Using Layers

When working with complex landscape designs, it is often advantageous to organize your drawing into layers. You can add plants into one layer, fill regions into another, and so forth. For example, suppose you have finished adding fill regions and want to begin designing a garden. You can place the fill regions into a layer and lock it, which will prevent them from being accidentally selected.

Or, you might separate your landscape design into areas, such as front yard, side, and back, and move all of the objects in each area into their own layer. You could then hide all of the areas except the one you're currently working on, which would help the program run faster.

There is always one layer that is currently active. Whenever you create a new object, it is automatically added to the current layer.

To edit layer settings, click the drop-down button to the right of the active layer. (You can also double-click the layer button.)

The following dialog will appear:

Layer
The layer name. Click to set a new name.

Hide
Click to hide the objects in the layer. When the layer is hidden, a small icon will appear.

Lock
Click to lock the objects in the layer. When the layer is locked, a small icon will appear.

Add Layer
Press to add a new layer.

Delete Layer
Press to delete the selected layer.

OK
Press to accept your changes.

Cancel
Press to cancel your changes.

To show or hide objects in a layer:

1.   Click the desired layer tab to make it active.

2.   Click the drop-down button.

3.   Select Hide objects in this layer to toggle the visibility on or off.

To lock or unlock objects in a layer:

1.   Click the desired layer tab to make it active.

2.   Click the drop-down button.

3.   Select Lock objects in this layer to lock or unlock the objects.

To select the objects in a layer:

1.   Click the desired layer tab to make it active.

2.   Click the drop-down button.

3.   Click Select objects in this layer.

To move the selected objects into a layer:

1.   Select the object(s) you want to move into the layer.

2.   Right-click in the viewport, point to Move to Layer, and click the desired layer.

Tips:

•      You can also hide and lock objects by type. See Showing & Hiding Objects for details.

•      When you add an object to the landscape, the current layer is automatically unlocked and made visible.

•      Hidden objects do not appear in a realtime walkthrough.

•      Objects in hidden/locked layers are saved and loaded to/from disk normally. That is, you can save your landscape with hidden and/or locked layers, and the objects will remain in the landscape design when you later open the file.

•      Layers are specific to the current landscape design. In other words, changing the layer settings in one file will not affect any of your other files.

•      Objects in hidden and/or locked layers cannot be selected, edited, or deleted.

See also:

Showing and Hiding Objects
Selecting Objects
Editing Objects
Undoing and Redoing Changes