When you create or draw anything in Chief Architect, whether it's walls,
doors, text, or CAD objects,
they are placed automatically on different layers.
If I select an object like this wall and look down here at the bottom of my
screen at the status bar, or feedback bar,
you can see that it tells me that this object's layer is the wall's normal
layer. If I select a cabinet,
you can see that this is on the cabinet's full layer.
Each object is placed on a layer according to defaults that you set up.
You can learn more about defaults and default settings in additional videos.
You can access all of the layers used in Chief Architect by going up to the
tools, down to the layer settings, and click on display options.
You'll also notice that this icon for the display options is here in your
toolbar for quick access. If I click on layer display options,
it opens up the layer display options dialogue. In this dialogue,
you can see all of the layers that everything that is drawn or placed in Chief
is on. Here under the used column, you'll see all of the red plus marks.
If there's a red plus mark next to one of these layers,
that indicates that there is something on that layer right now.
If there's no plus mark, there's nothing on that layer.
The blue checkmarks under the column marked Disp for display,
indicates that the items on these layers are currently displayed on your screen.
For instance, my base cabinets are being displayed. However,
the soffits layer which is being used is not turned on so it's not being
displayed in my screen.
The M under Mat means that anything on this layer will be listed in your
materials list when you generate one. Under the lock column,
you can lock a layer. If I lock the base cabinet's layer,
I won't be able to select, move or change anything that's on that layer.
You can make this change either by clicking here in the lock column or here at
the bottom of my screen. With the base cabinet's layer selected,
I can click on lock or unlock.
I can also include it in the materials list and display it.
Each layer is assigned attributes like color, line weight,
line style, and a text style.
You can change that again here or down here at the bottom by simply clicking on,
for instance, the color for my base cabinets.
Right now it's kind of a rose color.
We can change this to a different color if we wish.
I'll click OK to exit this dialog box. Over here on the right side of my screen,
I have the library browser, project browser,
and the active layer display options.
The active layer display options is turned on with a toggle switch.
You can see this toggle switch here in the toolbar.
It's similar to the layer display options.
The checkmark at the bottom indicates that your active display options is turned
on. By clicking this button, it turns it off.
The nice thing about the active layer display options is that it remains open
while you're working on your plan. While you're designing,
you can access any of these layers.
You can edit your layers as well as turning them off and on. For instance,
you can see that I have my dimensions displayed.
If I scroll up here to the dimensions layers,
I can turn that layer off by unchecking the box here.
Another nice thing about the active layer display options is if I select an
object,
the active layer display options will isolate the layers that that object is
using, which makes it easy to turn it off or on or edit it.
You can change the layer of objects by selecting an object using your open
object tool and in the specification dialogue for that object,
you'll find a layer panel. If you don't see a layer panel,
you can also find it under line style panels.
Here I'll go to the layer panel,
click on the dropdown and I can see the same list of layers that is shown in my
layer display options. Here, I can change the layer.
You can also open up your layer display options by clicking on the define
button. Once you're in the layer display options,
I can change the layer that it's on or create a new layer.
I'll create a new one by either clicking on new down here or click on copy to
copy the layer that I have selected and keep all of its attributes like line
weight, line style, and textile. Now that I've copied it,
I can rename it by clicking in this field and typing in a new name.
Again, you can change the color, line weight, and line style.
I'll change these to green. Click OK and click OK here.
So now, my dimensions are on a new layer.
Another tool that we have under tools and layer settings is the layer
eyedropper.
This tool allows you to match the layer of one object to another object. Here,
I want to use the layer that I've created for this three-foot eight dimension,
so I'll click on the three-foot eight dimension that will assign my new
dimensions interior layer. Then I'll click once on these other dimensions.
Now all three of these dimensions are on the same layer.
You also have another tool that allows you to select the layer first.
If I go back to the tools drop-down menu, click on layer painter.
Layer painter will allow me to select a layer. When I click OK,
my layer painter tool is active.
Now I'll click on the objects that I want to assign that layer.
Another tool available, under the layer settings tools, is the layer hider.
The layer hider will turn off the layer of an object that I select.
If I activate layer hider, click once on these dimensions,
it will turn off that layer. To deactivate the tool, simply hit your space bar.
Remember that your layers work in all different views.
If I take a camera view of my dining room and living room,
you can see in this view all of the furniture is displayed.
If I select a piece of furniture, again,
my active layer display options will isolate that layer and I can turn it off by
unchecking the Disp column.
That will turn off everything that's on that layer in the camera view.
It works the same in elevation views, cross-section views, camera views,
and floorplan views.
Camera views use a different layers set than the floor plan view.
You can learn more about layer sets in additional online training videos.