Layer

Toolbar	Menu
Layer Standard	Edit Layers > Edit Layers Window Panels > Layers

Toolbar

Edit

Layers > Edit Layers

Window

Panels > Layers

The Layer command manages layer properties.

Layers are a way of organizing objects so you can manipulate them all at once or keep track of them in some way. When objects are on a layer, you can turn them all off at once, change their wireframe display color, and select them all with one selection.

Layers panel

Panel options Container options

The Layers panel displays the layers in the model.

When a layout view is involved, an extended set of columns displays.

When linked blocks or worksessions are involved, layers from those external files are displayed in a tree format under the block name.

The layer panel gives you tools for managing the layers in your model.

The Layers pop-up menu gives you access to common layer settings: on/off, locked/unlocked, color, and current status.

To display a shortcut window

Click the Layer pane in the status bar.

The layer pop-up gives you access to a shortcut list of layer options. Right-click in the layer pop-up, to show the context menu.

Context menu

Select Objects

Selects all objects on the layer. Objects on the sub-layers are excluded.

Change Object Layer

Moves selected objects to the layer.

Copy Objects to Layer

Copies selected objects to the layer.

Note

If no objects are selected, selecting a layer from the status bar layer pop-up window sets the selected layer as the current layer.
If objects are selected, selecting a layer from the status bar layer pop-up window changes the objects to the selected layer. The current layer is not changed.
The status bar Layer pane shows the current layer unless objects are selected. When objects are selected, the status bar Layer pane shows the layer of select objects or "varies" if objects fell on more than one layer.

To open the Layers panel

Right-click the Layer pane in the status bar.
Or
On the Window > Panels menu, enable Layers.

Layer Properties

Name

Layer name.

See: Naming conventions in Rhino

Current

A check and shading indicates current layer.

On / Off

Controls global visibility of a layer in model, layout, and detail views at the same time unless the layer is specifically turned off by the Model On, Layout On, or Detail On settings.

Lock / Unlock

Controls the selectable state of the objects on a layer.

State of child layers

If the parent layer gets turned off or locked, the "half lite" light bulb or lock icon indicates that the child layers will be controlled by the parent layer.
If the light bulb or lock is all grayed out , then the child layer has it own control, and will not change with the parent layer.
Child layers cannot be turned on or unlocked on their own when their parent layer is turned off or locked.

Color

The default screen display color for objects on this layer.

Material

The material used for rendering.

The circular icon shows the material thumbnail.

RenderAssignMaterialToLayer

Linetype

The linetype assigned to the layer.

Print Color

The color assigned to the layer for printing only.

Print Width

Opens the Select Print Width dialog. Specify a line width assigned to the layer for printing only or specify No Print if you do not want the layer to print.

Define your own line widths (For Windows version only)

Add line width values to the printwidths.txt file in Rhino support folder > Localization > [Language] > Support

In the printwidths.txt file:

Lines begin with ; or // will be ignored.
Line width values have to be larger than 0.

To change a setting for multiple layers

Select a layer.
Use Ctrl(CMD)+click or Shift+click to select more layers.
Click the light bulb to turn on/off the selected layers all at once.

This action works with other layer settings.

Section Style

Sets how to fill clipping sections of objects on the layer.

None

Do not fill clipping sections with a hatch pattern.

Custom

Fills clipping sections with the hatch pattern selected in the Section Style dialog.

New Detail On

Controls the default state of the Detail On setting in new detail views.

Model On / Layout On / Detail On

Controls visibility of a layer in Model, Layout, and Detail views separately when the global visibility setting is turned on.

Layout / Detail Color

The default screen display color for objects on this layer in a layout or detail.

Layout / Detail Print Color

The color assigned to the layout or detail layer for printing only.

Layout / Detail Print Width

The line width assigned to the layer for printing only. Specify a line width assigned to the layer for printing only or specify No Print if you do not want the layer or detail to print. Change the properties of individual objects with the Properties command.

Layer Toolbar options

New Layer

Click to create a new layer with the color for new layers.

New Layer with random color

Right-click to create a new layer with a random color.

Tab and Insert keys

While editing a layer name, pressing Tab or Insert accepts the name editing and creates a new layer. This makes creating multiple layers more easily.

New Sublayer

Click to create a new layer subordinate to the selected layer with the color for new layers.

New Sublayer with random color

Right-click to create a new layer subordinate to the selected layer with a random color.

Layers can be dragged under other layers to make them sub-layers.
Layer names on the same level must be unique.

Delete

If a layer you want to delete has objects on it, a warning dialog appears.

