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I wish... There was a way to order layers by elevation and not stacking order...


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Currently Design Layer order is governed by it's layer number or 'stacking order', so when scrolling through layers using cmd up/down arrow, it starts with layer #1, then layer #2, even if these layers have no relationship to each other in space.

 

Logically, if I sort the layer organisation in the organisation palette by 'Elevation' and the scroll through layers one by one to check the model, it would be great if it remembered the layer stacking order I want to view the layers in, i.e. by elevation.

 

Current behaviour is to scroll from ground to roof because they are layers #1 and #2 resp., whereas I would like it to scroll through the ground floor layers first, then the first floor, then the second, finally finishing at the layers on the 15th floor/roof.

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The issue is the stacking order.  I don't want to have to change the stacking order each time I want to view the layers by elevation, or by storey, or by name.

 

There is no way to list layers by any other means AND use the commnd up and down arrows to navigate the layers one by one.

 

The request is to sort by one of the other columns and have VW remember that sequence of layers.

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And here is another example…where the ability to sort layers in conjunction with filters would be a huge time-saver.

 

I have a model. It is a large building. It is composed of 15 stories each with four layers. So just on its own the model comprises 60 layers. Nothing unusual about that. When we then add layers from the referenced structures model and the MEP the number of layers increases. Thankfully we now have Filters! And we set up our template with filters looking for specific layer identifiers because we work to industry standard naming conventions.
 

I call up the filter that lists just layers associated with the ground floor. And it lists my model layers, the structure model layers, and the MEP model layers. 
 

However unfortunately having filtered the layers I want, there are two things that Vectorworks does not do.


It does not treat the list of layers filtered as though they were the only layers in the file and therefore scrolling through them activates layers outside the filter.

 

It does not immediately turn off the layers not listed by the filter. This would be quite useful although I tend to use saved views in conjunction with filters and that does the job.

 

the filter applied in the organisation palette or the navigation palette is only a display of layers In the palette. it is not a setting that acts upon the layers filtered.

 

If the filter Ignored the nonfiltered layers and presented you with a model displaying only the filtered layers, and you then sorted those filtered layers in the organisation palleted by layer elevation, for example, and used that sort to scroll through the layers one by one...This would improve efficiency and make model navigation far easier.

 

 

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10 hours ago, shorter said:

It does not treat the list of layers filtered as though they were the only layers in the file and therefore scrolling through them activates layers outside the filter.

 

This first point can currently be addressed: simply apply the filter to the Active Layer dropdown in the upper left part of the screen (the view bar). That will prevent the filtered out layers from becoming active when scrolling through layers.

 

Filters are applied here separately from to the Nav Palette & Organization windows, which provides additional flexibility. It's this dropdown that's used when you Cmd+Arrow or Ctrl+Arrow through the Design Layers.

 

10 hours ago, shorter said:

It does not immediately turn off the layers not listed by the filter.

 

This is indeed true. While I prefer the current functionality, I can see how what you're describing would be useful when you have as many layers as you do. The challenge would be implementing this wish such that the current functionality and what you describe could both be possible, without the various options getting too complex or unintuitive.

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7 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said:

This first point can currently be addressed: simply apply the filter to the Active Layer dropdown in the upper left part of the screen (the view bar). That will prevent the filtered out layers from becoming active when scrolling through layers.

 

Amazing.  How did you stumble upon that?

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