ACA: Layer Keys Video Lecture | Become a Pro: Autocad Architecture Tutorial - Design Softwares

this video will cover the concepts of
layer keys and how they work in some of
my other videos for AutoCAD architecture
I've talked about how the AEC objects
such as walls doors windows and many
other tools come in automatically on
layers that are preset which means you
don't have to manually rearrange
everything to layers that you've created
so it really helps the process and speed
with which you can draw a floor plan
because the layer management takes a lot
less thought and planning the layer keys
are the triggers that place those
objects on the layers that they end up
on sometimes it's helpful to be able to
modify those some and in the process you
can create custom tools for example a
existing wall tool that will place walls
on an existing wall layer so I want to
go through how the layer Keys work a
little and then demonstrate how you can
do that
so first just to review when I draw a
wall it automatically goes on the a wall
layer you can always look at that in
your properties palette or in the ribbon
I like to use the properties palette
because I don't have to change tabs of
the ribbon when I select my objects all
the time
so then you can see how that's on the a
wall layer so how did that know that's
the layer that it should go on and not
some other layer or the current layer
that's what the layer keys are doing and
it works the same way with your doors
your windows schedules tags AEC
dimensions and all those other a e.c
smart objects so if I look at the layer
key that's currently set we can see kind
of how this is doing its job I'm gonna
go to the layers flyout at the bottom of
the layers panel of the ribbon then you
have layer key styles
this opens the style manager and
specifically takes you to the layer key
styles area so the AIA layer key style
is the one that's currently set in this
drawing so if I select that on the left
then the window on the right now shows
all the layer keys that are currently
being applied to this drawing so I'm
expand and contract some of these
columns so that it's a little easier to
see so you can see there's a layer key
name and then there is a layer name and
then you have color line type and line
weight and other layer properties so
those are the things that are the most
important the layer key name the layer
name itself and then the color line type
and line weight so in the process you
can also decide what line weight you
want to be for that a wall layer that
the walls are going on as the walls are
drawn so I can sort by either layer key
or by layer name by hitting the heading
at the top so if I just click on layer
key and now it's sorted - we're late
wall will be at the bottom so there's
that wall layer key with a wall being
the name of the layer the color the line
type and the line way so if I wanted my
walls to be darker I could set this to
be a darker line weight and then I would
update that in the template that gets
used for when I start projects and then
that would make all my walls darker on
future projects this is using the AIA
national CAD standard layer system so if
I sort by layer name you can see that a
little easier you always have a prefix
that stands for the discipline such as a
for architectural C for civil e for
electrical G for general I for interiors
etc and then you have a main category
such as floor objects or annotation
related objects like four sections walls
etc and then you have a minor category
after that if you want to make a new
layer key and kind of follow the same
process you can use the button with the
three dots next to the layer name
because when you hit that you can see
how it has your discipline designator
your major and then options for minor
categories under that so if I wanted to
use the same idea but make a custom
layer key I could hit the three dots
here and see the list of predetermined
values for those categories so let's go
ahead and make one for existing walls so
I'm going to do ad
and the name for the lair key I'm gonna
do on all caps to be consistent I'll
call it wall existing the exact name for
this if this is a custom lair key
doesn't matter that much as long as I
keep track of what it is so that I can
apply it to the tools in a minute so I
can hit okay now let me find where that
went so now I can change the lair so in
this case I'm gonna kind of use my own
lair naming system that follows the same
concept of a wall and then existing so
you can see how I'm following the same
idea a for architectural W wall for the
major category and existing for the
minor you have to think about when you
name your layers how do you want things
to sort because really that's what this
is all about for example if I have five
layers of existing things like existing
walls existing glazing an existing doors
things like that do I want those to sort
together where that all the existing
things are grouped or do I want them to
sort with similar object types like all
my walls together my doors together
glazing together because if I want them
all to sort with the existing stuff
together then I would put the existing
in front of the word wall so let's say a
existing wall because then when I have a
existing door existing wall existing
glass those would all be sorted and
grouped together in my layer naming in
my layer list if I want him to sort by
object type then I would put the wall
first so you have to be very specific
and careful on how you name things based
upon what makes the most sense for where
you working choose a color
something other than white is always
best I'm going to leave it on continuous
linetype and I'll make the line wait
something in the medium range so that
it's lighter than my new walls now you
can also add a description there so I'll
put existing walls and that should do it
I'm not going to worry too much about my
overrides for right now on the end so
I'm going to hit OK
and then now I need to apply that too
tools such as in the tool palette so I'm
going to make a copy of a wall tool
that's already here like stud for copy I
right clicked on it and hit copy and
then I can right click and hit paste to
make a new version of the same tool and
now I right-click on it and go to
properties and that allows me to get
into how this tool is working so now I
can call that existing walls change my
description I can decide what style is
being applied to this tool in this case
I'm going to use the standard one
because it's gonna probably work with
walls of very various thicknesses so I
would want that to be the standard style
you have the option of specifying a CAD
file where that Styles being pulled from
if it's a standard out-of-the-box style
you can leave it on the default but
otherwise if you've made up your own
styles you may not want to have them all
loaded in your template all the time so
you can have them pulled in from a
specific CAD file I can change various
other options here but the main thing I
want to do is choose the layer key so I
want to click on that field and then
that pops up with all the layer keys
that are in this drawing so I can choose
my wall existing layer key and then hit
OK so now I have the basic settings set
up for that tool on my tool palette I
can hit OK and then once that's done
thinking now I can use my new tool so I
can click on that and draw a new wall
there and then when I select it you can
see how it's on my new layer that I made
a wall existing and it's also using the
color and the line type and the line
weight that I have assigned so it's easy
to make new tools on your tool palette
that way the other option that you may
want to do if you get serious about
making tools is to keep them also on
your content browser you can access that
from your ribbon by hitting a little
flyout at tools content browser and then
go to the category that applies to the
tools that you're creating like walls
and then a particular category within
that can also make new categories at the
lower right so if you were making a
bunch of custom tools you could create
your own and then once you hit a
specific category if you have a custom
tool that you made under tool palette
you can copy paste it into the content
browser by right-clicking and copy and
then in the content browser right click
and paste that's how I added the
existing wall tool here so this keeps
all of your wall tools in one place
there's a lot more tools here than there
are on the tool palettes so this is kind
of your overall home for all tools and
then if you needed to you could copy it
or drag it back to the tool pallet later
if something happened to your tool
pallet so that's always a good idea for
making a lot of custom tools the other
thing to consider when you're working
with layer keys if you hit your layers
flyout on the ribbon
you see select layer standard this
defines which layer key is currently
applied to this drawing you can see
there's a few other choices but äîa is
the normal version for AutoCAD
architecture the other option you do
have is you can have it automatically
pull from a different CAD file and
that's listed at the top of this tab so
if you want to have one CAD file
somewhere on a server in a company that
had the master layer key version you
could do that it's not necessarily a
requirement if you use a template and
you have that layer key defined in the
template file so that's kind of the
basics of how layer keys work so you can
make your own and then define them for
any objects and any tools that you want
if you want to change a layer key that
is already established then usually it's
pretty easy to find the layer key that
you want just by looking through the
list of layers and lists of the layer
key names that are here and the easiest
way to find something is to sort by the
heading that you want up at the top