ABOUT LAYERS

When creating complex artwork, it’s a challenge to keep track of all the items in your document window. Small items get hidden under larger items, and selecting artwork becomes difficult. Layers provide a way to manage all the items that make up your artwork. Think of layers as clear folders that contain artwork. If you reshuffle the folders, you change the stacking order of the items in your artwork. You can move items between folders and create subfolders within folders. The structure of layers in your document can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. By default, all items are organized in a single, parent layer. However, you can create new layers and move items into them, or move elements from one layer to another at any time. The Layers panel provides an easy way to select, hide, lock, and change the appearance attributes of artwork. You can even create template layers, which you can use to trace artwork, and exchange layers with Photoshop. For a video on using layers and groups, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0041. For information on using layers to create animations, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ai_tutorials_layers. Layers panel overview You use the Layers panel (Window > Layers) to list, organize, and edit the objects in a document. By default, every new document contains one layer, and each object you create is listed under that layer. However, you can create new layers and rearrange items to best suit your needs. By default, Illustrator assigns a unique color (up to nine colors) to each layer in the Layers panel. The color displays next to the layer name in the panel. The same color displays in the illustration window in the bounding box, path, anchor points, and center point of a selected object. You can use this color to quickly locate an object’s corresponding layer in the Layers panel, and you can change the layer color to suit your needs. When an item in the Layers panel contains other items, a triangle appears to the left of the item’s name. Click the triangle to show or hide the contents. If no triangle appears, the item contains no additional items. Layers panel A. Visibility column. B. Edit column C. Target column. D. Selection column. The Layers panel provides columns to the left and right of the listings. Click in a column to control the following characteristics: Visibility column Indicates whether items in the layers are visible or hidden (blank space), or whether they are template layers or outline layers. Edit column Indicates whether items are locked or unlocked. The lock icon indicates that the item is locked and cannot be edited; a blank space indicates that the item is unlocked and can be edited. Target column Indicates whether items are targeted for application of effects and edit attributes in the Appearance panel. When the target button appears as a double ring icon (either or ), the item is targeted; a single ring icon indicates that the item is not targeted. Selection column Indicates whether items are selected. A color box appears when an item is selected. If an item, such as a layer or group, contains some objects that are selected and other objects that are unselected, a smaller selection color box appears next to the parent item. If all of the objects within the parent item are selected, the selection color boxes are the same size as the marks that appear next to selected objects. You can use the Layers panel to display some items as outlines and other items as they will appear in the final artwork. You also can dim linked images and bitmap objects to make it easier to edit artwork on top of the image. This is especially useful when tracing a bitmap image. Display options for layered artwork A. Object displayed in Outline view. B. Bitmap object dimmed to 50%. C. Selected object displayed in Preview view. Create a new layer In the Layers panel, click the name of the layer above which (or in which) you want to add the new layer. Do one of the following: To add a new layer above the selected layer, click the Create New Layer button in the Layers panel. To create a new sublayer inside the selected layer, click the Create New Sublayer button in the Layers panel. To set options when you create a new layer, choose New Layer or New Sublayer from the Layers panel menu. Move an object to a different layer Select the object. Do one of the following: Click the name of the desired layer in the Layers panel. Then choose Object > Arrange > Send To Current Layer. Drag the selected-art indicator , located at the right of the layer in the Layers panel, to the layer you want. You can move objects or layers into a new layer by selecting them and choosing Collect In New Layer from the Layers panel menu. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to select nonadjacent items; hold down Shift to select adjacent items. Release items to separate layers The Release To Layers command redistributes all of the items in a layer into individual layers and can build new objects in each layer based on the object’s stacking order. You can use this feature to prepare files for web animation work. In the Layers panel, click the name of a layer or group. Do one of the following: To release each item to a new layer, choose Release To Layers (Sequence) from the Layers panel menu. To release items into layers and duplicate objects to create a cumulative sequence, choose Release To Layers (Build) from the Layers panel menu. The bottommost object appears in each of the new layers, and the topmost object only appears in the topmost layer. For example, assume Layer 1 contains a circle (bottommost object), a square, and a triangle (topmost object). This command creates three