Inserting a stage deck

The Stage Deck tool inserts rectangular and rounded portable stage structures into a drawing. The type, shape, size, appearance, and presence of railings can be customized. Place several stage decks to create a large stage area.

Place the first stage deck into the drawing using the Bottom Insertion Point mode. Once the first stage has been placed, switch to Top Insertion Point mode to easily align the new stage deck with the existing ones.

1. Click the tool and insertion mode, and then click the alignment mode (see The Symbol Insertion tool).

2.Click to place the object in the drawing, and click again to set the rotation.

The first time you use the tool in a file, a properties dialog box opens. Set the default parameters. The parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

Parameter	Description
Deck Shape	Creates a rectangular or round stage
Height	Specifies the overall stage height
Depth/Width (rectangular shape)	Specifies the dimensions of a rectangular stage deck
Radius/Diameter/Sweep Angle (round shape)	Specifies the size of a round stage deck
Top Surface Area	Displays the calculated surface area of the stage
Structure	Select the type of stage construction, from simple to complex
Deck Details
Hide Deck	For the Legs-Braced structure types, hides the deck and shows the braced leg supports only
Top Thickness	Sets the thickness of the deck. The thickness of the deck cannot be set for Border and Simple stage deck structures.
Top Color/Texture	Displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
Trim Height	Sets the height of the trim around the stage
Trim Color/Texture	Displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
Border Color/Texture	For the Border structure type, displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
Leg/Structure Details
Diameter	For structure types with legs, sets the diameter of the leg supports
Profile	For structure types with legs, select a round, square, or octagonal shape for the legs
Color/Texture	Displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
Reference Spacing	For Legs-Basic and Legs-Braced, sets an approximate spacing value for the legs; the exact spacing is determined automatically by evenly dividing the length of the deck
Leg Total	For structure types with legs, displays the number of legs
Add Casters	For the Legs-Basic and Legs-Braced (rectangular shape only) structure types, adds casters to the legs to create a rolling platform
Wheel Color/Texture	Displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
Railing Details	All railing bars are automatically evenly spaced
Front/Back/Left/Right (rectangular shape)	Select the type of railing to add to each side of the stage deck
Start Radius/ End Radius/ Arc (round shape)	For round deck shapes, select the type of railing to add to each side of the stage deck. Rounds decks are limited to Straight, Toe, or Straight + Toe railing types.
Height	Sets the height of the top of the railing
Add’l Horiz. Bars (Straight and Straight + Toe)	Specifies the number of additional horizontal bars to add to the railing
Add’l F/B Uprights (rectangular shape)	For rectangular deck shapes, adds additional vertical bars to the front and back railing
Add’l L/R Uprights (rectangular shape)	For rectangular deck shapes, adds additional vertical bars to the left and right railing
Add’l Radii Uprights (round shape)	For round deck shapes, adds additional vertical bars to the start and end radius railing
Add’l Arc Uprights (round shape)	For round deck shapes, adds additional vertical bars to the arc railing
Profile	Select a round, square, or octagonal shape for the railing
Color/Texture	Displays the texture or color selected in the 3D Options
3D Options	Specifies the appearance of applicable deck elements in 3D views. The 3D Options dialog box opens. For each available portion of the stage, either select the color from the Color list, or select Custom Texture and then click the current custom texture to open the Resource Selector; double-click a resource to select it. The Object Info palette displays the color or texture selections in the relevant section. The appearance of Simple stage decks is set from the Attributes palette.
Purpose/Set Cart ID	Enter information about the stage which can be placed in the drawing with Text Options (does not affect the stage appearance)
Note	Adds a note, which can be placed in the drawing with the Text Options
Text Options	Opens the Text Options dialog box, to enable the display and format the text of labels
Default Text Positions	Restores text labels to their default positions
Classes	Opens the Classes dialog box, to specify class naming for the various portions of the stage deck. This allows portions of the stage deck to be set to visible, grayed, or invisible. Use the standard class, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Stage Deck Class> to place the stage deck element in the same class as the stage deck. ● Class Prefix: Specifies an optional default root class naming standard for all stage deck parts; click Assign Default Classes With Prefix to begin all stage deck class names with the prefix, so that they are sorted together. ● Assign Default Classes With Prefix: Sets the class names for all stage deck elements to the standard, using the Class Prefix if there is one. ● Stage deck elements: For each portion of the stage deck, including the loci that represent the stage deck legs in the Deck Only Structure, specifies the class name standard; the class names shown here are applied to the elements.
Update	Updates the object when changes have been made to the Object Info palette parameters