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Organize a drawing with layers

Create layers for walls, doors and notes, set colors, make a layer current, and turn layers off, freeze, lock or keep them from plotting.

Written for CadCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.

What you will make

Three layers, Walls, Doors and Notes, each with its own color, with objects drawn on each and moved between them.

The Layers panel

Layers live in the panel on the left, under Layers. Each row shows, from left to right:

  • a dot: filled for the current layer, where new objects go;
  • a color swatch;
  • the layer name;
  • four buttons: on/off (eye), freeze (snowflake), lock (padlock) and plot (printer).

Every drawing has a layer called 0. Typing LA and pressing ReturnEnter jumps to the panel.

Create layers

  1. Click New layer above the list. A name box opens.
  2. Type Walls and press ReturnEnter (or click Add).

The status bar says "Added layer Walls and made it current." The new layer gets color 7 (black on the light theme, white on the dark one).

  1. Click New layer again, type Doors and press ReturnEnter.
  2. Click New layer again, type Notes and press ReturnEnter.

Notes is now current.

Give each layer a color

  1. Click the color swatch on the Walls row. Your system's color picker opens.
  2. Choose a color and confirm.

The swatch and everything on Walls that is colored By layer change.

Draw on a layer

  1. Click the name Walls in the list. Its dot fills and the status bar says "Current layer: Walls".
  2. Draw a rectangle (REC). It goes on Walls.
  3. Click Doors, and draw an arc (A). It goes on Doors.

You can also choose the current layer in Current settings on the right (nothing selected), under Layer.

Move objects to another layer

  1. Select the objects.
  2. In the right panel, choose the new layer in Layer.

They move to that layer and take its color if their color is By layer.

Off, freeze, lock and plot

ButtonWhat it does
On/off (eye)Hides the layer's objects. They cannot be seen, selected or snapped to.
Freeze (snowflake)Same effect as off in CadCraft. Kept separate because other programs treat them differently, and the setting is saved.
Lock (padlock)Objects stay visible and you can snap to them, but they cannot be selected or changed. Good for a background you trace over.
Plot (printer)When pressed, the layer is shown on screen but left out of plots and PDFs. Use it for construction lines and notes to yourself.

Hover a button to see what it will do ("Turn off", "Freeze", "Lock", "Do not plot this layer").

You cannot turn off the current layer: the status bar says "That is the current layer. Make another layer current first." Clicking a layer's name to make it current also turns it on and thaws it.

Common mistakes

  • New lines went on the wrong layer. Check which dot is filled before you draw. A new layer becomes current as soon as you add it.
  • An object will not select. Its layer is locked, off or frozen.
  • Undo did not bring a layer back on. Layer settings are not undone. Click the button again.
  • The layer still prints in another program. DXF R12 cannot store "do not plot". CadCraft keeps the setting for itself when the drawing has a sheet, but other programs will plot that layer.
  • Layer names in capitals after saving. DXF R12 stores names in capitals, so Walls comes back as WALLS, and spaces become _. A saved DWG keeps names as you typed them.
  • Renaming or deleting a layer. Not built yet. Move its objects to another layer instead; an empty layer does no harm.