“I’ve played with the techniques mentioned. However, I can’t seem to find the way to insert an image onto the line as suggested in the article. Can you please elaborate?”

Now enter a height of .175” into the Size & Position box.  This represents 1RU (Rack Unit) at 1/10 scale.

Select the shape and Group it using the Shape menu.  This places a group around the line and the group defaults to 2D behavior. 

Grouped shape

Convert it to 1d using the menu Format > Behavior and check Line 1D for the Interaction style.

Select 1D in the Behavior box

You now have a line contained within a group that is 1D.  However, the endpoints of the 1D shape are at the midpoints of the left and right sides.  In fact, the grouped shape now looks exactly like the ungrouped 1D line shape with height.  Let’s place more geometry into it.  Select Edit > Open Group.  You now have a place to draw that’s inside the group:

Open the Group to draw within it

We’ll add several simple boxes and delete the original line: 

Add geometry to the group

 When we close the Group window, we can see the image inside the group. 

Grouped shape with image

The last step is to move the 1D endpoints down to the lower left and right corners of the shape so that the shape snaps properly onto a rack.  To do this, open the ShapeSheet with the menu Window > Open ShapeSheet.  Click on the LocPinY cell and enter “0” then close the ShapeSheet.  The result  is a 1D shape that will snap into a rack properly. 

© 2010, Visimation. All rights reserved.

Here’s an example of how that works.  All of the shapes we develop for equipment manufacturers include Visimation’s ShapeLink™ technology.  ShapeLink is our automated method of inserting Hyperlinks that perform specific tasks.  For instance, with Tripp Lite products, each shape contains two ShapeLinks that you can access by right clicking on the shape as shown below:

Right click on the Visio shape to show ShapeLinks

One ShapeLink sends you directly to the product page for specifications, literature, etc.  The other ShapeLink sends you to a Reseller Price page where you can compare the prices at various resellers and click a “Buy” button to start the purchase process.  You can click on the images below to see the actual pages.

Tripp Lite product page

Tripp Lite pricing page

MapShapes contain links to information about states and counties on Wikipedia

In addition to the Visio stencils in our MapShapes, we include Enhanced Windows Metafiles (.emf) images for use in non-Visio applications.  However, .emf files cannot contain Hyperlinks although you can add them manually after you’ve inserted the image into a Word document or PowerPoint show for example.  Visio provides a richer and more powerful platform that enables us to deliver this capability with no effort on the part of the end user.

© 2009 – 2010, Visimation. All rights reserved.

Visio schematic of HVAC air handling unit from Carrier Corporation

Visimation builds visual solutions to real world technical and business problems.  Our staff is comprised of professionals with considerable experience using and implementing various CAD and graphics systems over the past 20 years.  The work we perform often deals with existing CAD installations, either to supplement or replace them with a Visio solution.  We are quite familiar with the business issues that drive our clients’ decisions to select Visio, and we are often asked to discuss the economic benefits of Visio with respect to AutoCAD. 

For the great majority of the users we encounter, Visio provides the most economical environment to create, maintain, and deploy diagrams and drawings. A small percentage of potential users have highly technical needs for which CAD systems are better suited.  In cases where direct and complete file compatibility is critical, CAD may also be a better choice.  For everyone else, Visio has more than enough capability to support the drawing process and integration with corporate data. 

For the purposes of this discussion it is more meaningful to compare the two platforms with regard to total cost of use than to compare individual features and functions of Visio vs. AutoCAD.  Below, we present a table of comparative costs and then a more expanded description including a list of “myths” that we’ve heard from CAD proponents who don’t take Visio seriously.  I hope this will help you make your own informed decisions about which is a more sensible solution for your particular needs.

