Network Diagrams: Drawing the Background Shape
March 6, 2009 by Greg Ferro · 9 Comments
In my previous post “On the Art of Network Diagrams and Presentation” I created shapes and shading. Some people asked how this was done.….
Draw a rectangular shape
So lets draw a rectangle on the screen:
Then put your pointer over the object and wait for a few seconds and the object will look like this:
Then grab the green diamond shape in the corner, press the shift key1 and then move it to the right:
Do the same with the other corner, just not so far over:
Now this bit is hard to explain, you need to select both of the top corners by clicking the first, then press and hold shift and then pull the top line of the shape to the right:
So you now have the basic shape that you need — lets prettify that by filling the shape with colour. Right click on the shape and select Format, Fill:
Select a dark shade of colour for the fill, then select number 28 from the Pattern. This is uses a shade from top to bottom.
Underneath the pattern you will now have the Pattern Colour box. Select a lighter shade of the same colour as shown.
Now click apply and you should have something like this:
Now this is bit too bright, it is visually overpowering so we need to “turn down” the colour. The easiest way to do this is to make the colour transparent:
And now we have the shape like this:
A little liner.…..
Now the line around the edge of this shape is a bit.… ugly.
Right click on your shape, select Line:
and this looks much more appealing:
And the magic trick
One of the difficulties in Visio with a large shape in the background, is that snapping and connectors tend to use the background shape that you have just made. There are two ways to stop this. But that will be in my next post I think.
Wrapup
As always, let me know if I got it right in the comments. Tips and pointers always appreciated.
Footnotes
- pressing the shift key forces Visio to keep the pointer on 90 degree or straight lines [back]
- Network Diagrams: Drawing the Background Shape
- Network Diagrams: VLANs and IP Subnets
- Network Diagrams: Labelling an VLAN/IP Segment
- Network Diagrams:Locking the Background Shape
- Network Diagrams:Aligning Shapes
- Network Diagrams: Drawing Freehand Curves (and then fixing them)
- Network Diagrams: Drawing complex VLAN Networks with IP Addressing
- Network Diagrams:Zones on a diagram with Visio shape union
- Network Diagrams: Tips for Printing from Visio
- Network Diagrams: Rotating Text on a Line
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Is this Visio 2003 or 2007? It doesn’t seem to work in 2007…
I generally don’t make my diagrams quite that fancy.
But I’m always open to new Visio tricks and design suggestions.
Yes, this looks like Visio 2003. I was also curious to give this approach a go as my diagrams are usually 2D. However, the trick with rectangle didn’t work in 2007.
Very interesting approach, though. A technique well worth mastering! Great blog
–
Marko
CCIE #18427 (SP)
The rectangle trick is done differently in Visio 2007, I’ve posted some details of how to do it here http://vinf.net/2009/03/10/the-art-of-network-diagrams-visio-2007/
I don’t get it to work with Omnigraffle. Can you explain that too?
Nice article, a good diagram goes a long way.
I like to round off the edges slightly on the shape (lines) so it takes the sharpness off.
Thanks for taking the time to share!
Great job.
I thought I was good in networks visualization, but you took it to the level of masterpiece!
I keep doing all those exercises, like studying official course.
10X!
Thanks for your kind words. I have some more to come I think, hopefully I’ll get time to complete them. Busy in the lab!!!
k I have visio 2003 sp3 and step 2 does not work for me “Then put your pointer over the object and wait for a few seconds and the object will look like this” my rectangle does not change no matter how long I wait – what am I doing wrong?
I will answer my own question: I tried it the way 2k7 works and that works on 2k3 sp3. Anyway thanks for all the info – great site.