I have 2 layers: one with a reference image, one with my line work.

the layer spoze to have my line work doesn't go invisible when I shut the eyeball. with both layers' eyeballs shut, I see my line work.

is there a quick fix for this issue? I'm under deadline here trying to use Inkscape for real, paying work. many thanks for help!

bender

Hi bender,
Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Well, my quick answer would be to look and make sure that you have everything where you intend (by selecting each item, then look to make sure the proper layer is highlighted). If everything looks right to you, then I can't think of any common mistake that might cause this. Usually we hear about missing or invisible things, rather than vice versa

If you've double-checked everything, and find everything is indeed on the layer you intend, then I would ask you to upload your SVG file, as an attachment to your next reply. Maybe someone else will have some idea, without needing to look at the file, but I'm stumped

Also, in case it's a bug, please give us your Inkscape version and system info. I'll search bugs while waiting for your response, and post again if I find any related. But I haven't heard of any to date.

I can post something after deadline is past but the problem is a simple one: I see art with my eyeballs despite ALL layer's visibility is turned OFF. Also, that art which I see but should not see, is not on any layer, according to the layers palette.

That is some wierd stuff, bro.

I understand! I understand what you're saying. But if you have things in different layers than what you think, when you turn it off, you'll still see the stuff, because you didn't turn off the right layer. So I'm just saying, make sure things are where they're supposed to be first. AND make sure you're turning off all the layers.

There are 2 places to work with layers. The Layers dialog, and at the bottom of the window, the dropdown/dropup list. Look at the bottom of the page. Is there a layer there that either does not have a name, or that's named "root"? If anything is in that layer, you need to move it to the layer where you want it, not the root layer.

For my own personal use, I have created a custom doc that does not have a root layer, so I can't troubleshoot directly. But it may be that you can turn off the root layer too. I just can't remember. I also can't remember whether the root layer appears in the layers dialog or not, but I'm positive that it shows up at the bottom of the canvas.

If it's not some issue with the root layer, then I'm stumped. I did search Launchpad, and found some reports of not being able to turn off layers' visibility. But they were all because people had things in the root layer.

Ok, here, try this. Select the objects that you can still see, and try moving them into another layer. Try both "Move selection to layer above" AND "Move selection to layer below" from Layer menu. Or (Shift + PgUp) and (Shift + PgDn). (Each keystroke moves 1 layer.)

Any luck?

Brynn;

with all due respect...I have turned off the visibility of ***ALL*** of the layers in the whole entire total document, yet STILL see artwork.


That's why I'm calling this a "wierd" layers problem.


I'm also getting things showing as on top when sent to the bottom Via object menu.

Also, quite, quite, wierd.

And I do say these things with respect, but I have more than 20 years' experience dealing with these apps..I know when a layer is turned off, and when ALL of the layers are turned off, and when I still see things, which by the commands I've given, or layers I've turned off, I simply should not see.


Sorry!

Inkscape is great. but there are some wierd, bizarre bugs going on with some of the most basic aspects of the app. I mean no disrespect.

Probably your objects are outside the normal layer structure in the root level of the <svg> element [1]. See the discussion «Cannot set object order as desired» from earlier today for details…

[1] Select one of the objects that can't be hidden and take a closer look at the messages and the layer selector in the status line: it will tell you the details.

Sorry!

No worries bender.
Of course I had no way of knowing your level of experience.
I'm sorry about your deadline, but clearly I can be of no further help

I've had this happen too, so frustrating. Like SUV said, maybe it's getting placed on a root layer, so your items may not be behaving like they are on a layer at all.
Did you try to select each item, cut, and paste them onto 2 new layers, (delete the old layers)? That has worked for me. good luck.
dee

I have tried cutting and pasting these items, but when I paste, I get something that looks like a rasterized version of the vector content which I copied.

the root thing is a little baffling. I certainly didn't place anything there. Basically, I'd make a layer for a particular portion of my illustration, and work on THAT layer only, leaving all other layers locked. within the current work layer, I'd do things like raise shapes up or down, to top or to bottom.

most of the time it worked fine, but there were instances of wierdness like I described, or of not being able to make things be on top or below, or whatever ordering I was after...

