Object Layers and Rhino layer workflows

Organize objects independently of their parents#

Open Object Layers from Panels, command search, or the tab beside Geometry Tree. Geometry Tree describes parents, groups and instances. Object Layers controls an independent layer membership for each scene object.

Importing a Rhino 3DM brings in its layer names, nesting, display colors, visibility and locks, including empty layers and compatible layer material assignments. Instances keep their insertion-layer membership and their children keep their own memberships. Parent visibility and locking still protect a whole object branch.

Create and arrange layers#

Use + Object Layer in the panel header for a root layer. It remains available when the panel is collapsed, grouped as a tab, floating in Studio or open in its own window. Right-click a layer for New sublayer or Rename layer. Select one or more layers with Shift for a range or Command/Ctrl for toggles. Drag a selected grip to the middle of a row to nest the selection; use its upper/lower edge to reorder before/after. A visible drop marker names the action. Escape cancels; drop on Object layers above the list to return it to the root. Cycles, locked branches and duplicate sibling names are rejected. A selected parent carries its children once. Expand All and Collapse All are independent and become unavailable when already satisfied.

The checkmark identifies the current layer. Click its current-layer icon, double-click the row, or choose Make current. New geometry and 3D lights use that layer. The current layer and its parents must stay visible and unlocked. Make another layer current before hiding, locking or removing its branch.

Assign and select objects#

Select objects in Geometry Tree with Ctrl/Command for individual toggles or Shift for a range. Then right-click a layer and choose Move selected objects here. A single object's Object Layer dropdown in Geometry Properties does the same thing. When both panels are visible, dragging an object grip onto a layer changes membership without changing its geometry parent.

Right-click a layer to select its direct objects or include its sublayers. Counts show direct editable members; synthetic import-layer containers are omitted. Gold text identifies layers containing selected objects. Right-click an object and choose Show object layer to reveal its layer, or Select objects on this layer to collect related objects.

Visibility, locks, color and material#

The eye controls layer visibility; the lock protects object edits. A dim inherited icon means a parent layer also controls that state. An object's own visibility, locks and geometry parents continue to apply. Turning a child layer on cannot reveal it while a parent remains hidden.

Select layers to edit Layer Properties, a separate tab beside the other inspectors. Shared values are shown directly and differing values read Mixed. The panel supports color, material, parent, visibility and lock batch edits. A gold lock state distinguishes protected layers. Contextual Properties also follows this selection. Selection leaves active panel tabs and the independently selected material unchanged; the tab label is Layer Properties. Edit the rectangular color swatch directly in the row. Colors appear in the layer tree and in Wireframe and Shaded views; Rendered uses material assignments. Layer materials supply a reusable surface to compatible members that do not have an explicit object assignment. Drag a material swatch onto a layer or use Object layer material. Clear the layer assignment to restore the source, inherited or preview fallback. The additional round material swatch is borderless in both themes and opens assignment choices and a link to select the current material. Its stacked-layer badge identifies a layer material, distinct from the Geometry Tree’s direct-application check and parent-inheritance arrow. Empty indicators mean source/preview fallback. Rhino material-table and layer assignments are imported. Each object can explicitly choose Use Layer Material, Use Parent Material or Chosen Material; a chosen object material takes precedence.

Isolate layer branch shows its branch and ancestors and temporarily makes it current. Choose Restore layer visibility to restore the prior visibility and current-layer choice. Unlock the branch before isolating it.

Layer states and removal#

Layer States is temporarily disabled. Saving, recalling and deleting states are unavailable in the interface. Existing state records remain in project files and are preserved when you edit and save the document.

Remove layer · keep objects removes the layer and its sublayers and moves their objects to the current layer. It does not delete geometry. Locked members protect removal. Undo restores the edit, and project files retain layers, membership and states.

Scope and limits#

The beta supports up to 2,048 layers and 128 nesting levels. Rhino drafting metadata exposes linetype identification, print color and nonnegative print width for storage with the Studio project; this viewport does not plot CAD line patterns or interpret Rhino print-width inheritance/sentinel values.

This is a scene-layer workflow, not full Rhino document editing. Per-viewport layer overrides, linked worksessions, reference-layer permissions, CAD plotting, Rhino layer-state import and 3DM writeback are not included. Studio locks conservatively protect descendant object branches. Use the original Rhino file for those CAD-specific operations.

See Materials and Geometry, model imports and workspace layout.

Color controls#

Display and print colors use the shared color picker. Choose Hex/RGB/HSL/HSB, save named colors, and scroll the palette in short windows. These colors stay solid; a saved swatch never changes layer visibility or material transparency.

Instance definition members retain shared layer membership. Change it in Instances → Edit shared; changing a direct placement’s layer leaves member layers intact. Layer removal remaps both ordinary objects and shared definition members. See Instances.

Remove selected layers#

Use the common trash icon to remove the selected layer branches while keeping their objects on the current layer. If the current layer is inside a selected branch, or affected objects are locked, the operation stops without removing part of the selection.