Cost of Software

• Visio Standard is $259 and Visio Professional is $559 (retail)
• AutoCAD LT is $1200 and AutoCAD is $3995 (retail)
• Both versions of Visio have the same programmable automation capabilities, while AutoCAD LT programmability is limited.
• Visio provides extensive sets of pre-made symbols and drawing templates that are additional costs with AutoCAD
• Visio produces presentation quality graphics while AutoCAD can do so only with significant add-on programs or customization; therefore, a worker may use Visio for a variety of technical and business tasks with no additional software or training
• Visio integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office applications without additional software

Cost of Training

• A comprehensive generic Visio training course requires one day, and with a workshop geared towards specific uses the total training is 2 days
• A similar level of generic AutoCAD training requires minimum 4 days plus additional courses for specific applications
• Because Visio is so much simpler to learn, users typically retain their Visio knowledge even if they are casual users.
• AutoCAD users require consistent usage to retain their knowledge while casual users often need refresher courses or ongoing support from additional staff to maintain their skills
• Visio’s user interface is consistent with Microsoft Office products, so it is instantly familiar to most workers who therefore require less training than for AutoCAD’s more complex interface

 Cost of Custom Development

• Both Visio and AutoCAD provide Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable the development of custom applications.
• It is easier, less expensive, and quicker to integrate Visio graphics with data to automatically generate valuable drawings
• Visio provides much more control over the user interface, enabling developers to hide functionality that would be distracting to a user’s specific task
• Visio symbols may be easily programmed to behave as real world objects, while AutoCAD geometry consists of basic elements (lines, circles, polygons, etc.) that require significantly more effort to program with intelligent behaviors

CAD vs. Visio and/or CAD Myth Busters

1. Visio is not precise enough: 
   • Visio calculates to 12 decimal places which is precise enough for all but the most demanding uses
2. Visio is just for flow charts and organization charts
   • Visio is widely used for schematic and detailed technical drawings
   • It is ideal for objects that are assembled into systems
3. Visio is not for technical drawings
   • Visio is the most popular software for network and IT diagrams
   • Visio is widely used in the HVAC industry with leaders such as Carrier, Johnson Controls, TAC, and Siemens
4. Visio is not compatible with CAD systems
   • Visio can import CAD files
   • Visio can write to CAD files
5. Visio cannot display 3D
   • Just like with CAD systems, Visio can display 3D with an add-in product
6. Visio is not as widely used as CAD
   • Visio has more total users
   • Visio is very popular for IT, HVAC, Controls, Security, and other layouts of systems
7. Visio does not have layers
   • Visio has layers and can import CAD layers
8. Visio does not support large format plotters
   • Visio does support large plotters
9. CAD and Visio produce simple line drawings:
   • Visio can produce technical drawings with rich graphics suitable for presentations
   • Visio can produce very realistic drawings of any equipment
10. Linking drawings to data requires expensive add-ons or custom applications
    • Visio provides tools to link with external data
    • Data Graphics illustrate those data on drawings
    • Pivot Diagrams enable users to generate multiple views of data
11. Fact: Visio has more graphic formatting options than CAD
12. Fact: Visio can save as XML and SVG

© 2009 – 2010, Visimation. All rights reserved.

1. What versions of MapShapes are available and what versions of Visio are supported? 

   We currently offer MapShapes for US states and counties in 10 sets.  There are 9 sets corresponding to US Census Bureau regions plus a complete set of the entire United States.  We also offer MapShapes for China and its provinces.  These will work with all versions of Visio 2002 and later although the data linking features described in other VisioZone articles requre Visio 2007 Professional.
       

2. Can these maps be used with programs other than Visio?
   Yes.  MapShapes are uniquely packaged to include vector images in Enhanced Metafile (.emf) format for easy insertion into applications such as MS PowerPoint, MS Word, and other programs.  They will remain crisp and clear when resized at their original aspect ratio (height to width) because they are vector graphics and not bit mapped images that become pixelated and fuzzy when enlarged.
       
3. How can I use MapShapes to present business information?
   You can add color and text to MapShapes manually.  With Visio 2007 Professional, you can open an external data file in Excel, Access, SQL Server, and various other structured data sets to link the records to states and counties.  Our VisioZone article shows you exactly how to do that with US Census data.
       
