Windows > Editors

To change the stage name in the Stage Editor

Double-click the file’s name in the name field of the Stage Editor.
Type the new stage name and press (Windows) or (Mac). The new stage name appears.

To change the order of stages in the Stage Editor

Hold down the over the name of the stage that you want to move. The stage name appears as a label under the cursor.
Drag the cursor towards the new location. A red arrow shows the direction of movement, and a red border is drawn around the stage that the label is over.
Release the middle mouse button when the label is where you want to put the stage. The stage appears in its new location.

To open a stage set in the Stage Editor

Click Open stage set; The File Requestor appears. Either:
- Type the name of the stage set in the File field and then click the Retrieve StageSet button.
- Click the Show List button. Click to select a stage set from the list, Select one or more stage sets from the file list. (To select more than one item, hold down the key and click again. The picture shows an example.)
Click the Retrieve StageSet button.
If a stage set is already loaded, Alias asks if you want existing stages to be deleted before the new stage set is loaded:
- To remove the stages from the Stage Editor, leaving them unchanged as files, Click YES.
- To add the new stage set to the existing stages, click NO.
- To stop retrieving stage sets, click CANCEL.
  
  NoteSelecting File > Open stage set in the Stage Editor is the same as selecting File > Open Stage Set from the Alias main menu.

To edit stage sets in the Stage Editor

Click Open stage set; The File Requestor appears.
Click the Show List button. Select one or more stage sets from the file list. (To select more than one item, hold down the key and click again.)
In the file Browser, select .
A special version of the Stage Editor appears, as shown in the next diagram. The File, Edit, and Delete menu buttons have been replaced by Save and Exit buttons.

If more than one stage set was selected, you can click the arrows in the top left corner of the editor to browse through the stage sets. The browser field shows the name of the stage set currently displayed in the Stage Editor.
You can change the status of the columns by toggling the check marks ON or OFF.
To save the changes, in the Stage Editor click the Save button.
To retrieve the stage set with the new settings, click the Retrieve StageSet button in the File Requestor.

To retrieve a wire file as a new stage in the Stage Editor

Use File > Open to retrieve a wire file as a new stage, making the wire file the reference for that stage.

A File Requestor appears to select a file (stage) to retrieve:

Type a file name in the File field or click the Show List button to list your saved wire files and double-click to select one from the list.
To retrieve the file as a new stage, select the Retrieve New Stage button.

NoteSelecting File > Open Stage in the Stage Editor is the same as selecting File > Open from the Alias main menu.

To save the stage set under a different filename

Specify a name in the File Requestor. Do one of the following:
- Type a new file name in the File field.
- Click Show List and double-click a stage set icon in the list. Any existing file that you select is overwritten with the current file.
Click the Save StageSet button.
Each stage is saved to its referenced wire file, if its Wire Store option is checked in the Stage Editor. If Wire Store is not checked for a stage, that stage is not saved.

If a stage does not have a referenced wire file, the File Requestor appears.

NoteIf you have not named the stage, the File Requestor supplies a default name for the wire file.

To rename a wire file

Double-click in the File field and type a new name.
Click the Save Wire button.

To delete stages in the Stage Editor

Select the Delete button to display the Delete pop-up menu.
Select Delete > All Stages or Delete > Selected Stage.
A dialog box appears asking you to confirm the deletion.
- To delete, click YES.
- To cancel the deletion and close the dialog box, click NO.

To create a new stage in the Stage Editor

Select Edit > New in the Stage Editor.
A new stage appears in the list as NewStage.
Double-click in the name field and type a name for the new stage. The new stage is the working level, and all objects that you create are now placed in this stage.

To use a wire file as a new stage

To use a wire file as a stage:

Select File > Open Stage in the Stage Editor. The File Requestor appears.
Click the Show List button to display the File Lister and select the first stage wire file.
Click the Retrieve New Stage button to load the file into Alias. The name of the wire file is used as the stage name.
Continue opening stages using File > Open Stage until all the required stages are loaded. Stages are listed in the order in which they are created.

Alternatively, from the main Alias menu use File > Retrieve Stage.

