(last update: 06June2009)
PC, Firefox or Internet Exploder browser. Safari, Opera, Google Chrome...not so good.
1. For full-screen display, set your monitor resolution to 1024x768 (START>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Screen Resolution). This step is not essential.
2. 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 as you place them.
3. Refresh the page (F5) to start over
1. When you're finished, scroll all the way to the left and fill in the Stage Procedure form.
2. File>Page Setup... and set your printer for "Landscape", and "Maximum Area" (or similar), clear the "Header and Footer" fields, and zero the "Margins" fields. Don't set your printer to "Fit to Page" or "Shrink to Fit" or similar settings.
3. File>Print Preview. You can adjust your Margins and Scaling to perfectly fill the page.
Hand number the targets, add any other stage features, and you're done.
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.
StageBuilder is intended to provide a way to design and print simple stage designs using a web browser only.
If you want to save your design as a file to email or otherwise archive, the easiest way is to use one of the many freeware screengrab utilities available such as MWSnap or LightScreen. You simply lasso the portion of the screen you want to save, and choose a file type. Then you can email the image around or print the design later. If you use Firefox, there is a handy extension called "Screen grab!" which you can download here. With this extension installed, you can size your browser window to the design, grab it, and save it as a .png image.
An even simpler method is to download and install the very awesome freeware Bullzip PDF printer (PC only) and print the design to a .pdf file which can be emailed or posted on the gunracer.com blog for others to download and print. Just follow the regular printing instructions above, but choose Bullzip PDF printer from your Printers list.
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.
And of course, Paypal donations of any amount are always appreciated!