4. How accurate are Mapshapes?
   Very accurate to within 1/800th of an inch.  We made a design and quality decision to convert GIS (Geographic Information System) data, in this case ESRI shape files, into Visio geometry and we developed software tools to do this.  We weren’t satisfied with the accuracy of map art collections that we could have more easily converted from other graphic formats… the boundaries did not match up well enough to meet our standards.
       
5. How can I find out more about the geography shown in a MapShape?
   Each MapShape contains a ShapeLink™ hyperlink to the corresponding Wikipedia entry for that location.  Simply right click on the MapShape and select “More Information”.  Of course, the Wikipedia page will also provide many links to additional information.  MapShapes are an easy jumping off point to help you find what you need.

There’s a lot more information about MapShapes on the MapShapes product pages.  Select either US or China to browse through the available sets and to find out about pricing.

You can also download a free basic stencil of the United States. It includes outlines for all 50 states and the entire US (for Visio only – no .emf vector files for direct insertion in MS Office products such as Word and PowerPoint).  These shapes glue together at connection points and show only the state boundaries.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

First, where do you find good data? Businesses that collect data about their operations or customers can link those data to Visio if they are stored in a structured data file like Excel, Access, SQL Server, or any other database application format. To illustrate the method, we’ll use data extracted from public records and placed into an Excel file. There is a wealth of free demographic data available for download from the US Census Bureau. The Download Center enables you to find data and then download it. Let’s show how this works with an example. Suppose we want to graphically illustrate the median household income by county for the state of Maryland.
The Census Bureau has data for 1999 that you can retrieve as follows:

1. Go to the Download Center
2. Click on Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) – Sample Data
3. Select “All Counties” and then “Go”
4. Scroll down to item P53 and highlight “Median Household Income in 1999 (Dollars)
5. Click the “Add” button to add it to current table selections
6. Click “Next” then “Start Download”

This will take a few minutes to gather the data and then you can download the zip file. Save it to a folder, extract the files, and then start Excel.  I’ll give you the menu steps for Excel 2003… for Excel 2007 you can find the equivalent selections in the new ”ribbon” interface but for this operation it will work similarly in both versions with a few exceptions.

1. Select File>Open and navigate to the file “dc_dec_2000_sf3_u_data1.txt” that you just extracted
2. In the Text Import Wizard, select “Delimited” then “Next”
3. In the Delimeters section, check Other and then enter “|” by pressing Shift and the backslash “\” key
4. Click Finish to import the data
5. Expand the columns so you can see the headings
6. This gives you all of the counties in the US sorted by state.
7. Delete all of the rows that are not in Maryland and save the file as “Maryland – median income.xls”
8. Delete the row for Baltimore City because it is not a county
9. Delete the first row containing: GEO_ID, GEO_ID2, SUMLEVEL, GEO_NAME, P053001 (we don’t need this)
10. Finally, to match the county names in our drawing we must remove ” County, Maryland” from all of the entries. Select Edit>Replace and fill in the box as shown and then click “Replace All” (note that there is a blank space in front of County and that the “Replace with” field is left completely empty). This should leave only the text for the county name.  
    

    Changing the Excel data to synch with MapShapes

Save the file again… now we have data to link in Visio 2007. If you have the Visimation MapShapes of the US, you can drop Maryland on the page, then move and resize it as needed. Link the data by selecting Data>Link Data to Shapes. Follow the wizard to select the Excel file. Here’s what it will look like with the Maryland map shape:

Let’s link the data to the counties:

1. In Visio 2007 select Data>Display Data on Shapes to open the Data Graphics window at the right
2. At the bottom of the Data Graphics window, if “Apply after linking data to shapes” is checked, then uncheck it
3. With the Maryland shape selected on the Visio page, right click in the External Data Window and select Automatically Link
4. Check the radio button for Selected Shapes
5. In the dialog, set the Data Column to “Geography” to equal the Shape Field “County Name” as below and click “Finish”.

Automatically link data to MapShapes in Visio 2007

    

The data records are now linked to the counties and the linking process has added new Shape Data to the county shapes.  The Shape Data window displays the new information when you select the county.  If the Shape Data window is not open, Select View > Shape Data in the Visio menu.

