Using openStages

OpenStages is a computer modeled stage where you can add model figures and scenery to create visual ideas for a show.  If you are technically minded then you can explore the lighting board, sound mixer, fly gallery or controlled scenery such as revolves and tracked wagons.  If you are more visually minded then you can combine scenery, painting and lighting to create stage pictures for plays.  And if you are more of a production manager or producer and director you can combine all these into transformation scenes of combined cues.

There are two main ways to use the software to keep ideas:  Firstly by setting up individual department cues and then combining them at the prompt desk, this is effectively a virtual technical rehearsal.  Secondly by setting up a state and saving it into the "Combination" tab.  The first way is good if you want to look at cue transitions and timing involving one idea.  The second is better for looking at different ideas with no transitions or timing.  The second way allows you to change everything: colours, textures, characters, scenery, viewpoints and lamp positions.  Of the included project examples, KL11 and Shutter are examples of the first mode and Ludlow_2003 is an example of the second.

Open & Close
New Project:		Starts a new project and will prompt you if you have left work unsaved.  The following panel will appear. From here you can select or make a stage, choose a unit of measurement and give the project a name.
Open Project:		Opens an existing project or example.
Save Project:		Saves the project and department cues that you have been working on.  The following panel will appear if there is any department work that has not been saved locally. Department cues such as Lighting or Flys are saved temporarily in memory while you are working on a project.  To save these cues permanently you must use "Save Project" and save them to a file. The top panel shows department cues that have been saved temporarily but need to be saved to disc if you want to keep them. The bottom panel shows areas of work that you have done that needs to be saved into a department or combination cues first before you use "Save Project" if you want to keep the work.
Save Theatre:		Saves a copy of the project as a theatre model in the theatre directory.  This can then be accessed when starting a new project. If you save a bitmap image of your theatre with the same name in the theatre directory this will show when selecting a theatre for a new project.  The image file should be 170 pixels wide by 150 pixels high.
Grab Image:		This saves a jpeg image of the 3D viewing window to program directory\data\grabs.
Exit:		This exits the program after checking whether there is any unsaved work.

Navigation
		There are a list of preset views that can be selected from the View List.  Clicking the mouse on a button will immediately take you to that particular view.  "Selecting" an actor and clicking on the [Go To Actor] button on the View List will change your view to that of the actor.

This view shows the cursor that appears when the left mouse button is held down without an additional key.  Moving the mouse will move the view rotationally from the viewpoint.  It is equivalent to panning a camera.

This view shows the cursor that appears when the left mouse button is held down along with the "Shift" key.  Moving the mouse will move the viewpoint closer or further away from the scene.  It is equivalent to the Dolly movement of a camera.

This view shows the cursor that appears when the left mouse button is held down along with the "Ctrl" key.  Moving the mouse shifts the viewpoint horizontally or vertically.

You may save over an existing view by selecting the view, moving to a new viewpoint and then clicking on [Re-Save].

Selection

Selection mode allows you to select objects in the 3D View for manipulation.  Place the cursor over an object in the 3D View and then right click.  A red bounding box will appear around the object.  The selected object's name will appear at the top of the editing panel.  The object may also be selected from one of the object lists in the relevant control panel.  When an object is selected it can be coloured, moved, resized, attached, textured, copied or hidden.  Holding the "Alt" key down allows the selection of a second object for creating parent child relationships between objects.  The various [HL _ on/off]buttons affect whether the red bounding box appears or not.  If the red bounding box does not appear check whether this button is on or off.

Moving selected objects

Objects can be positioned accurately in the Cartesian space by using the Position Panel, (See below).  By clicking the left mouse button and dragging over the knurled wheels you may move and rotate a selected object.  More accurately you may enter a dimension or angle directly into the text boxes below the wheels.

Interactive movement

A more interactive method of movement is to hold the "Shift" key down and while depressing the right mouse button, the mouse movement will move the selected object around horizontally.  Holding the "Ctrl" key down will move the object vertically.  Holding both "Shift" and "Ctrl" together will rotate the object around its vertical axis.  If a head is selected then the last action will rotate it both vertically and horizontally.  For finer control over an object's movement it can be nudged in increments of 10mm by using the "Arrow" and "Shift Arrow" keys.

Summary of Mouse and Keyboard Commands

Editing

		This panel can be found on the right of the control panels that deal with the creation of objects: Building Scenery, Casting and Prop Setting.  It contains the main editing controls for copying, deleting and attaching objects.  This panel can be used in either of the two mouse modes.
Selected Object:		The ID number and name of the currently active object.
Generation		The Generation of an object.  This is an indication of whether an object is attached to another.  There is currently a 5 generation restriction on objects.  The theatre space is 1st generation and objects added to the space are 2nd generation.  Any objects attached to 2nd generation become 3rd generation and so forth.  Spotlights are 4th generation objects attached to their brackets (3rd) which in turn are attached to their bars (2nd).
Deselect		The "Deselect" button deselects all objects.  This means that there are no active objects that can be manipulated by the various commands.  All red highlight boxes will disappear.
HL - on		The "HL _ on" button is a toggle button.  Its second state is "HL - off".  This can be used to turn off the red highlight box around an object although the object stays active and can still be manipulated.
Lock		The "Lock" button is a toggle button that locks or unlocks an object.  When an object is locked it cannot be manipulated though it can be used in cues.
Root		The "Root" button attaches the selected object to the model base.  Objects attached to the model base cannot be selected or edited in any way.  Typically this would be used to enhance the stage shape and not for scenery.
Hide		The "Hide" button hides an object from view.  Hidden objects are added to the drop down list.
Unhide		The "Unhide" button makes the object selected in the drop down list visible again and removes it from the list.
Attach		The "Attach" button attaches the first of two selected objects to the second.  Pressing the "Alt" key when selecting allows the selection of a second object.  The attached object becomes a child of the parent object and subsequent moves and rotations of the parent will also affect the child.  The child object becomes a generation higher than the parent.  No objects can be attached to a 5th generation object.
Release		The "Release" button releases children from parent objects and puts the child object back into the 2nd generation.
Copy		The "Copy" button creates a copy of the selected object.  The object created inherits all the original object's attributes including parent.  The new object becomes the active (selected) object.
Delete		The "Delete" button deletes the selected object and makes its ID number available for new objects.  This cannot be undone.  Use the "Hide" button unless you need to create space to add a new object.