed from the layer properties pallette
05:17
to demonstrate this.
05:18
Let's first activate paper space by typing in PS and enter on the command line.
05:24
Your active viewport will deactivate
05:26
a door should still be highlighted
05:28
single click on layer zero to change the highlight.
05:32
Please notice that there are now the two standard entries in
05:35
the filters tree of the pallet all and all used layers.
05:39
Let's reactivate the enlarged plan viewport by double clicking within it.
05:44
You'll now notice a new entry in the filters list called Viewport overrides.
05:48
This entry is also how you know that a
05:50
Viewport contains overrides as if the viewport does not.
05:54
This entry won't appear in the tree.
05:56
Click on the VP overrides filter.
05:58
The layer list will change to show only the layers that have any layer overrides
06:03
the names and overridden properties will be highlighted.
06:07
Please note that Autocad does not consider a VP freeze to be an override
06:12
but color line type line weight and transparency are
06:16
right. Click on the overrides filter to display its pop up menu.
06:20
Here you can change the visibility lock status,
06:23
Viewport free thw settings or isolation of all override controls.
06:27
In that Viewport,
06:29
I'll press cancel to dismiss the pop up menu.
06:32
Let's click now on the all filter to show all layers
06:35
single click on layer zero again to highlight it
06:39
here,
06:39
you have a couple of visual cues as well that tell
06:43
you that there are Viewport overridden layers in your active viewport.
06:47
You'll see that a dash door and a dash floor.
06:50
A PPL are highlighted.
06:52
The status icon is changed to indicate they have
06:54
overrides and the overridden properties are highlighted as well.
06:59
You can turn this highlighting off by
07:01
clicking on the toggle override highlight icon
07:04
in the upper right corner of the palette,
07:06
these will not appear if no Viewport is active,
07:09
I'll quickly change to paper space and you'll
07:12
see these icons and highlights go away.
07:14
When I reactivate the viewport, they'll return
07:17
right, click anywhere on the layer list.
07:20
This will display the standard layer tools pop up
07:22
menu where you can do all kinds of things.
07:24
Since we have overrides, the remove Viewport overrides for menu item is activated
07:30
hover over the menu item to expand the flyout menus.
07:34
You can remove overrides from your selected layers in
07:37
the current viewport only or in all view ports
07:39
or
07:40
you can have the same two options that you can apply to all layers.
07:44
Let's remove the color overrides we made by selecting all layers in all view ports.
07:49
Notice that the Viewport override filter is also removed.
07:53
I'll return to paper space and close the
07:55
layer properties manager pallette to end this video.
It’s not uncommon for multi-discipline offices to have the need to change layer colors, linetypes, and more in layout viewports. Learn how these layer overrides work, and how to apply them.
After completing this video, you will be able to:
Step-by-step guide
Test your knowledge and apply what you have learned about filters and layer states. The practice exercise is accompanied by a dataset to work through the example. The solution is also provided.
Exercise
Transcript
00:00
In this solution video,
00:02
we're going to create layer filters and work with layer states
00:07
using the supplied villa drawing open the layer properties
00:10
manager pallette and click on the property filter icon
00:13
name the new filter as you like, I'll call mine
00:16
my new filter
00:18
create a filter based on the name that contains a dash floor and is the color red.
00:23
Make sure you have an asterisk on both ends of the names string,
00:28
right? Click on the filter definition and select duplicate row,
00:32
change the color in this new row to cyan
00:36
save your new filter by clicking. OK.
00:38
Now let's create a new filter by clicking on the group filter icon.
00:42
Name the filter locked layers.
00:45
Let's sort our layers to see all the locked layers so that we can easily select them.
00:49
Click on the all filter then sort by the lock property,
00:53
select all the locked layers and drag and drop them into the new group filter.
00:59
Next, we'll work with layer states,
01:01
click on the layer state icon, then select new,
01:04
we'll call our new state practice layer state.
01:09
Export new layer state to an LAS
01:11
file
01:12
that will reside in the same folder as your dataset.
01:15
Then click import and use the Grayscale LS file from your data set.
01:20
Make sure the file type button is set to LAS.
01:28
Finally let's restore to the state. We just created
01:31
highlight practice layer state and click the restore button.
01:36
Click the close button to exit the dialogue.
00:00
In this solution video,
00:02
we're going to create layer filters and work with layer states
00:07
using the supplied villa drawing open the layer properties
00:10
manager pallette and click on the property filter icon
00:13
name the new filter as you like, I'll call mine
00:16
my new filter
00:18
create a filter based on the name that contains a dash floor and is the color red.
00:23
Make sure you have an asterisk on both ends of the names string,
00:28
right? Click on the filter definition and select duplicate row,
00:32
change the color in this new row to cyan
00:36
save your new filter by clicking. OK.
00:38
Now let's create a new filter by clicking on the group filter icon.
00:42
Name the filter locked layers.
00:45
Let's sort our layers to see all the locked layers so that we can easily select them.
00:49
Click on the all filter then sort by the lock property,
00:53
select all the locked layers and drag and drop them into the new group filter.
00:59
Next, we'll work with layer states,
01:01
click on the layer state icon, then select new,
01:04
we'll call our new state practice layer state.
01:09
Export new layer state to an LAS
01:11
file
01:12
that will reside in the same folder as your dataset.
01:15
Then click import and use the Grayscale LS file from your data set.
01:20
Make sure the file type button is set to LAS.
01:28
Finally let's restore to the state. We just created
01:31
highlight practice layer state and click the restore button.
01:36
Click the close button to exit the dialogue.
