ZXTM Visio stencils

would you guys please tell me what tools you use on your PDF documentation files? that is pretty cool.

Glad you like them - it's a combination of the Gimp (www.gimp.org) and Visio for the graphics, with some more in Macromedia Fireworks; docs are put together in MS Publisher or MS Word.

Nice set of shapes, guys!

I'm sending my readers your way from this post: http://www.visguy.com/2006/12/26/zeus-zxtm-appliances/

- Chris (Visio Guy)

How did you do a connector line in perspective like that?

Darrell - take a look at the 'ShapeSheet' for one of the arrows (select an arrow, then use Window->ShapeSheet).

You'll see:

• The coordinates for the controls (these change as you move the control points around)
• The 'Scratch' variables that identify the points in the arrow shape based on the control points when it's drawn without perspective (i.e., pointing left to right)
• The geometry - these are the real points, with an isometric transformation applied

I made it by drawing the arrow in a left-right direction, assigning the control points and getting it to resize correctly. Then I copied the geometry points into 'Scratch' and redid the geometry as an isometric transform from the points in 'Scratch'.

I found out later that the angle is not quite right - I did a 30° transform, but the Microsoft's 3D server stencils are transformed by 28.55°, so a bit of fixing needed.

I was wondering where to get those server icons that are being used in the image above? All I have in the vss file is the servers and arrows.

Jeff - take a look in the stencils provided with Visio 2003 (or later), particularly Network->Servers, Network->Network-and-Peripherals and Network->Computers-and-Monitors

Hi Owen, thank you for the Visio Stencils and your manual for perspective Sheets.

Please look at
http://www.911dispatch.com/graphics/nena_ng911_diagram.gif

Do you think this Diagram is make with Visio? Do you know a better programm for making this perspective maps/layout?

Thanks
Mike

How did you get the green lines to appear at isometric angles?

Set the grid to 2.5mm x 2.72mm - look at the 'Grid Settings' object in the stencil (it is a handy screenshot).

Isometric lines will then be two grid steps across and one step up (or down).

Is it possible to post the actual .VSD for your sample diagram to analyze the connector lines. I'm having a lot of difficulty creating these.

Thanks.

[Ed: copy sent via pm]

Thanks very much indeed for posting these; the images are incredibly useful.

I wonder whether it would be possible to post an updated stencil that contains the 1U icons without shadows. I'd like to be able to build stacks that are higher than 2 servers but the shadows make the diagram look very strange.

Right-click on an icon and select 'Ungroup'. You can then delete the shadow and regroup; you can even drag the new icon back onto the stencil.

I am also having trouble making the green lines isometric. What must I do to get this working?

Set the grid to 2.5mm x 2.72mm - look at the 'Grid Settings' object in the stencil (it is a handy screenshot).

Isometric lines will then be two grid steps across and one step up (or down).