Comments on: Super Mask Visio Clipping Shape

By: visualthing

visualthing — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:30:48 +0000

Hi,

I want to add my vote for a version that allows the outer, opaque or transparent, box to be resized.

A few times I have gone to use the mask shape, but didn’t because I needed a shape that wouldn’t cover up headers, footers or columns on the page. At these times (of course) I don’t have time to play with the shapesheet.

I’m ShapeSheet beginner, and would be glad to give it a try. Perhaps you or another reader could outline the steps necessary to give me a head start?

A thought (wish) about how the shape might work: It would be ideal to extend (rather than just remove) the automatic “resize to page” function. I’d like to be able to set an arbitrary “page” and let the shape continue to resize itself to the borders I choose instead of the actual page size. Maybe also a way to “Lock/Unlock Mask Size” and “Reset to Default Size (whole page)”.

I’ll post back if I decide to dive into the ShapeSheet on my own.

Many thanks for this fantastic site.

–Mac

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:05:37 +0000

Hey, great work with this!… Have you had any luck with producing a version that allows resizing of the opaque area? I could REALLY do with that right now!! lol

By: Visio Guy

Visio Guy — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:40:47 +0000

Hi jp,

Er….just draw a square, rectangle or circle and give it a transparent fill via Format > Fill

By: jp

jp — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:34:41 +0000

How can I use this mask to do the reverse? i.e. dim what appears in the hole, everything else on the page is ‘bright’?

By: Visio Guy » Visio Tutorial: Advanced Fill Effects

Visio Guy » Visio Tutorial: Advanced Fill Effects — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:49:18 +0000

[...] For more on masks in Visio, have a look at: Super Mask Visio Clipping Shape! [...]

By: jbs

jbs — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:55:52 +0000

How about a shape that when pulled into the document, sets the transparency levels, then allows the user to ‘select’ where the document should be allowed to bleed thru. If the super mask object is already part of the document, those transparency properties would be adopted and simply not increased. You could reuse the object as often as necessary to get the job done.

By: Visio Guy

Visio Guy — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:38:36 +0000

I think I need to make a version that allows free resizing of the opaque portion — the part that is outside the mask. Then several masks could be placed on a page.

By: Dofang

Dofang — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:01:53 +0000

I second Chris’ request. Having multiple masks on one page would make this even more useful…

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:39:31 +0000

Very nice. What would it take to modify it so more than one could be on a diagram? Currently, if a second Super Mask is put on a diagram, it masks the content revealed through the first Super Mask.

By: Visio Guy

Visio Guy — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:18:19 +0000

Good point, WD,

I’ve added another screen shot to help illustrate the funny drag behavior.

- Chris

By: Wapperdude

Wapperdude — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:57:13 +0000

Very nicely done; a lot of nice features. In the instructions, the repositioning feature is a little understated, so, I’ll emphasize it here: when you drag the opening, it looks like the entire mask is shifting off-page. That’s expected behavior, and as soon as you release the mouse, the view window stays put and the mask reshapes to fill the page borders.