properties of ACADE layers

[jseefdrumr]

I know how to change the name of the layers ACADE uses (SYMS, DESC, WIRENO, etc). But is there a way to control the other properties, like color and plot style?

I know I can pre-define the layers in a template, but I'd rather just allow them to go on being created on the fly. So far, renaming the layers via AEPROPERTIES appears to be the only thing we can change. Is there a way to edit the other properties too?

Jim

[jseefdrumr]

Also, I'm not finding anything on panel layers at all (PTAG, PBAL, PITEM, etc). Is there even a way to rename these layers?

[jseefdrumr]

**BUMP**

Is there seriously no way to define layer properties for ACADE default layers?

Any Autodesk folks want to weigh in on this? If nothing exists here, I'd like to throw this at the IdeaStation.

[Icemanau]

ALL layers can be modified through the standard 'Layer Properties Manager' from ACAD. This is part of ACADE as well.

Select it from your ribbon or use Layer on the command line.

The only thing that makes an ACADE layer special is the layer name and the ability to designate certain layers as wire layers.

It is possible to change the names BUT you also have to change the names in each dwgs properties.

In the Drawing Format tab click the Define button in the Layers section. 

I recommended that you do not change the name of any of the ACADE layers but all other parameters should be fine to change.

Regards Brad

[jseefdrumr]

Thanks for the reply, Brad. I'm aware of how to change a layer's properties. What I want to do is change the properties of the layers that are created on the fly -- so they come out the way I want when I'm working in a drawing that doesn't have pre-defined layers in it.

If ACADE needs a layer, and that layer isn't defined, the software just creates it. The settings it uses to do this have to come from somewhere. What I want is access to these settings so that I can tell ACADE what properties to assign when it does that.

How that explains it a little better.

Jim

[Icemanau]

I'm not sure but it may be that layers created on the fly take their settings from Layer 0.

Regards Brad

[jseefdrumr]

Nope, that's not it. I have a PlotStyle assigned to Layer 0, the on-the-fly layers don't inherit that. In fact, they all come in with properties that are different from each other, so it doesn't appear that values are pulled from any existing layer..

Symbol blocks are drawn with everything on Layer 0. Upon insertion, the block as a whole goes on the SYMS layer. But the internal elements (notably, the attributes) end up on their own layers -- TAGS, DESC, LOC, and so on. These all have different colors, etc. That's the info I want to control during on-the-fly placement. It's not in the block drawings themselves. But it's got to be somewhere.

Any superusers out there know how ACADE determines these properties?

[jseefdrumr]

******BUMP******

It's hard to think that there is no one out there who doesn't know how to do this, or that this has never needed to be done before.

Autodesk?

Anybody?

[rhesusminus]

I'm pretty sure that the code for creating this layer on the fly is like this (copy and paste to the command line to test):
(command "-LAYER" "M" "TESTLAYER" "")

As far as I know, there is no way to set the default color/linetype etc. for new layers. In the layer palette it copies the properties of the selected layer from the list when you create a new layer.

My suggestion for a workaround, will be to create a script that changes the properties of the layers to what you want, and run this script via project wide utilities.

The script should look something like this:

-LAYER
MAKE
TAGS
MAKE
DESC
MAKE
DESCCHILD
COLOR
BLUE
TAGS,DESC
COLOR
RED
DESCCHILD
<- Extra line break here to exit layer command