Expert: Bob - 10/22/2008

Question
QUESTION: I dragged a layer from one drwaing across to a new drawing using Design Centre, the new layer is there but I cannot see anything on the screen.  I have tried everything.  It is listed under my layers and the lightbulb is on and it is unfrozen, but still I cannot view it.

ANSWER: Hi --- Sorry, you omitted to tell me your experience level, profession, AutoCAD release,etc. Thus I have to guess, and will do the best I can from your information. (I ask for that so I can write appropriately for your level)

BUT -- to be honest, your question shows lack of knowledge on a core basic of AutoCAD, so I wonder if you are someone trying to teach himself, or (sorry) very, very young.

Layers are based on the old concept from hand drafting: one would draw the plumbing (for instance) on semi-transparent tissue, and place it over the base plan before using the blueprint machine, thus creating the plumbing plan without the need to draw the base plan again. (similar with electrical, and so on)
THE LAYER IS LIKE A  _B_L_A_N_K_  TISSUE PAPER (but more advanced).

You are under the impression that the OBJECTS on a layer are part of the layer: they are not. The layer is blank until you draw on it. If you want to bring objects from another drawing in, you must open the other drawing and copy, then paste to the new drawing. (or WBLOCK, or a few other ways)

You got exactly the result you should have --  a layer containing no objects -- when you dragged it from Design Center.

Now my very best advice: if you are asking a question which would be covered near the beginning of a basic class, it is likely that there will be MANY more stumbling blocks for you, until you learn properly.  The time you spent trying to figure out why there was nothing visible on the layer would have been adequate to read a chapter of a good AutoCAD book, and learn right.  I highly suggest that you take the time and effort to learn properly -- AutoCAD is a very complicated precision tool.  

If I read you wrong, write back, please.  Good luck!

BOB

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Bob.



First let me clarify some.  One I am a novice to AutoCAD.  Yes, I am teaching myself as I go along due to the fact that I don't have a spare 1500 for the Level I class in this economic environment.  I'm using AutoCAD LT 2004, as it is the only version that I have found so far that won't crash my very basic 2gb vista pc.



However, with all of that said...I am highly proficient using Adobe Photoshop as well as old school pen and paper drafting techniques.  I do fell that both from a user and a technical standpoint AutoCAD is ridiculously over engineered with far too many redundant commands, but that is a conversation for another day and will never help me in the near future.



I understand that several layers and their associated objects make up a final drawing and that different objects are associated with different layers.  I also understand that I can view these different layers and their associated objects by turning them on and off in my "Layers Properties Manger."  This is a great way to see for example the wiring diagram with it's associated notes of a sound system on top of a fixture plan in a store.  



I'm running into problems when I want to move that "wiring diagram" layer to another drawing with a different fixture plan.  I know that the layer that I'm moving will not show up exactly in the new drawing as it did in the old drawing, but I should be able to see it and move it's individual objects around without having to recreate the whole layer from scratch.  At least I think that I should be able to.



So that brings me full circle to my original question; how can I see a copied layer from dwg-A in dwg-B?  I have copied the layer from dwg-A to dwg-B successfully.  Or, at least it shows up in my list of layers in dwg-B.  But, no mater what I do I still can't view it at all.  I have read through a borrowed textbook with no success. Any help would me much appreciated.

Answer
Hi -- HONESTLY-- I answered this. It seems you are angry at AutoCAD and passed over the answer, wanting AutoCAD to be what you think it should be, and expecting terms from Photoshop to mean the same in AutoCAD.

Again, the layer is a BLANK tissue. The objects ARE NOT PART OF THE LAYER. They merely reside on that layer --- thus when you drag in a layer from Design Center, you see no objects.  A LAYER IS TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY INVISIBLE -- it is not an object -- only OBJECTS residing on the layer may be seen.

AND -- any good book explains this clearly. In another chapter, it will show how to bring objects into another drawing to reside on the layer.

SORRY to yell --- but I dont help you if I dont emphasize that you are the one and only person to whom I have given a clear response, who then insisted on repeating the question.  You are stopping yourself by insisting something I have never before heard must be so.
This does not affect me -- other than the few minutes of reasoning and typing -- but I feel bad for you.

Often, people who are expert at something else are harder to teach. May I please suggest that if you want to learn this, you will have to take it as it is.

BOB