Visio Shape Data window

To color the map based on the data we’ll need a Visio 2007 Data Graphic. The MapShapes US Visio template already contains a Data Graphic that colors the regions and states according to their US Census Bureau ID number. We’re going to copy this and modify it to color the Maryland counties.

1. In the Data Graphics window, click at the right side of the Data Graphic and select Duplicate to copy it
2. In the copy, click at the right side and select Edit Data Graphic
3. Under “Data Field”, click the pull-down menu and select “Households: Median household income in 1999″
4. Click “Edit Item” and you will see that Visio has selected ranges based on the data set and assigned colors to each range; you can change these if you wish or click OK to accept
5. Let’s also add an informative icon by selecting “New Item” and “Icon Set”
6. In the Data Field, pick “Households: Median household income in 1999″ once again and select the Callout as below:

Visio 2007 Data Graphics icons

    

We’re just about ready to color the map by referencing the data. Here are the final steps:

1. Select the Maryland shape and then Shape>Grouping>Ungroup. Although this will sever the state relationship, it provides access to the counties for data linking.
2. Select all of the counties and click the new Data Graphic we just created to apply it to the selected shapes.  

MapShape colored "by value" based on the linked data

This is just one example of the data visualization versatility of Visimation MapShapes when used with freely available data and Visio 2007’s Data Linking and Data Graphics features.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

Map of United States grouped by US Census Region

ShapeSource (www.ShapeSource.com) attracts thousands of visitors looking for Visio shapes and add-ons. What would you think is the most popular download? What type of shapes are requested most? The product downloaded most often is our free US Map stencil and we receive more requests for Visio map shapes than any other type of shape with the exception of network equipment.

To meet the demand for Visio map shapes we looked at several approaches. First we considered converting existing presentation quality vector image files into Visio. However, we found that the boundaries of several products we reviewed were not precise enough to meet our standards. They didn’t fit together all that well. They may be just fine for a PowerPoint presentation but we wanted to offer truly accurate map shapes. We accomplished our goal by converting data from Geographical Information Systems (GIS) such as ESRI shape files. We had already created a program for importing ESRI files into Microsoft MapPoint so we extended that technology to generate Visio map shapes from these super accurate data files. The result is MapShapes a series of Visio stencils containing shapes that accurately represent geography and offer several automation features.  We also recognized that many users would like to use MapShapes in other applicatins like PowerPoint, Word, etc. so we include Enhanced Windows Metafile (.emf) vector images at no additional charge that you can easily insert into non-Visio documents.

Visio MapShapes regions fit together automatically

One of the key issues we addressed in the Visio stencils is the problem of fitting map segments together once you have disassembled them. There are several techniques that can return shapes to their original position. Ours is based on real relative coordinates of geographical regions as defined by the GIS data. When you drag a shape to a page, it locates itself on the page according at its relative position to other geography. If you move or resize the shape, you can right click to a menu that resets its original size and position. This eliminates any guess work. In the example shown, we dropped a Pacific, New England, South Central, and South Atlantic region shapes onto the page. They located themselves and subsequent additions will fit perfectly.

We also wanted our map shapes to enable easy access to the wealth of information available on the Web for geographical regions. Each MapShape contains a contextual link to the Wikipedia entry for the selected shape. From Wikipedia you can access a tremendous amount of additional information from links on its pages.

Visimation's MapShapes with ShapeLink to Wikipedia

In Visio 2007, MapShapes become even more powerful with Visio’s Data Linking features as shown below. Another VisioZone article describes where you can obtain free US Census Bureau data and use it with Data Linking to create useful and compelling data visualizations.

MapShapes linked to US Census data

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

Tripp Lite isometric

In our last post I discussed 1D Visio shapes and their powerful connection features that ease the task of creating drawings of objects assembled into systems.  In this article I’ll describe a variation of 2D Visio shapes that are drawn to look like 3D views.

Visio includes in the box several stencils with objects drawn in an isometric style.  Wikipedia has an excellent overview of the isometric projection technique if you are interested.  The appeal of isometric is that it’s much easier to draw than perspective since distance of the object from the eye is not considered.  An object at the front of a room drawn in isometric will be the same size as an identical object located at the back of the room but the view shows 3 dimensions.

