Optimizing Shape Geometry

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Shapes with simple geometry perform better than shapes with complex geometry. A shape with fewer rows in its Geometry section will render faster than a shape with many, and a shape with a single Geometry section will render faster than a shape with multiple Geometry sections. If you don't need to control a shape's vertices with formulas, consider simplifying its geometry. Here are some suggestions:

• As an alternative to creating a shape with multiple paths, skip segments in a single path by converting LineTo rows into MoveTo rows. A shape's Geometry section always starts with a MoveTo row, but after the first segment, it can have as many additional MoveTo rows as needed.
• Condense many line segments into a single PolyLineTo row. The X and Y cells of such a row define the x,y coordinates of the end point; however, a single POLYLINE formula in the row's A cell defines all of the vertices between the begin point (the X and Y cells in a prior row) and end point of the shape.

Any shape with more than three or four segments might perform better as a PolyLineTo row. However, it's easier to "read" a shape's geometry as a series of LineTo rows in a Geometry section rather than a series of arguments in a function. You can convert a PolyLineTo row into LineTo rows by right-clicking the row in the Geometry section and clicking Expand Row.

A POLYLINE formula can contain cell references or expressions. However, as soon as a user edits the shape with the Pencil tool, Microsoft Visio regenerates the formula, substituting constants for cell references and expressions. To prevent this, lock the shape against editing.

Visio creates PolyLineTo rows automatically when importing DWG files. For more information about PolyLineTo rows and POLYLINE formulas, see the Microsoft Visio Developer Reference (on the Help menu, click Developer Reference).

Note

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Beginning with Visio 2000, the Freeform tool creates a nonuniform rational B-spline, or NURBS, represented by a NURBSTo row in the ShapeSheet. (A spline is a freeform curve that is based on a polynomial equation.) In versions of Visio earlier than Visio 2000, the Freeform tool created splines. Visio 2000 and later versions support spline row types (SplineStart and SplineKnot) for backward compatibility.