Layer Freeze vs. Layer Off

[moshira_hassan]

another thing i like about freeze layers ... al blocks within the layer are invisible when freezing the layer ... no matter the layers that blocks are drawn on

[rpetrie.141075]

I think the most important difference between ON/OFF and FREEZE/THAW is the unspoken understanding I'll describe below.

No matter who's drawing you are in if you want to see it as intended when it comes to print date . . . you turn ON all the layers then print the file. DO NOT THAW any layers.

If you FREEZE a layer or see a layer that someone else created then set as FROZEN . . . it's pretty safe to assume that layer contains objects they did not want to Print, but did need to save.


There are many other difference between ON/OFF and FREEZE/THAW but as far as I'm concerned the above is the most important.

A close second place difference between on/off and freeze/thaw is the ability to freeze all xref'd layers by simply creating layer (example: "Xref - Base Design") to place your xref object on, then freeze that one layer then all your xref layers will be frozen. That is much simpler than freezing and thawing layers that come in with that xref.

[revacservice]

My understanding of freeze against switching layers off is that when a layer is frozen any objects on this layer are not included in any regeneration where objects on a turned off layer are.

In the days of my 486DX4 chip and less than 1 meg RAM freezing layers which were not required speeded up regeneration and made thing much more usable as less processing and disk access was required. (On large files regeneration could take many minuets to be processed, and one third party add in still has autoregen off as a default, read in one mag 20 minuet regen was not uncommon)

So turning off was used to hide objects for a short time only where as freezing was used to hide objects which were not required in the longer term thus speeding up the regen process.

Don Smith

[bmonk]

Good topic, thanks for the info everybody.

[margaretl]

I am in agreement with others who have posted.

When passing drawings back and forth in the office, it is much easier to understand what another drafter intended when On/Off is used for short term and Freeze/Thaw for long term.
When I need to work on a drawing someone else has worked on, I know to turn on all the layers before plotting. I, also, know that if I thaw a layer to use, I better freeze it again or I won't get the results I was looking for.

The performance improvements really don't affect us too much anymore. Hardware and software have come a long way and my file sizes are pretty tame. If you are looking for performance enhancement, try MAXACTVP to turn off some of those viewports. That is my biggest issue with outside drawings.

[scott.wilcox]

With the express layer tools (called layers II in 2007), the ability to quickly isolate layers for editing has made my company use OFF for temporary editing and FREEZE to control visibility of layers in viewports. It is a rule to have all layers on before saving/closing.

[revacservice]

Hopefully most people use model and paper space, model space for the actual drawing and paper space for the title block.

When the editing of a file is complete all layers in model space should be on and not frozen. If a layer is to be displayed in the final drawing should be determined in the view port and the properties locked.

If the display of layers in the final drawing is determined by model space settings it denies useful tools for later editing or a possible source of errors if the settings are not returned to the desired settings once the modifications have been made.

Don Smith

[CADDmanVA]

After initial setup in Model Space, I tend to do all my drafting in Paper Space through the viewports. Mainly so I don't need to worry about turning all the layers on before plots, etc. I enjoy the convenience of VP Freezing taking care of the thinking for me after I spend the time setting it up. In fact, a few months ago, I was working on a large streetscaping project. I set up a wild Paper Space tab using E3 paper. The sheet had four viewports in it, one for each street. It really made it easy to jump from area to area without accidentally forgetting to change layers.

[dguinan]

My understanding of freeze against switching layers off is that when a layer is frozen any objects on this layer are not included in any regeneration where objects on a turned off layer are.

In the days of my 486DX4 chip and less than 1 meg RAM freezing layers which were not required speeded up regeneration and made thing much more usable as less processing and disk access was required. (On large files regeneration could take many minuets to be processed, and one third party add in still has autoregen off as a default, read in one mag 20 minuet regen was not uncommon)

So turning off was used to hide objects for a short time only where as freezing was used to hide objects which were not required in the longer term thus speeding up the regen process.

Don Smith

I aggree with Don. I have been using AutoCAD since release 12 and our manuals (Yes we did get them back then) explained the main differance between Layers Frozen and Off is performance. Frozen layers are excluded from from the regeneration process. If I entered the erase command and selected all, entities turned off will be deleted. More importantly if you were using quick select (filters) for example entities on turned off layers will be included in the filter selection. Turning layers on/off should only be temporary and Freeze/Thaw permanent. It is also good practice to freeze all layers not been used in a viewport to increase regeneration/performance.

Declan

Declan

[scotthop]

I use Freeze/Thaw for 'permament' view changes: within viewports, layer states, xref layer settings, and the like.

I use On/Off for temporary view changes, like when I'm actively editing a drawing and have a need for certain layers to be shown or not shown.