diff --git a/include/vsg/app/View.h b/include/vsg/app/View.h
index d1c4b97a0..a2393da8d 100644
--- a/include/vsg/app/View.h
+++ b/include/vsg/app/View.h
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ namespace vsg
     public:
         View();
 
+        // share the specified view's children, viewID, mask and camera ViewportState
+        View(const View& view);
+
         explicit View(ref_ptr<Camera> in_camera, ref_ptr<Node> in_scenegraph = {});
 
         template<class N, class V>
@@ -46,6 +49,9 @@ namespace vsg
         void accept(ConstVisitor& visitor) const override { t_accept(*this, visitor); }
         void accept(RecordTraversal& visitor) const override { t_accept(*this, visitor); }
 
+        /// share the specified view's viewID, mask, camera ViewportState, with this View
+        void share(const View& view);
+
         /// camera controls the viewport state and projection and view matrices
         ref_ptr<Camera> camera;
 
diff --git a/include/vsg/state/GraphicsPipeline.h b/include/vsg/state/GraphicsPipeline.h
index f9323e1e1..b8a7583d2 100644
--- a/include/vsg/state/GraphicsPipeline.h
+++ b/include/vsg/state/GraphicsPipeline.h
@@ -58,8 +58,12 @@ namespace vsg
 
         GraphicsPipeline(PipelineLayout* pipelineLayout, const ShaderStages& shaderStages, const GraphicsPipelineStates& pipelineStates, uint32_t subpass = 0);
 
+        /// return the Vukan Pipeline for specified viewID.
         VkPipeline vk(uint32_t viewID) const { return _implementation[viewID]->_pipeline; }
 
+        /// variant of vk(viewID) method that is slower but adds validation of the viewID parameter
+        VkPipeline validated_vk(uint32_t viewID) const { return (viewID < _implementation.size()) ? (_implementation[viewID] ? _implementation[viewID]->_pipeline : 0) : 0; }
+
         /// VkGraphicsPipelineCreateInfo settings
         ShaderStages stages;
         GraphicsPipelineStates pipelineStates;
diff --git a/src/vsg/app/View.cpp b/src/vsg/app/View.cpp
index 6e17e1417..d54373d73 100644
--- a/src/vsg/app/View.cpp
+++ b/src/vsg/app/View.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ using namespace vsg;
 
 // thread safe container for managing the deviceID for each vsg::View
 static std::mutex s_ViewCountMutex;
-static std::vector<bool> s_ActiveViews;
+static std::vector<uint32_t> s_ActiveViews;
 
 static uint32_t getUniqueViewID()
 {
@@ -27,14 +27,30 @@ static uint32_t getUniqueViewID()
     uint32_t viewID = 0;
     for (viewID = 0; viewID < static_cast<uint32_t>(s_ActiveViews.size()); ++viewID)
     {
-        if (!s_ActiveViews[viewID])
+        if (s_ActiveViews[viewID]==0)
         {
-            s_ActiveViews[viewID] = true;
+            ++s_ActiveViews[viewID];
             return viewID;
         }
     }
 
-    s_ActiveViews.push_back(true);
+    s_ActiveViews.push_back(1);
+
+    return viewID;
+}
+
+static uint32_t sharedViewID(uint32_t viewID)
+{
+    std::scoped_lock<std::mutex> guard(s_ViewCountMutex);
+
+    if (viewID < static_cast<uint32_t>(s_ActiveViews.size()))
+    {
+        ++s_ActiveViews[viewID];
+        return viewID;
+    }
+
+    viewID = static_cast<uint32_t>(s_ActiveViews.size());
+    s_ActiveViews.push_back(1);
 
     return viewID;
 }
@@ -42,7 +58,7 @@ static uint32_t getUniqueViewID()
 static void releaseViewID(uint32_t viewID)
 {
     std::scoped_lock<std::mutex> guard(s_ViewCountMutex);
-    s_ActiveViews[viewID] = false;
+    --s_ActiveViews[viewID];
 }
 
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -55,6 +71,18 @@ View::View() :
 {
 }
 
+View::View(const View& view):
+    Inherit(view),
+    viewID(sharedViewID(view.viewID)),
+    mask(view.mask)
+{
+    if (view.camera && view.camera->viewportState)
+    {
+        camera = vsg::Camera::create();
+        camera->viewportState = view.camera->viewportState;
+    }
+}
+
 View::View(ref_ptr<Camera> in_camera, ref_ptr<Node> in_scenegraph) :
     camera(in_camera),
     viewID(getUniqueViewID()),
@@ -67,3 +95,19 @@ View::~View()
 {
     releaseViewID(viewID);
 }
+
+void View::share(const View& view)
+{
+    if (viewID != view.viewID)
+    {
+        releaseViewID(viewID);
+        const_cast<uint32_t&>(viewID) = sharedViewID(view.viewID);
+    }
+
+    mask = view.mask;
+    if (view.camera && view.camera->viewportState)
+    {
+        if (!camera) camera = vsg::Camera::create();
+        camera->viewportState = view.camera->viewportState;
+    }
+}