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Semantic Model Builder: Smart Canvas
When large semantic models become difficult to navigate, the enhanced canvas in the Semantic Model Builder simplifies authoring and navigation. An infinite canvas, smart auto-layout, non-crossing relationship lines, domain-based grouping, focus mode, and independent extended-model positioning work together to make enterprise-scale Customer 360 models clear and traceable.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience with Data 360 and Tableau Next in Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited Editions |
The enhanced canvas is a new rendering and interaction surface within the Semantic Model Builder in Tableau Semantics and Tableau Next. It doesn't replace the existing authoring tool—it 's a new way to view and interact with your models within it. The previous canvas reached its limits at models with 50 or more objects, where overlapping layouts and crossing relationship lines made authoring and navigation difficult. The enhanced canvas removes that ceiling.
To switch to the enhanced canvas, click Try Now in the notification banner when you open a semantic model. The previous canvas remains available, and your previous layout and object positions are preserved if you switch back.
Infinite Canvas
The canvas is boundless. Pinch to zoom and pan smoothly across models of any size without performance degradation. The previous canvas had a fixed viewport that caused rendering issues in large models. The enhanced canvas has no upper limit on model size or zoom level.
Navigation scales with your model. A model with 150 objects opens and responds at the same speed as a model with 10 objects — no lag, no broken rendering. The infinite canvas is the foundation for the other enhanced canvas capabilities. Smart auto-layout, domain-based grouping, and focus mode all work within this unrestricted workspace to keep large models clear at any zoom level.
Smart Auto-Layout
Smart auto-layout arranges all objects on the canvas based on model structure. The layout algorithm positions objects to minimize overlap and reflect the relationships between them. When you drag an object, the canvas reflows in real time to accommodate the change. This action prevents the tangled, overlapping layouts that build up in large models created or extended manually over time.
To apply auto-layout, click Auto Arrange in the canvas toolbar. A cluttered or overlapping model becomes a clean, readable structure in one step, regardless of model size. Smart auto-layout works best with non-crossing relationship lines, which route connections optimally after objects are positioned.
Non-Crossing Relationship Lines
A line-routing algorithm routes relationship lines so they don't cross. In the previous canvas, relationship lines overlapped in large models, making it hard to trace which objects connected to which. The enhanced canvas optimizes the distance between objects and draws each line on the clearest available path.
In models with 100 or more objects, every relationship remains traceable. Non-crossing line routing works alongside smart auto-layout — auto-layout positions objects for optimal spacing, and the routing algorithm draws lines between them without crossings. Both work together without additional configuration.
Domain-Based Grouping
Domain-based grouping organizes objects on the canvas by business function. Objects group automatically based on Customer 360 team mapping into domains, such as Sales, Service, Engagement, and Commerce. A large Customer 360 model renders as a set of labeled groups rather than an undifferentiated list of objects arranged by creation order.
Open a large Customer 360 model to see it organized by business domain immediately. Your teams can navigate directly to the domain relevant to their work without scanning the entire model. The labeled groups make the structure of an enterprise-scale model legible at a glance.
Focus Mode
Focus mode isolates a selected object and its direct connections on the canvas. Click any object to fade all unrelated objects — only the selected object and its directly connected objects remain fully visible. Click the canvas background to restore the full view.
Focus mode is most useful in large models where a single object connects to many others. Rather than tracing relationships across a canvas with 100 or more objects, focus mode narrows the view immediately to the selected object and its connections. The full model fades rather than disappears, so you keep context while eliminating visual noise.
Independent Canvas Layout in Extended Models
In extended models, teams can reposition any object on the canvas — including objects from the shared base model — without affecting other users or the base model itself. Each team's canvas layout is independent, giving full spatial control over how they view and navigate their model.
In a base model, object positions are shared. In an extended model, repositioning an object affects only that extended model's canvas view. The base model layout and other extended models remain unchanged. Teams sharing a large Customer 360 base model can each organize their extended model canvas for their own workflow without governance implications for the shared foundation.
