From BlenderWiki

UI Proposal: Armature Layers In the 3D View Header

A user who is posing or animating a character frequently needs to turn armature layers on and off. This is a crucial operation on all but the simplest of character rigs. There are several existing UI paths for doing this: Have an armature layers panel open. Accessing the layers here requires having a properties window open, which takes up an unacceptable amount of screen space, as none of the other armature settings are as frequently accessed. Use the bpy.ops.armature.armature_layers() operator. This has no default key binding, and also breaks convention (we don't access scene layers this way) Write a custom script for the rig that provides an interface for switching layers. This is a lot of work, and shouldn't be necessary. None of the above workflows are ideal. Like Scene Layers, Armature Layers get toggled a lot, and need to be accessible in the same place.

Solution: While in Pose Mode or Armature Edit Mode, Armature Layers should replace Scene Layers in the 3D View Header.

This is a more intuitive design for a couple of reasons:

• The 3d view header already has the scene layers property, so it is already the go-to interface for at-a-glance visibility options.
• The visibility of the Scene Layers property is already context-senstive; e.g., it disappears while in Edit Mode and the like.
• When in Pose/Edit Mode of an Armature, Armature Layers are much more relevant than Scene Layers.

Talk Section

Whoever digs into the 3D View Header Template and commits this change will improve the lives of animators everywhere. -- Rocketman

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Initially, I'm tempted to agree with this. However, I've learned that situations like this are often a lot more complex than they initially seem, and that the existing situation facilitates a lot of other workflows that we may have initially overlooked. Examples include:

• Using the scene layers to quickly knock out all scene lights, to quickly preview silhouettes
• Switching between low/high poly versions of the geometry while animating
• For riggers - Getting access to the deform cage to check on things, or to fetch some hidden widgets, or something else like that
• While still posing, quickly toggle on/off the rendering layout things (lights, camera). This is probably especially common when trying to do one-off promo shots.

So, in this case, replacing the layers wholesale isn't such a great idea IMO. At risk of introducing too much complexity, IMO we still need a way to switch back to scene/object layers instead. BTW, I also considered doing something similar for the Grease Pencil editmode recently, but ended up abandoning the plan as it didn't fit quite so well in that case.

-- Aligorith

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