Using Layers to Organize Your Drawing - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 252

n a M I n g l a y e r s

You can name layers in a variety of ways. With their different color assign-
ments, layers make it possible for you to distinguish easily which objects in
your drawing represent walls or other parts of your building. Most offices
follow a standard for organizing layers by name and color. You've already had
a chance to begin using the U.S. National CAD Standards. The International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) also publishes a layering standard.
Both are often adopted by architecture and engineering firms and custom-
ized to fit their specific needs.
When you name layers, you can use uppercase and lowercase letters, and
AutoC AD will preserve them. But AutoC AD doesn't distinguish between
them and treats Walls , WALLS , and walls as the same layer.

With the cabin
drawing, you'll
start developing
a basic set of lay-
ers. Once you learn
how to manage the
set you're using
here, tackling more
complex layering
systems will come
naturally. In more
complex drawings,
you might need
several layers for
variations of the
same building com-
ponent, landscape
element, or machine
part. You might
replace the a-WaLL
layer, for example,
with several layers,
such as existing
Walls to remain
(A-WALL-E), Walls
to Be Demolished
(A-WALL-D),
and New Walls
(A-WALL-N).

Looking at the other tabs in the Select Color Dialog Box

AutoCAD also supports a True Color palette and various Pantone, DIC, and RAL
color groups. Although I won't cover these features in any depth in this topic,
let's take a quick look at them before moving on. Feel free to follow along as we
explore these additional tabs by making a copy of your 06A-FPLAY1.dwg file; you
won't save any changes you make in this section.

the true Color tab With the Layer Properties Manager dialog box open, click
one of the color swatches in the Layer List box to open the Select Color dialog box
again. Then click the True Color tab. In the upper-right corner, the Color Model
drop-down list displays either RGB or HSL. The display for the Red, Green, Blue
(RGB) color model looks like the left side of Figure 6.10, and the Hue, Saturation,
Luminance (HSL) model looks like the right side of Figure 6.10.
The RGB option shows three horizontal color bands, one for each of the three pri-
mary colors (red, green, and blue). Move the sliders on each band to set a number
from 0 to 255, or enter a number in the input box for each color. The three primary
color values that combine to make up the final color appear at the bottom and
on the right side, and the rectangles in the lower-right corner show the currently
selected and previously selected color.
The HSL screen displays a rectangle of colors and a vertical band with a slider.
Drag the crosshairs around on the rectangle. The color in the front rectangle in
the lower-right corner changes as you move the crosshairs. Moving the crosshairs
left or right takes the Hue value through a range of 361 values. Moving it up or
down changes the percentage of saturation, or intensity , with the top of the rect-
angle representing 100 percent.