Isometric Visio shapes from Visio and Visimation

The adjacent illustration shows the angles of the Isometric X and Y axes with the Z axis pointing up.  The illustration has no scale… the objects are samples from Visio and Visimation stencils drawn in isometric simply to show a variety.  In a similar style, we created a custom set of scaled isometric shapes for Tripp Lite products including equipment racks, enclosures, power strips, and power distribution units.  A sample is at the top of this page.  These stencils are available for free download from ShapeSource.com.

In a future article I’ll cover the differences in behavior of the various types of Visio connection points for 1D and 2D glue that can ease the process of assembling a set of parts.  I previously discussed 1D glue for mounting devices in racks, for example, and we’ll revisit that here as we place devices into the enclosed racks in a simulated 3D isometric view.

Since Visio is a 2D system, it has no way of knowing that an object is physically contained by another object in 3D space.  We need to trick these shapes into showing the devices inside of the enclosure.

Visimation custom Tripp Lite isometric assembly technique

The following steps correspond to the numbers in the image above:

1. Drop an enclosure on the page (part SR42UB from the Tripp Lite Isometric stencil)
2. Drag a device (in this case a PDU) and drop it in the enclosure.
   1. Note the dark box that appears around the enclosure.  This signals that the enclosure shape is a group that will accept dropped shapes into it which is a setting in the Format > Behavior dialog box.
   2. For this to work, the dropped shape must also have a special behavior set, “Add shape to groups on drop”, in the same Behavior dialog box. The shapes in this stencil have been preset with these options.
   3. If you zoom in closely you can move the PDU until it’s snapped into the rack with 1D glue.  Visio can be a bit finicky under these conditions so zoom in close to see the shape handles and the red glue indicators.
3. The PDU is now in the group but the side panel of the enclosure is beneath the PDU shape so the PDU does not look like it’s inside the enclosure
4. Right click on the side panel and select Shape > Bring to front.
5. The side panel now covers the PDU and the PDU appears to be within the enclosure.  Note that the enclosure is a group that’s structured so that when you click on the side panel, that portion of the enclosure comes to the “front” while leaving the remainder of the enclosure “behind” the PDU.

Visimation custom Tripp Lite isometric close up

At the right is a close-up of the PDU before and after the enclosure side was brought forward.  You’ll need to work with these shapes a little to understand how to manipulate them to achieve the desired 3D results.  Of course, this is only a problem when you are trying to place an object within the 3D envelope of another object.  It’s much easier to work with the free standing racks and enclosures and especially (on the Tripp Lite isometric stencil) the SRCOOL12K cooling unit and the SU20K3/3 power unit.  With these objects, the last one dropped will always be “on top”.  If you move objects around you may need to bring certain ones forward with right click menu I mentioned above or the Shape > Order menu from the main menu bar.

I hope this brings the subject of Visio 3D simulation a bit more into <ahem>… perspective.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

A 1D line with and without height

Visio shapes can be either 1D (one dimensional) or 2D (two dimensional).  Unfortunately, there is no 3D shape although you can produce a “3D-like” 2D drawing by using the same methods as you would on paper… isometric, axonometric, perspective, etc.  Most Visio drawings that simulate 3D are drawn as isometrics… but I digress and will cover that in a future post.

When you draw a straight line, Visio treats it as a 1D shape by default.  When you draw a polygon or multi-segment line (polyline) Visio treats it as a 2D shape by default.  So what’s the difference? Well, today we’ll focus on 1D shapes because they have some very powerful connection and assembly behaviors in Visio.

A 1D shape has a begin point and an end point.  To understand this better, select a line and open Visio’s Size & Position window from Visio’s View menu.  You’ll see XY locations for the beginning and end of the line based on X=0 and Y=0 being at the bottom left corner of your drawing page.  The window also shows the length and angle of the line as well as a height.  Wait… height?  Yes… in Visio a 1D shape can have height although a simple line defaults to zero height.  Type a value of 1 into the height field in the Size & Position window, then press Enter.  You should see the results shown below.  The height of a 1D shape gives us a place to insert an image while maintaining the advantages of 1D behavior as you’ll see in a moment.  The result is that you can have a shape that behaves like a line but looks like a rectangle.