Change Object Layer

Moves selected objects to the selected layer.

Copy Objects to Layer

Copies selected objects to the selected layer.

Steps

Select an object.
Select the target layer.
Left-click or right-click the button.

See: ChangeLayer.

Move Up

Move the selected layers up in the list.

Move Down

Move the selected layers down in the list.

Move Up One Parent

Moves the selected layer up one level in the layer tree structure.

Filters

When a model has a large number of layers, the list of layers may be difficult to manage. Layer filters let you adjust the visibility of the layers in the panel.

Layer Filter Options

All Layers

On Layers

Off Layers

Locked Layers

Unlocked Layers

Layers with Objects

Empty Layers

Selected Layers

Filtered Layers

Opens the Show Filtered Layers dialog box to set a custom filter.

Show Filtered Layers options

Match:

Type a string of characters to match the layer name to. You can include wildcard characters:

* = match zero or more characters
? = exactly one character
# = exactly one numeric (0-9) character
& = exactly one alpha (a-z, A-Z) character

Set the layer attributes to match (on, off, or locked, and whether or not there are objects on the layer).

And are:

Off

Locked

Unlocked

And have:

Objects

No objects

Columns

Shows the column header list to show or hide layer settings.

Right-clicking a column header shows the same list.

Tools

Layer State Manager

Opens the Layer States panel.

Select All

Select all layers currently displayed in the list.

Select Object Layer

Selects the layers of the currently selected objects.

The HighlightObjectLayers command provides the same functionality.

Invert Selection

Inverts the selection state. All selected layers are unselected and all unselected layers are selected.

Select Objects

Select objects for on the currently selected layer.

Select Sublayer Objects

Selects object on the currently selected layer and its sub-layers.

Change Object Layer

Change selected objects to selected layer.

See: ChangeLayer.

Copy Objects to Layer

Copy selected objects to selected layer.

All Layers On

Turn on all hidden layers.

Expand All

Show all child layers.

Collapse All

Hide all child layers.

Columns

Select which columns to display in the Layer panel.

Column Sort

Allows layers to be sorted by columns. Clear the check to prevent layers from being sorted by accident.

Search

Enter text to only list the layers with the text in their names.

Layer list options

To sort the list

Click the column heading.

Layer names are sorted in Natural sort order.

Natural sort order: 1, 2, 3, 10 (10 is listed after 3)

Alphabetical sort order: 1, 10, 2, 3 (10 is listed before 2)

To hide or show columns

Right-click the column heading, and check or clear the column name.

To change a column width

Drag the column heading dividers.

To edit a layer's properties

Right-click the layer name and select an option from the context menu, or select an option from the Layer Toolbar.

To select layers

Click and drag the cursor over a list of layers to select them.
Hold Shift to select a group of adjacent layer names.
Hold Ctrl to select multiple individual layer names.
To quickly select all but a few layers, Select all layers, de-select a smaller set of layers.

Layer context menu options

To open the layer context menu

Right-click on a layer column.

The context menu may display different items when you right-click on different column.

Worksession Reference (Worksession layers only)

For more information, see Worksession.

Set Active Model

The selected model is open for editing.

The current model closes and becomes an attached model. You are prompted to save changes in the currently active model.

Detach Model

Removes the external file from the worksession list.

Update Model

Refreshes the selected attached files.

Attach Model

Attaches an external file to the worksession list.

Restore Default

Resets the column being right-clicked to the default setting.

Random Color (Model view Color column only)

Assigns random colors to selected layers.

Layer Off in Selected Details Only (Layout On column only)

> This Layout

Turns the layer off in the selected detail view, and on in all other detail views in the current layout.

> All Layouts

Turns the layer off in the selected detail view, and on in all other detail views in all layouts.

Layer On in Selected Details Only (Layout On column only)

> This Layout

Turns the layer on in the selected detail view, and off in all other detail views in the current layout.

> All Layouts

Turns the layer on in the selected detail view, and off in all other detail views in all layouts.

Layer Off in this Detail Only (Detail On column only)

> This Layout

Turns the layer off in the active detail view, and on in all other detail views in the current layout.

> All Layouts

Turns the layer off in the active detail view, and on in all other detail views in all layouts.

Layer On in this Detail Only (Detail On column only)

> This Layout

Turns the layer on in the active detail view, and off in all other detail views in the current layout.

> All Layouts

Turns the layer on in the active detail view, and off in all other detail views in all layouts.

Select Objects

Selects objects on the selected layers.

Select Sublayer Objects

Selects objects on the sub-layers of the selected layer.

