Grouping of Layers - PLEASE

[bjoerka]

Please add the ability to group layers in the layer tab!

Please let layers be linked to others with drag & drop.

Please do not implement a grouping like it is done with classes to sort them by a prefix.

This would be to complicated to have a flexible layer structure.

[Tom W.]

OK got it:

 

Materials allow you to turn a model that looks like it is made from certain products/materials into one which is made from those products/materials.

[hollister design Studio]

On 8/17/2024 at 11:21 PM, Tom W. said:

Materials allow me to quickly, easy, accurately + reliably....

 

Great - now you've convinced me I need to set up a materials library.

[TomDK]

It seems they have finally listened!

 

 

I submitted a comment suggesting this also extends to the views that can be setup so that they directly correspond to the drawings found on the sheet layers. Also I mentioned that it should be a true folder system rather than the arrow/hyphen system found in the classes (which is awful). 

 

Wonder how long this will take to research, develop and implement...

[E|FA]

Here's the roadmap page (go to the active research tab) in case anyone else wants to comment: https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap

 

As a side note, they've added a "Submit Your Idea" button on the roadmap page.  Isn't that duplicating the Wishlist forum without the possibility of user interaction?

[Tom W.]

The Roadmap has stopped letting me submit feedback. I hit the Submit button + nothing happens. Tried on two different browsers + it's the same.

 

I wondered about the 'Submit Your Idea' button as well. I guess it's to allow people who aren't on the Forum to contribute.

 

[rDesign]

8 hours ago, Tom W. said:

The Roadmap has stopped letting me submit feedback. I hit the Submit button + nothing happens. Tried on two different browsers + it's the same.

 

I wondered about the 'Submit Your Idea' button as well. I guess it's to allow people who aren't on the Forum to contribute.

 

I just tried with the same result as you: I can’t submit any feedback on the Roadmap.

[Tom W.]

1 minute ago, rDesign said:

I just tried with the same result as you: I can’t submit any feedback on the Roadmap.

 

@JuanP is this something VW is aware of...?

[Jeff Prince]

Maybe you guys got your quota 😉

You just submitted feedback for the first time successfully.  Maybe it is because you are or appear to be digitally outside the US?

Edited September 18 by Jeff Prince

[rDesign]

10 minutes ago, Jeff Prince said:

Maybe you guys got your quota 😉

You just submitted feedback for the first time successfully.  Maybe it is because you are or appear to be digitally outside the US?

 

It just worked for me on one card (AI Chat), but not another (Stair Reengineering). I'm digitally inside the US.

 

Maybe it knows that I already commented once on a card, and won't let me comment a second time?

Edited September 18 by rDesign

[Tom W.]

12 minutes ago, rDesign said:

 

It just worked for me on one card (AI Chat), but not another (Stair Reengineering). I'm digitally inside the US.

 

Maybe it knows that I already commented once on a card, and won't let me comment a second time?

 

It's definitely playing up. When I first opened a card it disappeared halfway through my comment + I had to start again. Second time I managed to submit but took two clicks of the button. Tried another card + it disappeared halfway through. That's enough tries for me 🙂

[Jeff Prince]

50 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

It's definitely playing up. When I first opened a card it disappeared halfway through my comment + I had to start again. Second time I managed to submit but took two clicks of the button. Tried another card + it disappeared halfway through. That's enough tries for me 🙂

 

I wonder if the CEO of Vectorworks reads through the forum anymore.  You would think these years of complaints and problems would be a call to action from the top down.

[E|FA]

Maybe suggest improvements to the roadmap in the roadmap?

[rDesign]

20 minutes ago, E|FA said:

Maybe suggest improvements to the roadmap in the roadmap?

Done - and it went through. Go figure. 🤷‍♂️

[Andy Broomell]

I just filed this VE-106566:

 

Quote

With large files that contain many layers, it would be great to have the ability to organize Design Layers and Sheet Layers into some sort of containers or groups. Because there are already so many similar terms for 'grouping' things together, I propose that Layers could be conglomerated into Drawers, which is analogous to organizing drawings and prints into flat file drawers.

 

A drawer would be like a folder, and each layer could live in one drawer only, or not in any drawers. A user could drag layers into drawers via the Organization or Navigation Palettes. Drawers should be collapsible via little triangles so you can condense layers that aren't relevant in the current phase of design.

 

Drawers should NOT rely on prefixes or hyphens or anything related to how Class nesting works.

 

Performing a Search in the Layers Search field would show all Layer results regardless of Drawer state (as though everything were uncollapsed) and if a Drawer's name contains the search term it would appear in the results in a collapsed state, and a user could uncollapse that Drawer to show all contained layers (even if the contained layers don't include the search term). For example, I might want to use search field to find my Prelim Hallway Plan; it's in a drawer labeled Prelim but the Sheet Layer is just named "Hallway Plan", so if I search "Prelim" it'd show me the Prelim Drawer and I could expand it to choose my "Hallway Plan" Sheet Layer.

 

A user should be able to right click a Drawer to edit the Setting of all contained layers (same as currently selecting multiple then choosing Edit).

 

For Sheet Layer Drawers, a user should be able to right click a Layer Drawer and have the option to Publish all contained drawings.

 

For Design Layer Drawers, in the Navigation palette a user could click the Visible/Gray/Invisible column for the Drawer line item to affect the visibility of all contained Design Layers. When a Drawer contains Design Layers of varying visibilities, the Drawer line item would show dots in any relevant visibility columns.

 

For Design Layer Drawers, consideration would have to be given in regards to how drawers correlate (or don't correlate) with Design Layer stacking order. Do entire drawers stack on top of each other? Or can the stacking order be intermixed amongst different drawers? And how does sorting the Navigation Palette via different column headers work?

 

A Drawer would be a container only, and no objects could live directly on a 'Drawer' - they must live on Design Layers or Sheet Layers as they currently do. All other current functionality of Layers would remain unchanged; it is purely an organizational tool.

 

[PC7_Yellowform]

On 9/19/2024 at 8:15 PM, Andy Broomell said:

I just filed this VE-106566:

 

 

This is such a nice way of formatting the whole 'folder' business. It even gives Vectorworks a 'niche' product because they have the 'Drawer' function. It could also add to the visibility of layers and design, as you would be able to slide drawers next to each other thus creating a collapsible visual representation of your building and all the layers.

 

Furthermore, being able to select certain type of layers in the drawers you are able to quickly make your plotting preferences regarding electrical, engineering, design elements drawing sets. 

 

Definitely my favorite post on this forum.

[bjoerka]

after a few attempts i was able to push this feature request in the public roadmap with a critical comment .-)

[Tom Klaber]

Not sure what the difference between a drawer and folder is - but I like this.  If a sheet can only live in one drawer only - then we would need the ability to have each drawers have independent numbering - where our construction set and our filing set each have their own A-100 with different sets of notes.

[TomDK]

@Tom Klaber & @Andy Broomell, with different names used, you have described how Archicad works. I miss the simplicity of it, and the ease of managing many drawings from early concept to construction in one project with automatic numbering.