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organizing your set of drawings...


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Also, The layering in VW is an effective way of dealing with the various scales one must use - different for plans, site plans, building and wall sections, and details.

Be aware that if you import a DWG/DFX drawing, your are either going to have all of the imported layers as VW layers or as VW classes. Recommendation: import layers as classes.

[ 04-15-2004, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: ErichR ]

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I make little use of layers and even less of classes. VectorWorks has lots of other ways of organizing a drawing that are easier and faster to use, more intuitive, more visually oriented, and less distracting.

I make a lot of use of Groups and Polylines and Surfaces, and of the Custom Selection command and the Eyedropper tool, all of which can do part of what I used to do with AutoCad "Layers".

I think of a Group as a kind of nameless sub-layer (in the VectorWorks sense of Layers, not the AutoCad sense). And Polylines and Surfaces sometimes serve a function similar to that of Groups.

The organization of each file is unique. I start out drawing everything on one layer and in one class, and then I add others only as I find a specific need for them. I feel that layers and classes consume a lot of time and energy, so I try not to create new ones unless there's a real need for them.

The most common reasons why I add another layer are to draw at a different scale or to create a different sheet. Other common reasons are: to make sure that certain objects remain behind or in front of others, such as solid-filled windows and doors staying in front of the siding in an Elevation drawing; and to share objects between sheets.

The most common reason I use a class other than None is in order to assign Class Colors to solid-filled objects in a rendering, and then be able to adjust those colors globally after seeing how they look together or how the printer alters them.

But I do make use of the Sheets facility. I commonly draw all the sheets for a project in one file, and freely move drawings from one sheet to another as the drawing set emerges. I find it's a lot easier and faster to manage sheets if I don't have a huge number of classes and layers to distribute among them.

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I have read the user's guide, but would like to hear how other users have set-up their drawings. We are using VW strictly right now as a 2D drawing program, and I would like to hear how someone would use the sheet/class/layer. Could you describe a typical sheet in your VW file?

Thank You

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We typically set up a master file with a layer for each floor of the building.

All components of each floor are set up with classes. For example, some typical classes for us are N-Wall, N-Door, N-Window (N- standing for new); D-Wall, etc. (D- for demo); various RCP- classes.

We save sheets for demo classes, new classes, and RCP classes (with save view turned off). We move from floor to floor by changing the active layer.

For a large project, drawings are each their own file, workgroup referenced from the master file and a title block file and used primarily for printing only.

For a small project, each drawing might be a sheet set up within the master.

Hope this helps!

Kristen

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I adamantly contend, to the objections of all my friends who do it their own way, that the fast way to work in 2D in VW is to, with only a couple of exceptions, use layers only for scale, use only as many as you need to account for the scales you need on each drawing, keep your class list simple, and resist the temptation to think that when you categorize the world around you it is somehow more intelligible or easier to deal with.

Oh, and let the force be with you.

Best,

Donald

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I've evolved into a template with layers for the basic floor plan, the dimensions of that floor plan, the electrical, the plumbing, the hvac, the footer, title block, etc. My electrical page will then be a sheet that includes floor plan, electrical symbols, and title block. My plumbing page will be floor plan, plumbing specifics, and title block. Etc. Use classes for for line weights of center lines vs other types of lines, and for textures applied to one type of wall vs another. That makes it easy to change color/texture for many things at once. Also use class for two different types of lighting--a one-light quick render and a more formal (and much slower) skydome. Classes make it each to switch that back and forth.

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what are you drawing in 2d? houses?

if so then you are also doing elevation and section drewings then? in that case you should think of it as a modeling project, the model gives you your elevations and sections.

putting things in classes alows you to hide things which get in the way when your drawing gets complicated.

think of sheets as what your prints will look like, and how you want to minimize the work you do when you print your docs.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"I adamantly contend, to the objections of all my friends who do it their own way, that the fast way to work in 2D in VW is to, with only a couple of exceptions, use layers only for scale, use only as many as you need to account for the scales you need on each drawing, keep your class list simple, and resist the temptation to think that when you categorize the world around you it is somehow more intelligible or easier to deal with."

Donald describes, almost verbatim, the way I work too, with the only exception of adding layers to account for different floors in a multi-floor project. Adding layers and classes only as you need them, and then keeping things as absolutely simple as possible (including layer and class names) not only makes life a lot more easygoing, but also makes it possible to open a file years later and understand what the heck you've done.

Dan Jansenson

________________

www.imageprops.com

the Renderworks Recipe Book

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