Question about object display order/fills compared to Vectorworks.

Several people in my office use Vectorworks as many Machines are Macs. They had 1 unused license for PC which has been installed on my machine. I have found one element in VW seems useful. Can I do it in AutoCad2010?

It seems that in VW when you draw an object it is filled and will cover any object previously drawn. e.g If you draw a chair or use a block, then draw a rectangle to represent a table it will hide whatever portion of the chair is under/behind the table. To get the same look in AC I have been trimming the chair. I'm sure something like this exists in AC but I can't find it. I have fill mode "on" in options.

see attached.

The table you have drawn is simply a wire-frame rectangle that's why you can see through it. Investigate using WIPEPOUTS which give you the ability to cover over objects. They can be a little dangerous if used indiscriminately or if you are working on a large team but they would provide a solution. When using WIPEOUTS it may be useful to leave a note in model space alerting other users of the CAD file to their existance.

I have explored wipeouts, and yes they are dangerous. It is definitely not the answer for my purposes. However, I assumed AC would have a similar ability to VectorWorks. As I said, a VW rectangle is automatically filled and therefore covers other objects if above them in the drawing order. I guess I could use solid fills, but this looks awful on a black model space background. It might explain why VW users draw on a white background. The filled object is a nice feature. However, it can lead to lazy drafting. I import many VW files where one draftsman has just drawn over existing elements and covered them up. When the file is imported into other software, ALL the overlayed elements become a mess.

The safest way to manage a wipeout would be to include it as part of a block rather than having it sitting loose in model space. You'd still need to play with draw order, though and there still no graphic clue to any other users that the wipeout is in use.

Adding a step like a wipeout is additional work--as is trimming--and not the answer I was looking foor. Oddly enough, when I import a DWG created by VW the objects work just as they do in VW. Front objects hide the portion of other objects they are in front of. I would believe the ability must be available in AC. There must be something that I'm missing here. As the Last AC holdout here, the pressure is mounting for me to Switch to VW. This is the only thing I see that I would want.

Adding a step like a whiteout is additional work--as is trimming--and not the answer I was looking foor. Oddly enough, when I import a DWG created by VW the objects work just as they do in VW. Front objects hide the portion of other objects they are in front of. I would believe the ability must be available in AC. There must be something that I'm missing here. As the Last AC holdout here, the pressure is mounting for me to Switch to VW. This is the only thing I see that I would want.

Yes, if AutoCAD is recognising the function then there must surely be something available but it's certainly not obvious. I'd be interested to see if anyone knows what it is, it's certainly a very well kept secret and a very useful one.

Here are some screen captures to illustrate. This is a VectorWorks drawing exported as DWG and opened with AC 2010. The first image is as it appears. The second shows the door block/group that is hidden behind another door block/group in front of it in the drawing order. It becomes visible on mouse over. (I changed the color to make it more obvious.) The third image is the door block moved. This shows how it is again masked by all other objects above it in the drawing order. The final image is the block again becoming visible on mouse over. As I said, it appears any closed path object from VW has this masking property. So my question is, how do we access it in AuroCAD?

If you look at the properties of the block, is there anything in there that gives a clue?

Nope, the VW objects all come in as blocks (named by VW eg. Group-371-1) but no fill is listed I'm still trying to figure out how to create this in AC. It seems to me that in VW any closed path is automatically filled.