http://www.d-toolsblog.com a view from the top Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:29:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-clean-tidy-visio-shapes-images-transparent-backgrounds/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-clean-tidy-visio-shapes-images-transparent-backgrounds/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:24:04 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=2299 You might already know that you can create Visio shapes by using already-existing images, bitmaps and photos. But making good-looking drawings that use images takes more than just a download here and an import there. You want ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-clean-tidy-visio-shapes-images-transparent-backgrounds/feed/ 1 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-smart-tabs-smart-text/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-smart-tabs-smart-text/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:21:10 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1944 Today we’ll continue our discussion of title block topics by talking about how to control the location of text chunks in a shape’s text block. Sure, Visio text has tabs, which we’ll put to use. But ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-smart-tabs-smart-text/feed/ 1 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/add-multiple-layers-at-once-with-this-neat-trick/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/add-multiple-layers-at-once-with-this-neat-trick/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:54:27 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1282 Now I know everybody is probably running around crazy trying to complete all of their holiday tasks, so I thought I’d do a quick-and-easy article for you this December. This month’s offering will only take ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/add-multiple-layers-at-once-with-this-neat-trick/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/title-blocks-102-let%e2%80%99s-make-a-multi-field-smartshape/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/title-blocks-102-let%e2%80%99s-make-a-multi-field-smartshape/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:48:14 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1275 In our last article on Visio title blocks, Title Blocks #1: How to Display Existing Document Information, we were introduced to a remarkable title block shape.This single shape could display any of four different ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/title-blocks-102-let%e2%80%99s-make-a-multi-field-smartshape/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-display-existing-document-information/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-display-existing-document-information/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:16:10 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=2542 Title Blocks #1: How to Display Existing Document Information Title blocks on drawings are important for many, many reasons. If your company has created more than a small number of drawings, it’s useful to know who ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/title-blocks-101-display-existing-document-information/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/a-smartshape-is-worth-1000-symbols/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/a-smartshape-is-worth-1000-symbols/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:34:59 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1259 The promise of the Visio SmartShape is that one single shape can replace an entire army of symbols. With a little bit of parameterization, we can clear out the redundancy in our symbol libraries, thereby simplifying ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/technical-terminal/a-smartshape-is-worth-1000-symbols/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-better-looking-more-efficient-smartshapes/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-better-looking-more-efficient-smartshapes/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:26:22 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1249 Create Better-looking, More-efficient SmartShapes Attractive, realistic-looking Visio equipment shapes don’t have to be heavy and inefficient. In this article, we’ll look at some innovative A/V equipment shapes from D-Tools that offer the win-win scenario of good-looking ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/create-better-looking-more-efficient-smartshapes/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/how-to-make-smart-frames-and-bezels-2/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/how-to-make-smart-frames-and-bezels-2/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:13:52 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1232 In our last article on smart frames, we built a SmartShape that maintained a constant border-thickness, no matter the size of the shape. It was a fairly simple frame, it got ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/how-to-make-smart-frames-and-bezels-2/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/smart-frames-and-bezels-1/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/smart-frames-and-bezels-1/#comments Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:04:12 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1224 Posted by Visio Guy on June 15th, 2008 If you create elevation drawings for rack systems, for cabinetry, for A/V systems with TVs and video monitors, or for walls with doors and windows, you’ll find yourself ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/smart-frames-and-bezels-1/feed/ 0 http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/importing-images-as-backgrounds-for-scaled-drawings-in-visio/ http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/importing-images-as-backgrounds-for-scaled-drawings-in-visio/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 19:42:52 +0000 Chris Roth http://www.d-toolsblog.com/?p=1208 You’ve already got your plan…but it’s only available in paper format. Not to worry, you scan it and use it in your scaled Visio drawing anyway! Recently, we talked about techniques for using images as backgrounds ...]]> http://www.d-toolsblog.com/newsletter/importing-images-as-backgrounds-for-scaled-drawings-in-visio/feed/ 0