Change Object Layer

Selects objects in the model to change to selected layer.

Copy Objects to Layer

Selects objects to copy to selected layer.

New Layer

Creates a new layer.

New Sublayer

Creates a new sublayer.

Duplicate Layer

Copies the layer with its attributes.

Duplicate Layer and Objects

Copies the layer with its attributes and all of the objects on the layer.

See: DupLayer.

One Layer On

Sets the selected layer on and turns all others off.

See: OneLayerOn.

Match Properties

Select a layer to match.

See: MatchProperties.

Delete

Deletes the selected layers.

Rename

Edits the name of the selected layer.

Expand Sublayers

Expands the layer tree of the selected parent layer.

Collapse Sublayers

Collapses the layer tree of the selected parent layer.

Layer Keyboard Shortcuts

Standard list control shortcuts

▲	Moves the selection up.
▼	Moves the selection down.
PageUp	Moves the selection a page up.
PageDown	Moves the selection a page down.
Home	Moves the selection to the first item.
End	Moves the selection to the last item.
Ctrl	Adds individual layer to the selection.
Shift	Adds a range of layers to the selection.

Layer-specific shortcuts

The Layer panel must have focus (cursor over the Layer panel) for these shortcuts to work.

F2	Renames the selected layer.
F5	Refresh the layer list.
Insert	Creates a new layer below the selected layer.
+	Expands the selected layer.
Ctrl or Shift + Number pad +	Expands all child layers of the selected layer.
-	Collapses the selected layer.
Ctrl or Shift + Number pad -	Collapses all child layers of the selected layer.

Column options

Displays/hides columns in the layer dialog

Name

Current

Lock

Color

Material

Linetype

Print Color

Print Width

When Layout views exist, additional options appear:

Layout On

Layout Color

Layout Print Color

Layout Print Width

When Detail views exist, additional options appear:

Detail On

Detail Color

Detail Print Color

Detail Print Width

Related commands

ChangeLayer

Toolbar	Menu
Layer	Edit Layers > Change Object Layer

Toolbar

Layer

Edit

Layers >

Change Object Layer

The ChangeLayer command changes the layer of selected objects.

Steps

Select the objects.
Select the layer name from the list.

Layer for Objects options

Available layers

Name

Layer names.

Double-click a layer name to set the target layer and close the dialog box.

Set layer current

Sets the target layer current.

Select

Select an object in the viewport to specify the layer.

New

Creates a new layer.

ChangeToCurrentLayer

Toolbar	Menu	Panels
Layer	Edit Layers > Change Object to Current Layer	Layer Right-click layer name > Change Object Layer

Toolbar

Panels

Layer

Edit

Layers >

Change Object to Current Layer

Layer

Right-click layer name >

Change Object Layer

The ChangeToCurrentLayer command changes the layer of selected objects to the current layer.

Steps

Select objects.

CopyToLayer

Toolbar	Menu
Layer	Edit Layers > Copy Objects to Layer

Toolbar

Layer

Edit

Layers >

Copy Objects to Layer

The CopyToLayer command copies selected objects to a specified layer.

Steps

Select objects.
Select the layer name from the list.

Layer to copy objects

Available layers

Name

Layer names.

Double-click a layer name to set the target layer and close the dialog box.

Set layer current

Sets the target layer current.

Select

Select an object in the viewport to specify the layer.

New

Creates a new layer.

To access hidden command-line options

Type a hyphen in front of the command name: -CopyToLayer.

Command-line options
NewLayer	Create a new layer.
SelectObject	Select an object to specify the layer.
SetCurrent	Yes/No

HighlightObjectLayers

Toolbar	Menu
Layer New in V8	Edit Layers > Highlight Object Layers

Toolbar

Layer

New in V8

Edit

Layers > Highlight Object Layers

The HighlightObjectLayers command selects the layers of selected objects when the Layer panel is visible.

The same functionality can be accessed from Layers panel > Tools > Select Object Layer.

LayerStateManager

Toolbar	Menu
Layer	Edit Layers > Layer State Manager Window Panels > Layer States

Toolbar

Layer

Edit

Layers > Layer State Manager

Window

Panels > Layer States

The LayerStateManager command can:

Save the current state of layers.
Restore the previously saved state of layers.
Restore detail view layer states to the active detail view or all selected detail views.
Import the layer state list from a .3dm file.

Steps

Set up your layers.
The Layer State Manager saves the current layer settings.
In the Layer State Manager panel, click Save, and then type a name for the configuration.

Layer States Panel