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Question Regarding Layers

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Old Codger:
I have a question regarding layers in a model. What are they for? I know perfectly well that Stephen would not have gone to the (likely not inconsiderable) trouble to code them in so I know they have to have a function. I would simply like an overview of what they would allow me to do if I take the time to learn how/when to use them.

I ask because I suspect that they might have something to do with functionality that would seem to be apparent in professionally done models. The guy for whom I've been making models has often referred to being able to make part of a model invisible for when he is setting up a shot for rendering his web comic. Now I have made an interior model for him but I simply made the walls and ceiling separate models. If I assigned the walls etc. to different levels, would that enable him to see or not-see a part of a given model? This could be very important just now as I am working on the most complex project to date by a country mile. The exterior model was challenging but not terribly so. I am now working on the interiors. My original thinking was to make them like a stage or film set with removable walls (done as separate models as I mentioned above. If I could simply assign different meshes different levels would that then allow him to eliminate a wall from a shot?

mrbeaver.07:
It would be cool, if they had names. Sometimes, it's hard to understand what layer has needed model

mrbeaver.07:
Layers are very useful for object itself and rigging.
Let me explain. You, for example, have one character, and you want to do different clothes. So, just add layer with another clothes and rig it.
I hope, I answered your question

bayinghound:
Layering is great when you're painting weights on bones.

Old Codger:
All well and good but if I export a model (in .obj format so that materials are exported, too) is the layer data also exported and is that data available at the other end? If so then I have a way to export interior models as a single model but with different meshes set in different layers so that they can selectively be displayed for rendering. Now I am just now getting into making interior models (whole nother way of thinking about models - to me at least) but this could easily solve some problems for me. I built a model of a very cramped interior space then extracted the walls and ceiling and sent those as separate .obj exports so that he could assemble the scene as needed. I'm hoping layers will solve the issue of me having to export separate elements as multiple .obj objects.

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