Layers

Layers are a fundamental organisational tool in CAD drawings. They allow you to group related entities together and control their appearance and visibility independently.

Overview

Every entity in a drawing belongs to a layer. A layer has a name, a colour, a line type, and a visibility state. By assigning entities to different layers you can:

Show or hide groups of related objects without deleting them.
Apply consistent colours and line types across a group of entities.
Control which parts of a drawing are visible or printed.

A drawing always has at least one layer: Layer 0, which is the default layer and cannot be deleted.

Layer Properties

Property	Description
Name	A unique identifier for the layer. Names should be descriptive, for example `Walls`, `Dimensions`, or `Annotations`.
Colour	The default colour applied to all entities on the layer. Individual entities can override this with their own colour.
Line Type	The default line type for entities on the layer, for example continuous, dashed, or centre.
Visible	Controls whether entities on the layer are displayed on the canvas.
Current	The active layer. All newly created entities are placed on the current layer.

Managing Layers

Open the Layers panel using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L or via the Side Kick panel.

Creating a layer

Open the Layers panel.
Click the + button.
A new layer is created with a default name. Edit the name in the detail panel below.

Setting the current layer

Select a layer in the list and click the Set Current button, or double-click the layer. All new entities will be drawn on this layer.

Deleting a layer

Select the layer and click the − button. A layer cannot be deleted if it is the current layer or if it contains entities.

Layer 0

Layer 0 is a special built-in layer that is present in every drawing. It cannot be renamed or deleted. It is primarily used as the default layer for block geometry — entities on Layer 0 inside a block definition inherit the colour and line type of the layer the block is inserted on.

Defpoints

Defpoints is a special layer that is created automatically when a dimension is added to a drawing. Dimension definition points — the small points that mark the measured locations on an entity — are placed on this layer by the dimensioning system.

The Defpoints layer has one unique behaviour: entities on it are not printed or exported, even when the layer is visible. This means definition points appear on screen as a drawing aid but do not appear in any output.

The Defpoints layer should not be used for general drawing geometry as it will not appear in printed or exported output.

Tips

Use clear, consistent naming conventions across drawings so layers are predictable — for example, prefix layers by discipline: A-Walls, S-Columns.
Turn off layers you are not currently editing to reduce visual clutter without losing the geometry.
Assign a distinct colour to each layer to make it easy to identify which layer an entity belongs to at a glance.
Over time drawings can accumulate unused layers. Use the Purge command (P U) to remove them and keep the drawing clean.