AutoCAD Layers

• The layer command is used to control and manage the drawings in AutoCAD for different purposes.
• It increases the display performance of the AutoCAD by hiding the portion of our drawing when needed. It also improves the visual complexity of the drawing.
• We are required to create a set of layers having different properties. For example, in a floor plan or house plan, we can create separate layers for doors, walls, etc.
• We can create many layers by specifying the name for the corresponding layer. We can also control the order of the layers.
• The shortcut command of the layer is 'LA'.
• The Layer on the ribbon panel looks like the below image:

Let's discuss the layer properties in detail.

• Layer ON/OFF

It is used to turn ON or turn OFF the layer of the selected object.

The layer is represented as:

The shortcut command for the Layer ON and Layer OFF is LayON and LayOFF.

• Layer Isolate/Unisolate

The Isolate is used to hide or lock the layers. The Isolated layers are defined as visible layers. The layers are locked except for the selected objects.

The layer is represented as:

The UNISOLATE is used to unlock the layers. It is reverse of the LAYER ISOLATE command.

• Layer Freeze/Thaw

The FREEZE is used to freeze the layer of the selected object, while the THAW is used to remove the freeze from the layer.

The LAYER THAW unfroze the layers.

The layer is represented as:

The objects become invisible after applying the LAYER FREEZE command.

• Layer LOCK/UNLOCK

The LOCK is used to lock the layer of the selected object, while UNLOCK removes the lock from the layer.

The layer is represented as:

The LAYER LOCK command prevents the object from actually being modified.

• Current layer

The Current layer sets the selected layer as the current layer on the viewport. The objects will be created based on the selected current layer.

The layer is represented as:

• Match layer

The MATCH LAYER is used to change the current layer to match the destination layer. The current layer is the layer of the selected objects.

The layer is represented as:

The other icons are listed below:

• Previous layer
  It is used to undo the set of changes made to the settings of layers.
• Current layer
  It sets the selected layer as the current layer in a drawing. The properties of the selected objects are changed to the current layer.
• Copy to layer
  It is used to copy one or more objects to the other layer.
• Walk layer
  The Walk Layer command is used to display the object of the selected layer while hiding the objects of the other layer.
• VPI layer
  The layers in all layout viewport are freezes, except the current layer.
• Merge layer
  It removes the previous layers from the drawing and merges the selected layers into the target layer.
• Delete layer
  It is used to delete the selected layer from the layer settings or the list of layers. It also removes all the objects on that layer.

Let's create some layers.

The steps are listed below:

1. Type LA on the command line < press Enter.
2. A dialog box will appear.
3. Click on the New Layer icon on the top of the dialog box.
4. A new layer will appear, as shown below:

5. Specify the name and color. We can also change Linetype, Transparency, Layer FREEZE, etc. according to the requirements.

6. Let's create total 6 layers. It is shown below:

7. To create an object, specify the layer as the current layer.

8. The objects will be created based on the selected current layer.

9. To use all layers in the drawing, keep changing the current layer according to the object.

Let's draw an object with the use of all the above layers.

The object is shown below:

The above object is just an example to explain the concept of layers.