When you begin a drawing project, first develop a layer and class structure, along with a system for assigning items to the appropriate layers and classes. A layer is basically a container that holds items. Layers are comparable to the sheets of vellum that are used for hand-drafting; each item “belongs” to a layer in the same way that a hand-drafted item “belongs” to its vellum sheet. Additionally, in the Vectorworks Architect product, story levels and, optionally, design layers, can belong to building stories.
A class, however, is an attribute of an object. Classes span the layers and allow you to control the attributes and visibility of objects across multiple layers. To output specific elements of a drawing quickly and easily, simply select the appropriate layers and classes for display.
The program also provides ways to save the current drawing display with histories and saved views, and to present final drawings with viewports. Views and histories provide a “slice-of-time” look at the drawing. Histories record views of the drawing in a stack similar to the way Internet browsers do, while saved views store one or more aspects of the current display, such as the view, zoom, and layer and class visibility settings. Viewports are used to display final views of a drawing for client presentation.
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