Making a Stencil of a Frequently Used Drawing Shape
The articles in this section of the Avontus Designer show you how to create a frequently used drawing (in this case, a Beam) and add it to a stencil for easy use in all drawings. You can use the concepts you learn here to create other types of stencils of parts and objects that you frequently use.
This page contains the following:
Creating an Object With the Appropriate Characteristics
To create a stencil from a drawing object, you start by placing the object and defining its characteristics.
To create an object with appropriate characteristics:
1. Click and drag the object (in this case a Beam) onto the Drawing Page.
2. Right-click the beam and select Properties from the menu that appears.
Note: You can also double-click the object.
The Shape Date dialog appears.
3. Enter the Beam options - in this example we wil make it a 10m beam
4. Click OK.
Creating a New Stencil and Adding the New Object to It
Next, you create a blank Visio Stencil and add the new object to it.
To create a blank Visio Stencil and add the new object to it:
1 Click the More Shapes dropdown and select New Stencil (US Units or Metric) from the menu that appears.
The Shapes palette refreshes.
2. Click the object and drag it onto the stencil.
3. Double-click the stencil object’s name and enter a new name for the object.
4. Click the Floppy Disc icon.
The Save As dialog appears.
5. Click in the File Name text field and enter The Name of the Object.vssx. (Be sure to leave the .vssx suffix.
6. Navigate to the following directory and click Save: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Scaffold Designer\Templates\
7. Right-click the stencil name and select Close from the menu that appears.
Adding the New Stencil to the MS Visio Template
Finally, you add the new stencil to the MS Visio template. This makes it available to any drawing you create.
Please be careful when updating your Visio template. You will be instructed to create a copy version before you edit the template.
Updating your version of Designer will overwrite your template, meaning you will lose any changes you make. It is recommended that you save your template in another location should you wish to retain your template before updating your version of Designer.
Note: There are two Visio templates, Metric and Imperial. Please ensure you update the correct MS template your designer is using. M indicates Metric.
To add the new stencil to the MS Visio template:
1. Open a Windows Explorer dialog and navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Scaffold Designer\Templates\ and make a copy of ScaffoldDesigner.vstx.
2. Double-click ScaffoldDesigner.vstx.
(Be sure to make a backup copy of this file, in case you want to revert your changes)
Microsoft Visio launches and displays the template.
3. Click More Shapes and select Open Stencil from the menu that appears.
The Open Stencil dialog appears.
4. Navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Scaffold Designer\Templates\ and double-click Name of the New Object.vssx.
5. Click the File tab.
The Info interface appears.
6. Click Save As and then Browse
The Save As dialog appears.
7. Click in the File Name text field and enter ScaffoldDesigner.vstx.
Note: Be sure to use the .vstx suffix
8. Navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Scaffold Designer\Templates\ and click Save.
The next time you open Scaffold Designer, you will find the saved stencil.
Optional: Edit the New Stencil's Shape Icon
If you want, you can edit the new stencil's shape icon, to help differentiate it from the other icons in the Avontus Designer interface.
To edit the new stencil's shape icon:
1. Open a Windows Explorer dialog and navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Scaffold Designer\Templates\
Note: Make a copy of The Name of the Stance FIle.vstx if you wish.
2. Double-click The Name of the Stance FIle.vstx.
Microsoft Visio launches and displays the stencil.
3. Click More Shapes and select Open Stencil from the menu that appears.
4. Right-click the stencil icon and select Edit Icon Image from the Edit Master sub-menu.
The Visio interface refreshes, displaying the means for editing the icon, in the Icon Editor area.
When you move your cursor over the Icon Editor area, it turns into a pencil.
5. Use the pencil tool to redraw the icon.
6. Save and close the stencil when you are done