So far we have looked at the colour and linetype properties of layers. One of the best aspects of working with layers is the flexibility with which you can control their visibility. The layer of an object has no effect on its display order. These options are particularly useful to control the display of overlapping solids and solid hatches that are coplanar.
It is possible to override this effect using the Display Order tools found on the Tools pull-down, Tools Display Order Options. Objects drawn more recently will display over another if the two objects occupy the same physical space. In AutoCAD the display of one object in relation to another is determined by the objects place in the drawing database. The concept of an object being displayed above or below another, therefore, is not consistent with this logic. However, AutoCAD uses a 3 dimensional drawing space where all objects coexist and are positioned in their correct co-ordinate locations.
#CAD 2012 LAYERS TOOLBAR SOFTWARE#
This layer model is common to illustration software such as CorelDRAW. In other words, if two objects overlap, it seems reasonable to assume that you could cause one object to display "above" another with the use of layers. It is a common misapprehension amongst new users that layers can be used to control the visual hierarchy of objects. Layers can be used to control the way objects are displayed on the computer monitor and how they appear when they are printed. The main reason for this, apart from it being a simple way to control the drawing, is that the different drawing components may need to be printed in different colours, with different linetypes and with different line widths. For example, if you were creating a landscape masterplan, you may have layers called "Trees", "Shrubs", "Path" etc. Experienced AutoCAD users will use layers to order their drawings by drawing components.
The beauty is that you could always turn this layer back on at some future time if modifications to the drawing are required. When the drawing is complete, you could simply turn this layer off so that it can't be seen. You could create a layer called "Construction" and use this for your construction lines. For example, you may need to create a number of construction lines in a drawing which will not form a part of the finished image. Layers are effectively a way of ordering your drawing. This makes working with very complicated drawings much more efficient. However, layers are much more powerful because you can have many layers in a single drawing and you can control the visibility, colour and linetype of layers independently. Basically, layers are the computer equivalent of tracing overlays on a drawing board. The concept of layers is very important in AutoCAD and the correct use of layers can make your drawing much easier to work with.