Chapter 5

Working with Layers

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Layers are a smart solution for organizing and managing a complex illustration.

• By default, every Illustrator document is created with one layer, called Layer 1.

• As you work, you can create new layers and move objects into them, thereby segregating objects and organizing your work.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• On the Layers panel, each layer has a thumbnail, or miniature picture, of the objects on that layer.

• Thumbnails also display the artwork that is positioned on each of the individual sublayers of a layer.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• The stacking order of objects on the artboard corresponds to the hierarchy of layers on the Layers panel.

• Artwork in the top layer is at the front of the stacking order, while artwork in the bottom layer is in the back.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Illustrator offers two basic ways to create new layers and sublayers:– You can click the New Layer or New Sublayer

command on the Layers panel menu.– You can click the Create New Layer or Create

New Sublayer button on the Layers panel.

Creating and Modifying Layers Layers panel

Layers panel

Delete Selection

button

Create New Layer button

Create New Sublayer

button

Each part of this illustration

is on a separate layer

Creating and Modifying Layers

• You can duplicate existing layers by:– clicking the Duplicate command on the Layers

panel menu.– dragging a layer or sublayer onto the Create

New Layer button on the Layers panel.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• When you duplicate a layer, all of the artwork on the layer is duplicated as well.

*Note the difference between this and copying and pasting artwork. When you copy and paste artwork, the copied artwork is pasted on the same layer.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• The Layer Options dialog box allows you to set layer options. You can:– Name a layer– Select a selection color for the layer– Lock a layer– Show or hide a layer

Creating and Modifying Layers

• The Print option allows you to choose whether or not to print a layer.

• This feature is useful for printing different versions of the same illustration.

• The Dim Images option reduces the intensity of bitmap images.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Use the Template option when you want to trace the artwork on a layer to create a new illustration.

• By default, a template layer is locked and cannot be printed.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Clicking the Eye icon (The tool tip will display “Toggles Visibility” when you mouse over it) lets you hide and show layers, and the Lock icon lets you lock and unlock layers.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• The easiest way to select a layer is to click the layer name or the layer thumbnail.

• Selecting a layer is referred to as “targeting” a layer.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• When you select an object on the artboard, its layer is selected (highlighted) on the Layers panel, and the Indicates Selected Art icon (or Selected art icon for brevity) appears.

Creating and Modifying Layers

Selection marks for chair are red, the Chair layer’s assigned color

Layer target (click to select all art on layer)

Selected art icon

The chair on the artboard and on the Layers panel

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Changes that you make to layers on the Layers panel affect the artwork on those layers.

• The artwork on a layer will be duplicated if the layer is duplicated.

• Changing a layer’s position in the layers hierarchy will move the artwork forward or backward in the stacking order.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• Duplicating the artwork on the artboard does not duplicate the layer that the artwork is on.

• If you delete all the artwork on a layer, you are left with an empty layer.

*A layer is never automatically created, copied, or deleted because of something you do to the artwork on the layer.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• The same is not true for sublayers. If you delete or copy artwork that is on a sublayer, the sublayer is deleted or copied, respectively.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• At times, you will want to select every object on a layer or sublayer, but not every object on the artboard.

• To select all the artwork on a single layer or sublayer, select the layer target to the left of the Selected art icon.

Creating and Modifying Layers

• All objects on a given layer are behind objects on the layer above it and above those on the layer below it.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• Multiple objects within a given layer overlap according to their stacking order and you can reposition them with the standard stacking order commands.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• To change the position of a layer or sublayer in the hierarchy, simply drag it up or down on the panel.

• A thick horizontal line identifies where the layer will be repositioned.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

Moving a layer on the Layers panel

Changing the order of layers

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• When you have positioned artwork to your liking using multiple layers and sublayers, you will often want to consolidate those layers to simplify the Layers panel.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• Be careful not to confuse merging layers with condensing layers.

• Condensing layers is simply the process of dragging one layer into another.– The repositioned layer becomes a sublayer of

the layer into which it was dragged.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• Whenever you have one or more objects on a layer, you have sublayers.

• As soon as the first object is placed on a layer, a triangle appears to the left of the layer name, indicating that the layer contains sublayers.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• When you place grouped artwork into a layer, a sublayer is automatically created with the name <Group>.

• A triangle appears on the <Group> sublayer, which, when clicked, exposes the sublayers—one for every object in the group.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• Sublayers are easy to move between layers; you simply drag and drop a sublayer from one layer to another.

• You can move artwork from one layer to another by dragging the Selected art icon.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• Select the artwork on the artboard that you want to move; the layer is selected, and the Selected art icon appears.

• Drag the button to the destination layer or sublayer.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

• You have two other options for moving objects between layers:– You can simply cut and paste artwork from one

layer to another.– You can use the Send to Current Layer

command.

Manipulating Layered Artwork

Moving a sublayer from one layer to another

Drag the Selected art icon to

the Electronics

layer

Working with Layered Artwork

• The view options available on the Layers panel make working with layers a smart choice for complex illustrations.

• You can target specific viewing options to each layer in the document.

Working with Layered Artwork

• Without layers, your options for viewing your work are limited to the Hide and Show All commands on the Object menu.

Working with Layered Artwork

• The Eye icon makes it easy to change what can be seen on the artboard.– Clicking this icon once hides all the artwork on a

layer, and the icon disappears.– Clicking the empty gray square where the icon

was shows all of the artwork on the layer, and the Eye icon reappears.

Working with Layered Artwork

• When you use the Open command to import a layered Photoshop file into Illustrator CC, you have the option to open that file with its layers intact.

Working with Layered Artwork

• With complex illustrations, layers and sublayers tend to multiply.

• You will often find it easiest to work with collapsed layers, those in which you hide the sublayers.

• Sometimes it can be difficult to identify an object’s layer or sublayer, especially if there are multiple copies of the object in the illustration.

Working with Layered Artwork

• The Locate Object command offers a simple solution:– Select an object on the artboard, click the

Layers panel options button, then click Locate Object.

– The layers expand, revealing their sublayers, and the selected object’s layer or sublayer is selected.

Working with Layered Artwork

• Another option that the Layers panel offers for managing your artwork is the ability to reverse the order of layers.

Working with Layered Artwork

• The ability to choose whether or not to print the artwork on a specific layer is useful, especially during the middle stages of producing an illustration.– This gives you the ability to print different

versions of a document.

Working with Layered Artwork

• You can export Illustrator layers to Photoshop.

• Click File on the Menu bar, click Export, then choose Photoshop (PSD) as the file format.

Creating a Clipping Set

• Adobe uses the terms “clipping mask” and “clipping path” interchangeably.

• The term clipping set is used to distinguish clipping paths used in layers from clipping paths used to mask non-layered artwork.

• Essentially, the term “clipping set” refers to the clipping mask and the masked sublayers as a unit.

Creating a Clipping Set

• The following rules apply to clipping sets:– The clipping mask and the objects to be masked

must be in the same layer.– You cannot use a sublayer as a clipping mask,

unless it is a <Group> sublayer.– The top object in the clipping set becomes the

mask for every object below it in the layer.

Creating a Clipping Set

• The following rules apply to clipping sets: (cont.)– A <Group> sublayer can be a clipping set. The

top object in the group will function as the mask.– Dotted lines between sublayers indicate that

they are included in a clipping set.

Creating a Clipping Set

• When you apply the Flatten Artwork command, all visible objects in the artwork are consolidated in a single layer.