Grouping screens

#Names and the {group} token

A group's name becomes part of its screens' names. Put "Riser 1" in a group called "Upstage" and the map, the exports and the panel all say "Upstage Riser 1". Rename the group and every screen in it follows.

That works through a token in the name field. Joining a group writes {group} into the name, so the field reads "{group} Riser 1". Move it anywhere: "Front - {group} / 5" comes out as "Front - Upstage / 5". Delete it and the screen keeps its own name while staying in the group.

Numbers count per group, so Upstage and Downstage can both have a Riser 1. A screen that joins with a number already taken in that group gets the next free one.

#Putting screens in a group

Drag a card onto the group's block, pick the group from the Group dropdown on a card, or add a new screen while you're working in the group.

The group you're working in is the last one you clicked anything in on the panel. One of its cards is open, or the line down its left side is blue. Add and N put new screens there. A new group starts that way, so making one and pressing N fills it. Click a screen outside every group and Add is back to loose screens.

To take a screen out, drag its card out of the block or set its Group dropdown to No group. Leaving takes the {group} part out of its name.

#On their own, in a row, or stacked

One control on the group header, three states. Each click moves to the next: on their own, in a row, stacked, and back to on their own.

On their own is where a new group starts. The screens share a name and a block on the panel, but on the canvas they're placed one at a time like loose screens, so they can end up apart. That's right for a front and bottom banner pair repeated across a show: they belong together, not side by side.

In a row and stacked keep the screens together. They're laid out left to right or top to bottom, in card order, and placed on the canvas as one block. With Auto positioning of objects on, switching to either lays the group out straight away.

#How a row or a stack lands

The order of the cards is the order on the canvas. Drag a card to change it, or select it and press Shift + ↑ or ↓. The keys only reorder: a screen never leaves its group that way.

The direction is a preference. A screen that doesn't fit at the end of the row wraps to the next one, and in a stack to the next column. Resize a screen and the rest close up or step aside by themselves.

Optimize places the whole block from the top left, like a single screen. If there's no room for it anywhere, the group stays where it is and Optimize says so: "No room for Upstage." It's never broken up to make it fit.

A screen that joins a row or a stack moves over to sit with the others, unless it's pinned. The block only claims the screens in it, so the empty corner of an L is free for something else.

#Pins

Pin a screen and it stays exactly where it is. In a row or a stack it also leaves the shape, and the rest lays out from where it sits. That's how you place one screen by hand and let the others follow, and how you build an L: type its X and Y, or press its pin.

The pin on the group header holds every screen in the group, and Optimize packs the rest of the canvas around it. A pinned group counts as one thing in the Optimize menu.

#Duplicating a group

The copy button on the group header copies the group and its screens. The copy is named after the original ("Upstage" becomes "Upstage 2"), keeps its shape and direction, and lands next to it if there's room. Its name is selected, ready to type over.

Screens keep their names, so with the {group} token "Upstage Riser 1" becomes "Upstage 2 Riser 1" by itself. Screens you pinned stay pinned. The group's own pin doesn't carry over. Build one side, duplicate it, and rename it to the other side.

#Deleting a group

The bin on the group header deletes the group, not its screens. They become loose screens, stay where they are, and lose the {group} part of their names. Deleting the last screen in a group leaves the group empty, ready for the next one.