Setup — Battens (Fly System)

The Setup area manages the physical structure of the stage. This page covers the fly system (with freely positionable fixtures), shown in the app sidebar as the "Fly System" sub-tab — for lighting towers, see Setup — Lighting Towers.

Element types

The "New Element" dialog offers three types:

• Batten — classic batten with a length
• Truss — also has a length, for truss constructions
• Point hoist — a single point without length, for point hoists with no batten extent

Create an element

1. Click "New Element" (bottom right)
2. Choose a type: Batten, Truss, or Point hoist
3. Fill in the fields: name, for Batten/Truss also length (m), optionally hide dimension marks
4. Click "Create"

Place a fixture on the batten

With the channel list rail (see Towers): click a channel in the rail, then the spot on the batten — or drag the channel onto the batten.

Without the rail: click the desired position on the batten line → the channel picker opens → search and select a channel → confirm the position (in cm, 0 = centre of the batten).

If the selected channel has a quantity greater than 1 (see Channels), several markers are placed automatically, spaced next to each other.

Custom elements without a channel

Besides fixtures, you can place any element on the batten (e.g. fog machine, anchor). In the channel dialog choose "Add element without channel" and enter a label.

Dimensions

In the dialog, "Dimensions from" (Left, Center, Right) sets where positions are measured from and labelled. You can also enter a pull number (e.g. for batten identification), or hide the dimensions entirely.

Move a fixture

Drag the marker along the batten with the mouse button held down.

Edit a fixture

Clicking the marker opens a dialog for a note about the fixture (e.g. "3m rope, special colour…"). From there you can also jump directly "To channel →" in the channel table.

Save as template

The bookmark icon lets you save an element into the venue template. You can choose to include the base structure (always included), plus position, channel number, fixture, and notes per fixture.

Note

Elements from the venue template are not inherited automatically when quickly creating a show — only the creation wizard lets you select them individually, or you can add them later via "Insert" in the edit dialog.

Remove a fixture

Hovering over the marker reveals a red × icon in the top right. After confirming, the fixture is removed from the batten.

Length, height, and note

For each element, length (for Batten/Truss) and height (in the measurement unit chosen under Settings) as well as a free-text note can be edited inline directly.

Reorder elements

Elements can be reordered in the list via drag & drop.

Edit / delete an element

Using the icons on the right of each element row (visible on hover):

• Pencil – change name, length, and dimension display
• Trash – delete the element after confirmation

Fixed elements in the drawing

Elements placed on the floor plan in the venue template appear automatically at the same position in every show that uses the template floor plan. Only additional elements need to be placed by hand.

1. In the template: place the element once in the Drawing tab. Without placement it counts as movable.
2. In the show: add the element from the template — it appears at the right position automatically.

Create different fit-outs of the same bar as separate elements (e.g. "Bar 12 – A" and "Bar 12 – B"). Automatically placed elements cannot be moved: delete and place manually. Manually placed elements take precedence.

Layers

In the drawing, four switches show or hide Floor plan, Overhead rigging, Channels and Labels. This also applies to PNG and PDF export.