Operate on all the objects in a layer

Describes the commands you can apply to all the objects in a particular layer at once.

Pick all the objects in a layer

• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Pick Objects.

Make a layer visible or invisible

Do one of the following:

• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Visible to turn the visibility of the layer on or off.
• Click on the layer’s button in the Layer Bar, then choose Layers > Visibility > Invisible or Layers > Visibility > Visible to make the layer invisible or visible.

You can protect the locators on an invisible layer from being deleted when using Delete > Delete Locators by checking on the Exclude Invisible Locators option.

Make the objects in the layer inactive

Do one of the following:

• In the Object Lister (Windows > Object Lister) click on the Layer Pick State icon for that layer until it turns into .
  Note: If the icon is not visible, select it from the Filter menu.
• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Set state > Inactive.
• Click on the layer’s button in the Layer Bar, then choose Layers > Set State > Inactive.

Note: This is like using ObjectDisplay > Template to template the objects on the layer. However, objects on inactive layers can be shaded by turning on Shade Inactive Layers in the Visualization section of Preferences > General Preferences.

Make the objects in the layer unpickable

Do one of the following:

• In the Object Lister (Windows > Object Lister) click on the Layer Pick State icon for that layer until it turns into .
  Note: If the icon is not visible, select it from the Filter menu.
• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Set state > Reference.
• Click on the layer’s button in the Layer Bar, then choose Layers > Set State > Reference.

Reference geometry is similar to templated geometry, but it can be snapped to.

Objects in reference layers can also be selected from within any Locators > Deviation tool, as well as Evaluate > Deviation Map, to measure deviation between regular objects and reference objects. Curve Edit > Fit Curve can be used on section data in reference layers.

Note: You can protect the locators on a reference layer from being deleted when using Delete > Delete Locators by checking on the Exclude Layer Reference States option.

What if...?

The layer bar is not visible below the prompt line?

Choose Layers > Toggle Layers or Layers > Toggle Layer Bar to display the Layer Bar.