In the menu popup window at the bottom of my document, there IS no "root" in that list. Right now, I have every single layer in the document turned off (visibility) and I am looking at vector art I drew on a layer, but is seemingly not belonging to any layer at all!

relative to what others observe, I don't know where this puts me, but from my point of view, it's a wierd way for a layers-based draw program to behave.

Perhaps there's some excellent reason for this behavior...

linebender wrote:I have tried cutting and pasting these items, but when I paste, I get something that looks like a rasterized version of the vector content which I copied.

Are you on a Mac? Read this comment and change the X11 settings as shown (highly recommended if you use Inkscape on a Mac).
Note that you don't really need to cut&paste to get the objects into a layer, read the other topic I linked to in my earlier comment: you can move the objects from root into the adjacent lower or upper layer using the 'Shift+PgUp' and 'Shift+PgDn' shortcuts (or the commands in the 'Layer' menu).

linebender wrote:In the menu popup window at the bottom of my document, there IS no "root" in that list. (…)

No, it's not listed normally because it is not a layer (it is the parent level in which all layers are). But as soon as you select an object that lives in root, the layer indicator reflects that state and tells that the selected object is in root (similar to how it changes when you enter a group with a double-click).

linebender wrote:(…) Right now, I have every single layer in the document turned off (visibility) and I am looking at vector art I drew on a layer, but is seemingly not belonging to any layer at all!

As said before: root is no layer, objects in root are outside the layer structure.
Does this pseudo-code make more sense to you?You can use 'Edit > XML Editor' to inspect the structure of the SVG file and its layer|group|object levels.

linebender wrote:the root thing is a little baffling. I certainly didn't place anything there.

Normally Inkscape doesn't, either - but it is allowed with regard to the SVG structure and file format specs (layers are just groups with a special tag that tells Inkscape that they are layers). Most 'foreign' SVG files created externally do have all objects in root, so you can't just disable selecting and editing objects there.

As mentioned in the other topic, there are some known scenarios in Inskcape which either insert objects into root (some extensions might do) or make root the current drawing level (focus for keyboard input can get trapped in the docked 'Layers…' dialog, and in the efforts to get out, the current layer level gets reset to root).
Once there have been objects created in the root level, the error perpetuates because of the normally useful feature to auto-switch to the layer level of the selected object.

~suv

a hearty thanks for your beefy reply to my (and others') issue with this. After breakfast, I am going to study your reply in comparison to my file now that my deadline has been fulfilled.

I'd like to add what I posted in response to the other thread you referenced, having to do with user experience and these wierd problems

-----

~suv wrote:

mathog wrote:Bug? If not, why is it doing this?

Not really a bug, maybe a usability issue:

I won't play semantics on this one. the simple fact is that inkscape at times does not behave the way users expect, and how other similar programs behave. And I am not referring to some of the ways one does things IN Inkscape, many of which are highly evolved and very usefully innovative.

But when a user creates objects and uses normal menu commands to place them above or below each other, and those functions don't work, or when objects suddenly appear to be layer-less, you can't lay that on "usability."

It is simply non-funcional, incorrect behavior. **Users need to know that when they create objects on a layer, that the object will STAY on that layer, until the user moves it elsewhere. Same goes with same-layer operations of Move up, Move Down, Move to Top, Move to Bottom.**


If these functions and layers don't work, what you have is a broken software application which will waste time by making editing and drawing headaches for the user.

Thank you

bender

Related report in the bug tracker:

• Bug #488561 “Object still visible when all layers switched off.” (confirmed)

linebender wrote:I have 2 layers: one with a reference image, one with my line work.

Do you remember whether you initially imported the reference image (drag&drop | 'File > Import') or opened the bitmap image directly in Inkscape (drop the bitmap file onto the Inkscape icon | 'File > Open') and only later saved your drawing as 'Inkscape SVG'?

Possibly the initial trigger why any objects had been created in root is

• Bug #394503 “bitmap files get Opened into layer 'root'” (confirmed)

Hey everyone!! I just had this problem myself, but I found a fix!! In my case, the layer containing the image was not in my layer list, but I could see it on the canvas but couldnt interact with it cause it was locked.

At the bottom left there is a little box with an arrow that has all the layers in it, and it should show the name there. What I did to fix it was go to each of the layers, right click and hit duplicate, then the duplicate and the orginal both popped up in my layer list.

Well, correction, I didnt duplicate it, I added a new regular layer, and they both popped up, like it refreshed itself