The unified view looks a lot like the the Stacked Layers view in earlier versions…
Unified View (in Detail) in Vectorworks 2012
Stacked Layers
Stacked Layers was a new technique introduced in Vectorworks 2008. Before Vectorworks 2008, if you wanted to see a complete view of your project, you would make a new layer for 3D viewing. Then you could layer link all your design layers to the 3D model layer. With Vectorworks 2008 and 2009, you do not have to set up the 3D model layer. Stacked Layers allow you to see all the visible layers in your file, and when you move the view around, all the layers look like they are joined together.
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If you are using Vectorworks 2011 or prior, please refer to the earlier manual on setting up layers, Issue 1002, from February 2010.
Unified View
This is the normal view of a building when you change the view. One layer has the correct view, the other has remained in isometric. When you change views, both layers do not change together.
The answer is to use Unified View.
Go to the View bar. This is one place where you will find the Unified View.
The other place to find Unified View… is on the View menu.
When you turn on Unified View, all visible layers change to the same view. If you change the view, all the visible layers show the same view.
Unified View Options
There are options that control what you see when you activate Unified View.
Stacked Layers was a new technique introduced in Vectorworks 2008. Before Vectorworks 2008, if you wanted to see a complete view of your project, you would make a new layer for 3D viewing. Then you could layer link all your design layers to the 3D model layer. With Vectorworks 2008 and 2009, you do not have to set up the 3D model layer. Stacked Layers allow you to see all the visible layers in your file, and when you move the view around, all the layers look like they are joined together.
[ms-protect-content id=”34491,34492,34493, 34494, 34495, 34496, 344927″]
If you are using Vectorworks 2011 or prior, please refer to the earlier manual on setting up layers, Issue 1002, from February 2010.
Unified View
This is the normal view of a building when you change the view. One layer has the correct view, the other has remained in isometric. When you change views, both layers do not change together.
The answer is to use Unified View.
Go to the View bar. This is one place where you will find the Unified View.
The other place to find Unified View… is on the View menu.
When you turn on Unified View, all visible layers change to the same view. If you change the view, all the visible layers show the same view.
Unified View Options
There are options that control what you see when you activate Unified View.
- Go to the Menu bar.
- Choose View > Unified View Options…
These are the Unified View options.
Display Screen Objects only has an effect on the objects on the layer that are set to Screen Plane, not to Layer Plane. So, depending on your object settings, turning this option on or off might have no effect on the information you see. If you have object drawn on scene plane, they can be distracting when you want to look at the model of your project.
This is a good option to turn off.
Ignore Layers with Different Scale is useful for removing other layers that are distracting. For example, in this image the site model is visible. Because the site model is a different scale, so it does not line up with the building model.
This is a good option to activate.
Show only Layers belonging to Stories will hide any layers that are not assigned to a story (storey). If oyu have Vectorworks 2012, you should be using Stories for your modeling layers and option will hide all the other layers, making this a good option to view only your model layers.
Center View on Activated Layer is a useful way to have the model information for the active layer centered in the view.
With Unified View you can use Show/Snap/Modify others for the layer options. This allows you to select and edit objects on other layers.
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