Each document in mineCAD contains Layers and Entities.
Each Layer in a mineCAD project file is displayed in the Layer Control Tree view to the left of the design window space. Within each Layer, multiple entities of different types may be present. A mineCAD Layer is created along the same lines as an AutoCAD or Microstation layer.
An Entity is defined as any of the following:
- Wireframe (Polyface)
- Polyline
- Line
- Insert (point)
- Block Model (represented by the centroid of each block)
- Text
- Dimension
Each Layer may contain its own set of attributes, however these attributes are present on each Entity included in the Layer.
To incorporate an Entity into a Layer it must be ACTIVATED. The active Layer is displayed as bolded text in the Layer Control Tree view. The name of the active Layer is also displayed as a tooltip on the Layer Control Tree view.
Layers may be part of parent layers, or contain child layers and entities which may, or may not be, related. A child may be added at any time, and it should be noted that children can often be created by the system during data processing.
If a child is created during the processing of data (e.g. Polyline/Plane intersections created from a Section Definition are placed as a child of that Section Definition) then it is termed "related". A child created by the user is termed "unrelated".