Select tool
The select tool allows you to select an element on the map and to edit its properties. Depending the type of element you select (surface, icon, text), you will access different types of properties.
Usefull shortcuts
Hold and drag Left click Create a selection box.
Shift + Left click Allows you to select multiple element.
CTRL + Left click Allows you to cycle through stacked element.
Double left click When double-clicking on a polygon, enter polygon edit mode.
Create a new surface
No matter which tool you are using, you can choose a style and an item color before creating the shape.
When using the stroke tool, each click will create a new point. Double left click or hit Enter to validate the creation.
Usefull shortcuts
Shift Will constraint your stroke to the horizontal and vertical axis, as well as a 45° angle.
Enter When you started creating a stroke, hit enter to create a new point under your mouse cursor and validate the creation.
Escape When you started creating a stroke, hit escape to cancel the creation
Backspace When you started creating a stroke, hit backspace to cancel the last point you added.
When using the square tool, click and drag to create a new shape.
Usefull shortcuts
Shift Maintaining the shift key when creating a rectangle will constrain it to a 1:1 ratio, making it a square.
When using the polygon tool, each click will create a new point. Double left click or hit Enter to validate the creation.
Usefull shortcuts
Shift Will constraint your side to the horizontal and vertical axis, as well as a 45° angle.
Enter If your polygon has at least two points, hit enter to create a new point under your mouse cursor and validate the creation.
Escape Hit escape to cancel the polygon creation.
Backspace Hit backspace to cancel the last point you added to your polygon.
When using the circle tool, click and drag to create a circle.
💡Pro tip
When you create a circle, you actually created a polygon. If you wish to ensure a high resolution polygon to create a smooth circle, create a large one and then resize it to your need.
To create a text legend, type your text beforehand in the Add text field.
Then, click and drag the left click to create your text legend.
The green box will not be visible in your final application. Its role is to define the maximum space that your text will be allowed to take. It also helps to distinguish texts from labels.
📄 Read more the difference between texts and labelsEdit a shape
To edit a shape or an element, start by selecting it with the selection tool.
Style color vs Item color
With an element selected, you can change its Style color or its Item color
If you change the style color, the color of every item with the same style applied will be changed. If you change the item color, only the selected element will have its color updated.
Edit the shape of an element
If you have selected a polygon (circles are polygons to in VisioMapEditor), you can edit its points by double-clinking on it, are by selecting it and right-clicking to display the contextual menu. Then, click on the icon.
Each point of the polygon is represented by a white circle and is now movable. To move a point, simply click and drag it.To add a new point, click on the low opacity white circle located between two existing points. This will create a new point for you to drag and position as desired.
To exit the polygon edition mode, simply double-click again or hit escape.
Contextual menu
To see the contextual menu, right-click on the drawing area. Depending on which tab you are in, different tools will be available to you.
Common operations
In the drawing tab, the most common operations are :
- Cut, copy, paste, paste with IDs and delete.
- Scale, offset, rotate and mirror.
You can also use the alignment tools with the align drop down menu and make complex selection using the select same drop down menu to select items with the same color, style or the one using the same images.
Advanced functionalities
The split operation allows you to cut a shape following a line you draw. It is commonly used to create two rooms out of one shape.
You can change the width of the splitting line to create a gap.
Usefull shortcuts
To end your operation, click on the Split button or simplydouble-click
To cancel your operation, click the Cancel button or hit Escape on your keyboard.
Shift Will constraint your splitting line to the horizontal and vertical axis, as well as a 45° angle.
Backspace When you started creating the splitting line, hit backspace to cancel the last point you added.
The merge operation allows you to merge multiple surfaces together.
Changing the merging Threshold will allow you to fill the gap between two surfaces.
The shape Maker is an advanced tool that allows you to create a complex shape out of multiple shapes. To use it, you must select at least two overlapping shapes.
More on shape maker operations
Union Will merge the two overlapping shapes.
Substract The last selected shape will be used to cut the first selected shape.
Intersect Only the overlapping part of the selected shapes will be kept.
Exclude Only the parts that do not overlap will be kept.
