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Layer Organization - Tip


Taproot

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Right out of the box, VW's layer organization can be a little hard on the eyes. 

As mine have aged, I've looked for ways to intuitively break down the long continuous list in the Navigation Pallet into smaller chunks that are easier to navigate between.

 

The strategy that I've used is to create a series of empty layers with titles that are either made up of spaces or dashes.  Be aware that VW won't allow more than one layer with the same title, so you'll need to use a different number of characters for each divider.  This strategy can be used on both the design and sheet layers.

 

Placement can be controlled using the # column in the pallet - allowing for manual placement of the visual breaks wherever you want them.

Screen Shot 2016-11-09 at 10.35.59 AM.png

Screen Shot 2016-11-09 at 10.36.16 AM.png

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Thanks for sharing. I understand your methodology, but the concept frustrates me a little. Layer management has become a huge issue for our office going forward. 

 

I would love if they would initiate a hierarchical or folder based layer system for both design layers and sheet layers. Something similar to what is already accomplished by the hyphen (-) in class naming. This would allow layers of similar infomation to be grouped together visually and keep the list from getting too extensive to manage. Some of our projects include over 50 design layers and sheet layers that are too cumbersome to navigate through now.

 

The need for this becomes even more prescient when facing the ideal of project sharing...one file with everything in it! Almost too many layers to imagine!

 

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  • 2 months later...

@TaprootHi, Looking at you design layer names, I would have thought all these would be handled by classes with a Design layer for each floor, site and grid.

Design layer is the container that holds all the classes. Maybe you have a good reason to do it your way. Always interested in knowing why it works for you?

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11 hours ago, Alan Woodwell said:

@TaprootHi, Looking at you design layer names, I would have thought all these would be handled by classes with a Design layer for each floor, site and grid.

Design layer is the container that holds all the classes. Maybe you have a good reason to do it your way. Always interested in knowing why it works for you?

 

I see it the same way.

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Alan and Zoomer: 

 

It's a fair point.  The three layers per floor is a legacy from before viewports and annotations. 

At that time, I would place all 2D information below or above the model for correct display control.

 

If I were building a template from scratch, I might do it differently now, but I still find the system useful.

 

I've found the stories and "slab" tool to be cumbersome for my needs.  Instead, I typically build my floors as a series of floor layers.  That gives me precise control over the components (finish floor, structural system, etc without being limited by the slab constraints).  Grouping them on a separate design layer gives me Delta Z control as well as the ability to more easily work on those components (gray other layers, etc...).

Stories and Slabs are getting better - so over time, I may bring them into my workflow.

 

The notes layer I still use occasionally.  Dimensioning is a good example.  I prefer to dimension on the design layers.   It's a better workflow being able to modify them there when the building changes rather than going back and forth to viewports.  Once in a while, however, I'll want to dimension a variation of the floorplan ... for instance an enlarged view of the kitchen cabinets.  In that situation, it's handy to be able to turn off the general plan dimensions so that only the cabinet dimensions are displayed.   If they are on a "Notes" layer, it's easy to control their display.  If they were on the primary Plan layer, it's more difficult (as the dimensions auto-class).

 

Do you find now that you can address all of your conditions with the Stories and Slab Tool? 

 

 

 

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OK, I understand ....

 

Will that control work for sections too ?

Upper Layer always in front ?

 

I never cared about visibility stacking. One Layer for each Story.

Indeed, that means a lot of CMD+F CMD+B work.

Like you draw all your walls and finally create the Slab by these > it will cover everything in Top Plan View.

 

In that BIM workflow the typical the 2D send backward/forward does not work for me, I see no reaction.

Maybe too many depth levels. I always have to use complete "sent to Back/Front"

 

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On 1/17/2017 at 10:55 AM, zoomer said:

Will that control work for sections too ?

Upper Layer always in front ?

 

 

I'm not sure which control you're referring to for sections, but for plan - yes the upper layers are always displayed in front.

It took me a while to figure out to stack my layers up from the bottom (foundation to roof)  rather than the more intuitive top to bottom.

 

I agree, moving objects forward and back can indeed be tedious.  I find separating items by layers is helpful in that regard.

 

 

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  • 3 years later...
43 minutes ago, Kennedyme said:

@Taproot How do you use Classes? I see this thread is 3 years old. do you things differently now?

 

That's a big topic, but a timely one.  This spring I rebuilt our office standards around a new set of classes. 

But I think that's a great topic for discussion, so rather than add it to this thread about layers, I'll start a new thread on that topic.

 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

coming back to design layers - i use many of them for each storey. there are a few reasons:

 

- in the project sharing you reserve and check out objects by layers at best. checking by objects themselves might wind up chaotic.

- the grouping of similar objects per design layer (e.g. slabs, walls, furniture objects, spaces or installations) helps better visibility control of the objects in the various display options.

- the choice of layers for ifc exports is pretty straightforward, compared to setting up classes' visibility for these exports.

 

i always model slab construction separately from the floor layers, but both are on the same design layer.

 

as for classes - they should correspond to the classification system, e.g. omniclass in the north america, uniclass in the uk (they have the uniclass 2015 classing system in their vectorworks' release). so the classing of the design layers is not recommended in such a system unless you have one design layer for a storey (also not recommended - why then stories at all?).

rob 

 

btw: i avoid 2d elements in the 3d space - all possible 2d's are in the annotations of the sheet layers.

Edited by gester
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