Civil 3D ByStyle? or ByLayer? That is the Question!
Could the industry really move to ByStyle ultimately? What would this world be like without Layers? Could everything reside on Layer 0 and yet one would still have the flexibility and control they need to be productive? That's three questions, but they are worth asking.
For the record, for now I am recommending ByLayer. Of course there are some out there that have no idea what I am talking about. In Civil 3D, you can control Civil 3D Objects (i.e. Surfaces, Points, and Alignments) and their components, using ByStyle or ByLayer. When we say control, this means you can turn on and off the visibility of objects, or turn on and off the individual components of an object using the ByStyle or ByLayer method, amongst other items.
What we mean by ByStyle, is that essentially you could store a Terrain Surface on Layer 0, but you would still be able to turn on and off contours, TIN Lines, Elevation Banding, etc without ever entering the Layer Properties Manager Dialog Box. The contours, TIN Lines, Elevation Banding are also all on Layer 0, but through the Style, you have the ability to control what appears... do you want to show TIN Lines or Contours, turn one on and the other off. So ByStyle, means you can control the visibility of the components only through the style.
When a drawing starts or is using the ByLayer concept, not only can you control the components of the object through the style (i.e. ByStyle), but you can also control it the "old-fashioned" way, through the Layer Properties Manager Dialog Box. So with this method, you have both options available.
So with that said, one option we have which is also represents a possibility for the entire industry, is to use the ByStyle concept. Of course, this could initially wreak havoc for those that need to interface with your drawings, if they only use AutoCAD. However, if you have two companies that utilize Civil 3D, and they were to standardize their color palettes for the object components in Civil 3D or their plot styles, they could more seamlessly move drawings back and forth. If the same two companies had different layer standards (and we know they probably do) this would not be as easy. By the way, you do have the ability to set plot style to components within Civil 3D Objects.
Again, at this point I am recommending that companies utilize the ByLayer option initially because right now adoption of the technology is still in the early stages, and the ByLayer option allows you to use the best of both worlds. As more companies begin to utilize the technology, we might find the opportunity where the ByStyle concept, (especially using the National CAD Standard layer set) might be an acceptable route to investigate. Whether you use the ByStyle concept with everything set to Layer 0 versus using the ByStyle concept where the object components inherit the National CAD Standard layers, there is no difference in how you control and manage the system. If you are choosing to control and manage the system through the style, then it doesn't matter what layers are set for the object components within the style. So why not just incorporate the National CAD Standard?
