New layer for each artboard

[nanefy]

Hi,

I've just recently started learning Illustrator and have used photoshop for a long time.  I have been getting on OK and yesterday had a file open with about 4 different artboards (was making wedding invitations) and went to start a 5th one and decided to add a new layer to this artboard and it then struck me that all the artboards had exactly the same layer!  Now as a photoshop user this bamboozled me and the photoshop part of me gets annoyed, because I would like every artboard to have a different set of layers so that they are always separate.  Can anyone tell me if I'm just not grasping how illustrator does things or is there a way to set up illustrator to have a new set of layers for every artboard?  Is it just a case that I have to create a new layer for each artboard manually?

Sorry if this is a basic question, but I've searched for this answer but couldn't find it.

Cheers in advance.

Oh and just in case, I'm using CS5 on an iMac.

[rcraighead]

Layers and Artboards are completely unrelated, except in our minds. I'm like you, It seems logical to keep them separate, but that's not how AI is written. You'll have to create them manually.

[nanefy]

Cool - I suppose I need to stop looking at AI from a Photoshop point of view, but it is difficult lol.  I'll just create a new layer for each artboard.

Thanks 🙂

[joel.stransky]

How did you approach this in photoshop? Last I checked it didn't have a multiple canvas option.

Multiple artboards is a response to a long standing complaint that AI didn't support multi-page documents like Freehand. What we're offered is a poor attempt to shoehorn a new feature deep into an aging code-base. The real time math-interpreter nature of AI seems to hog %100 of adobe's illustrator team which is really a shame since they should devote a huge amount of resources towards aligning common functionality across all 2d apps.

[rcraighead]

ask_, you're right, PSD doesn't have multiple pages and InDesign shares the same layers between pages as well, so I'm not sure what your point is about "shoehorning" features into an old program. There are LOTS of things that are lacking in AI. I don't think multiple pages is to blame for that.

[nanefy]

I wasn't inferring that photoshop had a multiple canvas utility, but in photoshop each file has it's own set of layers.  In my mind, although I knew that an artboard wasn't a file, that is the mindset I was using.  It seemed 'logical' to me that each artboard would have it's own set of layers because it is it's own entity.  If each artboard is used for a separate piece of work then it is illogical to my mind that they don't have a separate layers pallet.  The reason I deemed this a problem for me was because I had already designed 3 artboards and then on the fourth I discovered that there was still only one layer that had the content of the other three artboards and when I hid that layer it hid the content for every single artboard - this 'violates my mental model' 😉

Anyway, lesson learned, I'll just have to manually create a new layer for each artboard

[JETalmage]

and the photoshop part of me gets annoyed

You need to "turn off" the photoshop part of you when working in Illustrator. Two entirely different worlds, and rightly so.

because I would like every artboard to have a different set of layers so that they are always separate.

If that's what you want, there are other programs in Illustrator's category which provide that. Corel Draw X3 is one example. In real use, though, page-specific layers is not the panacea you may think. It has resulted in much tedium and confusion and consternation in the Draw community.

If you insist on working that way, there's no reason you can't set up your file with top-level Layers coresponding to each Artborad. But you'll probably soon find it more cumbersome and tedious than actually practical.

Forget trying to think of Illustrator Layers and Photoshop Layers as similar things. They are not. Two entirely different constructs. That's a good thing. They should not be made to "work alike." If anything, Photoshop just needs to change the name from "Layers" to "Films" or "Overlays" or something like that, to help stop this widespread misconception among newcommers.

JET

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

layers fr artboards might be what one might feel is correct but if you think of it it would probably be more powerful to be able to turn on and off the visibility of an art board and to be able to lock it was well or enter isolation mode for an artboard where you can only edit that artboard.

It would also be better to have the objects on the artboard show up in the artboard panel as artboard objects but remain apart of their layer so you can work either way artboard specific or layer specific, I hink there are advantages and disadvantages to both but have the choice would be powerful.

[emil_emil]

nanefy wrote:

I wasn't inferring that photoshop had a multiple canvas utility, but in photoshop each file has it's own set of layers.  In my mind, although I knew that an artboard wasn't a file, that is the mindset I was using.  It seemed 'logical' to me that each artboard would have it's own set of layers because it is it's own entity.  If each artboard is used for a separate piece of work then it is illogical to my mind that they don't have a separate layers pallet.  .....

I just checked this feature because I've never used it before and this thread made me curious to look at it. Well, I can say that different Artboards is not different images, files, or pages. It is different TILES  of one image that can even overlap - although it becomes funny with the content when moving overlapping tiles around. Artboards are not different entities, you can draw with any drawing tool across the entire working area regardless if it is divided with multiple Artboards, and you can draw well beyond any Artboard areas as well.  You can think of Artboards as a way to divide your work for whatever you find it useful - including a way to create multiple "pages" from one image. The closest match in Photoshop to this feature is to have an image much larger than the printing paper and in the Print window to choose 100% for scale and for Position to uncheck Center Image and type the coordinates of the top left corner to define the tile for the area of the image that will be printed. This way you can print on different tiles ("pages") an image larger than the printing paper and if you wish you can create different content for each printing tile in the image. Have in mind that this printing feature is also available in Illustrator so it is not the same thing but the closest possibility for achieving similar result in Photoshop

nanefy wrote:

... The reason I deemed this a problem for me was because I had already designed 3 artboards and then on the fourth I discovered that there was still only one layer that had the content of the other three artboards and when I hid that layer it hid the content for every single artboard - this 'violates my mental model' 😉

...

If you want different layers, you have to use different files. If you have already an artwork with multiple artboards and you want different layers for each artboard, you can copy the same file as many times as Artboards you have and then on each file delete all but one of the artboards for the particular page you want. If you want similar access to the different files, you can then open all and tile them.

[joel.stransky]

It was sort of a rant combined with a comment. I'm not saying the addition of multiple artboards sucked up all of the development time. I was just saying that the inability to have artboard specific layers stems from the fact that AI hasn't had a major re-write since version 8. Making new features work (like appearances, effects, transparency etc.) takes some serious genius and I suspect budgeting for this takes away from general work flow enhancements.