Controlling Layers Across Multiple Pages
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Hello everyone, been a long time read and user of SU, and recently dove into LO. Like many, I've been impressed with a lot of what LO can do, and frustrated with the things it can't, though some of it is learning curve.
Anyway, one item i find continually frustrating me is layer control across multiple pages. I am not sure if this is possible, but if i have a large number of sheets in my construction drawing set, and I add in a new layer needed for one sheet, that layer is on for every sheet. Though this really is not a huge issue as no information comes across pages, but does become an issue if i need to make that new layer a shared layer across say 4 of my 22 page set. Which mean I need to go to the other 18 pages to turn it off.
Is there a way to select multiple pages and adjust layer visibility in batch format?
Thanks for any help!
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There isn't a way to control layer visibility for multiple pages at one time but a couple of options come to mind that might be useful.
First, make yourself a custom template with layers set up as you would use them. You don't have to use all of those layers on every project but you could make a number of layers that are shared and a number that aren't and rename them if needed by the project. I have four or five custom templates that I use depending on the project. There are elements that are shared one every or some pages and I have layers already set up for them. In several of them I have a half dozen layers I dedicate to SU viewports, others for hatches, dimensions and other text. Of course things like title blocks are on shared layers. Anyway, it's just a matter of thinking far enough ahead to organize things before they get out of hand.
Another thing you might look at is the Duplicate Page option. Maybe in your case you could utilize that.
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Thanks for the response. Funny enough, your suggestion about creating templates is what I'm in the process of doing. I made all my standard pages before layers, so I think I'm doing this more in reverse than need be. Thanks for the input!
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You're quite welcome.
Indeed it should be layers before pages when setting up a template. Also, even though layer order isn't important in SketchUp, it is in LayOut. If you want things like text to appear over SketchUp viewports, but the text layers higher in the list than the viewports. I have layers for borders and title blocks and such at the bottom of the list because I rarely need to do anything with them or I change them once at the beginning of a project and don't need them again. That way those layers aren't in the way when I'm going through the stack later. I also have a couple of templates for large paper that will get folded. I drew out fold lines and put them on a layer that is visible when I start but gets turned off before exporting. They help me avoid placing important information on the creases. These layers mostly remain locked so they can't be modified, too. Everything else is higher in the stack.
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