Layer Queries

Hi,

There are a few problems with regards to layers I've encountered and noted down over the last few months. Would be very grateful for some assistance solving them. They are as follows:

1 Is there a way of making modifications to line type scales in layers manager? I know you can assign a line type (eg dotted line) to a layer but how do you scale the line type?? (You can right click on the individual line within the layer > properties but this only changes one of the lines!)

2 Is there a quick way of turning the layers on/off in layer managers window?? I just highlight everything manually then click on the bulb. (Seems quite long).

3 Is there a way of selecting all the lines/objects within a layer you want to move or copy etc rather than having to go through all the objects manually?/

4 Is there a quick way of telling there are unused / unneccessary layers I can delete via layers manager??

5 Finally what's the difference between freezing and locking a layer??

Hope someone replies with a solution to at least one of them!

Best

Adam

Hi' date='

 

There are a few problems with regards to layers I've encountered and noted down over the last few months. Would be very grateful for some assistance solving them. They are as follows:

 

1 Is there a way of making modifications to line type scales in layers manager? I know you can assign a line type (eg dotted line) to a layer but how do you scale the line type?? (You can right click on the individual line within the layer > properties but this only changes one of the lines!)

Not that I know of. An easy way to do this would be to either A) adjust your ltscale variable; or B) quick select the layer you want to modify the line type of and modify in properties.

 

 

2 Is there a quick way of turning the layers on/off in layer managers window?? I just highlight everything manually then click on the bulb. (Seems quite long).

Thats the way I've always done it. Although, using the action recorder I made my own button that locks/unlocks all layers, I imagine you can do the same with freeze/thaw.

 

3 Is there a way of selecting all the lines/objects within a layer you want to move or copy etc rather than having to go through all the objects manually?/

Quick Select is the quickest way I've found (with off the shelf autocad anyway). You can find it on the properties window, or enter "qselect" into the command line.

4 Is there a quick way of telling there are unused / unneccessary layers I can delete via layers manager??

To the left of the "Name" Column in the layer manager is a column called "status". There is a parallelogram image for each layer and if it is blue, the layer is in use. If it is gray, that layer can be deleted. "Purge" Command will give you a list of layers that are not in use and can be purged from the drawing, as well as other properties such as blocks, text styles, line types etc.

 

5 Finally what's the difference between freezing and locking a layer??

Freezing a layer basically hides the layer so it can no longer be seen on your screen. You have to thaw it again if you want to manipulate any objects on that layer. When you lock a layer, you remove the ability to modify any property on that layer until you unlock it.

 

Hope someone replies with a solution to at least one of them!

 

Best

 

Adam

See answers in red, hope this helps!

1. No. This is a right pain especially when using many viewports at different scales!

2. Ctrl - A, or Ctrl - Shift quickly selects the ones you want allowing you to turn them all on/off at once.

3. Either isolate the layer (layiso) or use quick select as above.

Final tip: If you don't want a layer to display, freeze it, do not simply turn it off! The number of times I have received drawings where somone has turned off/hidden unwanted layers by merely turning them off ratehr than frrezing them is astounding. This leads to problems where someone uses the layiso command to isolate one layer and then it screws up the original drafters 'layer management' (or lack thereof) in the drawing.

1. Create scaled linetypes (i.e. you already have Hidden, Hidden2, qHidden etc.) and assign them to your layers.

2. If you want just a few on and the remaining off, select the ones you want left on then right-click and inverse selection.

Try a search, there may be more/different ways.

Re 1 & Dink87522 comment set your linetypes to how you want them to look in modelspace using ltscale then in each viewport use psltscale as a on or off switch and this will auto scale your linetypes for different scales.

Re 1 & Dink87522 comment set your linetypes to how you want them to look in modelspace using ltscale then in each viewport use psltscale as a on or off switch and this will auto scale your linetypes for different scales.

Will have to give that a go the next time I need to use it!

Re 1 & Dink87522 comment set your linetypes to how you want them to look in modelspace using ltscale then in each viewport use psltscale as a on or off switch and this will auto scale your linetypes for different scales.

How would that scale the linetype per layer?

I'm familiar with 'PSLT Scale' but it doesn't assign linetype scales in accordance with each layer! (like SLW210 says).

Just makes sure the line types are printed to the scales I individually specify for each line!

BTW thank you to REBEL for taking the time out to answer those questions in a clear and concise way! Most grateful!!

I had not thought of the problem we only use a few linetypes so not a problem but say dashed comes to mind which may be used all over the place.

Perhaps a simple way layer 1 dashed layer 2 1/2dashed we have some of our linetypes created twice or more at different scales the linetypes are in ACAD.LIN a txt file so taking dashed as an example as below save in a seperate .LIN file so can be found when updating autocad.

*DASHED,Dashed __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _

A, 12.7, -6.35

*DASHED2,Dashed (.5x) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A, 6.35, -3.175

*DASHEDX2,Dashed (2x) ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ___

A, 25.4, -12.7