When a selection containing multiple layers is copied, only the active layer is offset. The others maintain their original position when copied.
The newly copied elements all go onto the active layer instead of maintaining their layer assignment. Is this by design? It is not how I would expect CAD software to behave.
That’s wrong. We’ll try and get a fix in the next release.
Thank you, Rob.
Just to clarify based on what Will posted earlier: Are both behaviors incorrect?
If you have objects from multiple layers, including the current active layer, then none of them should be offset when copying.
They should all go to the current active layer.
Okay. I see,
While one could argue that all newly created object are created on the active layer, one could also argue that layer assignment is a property of the element and properties are maintained when elements are copied. Copied elements are not really “newly created.”
You’d expect the layer assignment to be kept?
Yep, that’s the same problem.
While we’re on the topic, would you expect the layer assignment to be kept, or for the copies to be on the active layer?
What most software I’ve seen does is paste relative to the current cursor location…if you don’t change the location, it pastes in the same place it was copied.
Whether or not it shifts isn’t the problem, though - at least for me. I just don’t want the relative position of multiple objects to change in the copied version. If I’m copying multiple elements, their position, relative to each other, is important. So shift or not, shift them all the same. Does that make sense?
Otherwise, you have to move the ones that didn’t shift (or the ones that did) and try to get them back into alignment - which is hard to do accurately, or at best, time-consuming for no real advantage.
@robgrz Sorry…now I realize that I didn’t actually answer your question!
I would expect them to be copied onto the currently active layer. As far as I’m concerned copying is just a shortcut for creating the objects by hand…therefore, if creating an object is going to the currently active layer, the copy should as well
In almost all other CAD software that I’ve ever used, layer assignment, color, linetype, lineweight, etc., are all properties of the object that are maintained when elements are copied.
If you want the best of both worlds, make a copy command that acts like the move command and maintains the layers, and have the Copy/Paste on the Edit menu paste the new elements onto the current layer.
Best of both worlds sounds good - but if we only get one world, I suppose it would work to have them stay in their layers - as long all of the objects maintain their position relative to each other (shifted or not) AND remain selected, so the next command can be “Move Selection to Layer”
I think this discussion also goes back to the issue of copying groups that was discussed earlier.
Should group assignment be treated as a property of the element that is maintained when copied, or should the copied elements be treated as “new” with no group assignment.
I argue for the former.
Particularly when copying nested groups. That can be a nightmare if the groups are not maintained.
I will note that I use the current behavior to flatten out a group so that multiple groups grouped become a single group.
Sorry…but isn’t that what the group command does? I mean, what’s the advantage to having it lose its origin, when grouping all of the elements becomes a single group anyway?
I think this is a valid use case, but it could also be accomplished by clicking the Ungroup command multiple times until no groups are left. You would have to have some sort of status bar feedback of how many groups still exist in the selection similar to how Inkscape works.
A better option would be to have an “Explode” command that breaks the entire group hierarchy into individual elements.
I see…so it’s not “flattening multiple groups”, it’s eliminating all of the grouping at once. I get that need.
While we are having this discussion, I’ve spent the last hour regrouping 108 batched elements.
An Array command would also be nice (one that keeps groups and layers 
)
60 minutes of your life you’re not getting back…you do realize that, don’t you? 
