Visio® 2007 Bible

Chapter 25. Working with Scaled Drawings

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Choosing the right template for a scaled drawing

• Using both U.S. and metric templates

• Specifying drawing scale

• Showing scale on drawings

• Specifying measurement units

• Adding dimensions to drawings

• Specifying the precision and units for dimensions

• Calculating area and perimeter

If you've ever experimented with a new office layout by shoving your office furniture around, you already appreciate the value of working with scaled drawings. The objects you place in a design on paper are much easier to move around than the real-world building components, furniture, and equipment you deal with during construction. By scaling real-world objects up or down, you can work on them at a manageable size, manipulate them into the results you want, and easily share them with colleagues. In addition, by drawing real-world objects at different scales, you can show more or less detail without consuming entire forests of trees. For example, the layout of a factory floor might be scaled to ⅛" = 1' 0", whereas the connection details between a steel column and a floor joist could be ½" = 1' 0".

For technical drawings such as architectural plans, accuracy is essential or the construction crews in the field will wield their hammers getting pieces to fit together—usually with results that don't make the client or the architect happy. To make field assembly go smoothly, the shapes on drawings must be placed precisely and accurately.

Although Visio isn't meant to ...