Concept: The 3D drawing environment
Vectorworks provides a true 3D modeling environment. You can place objects precisely in relation to each other in 3D space on each design layer. For complex projects such as a multi-story building, create multiple layers with different elevations so that objects can be aligned, edited, and viewed together as a solid model.
A 3D view aligns all visible design layers in the drawing file with the active layer, and displays them using the same lighting options, render mode, and Renderworks background. The Z coordinates of all objects are expressed relative to the layer plane of the active layer. Design layers with a different scale from the active layer are hidden.
The layer options setting (View > Layer Options) determines whether other layers can be rendered and snapped to, and whether objects on other layers can be selected and modified. For rendering, select Show Others or Gray Others. For both rendering and snapping, select Show/Snap Others or Gray/Snap Others. When Show/Snap/Modify Others is selected, objects on other layers can be selected and modified.
2D objects can be created and edited on any plane and in any view; editing occurs within the “planar context” of the object’s plane. When performing operations on multiple selected planar objects in a 3D view, the objects must be co-planar.
If you need to access the legacy 2D workflows from versions of Vectorworks prior to 2022, see Using legacy 2D features.
