can anyone tell me how to use the layer tools? im not even sure how they're supposed to work to know if i'm even doing it right...(i use the lascaux mostly...)

I'll keep checking here as well, because I can't figure it out either! Got it to partially work, but not well enough to feel comfortable using it in a drawing I want to complete. I can't get it to delete the first layer either. The X delete key doesnt do nething. ??? It's the main thing I need to know about the Lascaux Sketch myself.

You cannot delete the layer if there is only one layer, i think.
dixielandcutie, just play around with those buttons below the layer window, you will figure it out pretty quick.
the left most button is add new layer, then next to it is the delete layer. and i think the 3rd one is duplicated layer, 4th is merge down.

Here is a pretty good explanation... go down to comments and read what Axil62 said.

thanks so much! that is very helpful! *works on figuring it out* appreciate it.

Im having trouble with the layer controls too.. I cannot make the previous layer visible while I work on the next one..I push slide click toggle bang on and otherwise abuse all the buttons etc and they just dont show... its pretty hard (Lascaux sp? the recommended applet)

In which applet?

In the Lascaux recommended applet...

Um, unless you drew over the entire layer, you should see the layers below it without doing anything other than the new layer button.

I dont believe I did ..but I will have to see...

There's obviously some kind of misunderstanding with the way layers work still if you can't get things to work normally.

By default, without having to do anything except click on the new layer button, you will be able to see everything underneath the new layer. The analogy would be laying a clear transparency on top of the piece, you can see straight through until you start drawing on the layer.

ya..I dont know what I was doing before, but I tried it and it was fine today..its just different from what I am used to so I thought it wasnt working... thanks

About the layers dissapearing while you're working. I've had it happen but usually only small portians of that layer at a time. You'll find that if you zoom in you should be able to see all the lines. However they will become invisible again when you back out. These lines WILL however turn up on the board so you'll be able to see it. I think that it's just a problem with information speed or something. I haven't figured a way to fix it yet but sometimes you can doing a kind of dancing act back and forth between layers so you can get it right...goodluck

If you're at a zoom that isn't a multiple of 100%, you'll have visual problems like that. So 10-90% will hide information. If you know anything about computers, it makes perfect sense.

I've been having much better luck with the layers, but my main problem is that when I use them, I find that I tend to exceed the space allotted for the file. I'm really frustrated by this, because I usually work in multiple layers, and multiple sessions, and when I do so using these tools, I exceed the space allowed for the file - so I can't come back and finish the piece.

I usually merge the layers down when the piece is finished, so it should take a lot less space *when completed* -- but I can't do the kind of multi-session editing that is standard for me (I have medical limits that I'm having to accommodate, so it's not a matter of just allowing more time per session) if I merge the layers before the piece is completed.

Any suggestions (other than just using fewer layers, or limiting myself to doing layered work on locally-based tools, rather than oekaki, which seem to be the only real options available to me) would be greatly appreciated.

At the moment, I've been experimenting with the various tools to see which seems to have the smallest files when I work in my normal mode, since the boards I had previously been working on did not provide as much information as this one does, nor as many tools, so I couldn't make such comparitive tests there.

So far, Lascaux seems to take more file space than Shi-painter (the advanced version) when using multiple layers (say in the range of about 5 or so), and the same canvas size. I'm hoping to finish my tests with OekakiBBS (which seems to be unusually stable on my computer, to judge by the reports I've heard from others, or even my husband's ill fortune in trying to use it on our other main web-accessible PC) soon.

If nothing else, maybe it'll provide some useful guidance to other people who work on multiple layers, and want to conserve file space on the server in order to stay within the limits set on each board here.