topic Re: screen all existing layers in AutoCAD Forum

screen all existing layers

jdfnnl — Tue, 23 May 2023 21:15:52 GMT

I am looking for an efficient method of applying a 70% screening effect on all existing layers so that all new elements drawn going forward stand out more clearly. Would this be a matter of transferring the contents of each existing layer to a new layer configured with an stb plot style of the desired screening effect? Or is there a simpler way?

Complicating this is that I would like to keep all the set line weights which are currently defined by an ctb plot style. How would one best approach this problem?

Re: screen all existing layers

paullimapa — Tue, 23 May 2023 22:19:10 GMT

The way I typically show layers screened is to change those layer colors to one of the gray tones (assuming your ctb has not assigned them already to a lineweight of course):

Re: screen all existing layers

sideshow-bev — Tue, 23 May 2023 22:57:54 GMT

AutoCAD prints colors and greys which are defined by the ctb file, therefore, you must have a color defined in the ctb file that screens 70%. I don't know any way around this. Even if you move all existing items to a new layer, you will have to assign a color to that layer, so that's not an option either if you don't have any colors already defined in your ctb file to screen 70%.

I think the easiest way to do this, is once you have your color that screens to your liking, just make all of the existing layers said color, or override them to that color (whatever floats your boat); as opposed to moving them all to a new layer. Sometimes when we move things to a new layer all at once, it can screw things up like lineweights and linestyles, etc. so I avoid that when possible.

Make sense? Or maybe I'm not understanding your question fully. That is also possible 🙂

Re: screen all existing layers

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 24 May 2023 02:02:26 GMT

@jdfnnl wrote:

.... applying a 70% screening effect on all existing layers so that all new elements drawn going forward stand out more clearly. ....

Are you talking about "new elements drawn going forward" being on any of the same Layers that you intend to screen? If so, you must screen all existing objects, not Layers, or make different Layers for new elements, or make different Layers for existing elements and move them all over.

But if you're talking about new elements being drawn on other new and un-screened Layers, will Transparency do? It's easy to assign the same transparency to all Layers at once:

(command "_.layer" "_transparency" 70 "*" "")

[Or maybe 30, if 70% screening is equivalent to 30% transparency.]

Re: screen all existing layers

RSomppi — Thu, 25 May 2023 16:38:24 GMT

I would make an XREF out of the existing. It would make layer management much easier.

Re: screen all existing layers

jdfnnl — Thu, 25 May 2023 21:31:10 GMT

New layers created by creating an xref of the existing would be useful but is there a way to explode the xref as to be easily modified when replacing some of objects with new? Alternatively, is there a way to create a duplicate of each layer that has a prefix or suffix life that applied to xref layers?

Re: screen all existing layers

RSomppi — Thu, 25 May 2023 22:59:01 GMT

Using XREFs doesn’t involve exploding them. They are a separate file that can be modified but if it’s existing and correct, the only reason I could think of that would require editing it is for demolition. Without more context, it’s hard to understand your questions.