Choosing a Scale for Masters

You can scale masters as well as drawing pages. A shape's appearance on the drawing page depends on both the master's scale and the drawing page's scale. If a shape is scaled, and the page is unscaled or has a very different scale (or vice versa), the shape might behave in ways the user does not expect when the shape is dropped onto the page. If users aren't aware of scaling differences, they might become frustrated when they try to use shapes on a page with an incompatible scale.

Although you can't prevent users from creating a new drawing of any scale and dragging your shapes onto it, you can ensure that the drawing pages you provide with your templates have drawing scales that match those in your masters. You can also create masters that work in as many different drawing scales as possible.

In this section...

Determining an Appropriate Scale for a Master

Setting the Scale of a Master

Determining an Appropriate Scale for a Master

It is always best if the drawing scale of a master matches the drawing scale of the page on which it is dropped. This is not always possible; so within certain limits, Microsoft® Visio® handles differences of scale by ensuring that the shape, as drawn, is the same size, indrawing units, as the master:

• If the scale of the shape differs from that of the drawing page by a factor of eight or less—that is, if the drawing scale of the master is no more than eight times greater or smaller than the drawing scale of the page—Visio calculates the shape's size in drawing units and scales it appropriately on the drawing page. This behavior prevents a shape from becoming so large that it obscures the drawing page or so small that you can't see it.

• If the difference in scales exceeds a factor of eight, Visio antiscales the shape; the shape is drawn in the same size, inpage units, as the size of the master. The user can resize the shape once it is dropped. For example, in the following figure, when the table shape is dragged into a drawing whose scale is outside the range of eight, the shape appears at the same size, in page units, as the master (2 inches), but Visio recalculates its width using the drawing scale of the page.

Visio uses a factor of eight when antiscaling a shape, so this is sometimes called the "range of eight" rule.

For example, you can create a master of a table that can be used in space-planning templates that vary in scale from 1/2 inch = 1 foot (a drawing scale of 1:24) to 1 inch = 10 feet (a drawing scale of 1:120). In the following figure, when a 48-inch table shape is dragged onto a drawing whose scale doesn't differ by more than a factor of eight, the table is properly scaled. The Shape Transform section shows its width is still 48 inches.

How shapes are redrawn at different scales according to the range of eight rule

1. Master scale: 1/2 in. = 1 ft
   Scale ratio: 1:24
   Size (drawing units): 4 ft
   Printed size (page units): 2 in.

1. Drawing scale: 1 in. = 10 ft
   Scale ratio: 1:120
   Size (drawing units): 4 ft
   Printed size (page units): 0.4 in.
   Scale ratio: (1/24) / (1/120) = 5
   5 is within the range of 8, so the shape is scaled

1. Drawing scale: 1 in. = 20 ft
   Scale ratio: 1:240
   Size (drawing units): 40 ft
   Printed size (page units): 2 in.
   Scale ratio: (1/24) / (1/240) = 10
   10 is outside the range of 8, so the shape is antiscaled

Visio applies the "range of eight" rule only to width and height values. Constants in formulas are not adjusted. So, for example, typing the following formula in a cell of the Geometry section might cause unexpected results:

Because Visio changes the shape's width, the Width reference will be scaled, but a 1-foot measurement will remain 1 foot in drawing units, so the shape might still look incorrect even after it has been correctly scaled.

To take advantage of the "range of eight" rule in designing your masters, follow these guidelines:

• Set the scale of a master in between the largest and smallest scales in which the master is likely to be used. This way, the master works with the greatest range of drawing scales within the range of eight. This "middle scale" can be calculated as the square root of the largest drawing-scale ratio times the smallest drawing-scale ratio.

• If you want a shape never to scale, set the scale of the master to an extreme measurement, so that the shape always antiscales when dropped on the page. For example, use a scale such as 1000 inches = 1 inch, which is well outside the range of the "range of eight" rule. For details, see Creating Shapes that Never Scale later in this chapter.

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Setting the Scale of a Master

In general, set the scale of a master equal to the scale of the drawing page with which the master will be used. By default, a master uses the scale of the drawing page on which it was created, before the shape was dragged into a stencil. Or, if you use the New Master command to create a master directly on the stencil, by default the master is unscaled.

Note To edit a master, you must open the stencil file as Original. If you open the stencil as Read only, you cannot edit its masters. If the stencil was opened as Read only, click the icon on the stencil's title bar, and then click Edit on the shortcut menu to make it editable.

To set the scale for a master

1. Right-click a master in your stencil, and then click Edit Master on the shortcut menu.

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Drawing Scale tab.

1. Under Drawing scale, choose a predefined scale from the list:

• Click Architectural, Civil Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering to select from among the built-in industry-standard scales for these professions.

• Click Metric to set a standard metric page scale ratio.

• Or, click
• Custom Scale
• and enter a scale ratio to define a different scale.