FourMadMen.com presents the Layer Manager script.

Version: 1.3.1

Download Version 1.3.1 Build 2

Now let me say Thanks! to all the testers. Some of the last minute improvements came from talking to them. And special mention goes out to Meta-Androcto for getting me back to finishing this re-write.

Updates

• UPDATE: Version 1.3.1 Build 2 (Selection By Material Patch)


• Fixed Selection by Material bug. An error was being throwing when selecting objects by material if the layer contained non-mesh objects.


• Version 1.3.1 (Download this older version)


• Selection of objects in layer by Material
• Quick rendering of layer groups (does not have to be the active group).
  Any layer group name that starts with "Render" will be added to the main menu.
  Great for rendering internal scenes (with walls and floors) without cluttering
  the 3D view during modeling.
• Added cache mechanism for more efficient handling of objects by layer
• It would appear that there are custom Blender builds that use Python versions
  earlier than 2.5. So for maximum compatibility (potentially going back as far as
  Blender 2.43, though testing was restricted to 2.46 and 2.47) the Python 2.5 ternary
  syntax has been replaced with a normal if/else block.


• Version 1.3 Build 2 (Download this older version)


• Minor update to Layer Locking

What's new in Version 1.3

• Complete code re-write.
• Now runs from the "System" scripts menu (Don't forget to delete the old version)
• Settings now stored within the .blend file
• Multiple user interface layout options. Vertical (Fig. 1). Horizontal (Fig. 2,). Classic (Fig. 3,).
  
• Auto reisize of interface to fit display window. Animated Gif (Fig. 4), Video 2,432KB Xvid (Fig. 5)
• Layer locking now fully functional
• Can be run as a popup in 3D View (Fig. 6). Video 2,432KB Xvid (Fig. 7)
• Selection of objects in layer by object type (Fig. 8)
• Selected object information (Fig. 9)
• Simplified user interface
• Expanded keyboard shortcuts
• Expanded tooltip information
• Embedded spacehandler code

Features

• Layer Names
• Layer Groups
• Layer Locking
• Layer Merging and Flattening
• Moving objects
• Selecting objects in layer by object type
• Object Info
• Hide/Reveal Layers
• Autoload/autoconvert old layer file settings
• Import/Export settings using new file format
• And more... (full documentation pages coming soon)

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Q: Exit
• +: Add new layer group (and make active)
• X: Delete active layer group
• H: Hide selected layers
• R: Reveal hidden layers
• M: Move selected objects to selected layers
• Shift+M: Merge selected layers
• F: Flatten selected layers
• O: Object info popup (very crude right now, will make better and am open to suggestions)
• V: Invert visible layer selection
• S: Invert selected layers selection
• `: View All Layers
• A: Select/Deselect All Layers
• 0-9, Shift 0-9: Toggle Layer Visibility

Button Modifier shortcuts

• <Layer Visible Button> Click to toggle, CTRL+Click to view only that layer
• <Layer Selected Button> Click to toggle, CTRL+Click to select only that layer, SHIFT+Click to Lock/Unlock
• <Layer Name> Click to change name
• <Layer Info> Click to select objects in layer by type, SHIFT+Click to select object in layer not of type, CTRL+Click to select ONLY objects in layer

Notes

• If you run the script from a Script window and only need 99% functionality of Layer Locking (see last note) then you won't need the space handlers at all
• Spacehandlers are loaded via "Menu > Load Spacehandlers"
• When run as a popup the sciprt MUST NOT be running in a script window
• The EVENT Handler is required for use as a popup in the 3D view
• The DRAW Handler is required for full Layer Locking
• The one limitation of layer locking when not using the DRAW handler is that you will have to refresh the lock if you add an object to a locked layer

Next Steps...

• Complete documentation of all features

Return to script index

Previous Releases Version 1.2
(Download this older version)

• Moving selected objects to selected layers
• Beginning of the layer locking system. (Note: Object lock and un-locking is finicky at best due to the (in my opinion) needed re-write of the event/redraw system. Perhaps when spacehandler scripts play nicely with the undo system this will improve.)

Version 1.1

• CTRL+Left Click was not refreshing visible layer list properly.
• Added 2 new layer group buttons: View and View Group. View will add the layer group items to the visibility list and View Group will show only those items in the group.
• Added new general button: New. Clicking New will reset all group and layer information.

Version 1.0b

• Fixed issue with the autoload feature not refreshing the visible layer list after loading saved settings.

Version 1.0a

• No longer allows ESC key for exiting (Q Key and Exit button remain)
• Auto load most recent layer file if it exists

Version 1.0

• Layer Groups
• Hide/Reveal Layers (Fig. 2)
• Set layer visiblility from script GUI. LMB to select (Additive). CTRL+LMB make only target layer visible.
• Saving and Loading of layer Information
• Set layer names