To create stages

Create a wire file that includes some of the geometry for an object (for example, the body of a car).
Create another stage that includes a different set of the object’s geometry (for example, the wheels of a car).
Create a third stage that includes an alternate set of the object’s geometry (for example, an alternate set of wheels).
Create a fourth stage that includes an environment background and camera view (for example, use the Ramp texture as a background with a blue to white ramp).
Select File > Save Stage Set to make a set of all the stages. You will be prompted for file names for each of the new stages. Later, you can select Open stage set and all the wire files associated with the stage set will be retrieved.

Stage Editor icons

When a stage is referenced to a wire file, it displays the wire file’s icon next to the reference path or stage name. The icon is updated each time that the stage is saved or retrieved:

If the stage is not referenced to a wire file, the icon is labeled “UNDEFINE.”
If a file is retrievable but has no picture icon associated with it, the icon is labeled “NO ICON.”

To change the size of the icons in the Stage Editor, click the round buttons in the title bar of the Stage Editor.

Save and the padlock icon

If you see a padlock icon instead of a check mark or dash, you do not have write permission for the wire file.

A white padlock means that there are no write permissions and you cannot save this stage.
A red padlock means that even though you can not save the file to that reference, you might have made changes to it. However, you can save the stage to a new name.

NoteOn Windows systems, the stage editor does not inform the user that files belonging to different owners are locked.

NoteIf you are sharing files between users, establish ownership and permission methods that give users read and write permissions for the shared files.

The difference between selected and working stages

Selected stage: The stage that is highlighted across all six columns is the selected stage. It can be saved using File > Save (selected) Stage in the Stage Editor or merged with the working stage.
Working Stage: The stage that has a check mark in the Working Level column (which appears in yellow) is the working stage. Its wireframe model is accessible for the changes you want to make. Its geometry appears, in the regular colors, in the modeling windows.

Columns

Working Level: You can make changes to a wireframe model only if the Working Level stage is checked ON for its stage. The Working Level stage is highlighted in yellow. This helps you to organize your scene, especially if it contains a lot of information or library objects that are used in a number of different scenes.

NoteSome tools may make it impossible to change the working level. (The name fields of all the stages are grayed out.) This prevents Alias from switching levels in the middle of geometry operations, such as building a curve or creating a patch. So that you can switch your working stage, choose a neutral function such as Pick > Object.
Window Source: The modeling window source can be any stage. If Keep Windows is ON in the Open File Options window and you open a file, Alias imports the wire file and its windows to the working stage. It does not matter which stage is selected. You can use File > Open, File > Open Only or File > Open Always.

If you create a perspective or orthographic window, it belongs to the stage that is the current Window Source, which might not be the working stage.

Each stage can have its own set of modeling windows. The windows that are displayed always belong to the current Window Source stage. If that stage is stored, its windows are also stored.

NoteYou store a stage by making it the current Working Level and using File > Save or by clicking the stage name in the Stage Editor, then selecting File > Save (selected) Stage in the Stage Editor.

The stored windows do not have to match the visible ones, just as the current Working Level does not have to match the current Window Source.

NoteOnly one stage at a time can be the window source. The statistics windows and SBD window are derived from the Working Level stage. The application windows (perspective and orthographic) belong to the window source stage.
Background Source: You use Background Source to choose which background (environment shader) you want when you render a scene. To edit the Background Source, set the Working Level to the same stage as the Background Source and open the Multi-Lister.
Visible: This toggle shows which stages are visible. Making a stage invisible is like making objects invisible (ObjectDisplay > Invisible ). The entire stage and all its objects become invisible.

To make a stage visible or invisible without affecting other stages, click in its Visible box.

All stages can be invisible except for the Working Level. You can remove the Visible check mark, but the stage remains visible.

If you render a scene when all its stages are invisible, the image produced is completely black.
Visible Menu: The header at the top of the Visible column is also a button. Click the Visible button to make all the stages at once either visible or invisible.

To make all the stages visible, select ON.

To make all the stages invisible, select OFF.

In the following example, all stages are visible.
Auto Retrieve: If you check Auto Retrieve ON beside a stage name, when you retrieve a stage set, its wire file is retrieved. If you remove the check mark, the file will not be retrieved.

This takes effect only when the stage set is saved. That is, if you click Auto Retrieve during a session but you have already changed the file, it is not retrieved.

Auto Retrieve lets you control which of the files listed in the stage set file are loaded when the stage set file is retrieved.

