I haven’t post on this site in a while, and NEVER in this section, but I’ve just posted THIS on ‘Blendernation’ and I’d like to have your opinion on it
This may well be a SILLY idea, but -
Why not use a variant of an ‘Empty’, as a ‘Layer’ object.
The Layer object would have all the abilities of an Empty with the exception of being able to manipulate ( resize, rotate, move ) the child objects parented to it, instead you would have the ability to change the ‘View’, ‘Select’ & ‘Render’ of the Layers children by selecting the same options for the Layer in the Outliner window.
By selecting/deselecting the View, Select or Render options in the Outliner, the operation would also be carried out recursively on the children of the Layer object.
Adding/removing an object to/from a Layer can be done via Parenting, the same action that is done through out Blender.
If such an Object is possible then it would allow recursive nesting of both Layers & Objects and the only limit on the number of Layers would be the computers memory & the patience of the artist in using them. It would also allow the CURRENT Layer Manager to act more as a ‘Workspace Manager’ a job which it would in my opinion be perfect.
I would try to implement this myself, would my programming/scripting skills are none existent.
Please let me know what you think of this idea, and if anybody is willing to try and implement it then be my guest.