Working with Layers in Ez-Architect, part 1, Planning

Using layers can be a little confusing at first when you’re drawing a floor plan with Ez-Architect. Here are some basic rules to follow when you draw a room plan, floor plan or house plan:

1. Never draw any part of your plan on the base layer [B], why? see below.
2. Before you start drawing decide how many layers you might have. For example, one layer for each of the following

• walls, doors, and windows
• electrical
• plumbing
• furniture
• other structural materials like stairways, studs, joists or rafters
• etc

You can use the Layout/Layers menu to select and name your layers, or just click the numbers below the menu bar. When you click on a layer, a dialog will pop up where you can enter a layer name (e.g. electrical plan). The name you enter will appear any time that layer is selected. If you select more than one layer, both names appear.

We suggest that you always name your layers so you know just from glancing below the menu bar which ones you’re seeing and working on.

You can move, add to, remove, or change objects when a layer (or more than one layer) is selected, or when you select the Base layer. Be careful though, because if you have more than one layer selected, you may end up putting the object on the wrong layer. The best method is to select just one layer when you add objects.

Why not draw on the base layer?
Because the base layer contains everything from every other layer. This is how you can look at everything you have placed in your plan. Of course, you can also select all the used layers to see everything. But using the base is much easier.

Next time, I’ll write about working with hidden layers.

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