Contents

• How layer schemes work
• Displaying and controlling layers
  • Using the screen menu bar to display and control layers
  • Using pull-downs to display and control layers

• Also see - Setting up layer schemes

How layer schemes work

Rather than enter all the information for a layer over and over for all the commands that should use a specific layer we have devised a system of using a layer type so that information is only entered once and the commands that need to use that specific layer are just pointed to the layer type that holds that layer information. A layer type could be considered a "reason" for a layer. It often helps people to use the form "A layer for ______" when thinking about layer types. Instead of saying "dimensions" (which could get confused with a layer name) we could say "A layer for dimensions". We are just reserving a space for a layer name later.

In a nutshell...each APS command is assigned to a layer type, each layer type is assigned a layer name from the current layer scheme.

Looking at the diagram above we can graphically see how this works.

The NOTESC and LEADR commands have been assigned to the "C1" layer type which is called "NOTES".

Let's assume we are currently using the "Floor plan level 1" layer scheme. When the NOTESC command is used, it will create text on the "A-TEXT-01" layer because in the current layer scheme the "C1/NOTES" layer type has been assigned that layer name.

Now let's assume that we switched to the "Floor plan level 2" layer scheme. Now when the NOTESC command is used it will create text on the "A-TEXT-02" layer. Next we used the LEADR command and it also used the "A-TEXT-02" layer because it too was assigned to that layer type.

If we switched to the "Exterior Elevations" layer scheme and used either the NOTESC, LEADR, or any other command assigned to the "C1/NOTES" layer type the objects would be created on the "A-TEXT-ELEV" layer because that is the layer for "C1/NOTES".

Objects created in your drawing always go on the correct layer. This means one less thing for you to worry about so you can focus on what you're drawing instead of how it is being drawn.

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Displaying and controlling layers

There are two places to display and control layers:     screen menu or pull-down   When using layer schemes the layers from the current layer scheme will appear in one of these two locations depending on where you have configured them to show (This is set in the Layer scheme control settings portion of the Layer Control section of the APS-CONFIG command). For more on how to use either the screen menu or the pull-downs to control layers in your layer schemes see Using the screen menu with layer schemes or Using the pull-downs with layer schemes.   Known limitation: While each layer scheme may be limited to 200 layers, there are somewhat smaller limits to how many layers can be displayed on the screen menu and pull-down at one time. The screen menu is limited to how many lines can be seen on your screen and the pull-down is limited to 50 layers (you may have to scroll down to see the remainder of the 50 layers).  To allow you to get to all the layers in your scheme the bottom separator bar changes to . When clicked this brings up a dialog that allows you to select any of the layers in the current layer scheme.

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