More than one user can be working on a common stage set, each one owning one or more of the referenced wire file and their own copy of the stage set files. They can not use everything at once, but multiple users likely want to retrieve a combination of their own files and a few from other users as reference files.

TipYou can retrieve a referenced file at any time during a session, even if it has already been retrieved. You get the last saved version.

Auto Retrieve Menu: The header at the top of the Auto Retrieve column is also a button. To set all stages to be retrieved automatically, click this button and select ON.
Wire Store: If you place a check mark in the Wire Store column beside a stage name, this stage is saved when the stage set is saved. If you remove the check mark, the stage is not saved. Therefore, it will not be overwritten accidentally, and any changes made to the stage are not saved.

More than one user can be working on a common stage set, so if you make changes to one of your own stages and want to use it as a default each time you start (such as reference geometry or windows), turn the Wire Store column OFF for that stage.
Wire Store Menu: The header at the top of the Wire Store column is also a button. To set all stages so that the wire files will be stored, click this button and select ON.

Menus

Three menus are included at the bottom of the Stage Editor: the File menu, the Edit menu, and the Delete menu.

File

File > Reload (selected) stage

You use File > Reload (selected) stage to replace the selected stage with its the last saved version. You can use it to change a stage reference and update your model to the latest copy of someone else’s file or go back to an earlier, saved version of a file. If you use this option, it writes over any changes you have made in your current work.

For instance, if you want to update someone else’s file information for a stage, you can return to the last saved version of that stage, make the updates, and save the stage. Anyone retrieving that file now sees the new version.

A File Requestor appears so that you can select a file (stage) to retrieve:

Type a file name in the File field or click Show List and double-click an icon to select it.
To retrieve the stage again, click the Select Stage Reference button.

File > Save stage set

You use File > Save stage set to save a single stage set. A File Requestor appears to let you save the stage set under a different name if you wish. To save the file, click the Save StageSet button.

File > Save (selected) stage

You use File > Save (selected) stage to save a stage as a wire file. If you create a new stage and it has no wire file, the File Requestor shows only the new file.

If you have not named the stage, the File Requestor supplies a default name for the file. To change its name, in the File field double-click the name and type a new one.

If there is a referenced file, the File Requestor shows the referenced file.

To save the stage, Select the Save Wire button. Notice that the icon in the Stage editor is updated to display the icon saved with the wire file.

Edit

Select the Edit button to display the Edit pop-up menu.

Edit > Merge All: You use Edit > Merge All to merge all the stages in the Stage Editor into the working level stage.
Edit > Merge: You use Edit > Merge to merge the selected stage into the working level stage.
Edit > New: You use Edit > New to create a new, empty stage called NewStage.

Delete

Delete > All Stages: Select Delete > All Stages to delete all stages, including the root stage.

NoteSelecting Delete > All Stages in the Stage Editor is the same as selecting File > New from the Alias main menu.
Delete > Selected Stage: Select Delete > Selected Stage to delete only the highlighted stage.

When you delete a stage, you delete all objects, windows, shaders, lights, cameras, and anything else that it contains.

Because there must always be a stage in Alias, when you delete all stages, a new stage is created. It is called Stage# and includes a sequential number indicating how many stages you have opened during your current session.

Hints and tips

All files are saved as wire files only (for example, IGES files can not be saved as stages).
If your referenced file is a data transfer file (for example, IGES) but does not have a suffix such as “.iges” or “.igs”, the system adds the suffix “.wire” before prompting for a name.
If the referenced file has no write permissions, the stage can not be saved and you are not prompted to save it.
To create a rendered icon for the wire file, click the Create Icon button in the File Browser. A small representation of the stage appears instead of the Store icon. This “thumbnail sketch” icon also appears in the Stage Editor.
Selecting File > Save stage set in the Stage Editor is the same as selecting File > Save stage set from the Alias main menu.
Lights from all visible stages illuminate the scene.
Lights cannot be linked across stages.
Image planes are associated with the window source stage and, as such, work across stages.
When you render a scene composed of several stages, one SDL file is created for each stage. The SDL files are named according to the name of the stage set in the Stage Editor. Object names are prefixed with the stage name in the SDL file.
Objects on inactive stages are displayed in pale green.
Stages are not templates but may include templates.
If you save a new stage that has no associated windows, the icon beside its name will not be displayed.