Master the layer organization system that allows you to separate and manage different elements of your scenic design across multiple drawing planes.
This tutorial introduces design layers as a fundamental organizational tool in Vectorworks. Design layers function like stacked sheets of vellum in traditional drafting—allowing you to separate architectural plans, scenic ground plans, and lighting plots onto different layers that can be viewed together or independently.
The walkthrough covers how to access design layers through the Navigation palette, create and name new layers with proper conventions, and control stacking order to determine which elements appear on top. You'll see a real production example from UCI's "The Pajama Game" showing how layers organize 3D hybrid symbols.
Finally, the tutorial explores layer viewing options that control whether you can see and snap to objects on inactive layers—critical for maintaining clean workflows when drafting complex scenic designs with multiple overlapping elements.