StageBuilder Instructions
(last update: April 16, 2006)SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
PC, Firefox or Internet Exploder browser.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE:
1. For best printing results, set your monitor resolution to 1024x768 (START>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Screen Resolution)
2. Maximize the browser window (File>View>Full Screen or F11 on your keyboard)
3. Drag and position targets and props on the "stage". Objects may be overlapped: click an object to bring it forward.
TIP: build your stage from BACK TO FRONT, that way the items will overlap properly.
4. Refresh the page (F5) to start over
PRINTING:
1. When you're finished, scroll all the way to the left (or press "Procedure") and fill in the Stage Procedure options.
2. If your browser is in Full Screen, hit F11 to show your main menu, then File>Page Setup... and set your printer for "Landscape", and "Maximum Area" (or similar) and clear the "Header and Footer" and zero the "Margins" fields. DON'T set your printer to "Fit to Page"!
3. File>Print Preview..., and if it looks OK, then File>Print....
Number the targets, add any other stage features, and you're done.
STAGEBUILDER OFFLINE:
StageBuilder is just a webpage, so you can save it and run it on a computer without an internet connection, although you do need a browser installed. All the files will easily fit on a floppy, so you can run it on a range computer or laptop.
1. Make a folder somewhere on your hard drive for the files.
2. Open the StageBuilder page online, and from the main menu select File>Save As... and pick "Web Page, complete" from the "Save as type" drop down list. You'll get the HTML document and a folder with all the images.
SAVING YOUR DESIGN TO DISK:
StageBuilder is intended to provide the average non-computer-geek a way to design and save, by printing, simple stage designs using a web browser only. It was never intended to replace a real drawing program such as Macromedia Freehand, Corel Draw, or Adobe Illustrator. But there is a method you can use to save your design to an office word processing program such as MS Word or OpenOffice.
1. When you are happy with your design, maximize your browser window (F11) and key Alt+PrintScrn (that's: press the PrintScrn key while holding down the Alt key). That will copy the screen to the Windows "clipboard".
2. Open Word if you haven't already, go to File-->Page Setup... and set your page to Landscape and Margins to something small, like .25" Left and Right, .50" Top and Bottom. Then key Ctrl+V, or Edit-->Paste. The screen image will be pasted into your Word Document.
This same method works in many image editing programs like Adobe Photoshop. After doing your Alt+PrintScrn thing, open Photoshop, go to File-->New and a new file of the correct dimensions will automatically be created, then paste in your screen capture.
There are tons of screen-capture freeware programs available as well.
Please let us know what you think of StageBuilder. Email us with changes or additions you'd like to see or to report problems, incompatibilities, or bugs.
