Layer Colors: Why?

[Skia_D]

I've used VW for over 10 years but never bothered to explore/use this feature. Can someone quickly explain the purpose of or why it would be in my interest to use Layer Colors? Or at least provide a link to a good explanation with examples. The Manual/VW Help just says how to, not why.

Thanks!

[bcd]

Layer colors are useful to simplify the look of your drawing either during creation or output - via the Use Layer Colors preference setting or the Viewport Layer Override respectively.

eg. a Show file may have several layers Venue, Scenic, Lighting, Rigging etc.

Objects on each layer will each have their own attributes (color, lineweight etc) which are useful to identify them when working on a particular layer.

however, at some point it can be helpful to view everything on say the rigging layer in one color helping it pop against other layers.

This can be useful during the design and also at output making it easier to visually comprehend a densely populated drawing. Having the Layer Color preference available via the Quick Preference Menu makes turning it on and off a snap.

Edited February 25, 2011 by bcd

[bcd]

Whether by bug or design Gradients and Image Fills don't observe the Layer Color setting.

[Rossford]

That feature is a legacy to work with autocad, since many drafters did it that way "back in the day." It could be dropped, IMHO if the code for new features is limited.

For the full ACAD like experience, you can also turn your screen background to black and party like its 1999, or maybe even 1989!

[Joel Riehl]

Agree with Rossford. The colors used to map to line thicknesses in the old pen plotters - so I see it as something vestigial of that. Certainly AutoCAD users are still all about the colors. There are a few layers that I assign colors to, but generally I choose to work in black lines against a white background in Vectorworks. If I want to isolate a layer or a class, I do it with the view controls. If I want to isolate some assemblage of objects, I group them and work in the group. Just my preferences.

[Skia_D]

Thanks for the replies, all. Makes sense.

[Pete (STZ)]

The best use for layer colours is when you want to distinguish new work form existing work - you can easily make some a single coloured and have the rest as black, or have all layers showing in their class colour except for one that may be black.