layers—one with a circle, square, and triangle; one with a circle and square; and one with just a circle. This is useful for creating cumulative animation sequences. Release To Layers (Build) command creates new layers. Consolidate layers and groups Merging and flattening layers are similar in that they both let you consolidate objects, groups, and sublayers into a single layer or group. With merging, you can select which items you want to consolidate; with flattening, all visible items in the artwork are consolidated in a single layer. With either option, the stacking order of the artwork remains the same, but other layer-level attributes, such as clipping masks, aren’t preserved. To merge items into a single layer or group, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and click the names of the layers or groups that you want to merge. Alternatively, hold down Shift to select all listings in between the layer or group names you click. Then, select Merge Selected from the Layers panel menu. Note that items will be merged into the layer or group that you selected last.Layers can only merge with other layers that are on the same hierarchical level in the Layers panel. Likewise, sublayers can only merge with other sublayers that are within the same layer and at the same hierarchical level. Objects can’t be merged with other objects. To flatten layers, click the name of the layer into which you want to consolidate the artwork. Then select Flatten Artwork from the Layers panel menu. Locate an item in the Layers panel When you select an item in your document window, you can quickly locate the corresponding item in the Layers panel using the Locate Object command. This command is especially helpful for locating items in collapsed layers. Select an object in the document window. If you select more than one object, the frontmost object in the stacking order will be located. Choose Locate Object from the Layers panel menu. This command changes to Locate Layer if the Show Layers Only panel option is selected. Lock or unlock objects or layers Locking objects prevents you from selecting and editing them. You can quickly lock multiple paths, groups, and sublayers by locking their parent layer. To lock objects, click the edit column button (to the right of the eye icon) in the Layers panel for the object or layer you want to lock. Drag across multiple edit column buttons to lock multiple items. Alternatively, select the objects you want to lock, and then choose Object > Lock > Selection. To unlock objects, click the lock icon in the Layers panel for the object or layer you want to unlock. You can also use the following commands to lock and unlock objects: To lock all objects that overlap the area of the selected object and that are in the same layer, select the object, and then choose Object > Lock > All Artwork Above. To lock all layers other than the layer that contains a selected item or group, choose Object > Lock > Other Layers or choose Lock Others from the Layers panel menu. To lock all the layers, select all the layers in the Layers panel, and then choose Lock All Layers from the panel menu. To unlock all objects in the document, choose Object > Unlock All. To unlock all objects within a group, select an unlocked and visible object within the group. Hold down Shift+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Option (Mac OS) and choose Object > Unlock All. If you locked all layers, choose Unlock All Layers from the Layers panel menu to unlock them. Note: The Lock menus are disabled when you’re in isolation mode. Hide or show objects or layers Choose from the following methods: In the Layers panel, click the eye icon next to the item you want to hide. Click again to redisplay the item. If you hide a layer or group, all items in the layer or group are hidden. Drag across multiple eye icons to hide multiple items. Select an object you want to hide, and choose Object > Hide > Selection. To hide all objects above an object in a layer, select the object and choose Object > Hide > All Artwork Above. To hide all unselected layers, choose Hide Others from the Layers panel menu, or Alt click (Windows) or Option click (Mac OS) the eye icon for the layer you want to show. Alternatively, to hide all other layers other than the layer that contains the selected object or group, choose Object > Hide > Other Layers. To show all objects, choose Object > Show All. All previously hidden objects are shown. Any previously selected objects are selected. To show all layers and sublayers, select Show All Layers from the Layers panel menu. Hidden objects aren’t displayed by this command, only hidden layers. To show all objects within a group, select an unlocked and visible object in the group. Hold down Shift+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Option (Mac OS) and choose Object > Show All. Note: The Show All and Hide menus are disabled when you’re in isolation mode. Delete objects Do one of the following: Select the objects and then press Backspace (Windows) or Delete. Select the objects and then choose Edit > Clear or Edit > Cut. Select the items you want to delete in the Layers panel, and then click the Delete icon . Alternatively, drag the item name in the Layers panel to the Delete icon in the panel, or choose Delete “Layer name” from the Layers panel menu. Deleting a layer also deletes all artwork that is in the layer. For example, if you delete a layer that contains sublayers, groups, paths, and clipping sets, all those elements will be deleted along with the layer. Note: A document must have a least one layer. If a document has only one layer, the Delete icon and Delete command are not available. TOOLS PANEL OVERVIEW ABOUT PATHS ABOUT LAYERS