Collapsable Sheet and Layer Folders

[Liene Cikanovica]

I am sure this is not first time in wishlist, but in a quick search I could not find any to join.

Problem: my files get really messy with 50 layers and 100 sheets and coworkers that are not familiar with the file structure, get confused.

I would appreciate to be able to organize sheets, layers and viewports into folders that could be collapsable and hide unnecessary information.

Now we organize layers with empty layers "***********FLOOR***********", but it is not a convenient way to do it. And I am not gonna insert empty sheet to organize sheets in that manner.

 

What is your solution in organizing your sheets and layers?

 

Liene

[Boh]

Well there are lots of ways to skin a cat...

 

We have an office standard system using prefixes to group design layers together and a bunch of blank design layers to act as separators between groups.  A screen shot of a job attached. You are probably working on more complex jobs however this one is a 3 storey commercial refurb project, not huge but complex enough.

 

We have our files set up for 3d modelling so the DL's are stacked for the model and generally only 3d info and 2d info that needs to be on a DL go on design layers. Everything else we try to put directly on the sheet or in VP annotations. This keeps the number of DL's down. Many items like legends are symbols that go in VP annotations.

 

So looking at your list of DL's we would have:

"Annotation" & "Legends" in VP annotations.

"Schedules" are worksheets are just text? That could go directly on a sheet.

"Space Tags" would be part of space objects that go on a "Floor" DL (not on their own DL)

 

Our construction details are generally 2d and we place them in VP annotations. The VP may start out as a detail viewport but we draw over that in annotations so when the detail is finished we may turn off all DL visibilities for that VP. In this way the VP is simply acting like a container group that can be scaled and go directly on a SL.

 

Elevations & Sections are typically live sections of the 3d model so don't require there own sheet layers (However note we did do some 2D sections for this project).

 

Hope that is useful info!

 

 

[Boh]

Should have also mentioned that VW2019 has class & layer filters that should come in very useful for you. I've played with it a bit and it really helps navigate around a file that has 400 odd classes... 

https://www.vectorworks.net/training/2019/getting-started-guides/bim-architectural/layer-and-class-filtering

[Liene Cikanovica]

@Boh It does help navigate greatly and I'm using it constantly. But filters are by individual users interface properties and can't be applied to a file. So each person has to set up their own filters. 

I used to work with ArchiCad and I liked their structure a lot. That was one of the big things I missed moving to Vectorworks.

For me it would be similar effect if I could just drop everything in corresponding folders - not just layers and sheets, but as well viewports.

 

Now I name viewports, for example, 2_Plan or 2D_Plan, where 2 refers to section "A2.01 Plan", and 2D to "A2.01D Demo Plan", this is the only way I can organize them and distinguish their content at glance. 

 

[Boh]

9 minutes ago, Liene Cikanovica said:

@Boh It does help navigate greatly and I'm using it constantly. But filters are by individual users interface properties and can't be applied to a file. So each person has to set up their own filters. 

They could be preset up in your project template file(s)

 

11 minutes ago, Liene Cikanovica said:

Now I name viewports, for example, 2_Plan or 2D_Plan, where 2 refers to section "A2.01 Plan", and 2D to "A2.01D Demo Plan", this is the only way I can organize them and distinguish their content at glance. 

For 3d work you need to name your viewports so that you can place section line instances in them.

 

There is a script you can download on the forum (haven't got time to fine it right now) but it renames selected viewports "Sheet No. / Drawing Number / Drawing Title."

 

One of the best tools ever!