Creating Event Seating

Once the event room has been defined, one of the last steps is to add seating for the event. A variety of event seating types can be automatically created. Seating can consist of chairs, tables, or tables and chairs. Seating fills a 2D shape in a user-defined arrangement with a “look-to” location defined by a focal point. Along with the event seating, a Seating Count worksheet is created.

To add seating:

1. Create the closed 2D shape (such as a polygon, rectangle, rounded rectangle, oval, arc/circle, or polyline) defining the boundary of the seating area. Objects with one or more holes can be selected; seating will not be placed where a hole exists.

2. With the object selected, select Event Design > Create Event Seating.

The Create Event Seating dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Seating Arrangement	Select the seating spacing and arrangement; any symbol can be selected for the different arrangement types, but normally, banquet seating consists of table and chair symbols, and classroom and theatre seating includes chair symbols. Classroom and theatre seating include an option to arrange the seats concentrically.
Banquet	Typical seating arrangement for banquets, with offset tables spaced equally by the distance set in Table Spacing
Classroom	Typical classroom seating arrangement with aligned rows of chairs, spaced according to the distances set in Seat Spacing and Row Spacing
Theatre	Typical theatre seating arrangement with offset alternate rows of chairs, spaced according to the distances set in Seat Spacing and Row Spacing
Table Spacing	For banquet seating, indicates the distance between tables
Seat Spacing	For classroom or theatre seating, sets the distance between seats in a row
Row Spacing	For classroom or theatre seating, sets the distance between rows of seats
Concentric	For classroom or theatre seating, specifies a circular layout for the rows
Seating Section Name	Names the seating section for the seating layout worksheet
Seating Symbol	Select one of the seating symbols from the list; these are configured with default attributes and can be inserted as is. Alternatively, select a symbol to use as the basis for a new seating symbol with customized attributes.
Customize Symbol	Customizes the selected seating’s default attributes, creating a new hybrid seating symbol

3. Click Customize Symbol to change the default appearance of the selected symbol if desired. This creates a new symbol that is added to the file’s resources.

The Customize Symbol dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Chair/Table Attributes	Sets the attributes for the chair and/or table symbol
Fill Color	Sets the fill color for the chairs and/or tables
Pen Color	Sets the pen color for the chairs and/or tables
Texture (Renderworks required)	Select the chair and/or table texture from a library or the current file
Preview	Displays a preview of the symbol the attributes applied
Render Mode	Select whether to preview the symbol in wireframe or OpenGL rendering mode
New Symbol Name	Provide a name for the new seating symbol; the new symbol is added to the file’s resources. Names are automatically generated for nested table and chair symbols.
Class	To control appearance, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Leave the seating in the None class to set the attributes from the dialog box.

4. Click OK to return to the Create Event Seating dialog box.

5. Click OK to create the event seating. The Select the Focus Method dialog box opens.

6. Click Focus at Next Click to manually place the focal point for the seating, or click Automatically Focus to have the focal point created automatically.

If Focus at Next Click is selected, click once to place the focal point.

All seats will face this point; table and chair symbols orient toward the point. For concentric seat layouts, the distance of the seat focal point from the 2D boundary object determines the radius of the concentric layout. Click close to the object for a smaller radius.

The event seating and a Seating Count worksheet are created, with automatically calculated seat and table counts. The Seating Count worksheet displays the number of seats and/or tables required for each seating section, as well as the total number of seats/tables needed for all sections. Nested symbols are counted in the worksheet, so tables and chairs are counted separately within a table and chair symbol. (If a symbol cannot be identified as a table or chair, it is counted as a chair.)

Seating parameters can be edited in the Object Info palette and have the same parameters as the Create Seating Layout command (see Editing the Seating Layout).

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Creating a Seating Layout

Creating the Room

Creating the Stage

Creating Stage Stairs

Creating a Lectern

Creating a Video Screen

Creating Event Views

Seating Layout Specifications

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