Modifying the behaviour of your layers is as quick as 1,2,3. In previous AutoCAD versions, you would need to open the Layer Properties Manager and then change the behaviour or property.
In the current AutoCAD navigate to the Layers Panel on the Home Ribbon, click on the drop-down arrow next to the layer name and you will be able to very quickly do the following.
- change the colour
- switch the visibility on or off
- freeze or thaw the layer
- lock or unlock the layer
This is great and easy but what if you have 150 layers in that drop down? You would spend quite a bit of time scrolling up and down looking for the layer you wanted.
On the layers panel, you have a few commands which work with you selecting an AutoCAD entity which already exists and either enforcing layer properties/behaviours on to it or extracting properties from that entity and sharing it with other entities.
On the layers panel, you have the following.
- Turn layer on/off – This tool allows you to turn the layer of the selected object on or off
- Isolate/Unisolate – This tool isolates and unisolates layers of a selected object
- Freeze/Thaw – This tool will freeze the layer of a selected object and then thaw all layers in the drawing
- Lock/unlock – This tool will lock and unlock the layer of a selected object
Make Current – If you select an object with this tool activated it will make the layer of that object the current layer
Match Layer – This changes the layer of the selected object to a destination layer that you choose
So as you can see these tools are easily accessible, making working with layers a breeze.
