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Microsoft Visio 2010 : Importing Graphics (part 2) - Using Images as Shapes in Visio - Handling Bitmaps and Jaggies

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3/4/2014 1:06:15 AM
Controlling Image Size

Photos taken by modern digital cameras have a very high resolution, which means lots of dots, and large file sizes. Using high-resolution photos in your Visio diagrams can hurt performance and bloat file size.

Resizing an imported image-shape so that it is smaller doesn’t reduce the amount of data. A 6MB photo will have 6MB of data no matter how big or small you stretch it.

Often, imported images are used as iconic shapes, such as equipment photos for network diagrams. Since the size of these shapes is relatively small, you don’t need super-high resolution photos to ensure quality output.

Fortunately, the Picture Tools tab has the Compress Picture button that helps. Located in the Adjust group, it offers nifty options for making images more efficient. You can reduce the size of the image using the slider control or just downsize the resolution to screen, web, or printer resolution. If you have heavily cropped the image, you can also discard the hidden portions and save even more space.

Reducing the resolution of your image speeds Visio performance and reduces file size at little or no cost to the visual quality of your document.

Copying and Pasting Images Can Be Inefficient!

The easiest way to get an image into Visio is to copy and paste. Use Google or Bing to locate an image on the Web, right-click it to copy, and then paste it into your Visio drawing. Simple!

However, the copy/paste process seems to be inefficient and can make your file sizes explode. I found an image on the Web that occupied 12KB of disk space when saved to a file. Inserting it (from the file) added 49KB to the Visio document.

But copying and pasting directly from the browser into my drawing added a whopping 402KB to my diagram!

If you have a diagram containing lots of images, and it seems to be reacting or loading very slowly, take a few moments to use the Compress Picture feature to lighten the load!


Handling Bitmaps and Jaggies

Because images are built up from lots of dots, the bigger you make them, the more dots you need so that they print smoothly. You just learned about reducing file size by compressing images. Before you go on an image-reducing binge, consider how the image will be used in your diagrams.

Figure 2 shows the get-on-the-bus image at two sizes. On the left, it is about 1-inch wide—a great size if it is to be used in a flowchart or some other type of connected diagram. At this size, the image looks and prints just fine.

Figure 2. An imported image at 1.6 inches and resized 500%.


On the right, the image is five times bigger. If the bus graphic were intended to be used at such a large size, it would be inadequate. You can see the “jaggies” and degradation that appear when the image is stretched. In this case, too much image compression is undesirable.

Removing Rectangular Backgrounds from Images

If you take another look closely at Figure 1 you see that the image has a rectangular background that muddies its appearance and clashes with the white background of the drawing page. This is a drawback of importing images into your drawings. The rectangular blocks often have distracting background details that detract and distract from your work.

Compare Figure 1 with Figure 2. In Figure 2, the bus graphic no longer has a rectangular background. You can see the grid around the edges and even through the windows! This image has a transparent background and a non-rectangular outline. It looks and feels more like a real Visio shape.

I removed the background using the Background Removal Tool that comes with PowerPoint, Excel and Word 2010. Unfortunately it isn’t integrated with Visio 2010, but it is easy enough to import an image into one of the other Microsoft Office 2010 applications, remove the background, and then copy the image over to Visio.

Properly removed backgrounds make image-based shapes look more professional. Without the distracting backgrounds, your diagrams appear cleaner. Also, you can place shapes closer together because the rectangular backgrounds no longer interfere with each other.

Other -----------------
- Microsoft Visio 2010 : Using Special Shape Features (part 2) - Control Handles , Hyperlinks, Action Tags
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- Microsoft Visio 2010 : Working with Text (part 1) - Creating and Editing Text Blocks
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