Layers and Classes for Multi-Floor Building Projects

[Cristiano Alves]

Good morning.

When I used AutoCAD for projects involving multi-story buildings, it was necessary to draw individual sheets for each floor and speciality(*), as exemplified below:

Floor 0 - Blueprint
--- Floor 0 - Lighting Fixtures
--- Floor 0 - Electrical Wiring
--- Floor 0 - Network Wiring
--- Floor 0 - Lighting Fixtures + DMX Splitters + DMX Wiring

Floor 1 - Blueprint
--- Floor 1 - Lighting Fixtures
--- Floor 1 - Electrical Wiring
--- Floor 1 - Network Wiring
--- Floor 1 - Lighting Fixtures + DMX Splitters + DMX Wiring

And then I already had pre-created sheets/viewports defined for each of these floors/specialities. That sheets/viewports list made the exporter processor much easier.

 

 

With Vectorworks and its Layers and Classes, I am considering organizing it differently.

I started by creating a "Layer" for each floor and am now thinking of creating a "Class" for each "speciality I want to export."

Later, to have different Sheets for various floors and specialities for export, it would be enough to check the correct checkboxes in the Floor Layer and the corresponding Class of the speciality.

 

For example:
Sheets for: Floor 0 - Lighting Fixtures
"Layer": Floor 0

"Class": Blueprint + Lighting Fixtures

Sheets for: Floor 1 - Electrical Wiring

"Layer": Floor 1

"Class": Blueprint + Electrical Wiring

 

Is this the appropriate procedure for projects of this type?
Are there any training, tutorials, or online resources that explain this workflow?

speciality(*) - I don't know if this work is the best way to mean this. But is like on a normal building project: Electricity, Water distribution, HAVAC etc)

[rDesign]

2 hours ago, Cristiano Alves said:

Are there any training, tutorials, or online resources that explain this workflow?

If you search for ‘AutoCAD’ over at the Vectorworks University portal, you will find a bunch of training videos about switching to Vw from AutoCAD.

[zoomer]

5 hours ago, Cristiano Alves said:

Is this the appropriate procedure for projects of this type?

 

Yes !

 

Autocad or Microstation Layers were 1 dimensional.

With VW's Classes (ACAD Layers) AND additional VW Layers,

there is no more need for former ACAD Layer duplicates.

 

And I do not use VW Layers for separating Stories,

I may also separate the surrounding, existing vs new,

further separating a Story in Floor/Slab - Walls - Ceiling

or extra Furniture Layers.

 

It just means you have a single essence of ACAD Layers by VW Classes,

but by adding a few VW Layers you will get exponentially options

to separate things and control or switch visibilities.

Edited January 8 by zoomer