Why is Visio so Unpredicable?

[Tegglet]

I am trying to do what should be a simple kitchen layout so why am I spending most of my time fighting the software?  I am seriously considering and expedition to the loft to retrieve my small drawing board as pencil and paper is beginning to appear the quickest option.

Fitting the cabinets and appliances is very tight and accurate measuring is needed if money is not to be wasted by buying units that do not fit.  My original attempt was fairly laid back, just finding or creating shapes the correct size and placing them in line.  I found that when it came to checking the last remaining inch (will it fit into the space) this approach was not adequate.

I have gone through several iterations of floor plan trying to use dimensions only to be defeated by the unpredictability of shapes when the XY coordinates are used to position them.  Some go one way, some flip, and some just go off and do their own thing.

I then decided to start from scratch, setting out two datum walls at right angles.  You would think that would be easy, not so.

My horizontal datum wall forms the "base" of the diagram and in my naivety expected to draw a wall with its reference line uppermost (to the inside of the room), its "Begin X" set to zero and its "End x" set to the room width of 2040mm.  This would from the datum from which all other items would be measured.  A similar situation applies when adding the vertical datum wall.

Can anyone tell me why the "Begin X" figure is 2040 and the "End X" figure is 0?  To someone brought up to read from left to right I find this unnecessarily confusing.  The single instance here is easy enough but when applied to a variety of cabinets, doors, windows and appliances it becomes all too easy to get it wrong.

My objective was to produce or modify the shapes to be used so that, for shapes on the right hand wall, the tricky one, all their reference points would be set to the bottom RH corner.  Visio seems hell bent on preventing this.  I have one shape with the pin position in the bottom right corner but shown in the Size & Position table as Top Left and next to it a shape with the pin position again in the bottom right but shown in the table correctly as Bottom Right.

I have tried using the Shape Sheet values to introduce some consistency without success.

If I sound confused that's because I am.  I have used Visio a lot in the past but only for diagrams that do not need accurate dimensions; it would appear that that is all it is good for.

Is there anyone out there that can throw some light on this issue?  In the meantime its pencil and paper as I would like to get this sorted out by Christmas.

Thanks in advance to anyone adventurous enough to address this issue.

[wapperdude]

Have you tried searching the forum?  Some of the issues have been talked about...

Wall placement...beginx greater than endx:  those are not as important as they seem.  Which is first depends on how you draw the wall, that is, if the wall thickness is on the inside or outside off the room.  But,  you ought to be able to flip the wall horizontally, so the wall reads correctly.

Generally, the placements are relative to page coordinates,, not to a reference wall.  That introduces extra work.   It is possible to set the ruler coordinates such that the origin is not the lower, left page corner.

Not sure which shapes are flipping?

To facilitate face-to-face alignment see this http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=6730.msg28018#msg28018

HTH
Wapperdude

[Tegglet]

Many thanks for getting back.
"Searching the forum".  These issues have come up piecemeal and searching the forum every time I find something weird would defeat the purpose of using Visio.  This is not helped by the illogical mishmash of commands MS likes to call the ribbon.

"Wall Placement"  I agree that in the isolated instance quoted as an example it may not be that much of a problem but by the time I had a string of cabinets, appliances, windows and doors I was finding it confusing and difficult to keep track with some items reading left to right and others reading right to left.  I had tried flipping the wall horizontally, and vertically, but could not arrive at a state where the datum point did not need an offset of some sort.  That, of course rather defeats the object.

"Page coordinates".  At the risk of sounding facetious, the Visio page does not appear in my kitchen, however, the wall does and it is from this that I take my measurements.  I have already set my Visio ruler so I can use the lower left corner as the zero point of the room.

I have had a quick look at link in your post and note that 64 bit versions are not supported.  I am fairly sure that I am using the 64 bit version of Visio but cannot find where to confirm this.  I would normally look in Menu Help > About as a first port of call but this simple and convenient facility seems to have gone the same way as other useful features that MS seem to think are no longer required.

As a final note, I do see what I am doing as a simple task that I should be able to do intuitively.  I should not need training in Visio's more esoteric features, nor need a set of add in functions.  I do appreciate your help but it would appear in this instance that a time effective solution is not available and a pencil and paper approach will produce results far more quickly.  Maybe when I have a few hours to while away I will revisit the issue but in the meantime it looks as if I will have to restrict myself to using Visio for drawings that do not need dimensions.

[Paul Herber]

Which version of Visio are you using?

[Tegglet]

Office 365 / 2013

[Bald Eagle]

I hear ya.  Sometimes things just seem a bit counterintuitive, and there are plenty of people who would agree that M$ does everything in its power to make their products as user-unfriendly as possible.

That aside,  I'm interested in the method to redefine the origin, since that's something I'd like to do as well, as as you say - searching the forum can be a bit laborious.  A "kitchen sink" sticky of VISIO tips and tricks wouldn't be a bad thing.

I often find myself using VISIO to do the same thing you are doing.
If you have left-to-right issues, then just "flip horizontal" because it's likely the "beginning" and "end" of your object are switched around.

For measuring off of a datum, I usually make connectors of a set distance, and either stack them or glue them end-to-end to see where I'm at.  Pretty useful when you select the line ends to be that "T" shape.

Using the dimensions can be a bit tricky - especially if you happen to choose the wrong one.   Some work better than other, especially in the "M$ has executively decided to do THIS automagically without your input or approval" department.   Try a different dimensioning tool, and maybe it will behave better.

[Yacine]

 

I'm interested in the method to redefine the origin

in V2013 in the ribbon View or Display (?), you can can open the Ruler & Grid dialog.
There, you can modify both the X and Y offset of the rulers