Layer, class, and viewport standards
The standards for the Vectorworks Architect and Landmark products take advantage of layer and class characteristics described in Concept: Layers overview and Concept: Classes overview.
Many plug-in objects that are included with Vectorworks Architect and Landmark products are set with pre-assigned classes. The appropriate classes are created at setup and by certain other commands (see Automatically created classes). The use of automatic classing is determined with the Standard Naming setup command. For more information, see Importing drawing structure from standards or other files and Concept: Classes overview.
Projects set up according to standards contain both design layers and sheet layers with viewports. An architectural project file contains, at a minimum, stories with design layers for every level, as well as a number of viewports on sheet layers.
A typical Vectorworks Landmark product standard file setup includes landscape site plans composed of shared model information on four layers:
Mod-Site-Arch: contains any buildings or other improvements
Mod-Site-Civil: contains topographic and survey information
Mod-Site-DTMData: contains the site model output
Mod-Site-Landscape: contains tree and planting data
When a file is set up with the Create Standard Viewports command, the appropriate classes and layers are created automatically. The number and types of layers and classes created depend on the setup selections. Design layers are associated with stories, and begin with "Mod-" (model layers, since this is where the model is designed). The Create Standard Viewports command creates the appropriate viewports and sheet layers for the viewports (beginning with "Sheet-"), along with the appropriate classes if they are not already in the file (see Standard viewports).
The Standard Naming command establishes or changes the naming conventions used for these classes, design layers, sheet layers, and viewports or saved views (see Standard naming). You might want to set up a new, blank file with standards, and then save it as a template for future use.
Setup standards are determined by the LayerMap.G worksheet, which can be imported and customized by advanced users. If an existing file already contains a set of custom standards and the LayerMap.G worksheet is present in the file, the Import LayerMap.G dialog box opens when selecting Create Standard Viewports (Vectorworks Architect required). Select whether to keep the imported and customized worksheet, or whether to revert to the standard setup. See Using the Layermap worksheet for more information.
