SULayers vs. TWL Layers

[Bob James]

What is the relationship between the Layers in SU and the pull-down list of layers in TWL? It says in TWL "select the layers to render". When all of them are checked (dotted) it seems to defer to the layers that are visible in SU. So, what function is the TWL render selection supposed to perform?

[Ecuadorian]

Twilight layer selection works perfectly for me.
Please remember that unless you specify otherwise, TWL renders all layers made invisible by SU inside components. TWL layer selection should override this, however, and this allows for some neat tricks.

So make sure your objects are not nested and each nesting level in a different layer, I guess that could be the problem.

[Bob James]

It would be much handier if the TWL layers were in alphabetical order. I have over 100 layers in my larger models and having to turn them on and off in TWL the way it is ordered (or more accurately, random-ordered) is not manageable.

[Ecuadorian]

TWL the way it is ordered (or more accurately, random-ordered)

At least in my case, Twilight follows faithfully SketchUp's internal layer order. At least in SU 7.1, this is the order in which you created the layers. It's not alphabetized.

Try Martin Reinhart's vismap to make turning layers on/off quicker:
http://www.forums.sketchucation.com/vie ... lit=vismap

Layers turned off in SketchUp will not render in Twilight despite Twilight's layer selection. The exception is the content inside components. But you can change this behavior by Right clicking > Twilight > Force layer visibility in all components.

[Chris]

Just to clarify.

If a layer in the Twilight menu is checked, it will defer to the SU layer visiblity, meaning it will render if SU has the layer visible.
If it is unchecked, it will not be rendered regardless of the SU layer visibility.

So it doesn't override any SU visibility, it merely applies an additional filter on visibility.

[Bob James]

At least in my case, Twilight follows faithfully SketchUp's layer order. At least in SU 7.1, this is the order in which you created the layers. It's not alphabetized.

Too bad it can't use Reinhart's scheme to re-order them.

Try Martin Reinhart's vismap to make turning layers on/off quicker:

That's a great tool: I already use it.

The exception is the content inside components. But you can change this behavior by Right clicking > Twilight > Force layer visibility in all components.

I'm not really sure I understand this.

[Ecuadorian]

Sorry, I had to make a clarification to my post. I meant SketchUp's internal layer order. You can change the order in which SketchUp displays layers by clicking on the "Name" button, but this does not change the internal order, which is the creation order, basically.

You can see an example of the usefulness of being able to render the contents of hidden layers inside components here:
http://twilightrender.com/phpBB3/viewto ... ain+forest