This is important for assemblies because 1D shape have the ability to strongly “glue” to connection points in Visio.  This kind of connectivity is what gives you those nice flow charts where the lines follow the boxes as you move them. We leverage this feature of 1D shapes to create Visio parts that assemble together accurately.  If we understand in advance how the real parts fit together then we can design the shape behavior to make it very easy to create an assembly of parts.

In the example below, a Juniper Networks MX router is placed into a rack.  If you look closely at the image on the left you can see the height of the 1D shape.  We used that height to insert an image that actually looks like a 2D picture of the device but it behaves like a 1D line where the endpoints will easily glue to connection points on the rack.  When you drag the shape from the stencil and place the endpoints near to the connection points, they “light up” in red to signal that they are gluing into place at those points.

Rack with network device and cards glued in place

For standard equipment racks we know that the mounting holes are 18.31” apart horizontally and the overall width of the devices will be very close to 19” between outer edges of their mounting flanges.   Therefore, we’ve designed this shape to glue to connection points spaced 19” apart.  Note the little red squares at the lower left and right corners of the shape (they are a bit hard to see so look closely).  The connection points are placed in the rack so that the mounting holes of the device align with mounting holes on the rack.

When you move the rack, the device goes with it.  In the close-up on the right you can see how a horizontal card is glued into the device (note the red square at the left end of the card).  This is an example of a hierarchical assembly… rack, chassis, card.  Move the rack and they all go together.

Let’s look at a different assembly condition with Leviton’s Structured Cabling products.  These are products that mount into small enclosures residential wiring of media and telecom systems.  The enclosures mount on a wall and various wiring modules mount into the enclosures.  There are also expansion boards that go into the modules to provide a range of wiring options.  So we have here another hierarchical assembly… enclosure, module, expansion board… but with very different dimensional parameters from the previous example.  Here, the mounting holes are at 3” intervals horizontally and 1” vertically.  The modules snap and glue into place accordingly and the (green) expansion boards are made to fit into the modules.  Just as in the real objects, you can mount the modules at any hole positions in the enclosures. Also note the connection points (little blue Xs) at every location where a cable can be connected.  This greatly eases the drawing process for wiring diagrams.

Wall-mounted enclosure with modules and cards installed

To show the range of assembly possibilities, we’ll look at one more example.  For the Emcor Enclosures FP2 series of cabinets we created 1D shapes that assemble in flexible modular arrangements.  The drawing below shows a plan view of, from left to right, an end panel, a base cabinet, a wedge, etc. until the configuration is complete at the right.  Note the far right base cabinet that shows 1D endpoints in red glued to the adjacent wedge.

Modular enclosure system in plan view

I’ll conclude this topic for now but I can certainly expand on how the 1D shape concept can be used to assemble other kinds of objects.  Certain assembly conditions are difficult to handle well with 1D shape assembly methods so Visio provides 2D shape techniques for those.  You can also experiment with changing a shapes behavior from 1D to 2D or the reverse using the Format > Behavior menu.  If you are interested in more details, leave a comment on the blog or contact us at info@visimation.com to vote for another article with additional information about 1D vs. 2D assembly techniques.

You can download the free stencils used in this article for Juniper Networks, Leviton, and Emcor at www.ShapeSource.com.  At the left sidebar on the Home page, select Visio Shapes and scroll down to the product you want.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

Something we’ve heard often over the years from various clients, customers, and users is, “There’s not much in my drawing… why is the file so big?”  Of course, there can be several reasons for this but one of the most common is the concept of “unused master shapes.”  Huh? I’m glad you asked.

