New Roots Development
Tool Guide
Home›Tool Guide›VDC Plans›Sheet Tools

Viewport Layer Sync

Get one sheet's viewport right - its VP-frozen layers and its per-viewport layer overrides (color, linetype, lineweight, transparency) - then copy that layer state to every model viewport on the chosen sheets. Preview the counts, Apply only what differs, read the sheets changed. A run that changes nothing writes nothing.

Command VDCVPLAYERSYNC · VDC Plans tab › Sheet Tools panel
Get one sheet's viewport right - its VP-frozen layers and its per-viewport layer overrides (color, linetype, lineweight, transparency) - then copy that layer state to every model viewport on the chosen sheets. Preview the counts, Apply only what differs, read the sheets changed. A run that changes nothing writes nothing.
Source viewport C-1 (left) → its freezes and overrides on C-2 ... C-12 (right) C-1 viewport (source) VP-frozen: C-TOPO, C-TREE, V-SURV C-ROAD-EXST: color 8 override C-BLDG: transparency 60 override existing road greyed, topo hidden Apply C-2 3 frozen, 1 thawed2 overrides set C-3 2 frozen2 overrides set, 1 cleared C-4 already matches C-5 3 frozen C-6 1 frozen, 2 overrides set ... C-12 preview said 9 of 11 change
Source viewport and what Apply wrote   Target sheets   Already matching - untouched

What it copies

  • VP-frozen layers: freeze what the source freezes; optionally thaw what the source leaves on, so the frozen sets become identical.
  • Overrides: color, linetype, lineweight, transparency - each on its own switch; optionally clear the overrides the source does not have.
  • Targets: every other sheet, a layout-name pattern (C-1*, *GRAD*), or viewports picked on screen. The source is never a target.
  • Source drawing: this drawing, or another DWG read side-loaded (never opened or changed) and applied here by layer name; layers this drawing lacks are skipped and listed.

Safety

  • Preview counts before anything is written; the summary lists one line per sheet changed.
  • Only viewports that differ are written; a run that changes nothing writes nothing (NOTHING CHANGED).
  • Settings under %APPDATA%\VDC\VpLayerSync\ (override VDC_VPLAYERSYNC_SETTINGS). Plain AutoCAD: ships in both bundles.

Dialog

Viewport Layer Sync dialog
Viewport Layer Sync - VDCVPLAYERSYNC

When to use it

  • The plan sheets should all hide the same layers and grey the same background, and one sheet is already right.
  • A new layer appeared and must be VP-frozen on every plan sheet.
  • Grading sheets take one layer state, utility sheets another: run once per family with a layout-name pattern.

How to run it

  1. Run VDCVPLAYERSYNC and pick the source viewport from the list (or tick Pick on screen, or Browse another drawing and pick one of its viewports).
  2. Choose the targets: every other sheet, a layout-name pattern (C-1*, *GRAD*), or viewports you pick after Apply.
  3. Tick what to copy; leave Thaw and Clear on to make the targets identical to the source.
  4. Preview counts, then Apply. Read the summary: one line per sheet changed.

Options

  • Thaw in the target what the source leaves on: off keeps the target's extra freezes.
  • Clear target overrides the source does not have: off keeps overrides the source lacks.
  • Layout name pattern: * any run, ? one character, several patterns separated by commas.
  • Source drawing: this drawing, or another DWG read side-loaded (never opened or changed) and matched to this drawing's layers by name; the last one is remembered.

Watch out for

  • The source is never a target, and a sheet with several viewports has every model viewport synced.
  • Overrides copy the source's values exactly. From another drawing the match is by layer NAME: source layers this drawing lacks are skipped and listed, and a linetype override needs that linetype loaded here.
  • Nothing changes = nothing saved: the drawing is not dirtied by a no-op run.

Related: Sheet Peek · Viewport QC · Phasing