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Node: <a name="Layer%20Controls">Layer Controls</a>,
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Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Tool-Selectors.html#Tool%20Selectors">Tool Selectors</a>,
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Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Panner-Control.html#Panner%20Control">Panner Control</a>,
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Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Application-Window.html#Application%20Window">Application Window</a>
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<h3 class="subsection">The Layer Controls</h4>
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<p>The layer control panel, located below the panner control, is used to turn on
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and off the display of layer groups and to select the active drawing layer.
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If a layer hasn't been named, the label "<em>(unknown)</em>" is used as the default.
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If this happens, it probably means the application resources are not installed
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<p>The upper buttons are used to switch layers on and off. Click
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<em><Btn1></em> on one or more of them. Each click toggles the setting.
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If you turn off the currently active layer, another one that is visible
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will become active. If there are no others visible, you will not be
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able to turn off the active layer.
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When the layers are grouped, clicking on these buttons will toggle
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the visibility of all layers in the same group. This is a good idea because
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layers in the same group reside on the same physical layer of
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the actual board. Notice that this example has 2 groups each having
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3 layers, plus two other layers named <code>unused</code>.
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Use the <code>Edit layer groups</code> option in the <code>Settings</code> menu to
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change the layer groupings. Note that changing the groupings can
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radically alter the connectivity on the board.
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Grouping layers is only useful for helping you to color-code
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signals in your layout. Note that grouping layers actually reduces the number
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of different physical layers available for your board, so to make an eight
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layer board, you cannot group any layers.
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<p>The <em>far side</em> button turns on and off the visibility of elements
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(including SMD pads) on the opposite (to the side you're viewing)
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board side, as well as silk screening on that side. It does not
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hide the x-ray view of the other copper layers, these must be turned off
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separately if desired. Use the <em>tab</em> key to view the entire board from the other
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side. To see a view of what the back side of the board will actually look like,
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make the solder layer the active layer then press <em>tab</em> until the status
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line says "solder" on the right, then turn off the visibility of all layers
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except solder, pins/pads, vias, and silk. Now turn them all back on.
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<p>The lowest button, named <em>active</em>, is used to change the active
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drawing layer. Pressing <em><Btn1></em> on it pops up a menu to select which
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layer should be active.
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Each entry is labeled with the layer's name and drawn in its color.
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The active layer is automatically made visible. The active layer is
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always drawn on top of the other layers, so the ordering of layers
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on the screen does not generally reflect the ordering of the manufactured
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board. Only the solder, component, silkscreen, and solder-mask layers
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are always drawn in their physical order. Bringing the active layer
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to the top makes it easier to select and change objects on the active layer.
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Try changing the active layer's name to <em>ABC</em> by selecting
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<code>edit name of active layer</code> from the <code>Edit</code> menu.
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Changing the active layer can also be done by pressing keys
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<em>1..MAX_LAYER</em>.
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<p>Turn off the visibility of the component layer.
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Now make the component layer the active layer. Notice that it
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automatically became visible. Try setting a few
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other layers as the active layer. You should also experiment
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with turning on and off each of the layers to see what happens.
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<p>The netlist layer is a special layer for adding connections to
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the netlist by drawing rat lines. This is not the recommended
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way to add to the netlist, but occasionally may be convenient.
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To learn how to use the netlist layer see <a href="Net-Objects.html#Net%20Objects">Net Objects</a>.
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