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Layer Sheets

Intermediate

A Layer Sheet is a visual export of your build: a top-down, grid-lined diagram showing every floor of the structure, with each block labelled by its material and a full legend telling you exactly how many of each material appears. It's the closest thing Buildopia has to a building blueprint, and it's designed to be used before you build for real in the game.

The Two Export Options

The sidebar has two Layer Sheet buttons, each producing a different format:

ButtonWhat it exportsBest for
Layer Sheet PNGAll occupied levels as tiles arranged together in one combined image, plus the materials legend at the bottom.Smaller builds where everything fits comfortably in a single image.
Individual Layer SheetsOne PNG per occupied level, plus a separate materials list file, all bundled into a ZIP archive.Larger or taller builds where a combined image would be too large to use comfortably.

For most builds, start with the combined Layer Sheet PNG. If the resulting image is too large or unwieldy to work with, switch to Individual Layer Sheets and work through the ZIP level by level.

Reading a Layer Tile

Each tile in the output represents one level of your build, labelled "Layer N" starting from the bottom. The tile shows a top-down grid view of that level with X and Z coordinates numbered along the edges, so you can identify exactly where each block sits in the build space.

Empty levels — levels where no blocks are placed — are skipped entirely. The exported tiles only cover levels that have content, so the output stays compact even if your grid has a tall height setting but only a few occupied floors.

Each block cell in the tile is stamped with a small number corresponding to its entry in the materials legend. Block cells are colour-coded to match the legend swatch.

Reading the Materials Legend

Below the tiles (or in a separate file for Individual Layer Sheets), the legend lists:

Materials are sorted with the most-used at the top. This is deliberate — the materials you'll need the most of are immediately visible without scrolling.

Using a Layer Sheet as a Shopping List

The most common real-world use of Layer Sheets is as a gathering checklist before building in-game. The workflow:

  1. Design your structure in Buildopia until you're happy with it.
  2. Export a Layer Sheet.
  3. Open the legend and treat the material counts as your shopping list — gather or craft exactly the quantities shown, starting with the highest-count materials at the top.
  4. Work through the tile pages level by level as you build in-game, using the grid coordinates to place each block in the correct position.

Because the legend gives you exact counts (not estimates), you avoid the frustrating experience of running out of a material mid-build and having to stop and gather more.

Tip: Export the Layer Sheet after every major change to your design. An outdated sheet can send you gathering the wrong quantities — always use the most recent export as your reference.

Layer Sheets vs Resource List

Buildopia also has a Resource List export (in the sidebar alongside the Layer Sheet buttons) that shows raw crafting ingredients rather than finished materials. The two serve different purposes:

Export typeShowsUse when
Layer Sheet legendFinished material counts (e.g. "42 Wooden Wall").You already have crafted materials or want to know what to craft.
Resource ListRaw ingredient counts (e.g. "84 Lumber").You're gathering raw resources before crafting.

Use Resource List first to gather everything you need, then use the Layer Sheet as your placement guide once you've crafted the finished materials. See the Importing & Exporting guide for more on Resource List and Material List.

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