Graying out imported shapes on a layer

[Stykman81]

My client likes the look of graying out shapes not involved in the layer-of-interest. That is, only shapes on the active layer are in color, while the shapes on the other layers are presented in gray. This is done by clicking the color check box on the layers that are to be grayed out.

This is a very effective presentation method ... however, I can't seem to find a way to have imported shapes gray out. I have shapes that were created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator that are unaffected by the color checkbox.

Does anyone know of a way to activate this feature for imported shapes? Is there a method in the Shape Sheet that can be used? Would I need to convert the shapes into another file format before import or otherwise put them through some other process in Visio to activate this capability?

I would hate to have to recreate these custom shapes using Visio's drawing features ... but if that is my only alternative, I'd better get cracking now.

Appreciate all insights!

[aledlund]

I suspect that your imported objects (Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator ) are not shapes, but rather bitmap images. That's why they cannot be manipulated in the fashion you're attempting (they're pictures not metafile shapes that Visio can work with).
hope this helps to understand what your options are,
al