Can someone walk me through (with an example maybe)
I can't seem to get a handle on it.
Thank You,
Steve
#2
Layers...
Layer handling is a basic issue for almost all CADs, and several other programs like Corel Draw, Photoshop, etc.
It's principle is very simple. It's like to work with transparent paper sheets, so you can order drawing information and, for example (in architectural drawings terms), keep walls and divisions in one sheet, dimensioning in other, and whatever clasification of drawing information you consider useful to keep separated from the other items.
So, you can work looking at the information useful to the design progress stage you're in.
If you start working on the electrical design of a building, you don't need to keep the structural information displayed, or maybe, the architectural dimensioning. So, layer handling, lets you focus on your work with more efficiency, and also lets you save hardware resources like RAM.
You can create as much layers as you need, personally, I do it that way. So, I just see the information I need in a precise stage.
So, how you do that... Well, when you start a drawing in ICAD, by default it comes with the 0 (cero) layer created. In the layer explorer (Configure>Explore Layers...) you'll see all the options to handle them.
You need to create new layers. You can name them as you wish, and you can create more layers subsequently in the design/drawing proccess.
As you create layers, in the Layer Explorer, you'll see a table at the right side of the window, with the Layer names, color, linetype, and the controls to On/Off, Lock/Unlock, Freeze/Thaw, Freeze/Thaw in selected viewports and Freeze/Thaw in new viewports.
You'll notice the active layer by the check next to the left side of the name. You can choose the active layer by double-clicking to the left of the name. The active layer means that the new entities that you draw after choosing the layer, will belong to it.
If the entities drawn have color depending on layer (bylayer), you control it with the layer color, right to the name.
Linetype works the same way as color. This means that, if you have drawn x number of entities (lines, circles, plines, etc), and their color and linetype is layer dependent (bylayer), if you change these settings in the layer explorer, all of them will change.
On/Off and Freeze/Thaw controls let you display or not the content of a layer, with the difference that Freeze and Thaw undisplays and let the program "forget" about the data keeped in the layer, so you get more resources and speed, specially in heavy drawings.
Lock/Unlock lets you see the content of a layer, but doesn't lets you modify it, when it's lock.
And the other controls, work like the Freeze/Thaw, but in paperspace viewports.
Well, this has been a lot and resumed information about layers. You may refer to the manual for further details, or comeback to this forum. I hope this helps.
Just in case, forgive my english...
Layer handling is a basic issue for almost all CADs, and several other programs like Corel Draw, Photoshop, etc.
It's principle is very simple. It's like to work with transparent paper sheets, so you can order drawing information and, for example (in architectural drawings terms), keep walls and divisions in one sheet, dimensioning in other, and whatever clasification of drawing information you consider useful to keep separated from the other items.
So, you can work looking at the information useful to the design progress stage you're in.
If you start working on the electrical design of a building, you don't need to keep the structural information displayed, or maybe, the architectural dimensioning. So, layer handling, lets you focus on your work with more efficiency, and also lets you save hardware resources like RAM.
You can create as much layers as you need, personally, I do it that way. So, I just see the information I need in a precise stage.
So, how you do that... Well, when you start a drawing in ICAD, by default it comes with the 0 (cero) layer created. In the layer explorer (Configure>Explore Layers...) you'll see all the options to handle them.
You need to create new layers. You can name them as you wish, and you can create more layers subsequently in the design/drawing proccess.
As you create layers, in the Layer Explorer, you'll see a table at the right side of the window, with the Layer names, color, linetype, and the controls to On/Off, Lock/Unlock, Freeze/Thaw, Freeze/Thaw in selected viewports and Freeze/Thaw in new viewports.
You'll notice the active layer by the check next to the left side of the name. You can choose the active layer by double-clicking to the left of the name. The active layer means that the new entities that you draw after choosing the layer, will belong to it.
If the entities drawn have color depending on layer (bylayer), you control it with the layer color, right to the name.
Linetype works the same way as color. This means that, if you have drawn x number of entities (lines, circles, plines, etc), and their color and linetype is layer dependent (bylayer), if you change these settings in the layer explorer, all of them will change.
On/Off and Freeze/Thaw controls let you display or not the content of a layer, with the difference that Freeze and Thaw undisplays and let the program "forget" about the data keeped in the layer, so you get more resources and speed, specially in heavy drawings.
Lock/Unlock lets you see the content of a layer, but doesn't lets you modify it, when it's lock.
And the other controls, work like the Freeze/Thaw, but in paperspace viewports.
Well, this has been a lot and resumed information about layers. You may refer to the manual for further details, or comeback to this forum. I hope this helps.
Just in case, forgive my english...
