The Layers Preferences (in menu File / Preferences..., "Display" section, "Layers" tab) controls the appearance of layers and other display elements. The top of the dialog lists all possible things that can have their color changed:

Figure 4.6

Each layer has a color on the left and a pattern on the right. The color can be specified directly in the color picker, or it can be set to one of the transparent layers. If you change the color of a layer that has transparency assigned to it, the change will affects all layers assigned to that transparency.

You can draw in the pattern area to set a pattern, and you can choose from a set of predefined patterns by clicking on their image below the pattern-editing area. You can also choose an outline texture to draw.

The lower-right controls the appearance of the layer on the printed page. A separate "Use Fill Pattern" control lets you use patterns on a printer, even if they are not used on the display. The Opacity is also used for printer blending, and for some display algorithms.

When changing the background color, note that it must contrast with both the highlight color and the inverse of the highlight color (the inverse is black in the default settings).

After many changes to layer colors and patterns, you can restore the original state by pressing the "Factory Reset All Layers" button.

To save the trouble of hand-editing all of the colors, there are some predefined color schemes, available with the commands of the Window / Color Schemes menu:.

Here are the key bindings set by the Cadence Colors and Keystrokes command above:

Key Control Plain Other
0 Zoom Out (4-4-1) Wire to Poly (1-8)  
1   Wire to Metal-1 (1-8) F1: Mimic Stitch (9-6-3)
2 Pan Down (4-4-2) Wire to Metal-2 (1-8) F2: Auto Stitch (9-6-2)
3   Wire to Metal-3 (1-8) F3: Cleanup Pins (2-2-3)
4 Pan Left (4-4-2) Wire to Metal-4 (1-8)  
5 Center cursor (4-4-2) Wire to Metal-5 (1-8) F5: Run DRC (9-2-1)
6 Pan Right (4-4-2) Wire to Metal-6 (1-8) F6: Array (6-4)
7 Zoom In (4-4-1) Wire to Metal-7 (1-8)  
8 Pan Up (4-4-2) Wire to Metal-8 (1-8) F8: NCC Cells in Windows (9-7-2)
9 Fill Window (4-4-1) Wire to Metal-9 (1-8) F9: Tile Windows Vertically (4-3)
= Increase all Text Size (6-8-4)    
- Decrease all Text Size (6-8-4)    
DEL   Erase (2-3)  
&   Repeat Last Action (6-7)  
>   Show Next Error (9-1)  
<   Show Previous Error (9-1)  
SPACE   Switch Wiring Target (1-8)  
Letter Ctrl Plain Other
A Select All (2-1-1) Add Signal to Waveform Window (4-11-1) Alt: Align To Grid (4-7-2)
B Size Interactively (2-5-1)    
C Copy (6-1) Duplicate (6-1) Shift: Change (6-6)
D Down Hierarchy (3-5) Select Nothing (2-1-1)  
E Up Hierarchy (3-5) Down Hierarchy (3-5) Shift: Down Hierarchy In-place (3-5)
F Unexpand Cell All The Way (3-4) Fill Window (4-4-1) Shift: Expand Cell All The Way (3-4)
G Toggle Grid (4-7-1) Set Signal Low (4-11-1)  
H   Half Unit Movement (2-4-1)  
I Object Properties (2-4-2)   Shift: Place Instance (3-3)
J Rotate 90 Counterclockwise (2-6) Rotate 90 Clockwise (2-6)  
K Show Network (6-9-1) Measure Mode (4-7-4)  
L Find Text (4-9)    
M Duplicate (6-1) Measure Mode (4-7-4) Shift: Move Objects By... (2-4-2)
N New Cell (3-2) Place Cell Instance (3-3)  
O Open Library (3-9-2) Overlay Signal in Waveform Window (4-11-2)  
P Create Export (3-6-1) Pan Mode (4-4-2) Shift: Peek (3-4)
Alt: Preferences (6-3)
Q Quit (1-10-9) Object Properties (2-4-2)  
R Redisplay Window (4-4-2) Remove Signal from Waveform Window (4-11-2)  
S Save All Libraries (3-9-3) Select Object... (2-1-1)  
T Toggle Negation (5-4-2) Place Annotation Text (2-2-1)  
U Up Hierarchy (3-5) Undo (6-7)  
V Paste (6-1) Set Signal High (4-11-1)  
W Close Window (4-3)    
X Create Export (3-6-1) Mirror Left <-> Right (2-6) Alt: Show Exports (3-6-2)
Y Redo (6-7) Mirror Up <-> Down (2-6)  
Z Zoom In (4-4-1) Zoom Box (4-4-1) Shift: Zoom Out (4-4-1)