File Structure and Organization

[MattG]

I find myself working with other people quite often and many people like to make mention of the way my files are set up both good and bad. What is nice when you are working with professional architects is that they often have a set of standards that they more or less adhere to from project to project so I as a novice can typically look at a drawing and get a good feel for what is going on.

I work primarily in the entertainment industry and have found that there doesn't seem to be any well published standard for file structure. I am curious to hear what other people may be doing to compare to what I am doing and seeing.

Being I am posting this and I have no idea if there will even be a response I will start by placing what I typically do.

I start with class structure. I more often then not only have one design layer. I may have referenced files that appear as different layer, but typically not actually different layers.

I then have lots of classes. The reason being that I can more easily orbit around a model in 3d. I also can use the class properties for color, thickness arrows patterns and such. I find if I can eliminate the layer portion more or less I have a smoother workflow. The only positive to layers in my mind is stack order.

To overcome stack order I have a class organization I use that puts things in an order by priority based on the class name and I have a script that Pat Stanford wrote that runs and puts everything in order by class.

I typically build my classes in groups if you will using numbers to dictate like groups.

I start with 00 Notes-(fill in name of notes here)-(maybe a sub category after that) and repeat. My reasoning being I like my notes to end up on top of everything because that is what makes them useful.

I work mostly on lighting projects so 01 Lights-(sub category by type or position based on the project)

Then 02 Rigging-(Motor Type)-

03 Truss-(Type or Position)

04 Audio-

05 Video-

09 Production or Scenic depending on the job-

10 Venue or staging-

Sheetlayers I number so they appear nice and neat then put the page size then the description. It helps me keep sane.

Any thoughts?

Matt

[JBenghiat]

This is a bit late coming, but here is my philosophy on layers and classes.

Think of layers as sheets of vellum and trace, where you would generally only want to work with the drawing objects on each layer at a time. For example, at the least I always have Architecture, Set, & Lights. I almost always work with my layer options set to show-snap others, just in the way that I would only draw/erase on one sheet of trace at a time.

Think of classes as types of things, which can appear on any layer. You can assign line weights and styles by class, so it's a good idea to assign classes for each type of pen style. You can also sub-categorize classes with a dash. For example, I have lines-center, lines-phantom, lines-plaster, etc. as well as Data Labels-Focus, -Color, -Unit #, etc. I have a class for my hanging positions and one for the outline of my instrument symbols.

Another way to visualize the distinction between layers and classes is to think of a building. Layers are like floors. They have a stacking order, can contain things, and you generally are only on one floor at a time. Classes would be the things in the building--people, furniture, etc. You can have people on any floor, and you can further classify them as people-men and people-women.

I hope some of this is useful.

-Josh

[bcd]

By choosing to ignore layers you are missing out on one of the core (and distinguishing) features of VW. Entire layers can be easily turned on and off in Viewports - this affords a great deal of control both for presentation and rendering.

For this type of work my Layers follow your Groups, with the exception that all Notes are Annotations within Sheet Layer Viewports.

So Layers:

Rigging

Pyro

Projection

Video

Lighting

Audio

Scenic

Venue

Also - Layers stacking order is arranged by drag and drop rather than alphabetically so the 0x system becomes redundant.

You can use this and still use your detailed classing organization - you just get to simplify it by un-nesting it one level.

Use View>Layer Options>Show Snap others in conjunction with Stack Layers to force all your visible layers to dance together nicely and use Ctrl+Arrow to cycle the active layer - or Force Select to jump to another layer.

Finally - using Saved Views will enable you to quickly return to preferred Layer - Class visibilities, active Layers, active Classes, Zoom Factors, Viewing Angles etc.

[Rossford]

Matt,

I am in the landscape architecture design side, but I also use plenty of classes - almost one for every kind of item I might have on a bid form so VW can count it for bid purposes.

