Creating seating sections

(Seating Type)

Select whether to create a Standard (straight) or Curved seating section; depending on the settings, curved seating sections can curve into a complete 360° circle

Use Style

To create a custom seating section, leave the Unstyled setting. To use an existing seating section from the resource libraries, click Use Style; from the Resource Selector, double-click a resource to select it.

Convert to Unstyled

If Use Style is currently set to a style, select this option to convert the object to unstyled; the current values are retained, but all parameters on all panes are set to By Instance to allow editing

By Style/Instance

A graphic indicates whether each parameter is set to By Style and given a fixed value or set to By Instance and editable in the dialog box. By Style/Instance settings are established by the style and cannot be changed from the settings dialog box.

To edit the object style, see Editing plug-in object styles; editing the style modifies all plug-in objects in the file that use the style.

Top/Plan Preview

Dynamically displays a Top/Plan preview of the seating section with the currently selected parameters

Use actual symbols

Displays the selected Seating Symbol in the preview; if deselected, the preview displays the symbol’s bounding box and center point

Alignment Type

(Standard seating type only)

Select the seating alignment with reference to the Primary Fill Direction and Secondary Fill Direction; in the examples below, the fill direction settings are Left to Right and Top to Bottom

Shift Rows: seats are aligned with the boundary

Align Rows: seats in each row are aligned directly behind one another

Offset Rows: every other row is offset by half the width of the first seat

Distribute Rows: seats fill the boundary edge-to-edge; spacing is adjusted to distribute seats evenly in each row, with Seat Spacing treated as the minimum value

Placement

Seat Spacing

Specify how far apart to space the seats in a row; spacing is based on the symbol’s bounding box and insertion point

Row Spacing

Specify how far apart to space the rows; spacing is based on the symbol’s bounding box and insertion point

Distance Measurement

Select whether to measure the Row Spacing from the back leg of one row to the front leg of the next, or from the front leg of one row to the front leg of the next

Allowable Distance Past Boundary

If the seating is permitted to go past the seating section boundary, specify by how much

Primary Fill Direction

Select whether to fill the seating section from Left to Right, Right to Left or Center Out for straight sections, and Clockwise or Counter Clockwise for curved sections

Secondary Fill Direction

Select whether to fill the seating section from Top to Bottom, Bottom to Top, or Center Out for straight sections, and from Inside to Outside or Outside to Inside for curved sections

Start Angle

For curved seating sections, specify where the seats start to be placed

Rise

If the seating section is to rise from the front to the back, select how to calculate the rise, and specify the height

(Symbol list)

You can specify more than one symbol in the section

#

Displays the symbols in the fill order for the seating section, with reference to the Primary Fill Direction and Secondary Fill Direction.

This is a static field that displays the order. To change the order, you must click each row and then select a different symbol for the row.

Symbol

Displays the current symbol name; to change the symbol, click on the row and then select a new symbol from the Resource Selector

Alignment in Row

Select whether to align the symbols by the top, center, bottom, or insertion point

Add

Click to add a row to the bottom of the list. The active symbol is used by default; select a new symbol from the Resource Selector.

Remove

Click the row with the symbol to remove, and then click to remove the selected symbol from the seating section

Seating Symbol

Displays the currently selected resource; to change it, locate the desired resource, and double-click to activate it.

Alternatively, select a symbol to use as the basis for a new seating symbol with customized attributes, or create your own seating symbol, as described in Seating symbol specifications.

Customize

Customizes the selected seating’s default attributes, creating a new hybrid seating symbol; see Customizing seating symbols

Name

Name the seating section; Vectorworks automatically assigns each seating section a unique ID, so this name does not have to be unique in the document

Number seats

Numbers the seats; for a table-and-chair symbol, the table is numbered

Numbering Direction

Select the direction in which to number the seats

Restart on next row

Starts each row with the Start at value; if deselected, the numbering is continuous throughout the section

Start at

Specify the first seat number; alphanumeric values are allowed

Increment

Specify the seat numbering increment

Number rows

Numbers the rows; for a table-and-chair symbol, the table is numbered

Numbering Direction

Select the direction in which to number the rows

Start at

Specify the first row number; alphanumeric values are allowed

Increment

Specify the row numbering increment

Separator

Select the separator between the row number and seat number in the display

Display Row Number

Select whether to display the row number on every seat, or on one or both ends of the row

Seats per row

Select if there is a maximum number of seats allowed per row, and specify the limit

Rows per section

Select if there is a maximum number of rows allowed per section, and specify the limit

Total seats

Select if there is a maximum total number of seats allowed per section, and specify the limit

Minimum seats per row

For curved seating sections, select if there is a minimum number of seats allowed per row, and specify the limit

Draw loci

Draws loci where seats could have been placed within the boundary but were not placed due to numerical limits

Angle seating

Angles the seating within the boundary. Enter a value in the Angle of Seating field or drag the slider to specify an angle between 0 and 180°. For a Curved seating type, each seat turns individually, rather than angling the entire row.

The seating angle is connected to the seating section’s focus point. As the Angle of Seating value is changed, the focus point automatically moves to maintain the logical link. Likewise, if the focus point is moved, the Angle of Seating value automatically updates.

Angle Based on

Specify whether the angle is based on the left or right side of the boundary

Adjust boundary with angle

Reshapes the boundary to conform to angled seating; deselecting this option may result in the loss of seats

Class Prefix

Specifies an optional default root class naming standard for all seating section parts

Assign Default Classes With Prefix

Sets the class names for all seating section elements to the standard, using the Class Prefix if there is one, so that they are sorted together

Seating section parts

To control appearance and visibility, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Seating Section Class> to place the part attributes in the same class as the seating section object.