The icons on a Visio stencil represent what’s formally known as Master Shapes.  For example, when you drag a shape representing a server onto a page and place it into a rack, a copy of the Master is placed in the drawing’s Document Stencil which you can’t see (more on that in a bit), and what appears on the page is an Instance of the shape.  An Instance is a pointer to the shape in the Document Stencil, kind of like a copy.  So, if you place a dozen servers in your rack elevation, you will have a dozen pointers back to the one shape in your Document Stencil.  This is one way that Visio actually keeps the file size down and performance up.

You can see the Document Stencil by selecting File > Shapes > Show Document Stencil.  It looks like a regular Visio stencil but it contains only the shapes that you have placed in your drawing.  However, if you delete all of the Instances of a shape, such as those 12 servers in your rack, there will still be a server shape in your Document Stencil.  In other words, the Document Stencil maintains a stock of every shape that you have placed in your drawing even if you’ve deleted them all from the pages.

Over time, a Visio file may become bloated especially if it has been worked on and modified frequently.  Let’s say you’re changing out the equipment in your rack and you delete all of those servers and replace them with patch panels, routers, and other stuff.  The server shape will still be on your Document Stencil as will all of those patch panels, routers, and other stuff.  The next time the rack is provisioned, that stuff may be deleted but the shapes are still in the Document Stencil.  Get the picture here?  It’s like an attic that accumulates junk that you no longer use in your house.

So the file size grows and grows even though there’s not much in the drawing.  The best thing to do is clean out the “unused Masters” from your drawing.  Visio 2007 has an easy way to do this.  Select File > Remove Hidden Information and then the File Size Reduction tab.  Checking the “Remove unused master shapes” box will clean the Document Stencil and reduce the file size.

In the example below, there are just two equipment racks in the drawing but the file size is a whopping 2 MB!  The Remove Hidden Information box shows 103 unused master shapes.  Although this is just a sample drawing to illustrate the point, it’s not unusual for a drawing that’s been used for years to have over a hundred unused masters.  After cleaning them out, the file size shrinks to 200 KB… quite a difference.

What if you’re still on Visio 2003?  That version has no built in feature to clean the Document Stencil but Visimation has a free tool called VisiClean that you can download from our ShapeSource store.  VisiClean will clean individual drawings that you open.  If you want to clean many files at once in a batch mode, VisiBatchClean is another tool for sale at ShapeSource.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.

This can become a real problem when working with network equipment shapes.  For example, Visimation clients including Cisco, Juniper, Leviton, Alcatel-Lucent and others like the look of the very detailed shapes we produce for them.  However, if we delivered the shapes as Visio geometry their users would not be pleased.  That’s why we convert the shapes to “metafile” images.  A metafile is a single Visio shape with a single ShapeSheet.  It’s still a “vector” image which means that it will remain crisp and clear no matter how large or small you resize it.  You cannot edit this image like you can edit Visio geometry but in many cases, as with network equipment, you don’t want users to edit them anyway.  With metafiles, you can make the shape as detailed as you want such as in the example below that shows a photograph and the corresponding Visio shape:

Juniper Networks IC6000 Photo

Juniper Networks model IC6000 in Visio

So how do you create a metafile shape?  Although it takes some experience with Visio drawing tools to create an image like the above, making the metafile is quite simple… draw your shape, select Edit > Copy and then use Edit > Paste Special >Enhanced Metafile.  This will place a metafile copy of the shape on your drawing page.  You can then move it to a stencil if you want to reuse it with other drawings.  Note that the metafile copy will not be the same size as your original.  This is a quirk (bug?) in Visio that has existed since Visio 2003 but you can compensate for it by locking the aspect ratio (the vertical to horizontal ratio) of the metafile copy and then resizing its width to match the original.  Here are the steps:

1. Select the copied metafile
2. Select Format>Protection and check Aspect Ratio
3. Open Size & Position Window (View > Size and Position Window)
4. Select original graphic
5. Copy the width value of the original from the Size and Position Window
6. Select the metafile copy
7. Paste into the width field in the Size and Postion Window of the metafile

In summary, if you need to draw very detailed shapes, this is the best way to optimize their performance so that they don’t act sluggishly when you drop or move them.

© 2009, Visimation. All rights reserved.