I agree that you might have a few more design layers. I break mine into the same schedules as my bid form as they are like the mylar sheets described above - clearing, grading, drainage, irrigation, grassing, hardscape.

Yeah, there is some heartburn in making sure you are drawing in both the proper class AND layer (for example, putting my 12" catch basins in the drainage layer) but if you get in the habit it is pretty easy.

If you are in a multi person office, its likely that some would prefer more detail and others may prefer to draw in the none class all day. You might compromise with only having two or three design layers, rather than one for Pyro, Projection, Video, Lighting, Audio, Scenic,and Venue as suggested above, your projects may be simple enough that Lighting and audio might be one layer, for example. Generally, I think smaller projects lend themselves to combining more design elements into fewer layers, depending on how you need to see them in different spots.

Its a pretty personal thing these layers and classes.....

[MattG]

Classes can also be turned off in viewports and all the items are on the same layer the rendering turns out better as you can have different lighting options per layer, but with only one layer it makes trouble shooting easier when looking at oddities in the lighting.

Also at one point I was working without the designer series and did not have the stacked layer option and I mostly draw in 3D. Now that meant I was constantly aligning my layer views to make it look correct, one layer then I am set.

I have some saved views, more then often I am making sheet layers with viewports and I treat my viewport like saved views that I can navigate back to my design layer with.

My rational, there is no right or wrong, but it is how I work.

My only reasons for using multiple design layers has been to reference files or sometimes I will have a building drawing on its own layer to avoid manipulating it.

[bcd]

Your rational is correct.

[bjw]

Again with a late entry, but I find myself asking the same question. Sometimes I get theater drawings from people with more of an architectural background (that or their teachers did). There are often a million layers and classes--so many that the drawing becomes almost useless to me until I rework the drawing and delete most of the classes that are of no use to me.

I should mention that I work primarily as a lighting designer, so I use Spotlight quite a bit.

When I'm responsible for the scenic design, I tend to organize my layers first by the type of View (Plan, Section, etc) and then what is on it. So an example would be:

Plan Theatre

Plan Set

Section Theatre

Section Set

Plan Details

Elevation

Plan Positions (LX)

Section Positions

Instruments

Areas

etc...

I use this method assuming the person receiving the drawings knows less about Vectorworks than I do...which is almost always the case.

[Andrew Davies]

Good topic, and I too am always on the look out for a better way of organising my drawings.

I work in events.

The way I have settled on though, is to use layers for items such as :

Building

Seats

Truss

Lighting & Sound

Scenic

and classes for objects such as

chairs

Steeldeck

Treads

Graphics

Florals

I then tend to set classes options to show/modify all but only work with show others in layer options - depending on what I am working on.

I also try and keep layers, if possible, to what each supplier is providing - I can then send them what I want, with other layers grayed out.

Much as JBenghiat suggested.

It's important for me to use layers and classes equally

Hope this helps?

Andrew

[Kevin McAllister]

One thing I've found really powerful is the ability to add a suffix to classes when importing them from a DWG. Its easily possible to place an entire DWG import on a single layer. I huge step forward from the old days.

It is beginning to shape my own use of layers and classes substantially. I used to use an almost entirely layer based drawing style, with only a few classes. Now I am quite the opposite, very few layers and a lot of classes. There are some management issues with a lot of classes though. I do wish you could open/close groups of classes in the Navigation Palette so they displayed much like they do in the Classes drop down menu.

Kevin

[MattG]

I love the ability to prefix classes when you import a dwg. Once I found this I was incredibly thrilled.

Like I mentioned I typically number my classes in order of grouping so I can somewhat easily turn them on and off together without looking everywhere. When I get a dwg from the building I prefix it 10 Building- and when I get some scenic I audio I do 4 Audio- or 8 Scenic- or so forth so it is still organized how the original drawing was, but I can easily hunt down a group of classes and gray or turn them off.

One really nice thing is that keeps the use class color available for people who like to use the color associated with a class, an option layers does not have, well at least not in the same way.

Matt