LAYER SCHEME CONTROL SETTINGS

Main Configuration Dialog
Layer Control
Layer Scheme Control Settings
 

Configuration dialog:

Click on an area of the dialog below to go to the description for that area:

The button keeps changes made and closes the dialog.

The button discards changes made and closes the dialog.

The button brings you to this web page for help during the command (without canceling).

Breakdown of configuration options

Default Layer Scheme File

Commands affected:  None

When first opening a new drawing this will be the layer scheme file that is loaded.

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Run Line Command After Layer Selection

Commands affected:  None

Check "Yes" to run the "LINE" command after making a layer current by selecting it from the screen menu or the pull-down. Because of this feature many people select a layer from the screen menu/pull-down in place of the (LINE) toolbar button. By selecting the layer (and making that layer current) and then starting the "LINE" command (from this feature) you insure the line will always be on the correct layer.

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Number of Visible Lines on Screen Menu

Commands affected:  None

This setting is for users of AutoCAD releases 2000 and later who display their layers and layer schemes on the screen menu. This setting indicates how many lines are actually visible on the screen menu so the layer schemes can be placed at the bottom. (in rel. 2000+ the screen menu can be stretched below the command line and therefore the AutoCAD  "SCREENBOXES" system variable is not always accurate) If the screen menu is visible you will see numbers counting the lines as shown at left. Enter in the box the last line that is visible at the bottom of the screen menu (46 here).

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Create All New Layers Immediately

Command affected:  NEWSCHEME

Check this box if you would like all of the layers in a new layer scheme created immediately when switching. Leaving the box unchecked will mean that layers will only be created as needed.

Note: Selecting a layer name from the screen menu or pull-down to make it current will create the layer if it doesn't exist. Also if you use the screen menu/pull-downs when specifying a layer to change objects to using the CHLAYR command, if the layer doesn't exist it will be created.

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Layer Grouping

Commands affected:  NEWSCHEME, FZLYR, LAYROFF, LAYRON

The layers shown in the screen menu and the pull-downs can be grouped to make it easier to find a specific layer. It also allows entire groups to be selected with a single click when the command being used accepts multiple layer names .

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Change Layer Properties When Changing Layer Schemes

Command affected:  NEWSCHEME

Depending on your layer scheme setup different layer schemes may share common layers. For example "wall layers" are often used in many different plan types and consequently layer schemes. Sometimes when sharing layers the objects may need to have different properties depending on the drawing type. Using our "wall layer" example, in a floor plan the wall lines may need to be continuous and a fairly heavy lineweight, but in an electrical plan they may need to be a light lineweight or half-tone to provide a "background" for the electrical work. This is just one example, depending on how your layers are set up you may have many instances where a common layer name needs different properties for different drawing types.

When changing schemes these settings determine whether the common layers get their layer properties (color, linetype, lineweight) changed to the settings from the new layer scheme or keep their settings from the original layer scheme. This can be set independently for XREFerences.

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Where to Display Layers

Commands affected:  CHLAYR, CPY2FLR, CPY2LAYR, EXP2LAYR, FZLYR, LAYRISO, LAYROFF, LAYRON, LAYRSET, NEWSCHEME, OF2LAYR, RGNLAYR

This sets where the layers are displayed. Select either "Screen menu" or "Pull-down".

Screen menu:

Pull-down:

In the screen menu image above the layers show between the two divider lines (= = = = = =). The number of layers that will show on the screen menu is determined by the number of visible screen menu lines minus how many commands/dividers are displayed minus the number of layer schemes (if displayed here). The settings for which commands/dividers are displayed is set here. Where the layer schemes are displayed is set here.

When using the pull-down the "Layers" pull-down will contain the layers for the current scheme.

For more on how to use these lists of layers see Using Layer Schemes.

Note to AutoCAD release 13 users

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Where to Display Layer Schemes

Commands affected:  CHLAYR, CPY2FLR, CPY2LAYR, EXP2LAYR, FZLYR, LAYRISO, LAYROFF, LAYRON, LAYRSET, NEWSCHEME, OF2LAYR, RGNLAYR

This sets where you would like to display the layer schemes. Select either "Screen Menu" or "Pull-down".

Screen menu:

Pull-down:

When using the screen menu to display layer schemes the layer schemes will always show at the bottom portion of the screen menu. The schemes will be listed below the line to load a new scheme file "<NewSchm".  If the layer schemes are up too high (and show layers below them) or don't all fit at the bottom of the screen menu (some are missing) your number of visible screen boxes value is most likely not set correctly, see above)

When using the pull-down the "Layer Schemes" pull-down will contain the layer schemes.

Note: AutoCAD release 13 users who want to show their layer names and/or layer schemes in a pull-down must not be using the "USERS2", "USERS3", "USERS4", or "USERS5" AutoCAD system variables. The APS layering system uses these system variables to store the layer information for the pull-downs. All later versions of AutoCAD have this layer information stored in the AutoCAD portion of the Windows registry. If you see strange values in the layer or layer scheme pull-downs you may have other programs that are using these system variables and it may not be possible to use the pull-downs to display the layer or layer scheme choices. If you have trouble displaying the layers and/or layer schemes in pull-downs choose to display the layers and layer schemes on the screen menu.

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Screen Menu Commands and Divider Lines

Commands affected:  None

These settings are only used if you are using the screen menu to display layers. Each of these items can be displayed on the screen menu if checked (see image below). The first line of the screen menu will always show the current, abbreviated layer scheme name. (When selected, the abbreviated layer scheme name turns off all of the layers except it's own)

ALL-ON  When selected from the screen menu this transparently turns on all of the layers in the drawing.

ALL-OFF  When selected from the screen menu this transparently turns off all of the layers in the drawing except the current layer.

CH-LAYR  When selected from the screen menu this runs the CHLAYR command to change the layer of objects.

LAYR-ON  When selected from the screen menu this runs the LAYRON command to turn layers on.

LAYR-OFF  When selected from the screen menu this runs the LAYROFF command to turn layers off.

========  This doesn't do anything except visually separate the commands above (if displayed) and the layers below.

<all the layer name abbreviations that will fit will go here>

========  Once again this doesn't do anything except visually separate the layers above and the layer schemes below (if displayed on the screen menu).

<if configured to show on the screen menu the layer schemes will go here>

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