DesignSeries00165.pngLayer or Class Visibility Changes Using the Visibility Tool

Tool

Tool set

Visibility

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Basic

Use the Visibility tool to change the visibility of the class or layer of a clicked object in the drawing area or viewports.

Alternatively, to change the visibility of one or more classes or layers selected from a list of all classes/layers in a drawing, use the Visibility Columns.

To change class or layer visibilities based on a clicked object:

  1. Click the tool.

  2. Click Classes or Layers mode, and then select whether to make the object’s class or layer Visible, Invisible, or Greyed.

  3. If the class or layer to be changed is currently invisible, ensure that the class or layer options are not set to Active Only. Press and hold the shortcut key (V by default) for the Visibility tool to temporarily make all classes (in Classes mode) or layers (in Layers mode) visible. If the cursor is over a viewport, all classes or layers in the viewport become visible.

  4. In Classes mode, if the cursor is over a design layer viewport that is set to use the class visibilities of the document, all document classes become visible (which includes the classes in the viewport).

  5. Move the cursor over a drawing object that is in the class or layer to be changed. All objects that will be affected by the visibility change are highlighted. In addition, a screen tip indicates the name of the class or layer that will be changed, as well as its current visibility setting. If the object is in a viewport, the screen tip also indicates the name of the viewport in which the change will be made.

  6. In Classes mode, if the object is in a design layer viewport that is set to use the class visibilities of the document, the screen tip does not show the viewport name. This indicates that a click on the object will change the class visibility for the document (not the viewport)—including objects of that class that are not in the viewport.

  7. Click the object to change the visibility setting for its class or layer.

The object’s class or layer is set to visible, invisible, or gray, and the Message bar shows the change that occurred. The Navigation palette (Vectorworks Design Series required) updates to display the new visibility status. On a design layer, changes to class visibility redraw the entire drawing; changes to layer visibility redraw the layer.

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Reasons for Class or Layer Visibility Not Changing

When you use the Visibility tool to make class or layer changes, several factors may prevent the visibility from changing as expected.

        The layer and class options control the visibility of objects in the inactive layers and classes. For example, if the layer options are set to gray objects in inactive layers, grayed objects do not become fully visible when clicked with the Visibility tool. (See Setting Global Visibility with Class and Design Layer Options.) An alert displays in this situation.

        The Visibility tool cannot hide or gray the active class or layer immediately, since the active class or layer is always set to visible. An alert displays in this situation.

        A container object (such as a symbol or a group) and its component parts can belong to different classes, and their visibilities can be set differently. For example, if the classes of the individual objects that make up a symbol are set to invisible or gray, they do not become visible when the symbol’s class is made visible.

        In a viewport, changes to class or layer visibility display immediately if the viewport has a background render mode of Wireframe, Sketch, or OpenGL. For other render modes, you must update the viewport to see the visibility change. An alert displays in this situation.

        If a design layer viewport (Vectorworks Design Series required) is embedded in another viewport, several factors affect the behavior of the Visibility tool. See Visibility Tool Behavior in Embedded Viewports for more information.

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The Visibility Tool

Visibility Tool Behavior in Embedded Viewports

 

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