What are layer In Autocad?

“Layers” is a concept that allows you to group drawn geometry in distinct and separate categories according to similar features or a common theme. This allows you to exercise control over your drawing by (among other things) applying properties to those groups such as assigning colors, or making them visible or invisible for clarity.
So, for example, all the walls of a floor plan will exist on the “Walls” layer, all the doors on the “Doors” layer, and windows on the “Windows” layer and so on. You can think of layers as transparency sheets in an Anatomy textbook, with each sheet showing a unique and distinct category of data, (skeleton, muscle, circulatory system, etc.) but when viewed all at once show the complete picture of a person. Similarly in AutoCAD there can be any number of layers (often the problem is using too many) with all of them holding their respective data and combining into the complete design.


Let’s take a look at all the layer features one by one.

Understanding Layer In Autocad with Video.

Creating and adjusting layers using the Layer Property Manager In Autocad

Using layer in Autocad to organize a drawing

Changing layer settings using layer control In Autocad

Understanding the BYLAYER property In Autocad

Using the Layer Previous command In Autocad

Creating and deleting layers
Each new layer in autocad needs to be initially typed in according to what you need or the company standard. To do that you need to highlight (click on) the layer 0 grey band. When it turns blue, simply press Enter once and the blue ribbon bar will jump to another line and create Layer 1. Another way to get a new layer is to press a button at the top of the layer box (two icons to the left of the red “X”) that looks like a sheet of paper with a sparkle next to it. Either way, once you do that, just type in the layer name followed by Enter. Some helpful tips:

• If you noticed that you made a spelling mistake after you already pressed Enter, you can just click back into the layer name once or twice until the cursor enters edit mode and retype.
• Do not attempt to change the “0” layer’s name. It is the default layer and cannot be deleted or renamed.
• If you want to delete a layer (perhaps an accidentally made one), simply highlight the layer, click the red
“X” and then Apply at the bottom right of the layer box. If the layer contains nothing it will be deleted.


Making a layer current.

This is simply the active layer that you are able to draw on at any given moment. You are always on some layer (even if you’re not immediately sure which one exactly). So logically if you are about to draw a wall, you should be in the A-Walls layer and so on. To specify what layer to have as current either click the green check mark button (to the right of the red “X”) or double-click the layer name itself. Go ahead and make A-Walls current.

Layer Freeze/Thaw and On/Off In Autocad .

Here we come to a very important part of the layers dialog box. Freeze and Thaw are opposites of the same
command, one that will make a layer disappear from view. The command will freeze or thaw the layer for the entire drawing. Pick a layer, highlight it, follow the band across to the “Freeze” column and underneath you will find a yellow “sun” icon. If you click it, that layer will “freeze” and the icon will become a blue “snowflake”. Clicking again will undo the action. So what does freeze mean? It will make the layer (or rather all the objects on that layer) disappear from view, but remember, they are NOT deleted, only invisible. You will use this feature routinely in drawings to control what is displayed. The On/Off feature represented by the light-bulb (yellow to blue and back) is essentially the same as Freeze/Thaw, with some subtle (and minor) details so we won’t go into them. You can use either method; though stay with Freeze/Thaw just to keep things consistent.

Layer Lock/Unlock in Autocad 2010 & 2012

This layer command, represented by the lock, does exactly that; it locks the layer so you can’t edit or erase it. The layer remains visible, but untouchable. The unlocked layer’s icon is blue and looks “unlocked,” while a locked layer’s lock will turn yellow and change to a “locked” position. Play around with all the buttons we mentioned thus far to get a feel for them. When done, make sure everything is reset (not locked or frozen) and click the “X” in the upper corner of the layer box to close it.

Layer in Autocad 2010, 2012 Tutorial with Video By Cad tutorial pdf