Creating and Assigning Layers

Creating and Assigning Layers
You’ll start your exploration of layers by using a dialog box to create a new layer, giving it a name,
and assigning a color. Then, you’ll look at alternate ways of creating a layer through the command
line. Next, you’ll assign the new layer to the objects in your drawing. Start by getting familiar with
the Layer Properties Manager dialog box:
1. Open the
Bath
file you created in Chapter 4. (If you didn’t create one, use the file
04b-bath.dwg
or
04b-bath-metric.dwg
.) 2. To display the Layer Properties Manager dialog box, click the Layer Properties Manager tool
in the Layers control panel, or choose Format 
Layer from the drop-down menu. You can
also type
LA ↵to use the keyboard shortcut.


TIP The Layer Properties Manager dialog box shows you at a glance the status of your layers. Right
now, you have only one layer, but as your work expands, so will the number of layers. You’ll then
find this dialog box indispensable.
3.
Click the New Layer button at the top of the dialog box. The button has an icon that looks
like a star next to a sheet.
A new layer named Layer1 appears in the list box. Notice that the name is highlighted. This tells
you that by typing, you can change the default name to something better suited to your needs.



4. Type Wall . As you type, your entry replaces the Layer1 name in the list box.
5. With the Wall layer name highlighted, click the Color icon in the Wall layer listing to display
a dialog box in which you can assign a color to the Wall layer. The Color icon can be found
under the Color column and currently shows White as its value. The icon is just to the left of
the word
white
.


The Select Color dialog box opens.



6. In the row of standard colors next to the ByLayer button, click the green square, and then
click OK. Notice that the color swatch in the Wall layer listing is now green.
7. When the Layer Properties Manager dialog box returns, click OK to close it.
From this point on, any object assigned to the Wall layer will appear green unless the object is
specifically assigned a different color.