TurboShapes

TurboShapes are multi-state shapes that can be used to help visualize units of measurement (e.g., percentages, relative ranking), status, and other things. You can quickly change their appearance using the controls in windows that appear above TurboShapes when selected. Macabacus includes a variety of built-in TurboShapes whose appearance can be modified extensively, or you can create your own. TurboShapes are available in PowerPoint 2013 and 2016, only.

Macabacus' built-in TurboShapes have powerful customization possibilities. Choose from a Harvey Ball, progress bar, rating bar, thermometer, traffic light, toggle switch, arrow, checkbox, and notice icons. Some TurboShapes, such as the Harvey Ball, allow you to specify any percentage between 0% and 100%, while others have a finite number of states (e.g., checkboxes). To insert a TurboShape into your presentation, select one from the Macabacus > TurboShapes menu.

To create your own TurboShape, select a single group shape consisting of all the shapes required to display the various states of the shape, then click the TurboShapes > Create TurboShape button. Macabacus uses the names of these shapes to determine which shapes to show in which states, so it is important to understand the TurboShape naming syntax.

Macabacus looks for numbers in square brackets at the end of shapes name to determine which shapes in the group are visible and which are hidden in each state. To make a shape visible in state N, name the shape something like:

Star [<i>N</i>]

where N is an integer from 1 to the maximum number of states in your TurboShape. To make a shape visible in all states, set N = 0. To make a shape appear in multiple states, include a comma- or decimal-separated list of numbers within the square brackets. To better understand naming syntax, consider a group of shapes with the following names:

Star [1]

Arrow [3]

Diamond [0]

Square [1,2]

Circle [2]

In this example, the star, diamond, and square shapes are visible in state 1; the diamond, square, and circle shapes are visible in state 2; and the arrow and diamond shapes are visible in state 3.

Use PowerPoint's Selection pane (Alt+F10) to name shapes. The name of the group shape itself is disregarded by Macabacus.

TurboShapes can be published to a Macabacus library for access by other Macabacus users, just like you would publish any other shape.

_{This documentation refers to the latest Macabacus version. Some features and descriptions of these features may not apply to older versions of Macabacus. Update your Macabacus software to take advantage of the latest features.}