Top 5 Pieces of Advice in CAD Layers

In this video, we will be sharing with you our Top five pieces of advice to work better and faster with CAD layers.

Let’s begin a countdown starting with bottom-up…

Number 5

Make sure to create a well-organized layer structure. They should be easy to group. For that purpose, we start with an “A” all the layers related to ANNOTATIONS. We could use “F” for layers related to furniture. “P” for PLAN, and some others like the “S” for STRUCTURE. We could even use the “X” for everything that has to do with the pages, title blocks, and frames in the layouts.

Thus, by alphabetical order, it will become easier to find a layer within a specific group. Keeping this advice in mind, create a configuration of the layers you most frequently use and save them inside a custom DWT template. This way you will save time each time you start a new project and work faster with your favorite layers.

Number 4

Make sure to always create your blocks in layer “0”. This is important because the layer ‘0’ exists
in any drawing. So when you will insert the block, You will avoid creating additional layers without any reason and thus, we avoid increasing the number of layers in use in the drawing.

Number 3

Take advantage of the many layer tools offered by ARES Commander. For instance, you can isolate a layer by picking an entity. All the other layers will be turned OFF, and you can concentrate your attention on this layer. See also the possibility to remove layers, including its content and the layers themselves, by selecting entities. It is a great way to clean up a drawing.

Don’t miss our video to learn more about layer tools.

Number 2

Make sure to use the LAYER STATES to better organize your layers, and switch between different configurations. If you like to learn more about LAYER STATES we also have a video for that.

Finally,

Number 1

ARES Commander offers an exclusive tool called LAYER PREVIEW, which allows you to easily and quickly preview which entities belong to the different layers of the drawing. You may even select multiple layers. LAYER PREVIEW undoubtedly stands out by facilitating your work when you receive a drawing with many layers which organization is unclear to you.

If you like to learn this feature in depth, don’t miss our tutorial video.

To learn more about the commands and options offered by ARES Commander, do not hesitate to visit the extensive help offered by the program or our many other tutorial videos.