Taking my CRO course

[Spray_N_Prey]

Well i'm having a hard time trying to find the right software to use to make the overhead stage design. I'm needing something that has the top view of a stage with

someway to use lines to measure out the stage. I'm having a heck of a time and i'm down to my final.

Thanks in advance,

Shawn G.

[BayouSlide]

Shawn, I don't know if this will help you but I used Adobe Illustrator and used a non-printing grid to guide as a scale so that the elements were placed proportionally to distance. As an ad design agency, we have programs with these sort of options. But you might be able to accomplish something similar by drawing a grid background, creating an appropriate scale to the size of your stage, drawing on it and scanning the result.

Sorry I don't have any better suggestion. What I did was the best I could come up to keep the document totally in the digital realm, for ease in making adjustments.

Curtis

[Nik Habicht]

I'm pretty sure I used powerpoint or word and just used lines to indicate things like walls, faultlines, and targets -- using dashed lines for faultlines, solid thick lines for walls, thinner, shorter lines for targets. I may have use circles for steel.....

[McGunner]

I used regular graph paper, drew it out (made each square equal to 1 yard)and scanned into a file.

Matt

Edited March 8, 2010 by McGunner

[John Heiter]

Try StageCad

http://www.stagecad.com/

It's a compact 3-d layout program for making USPSA stages. It let's you "fly over" your stage, includes a built in grid, etc. It also has some cool features like the ability to virtually squat or go prone so you can check angles and such. There's a little bit of a learning curve but not too bad and it's free. PM me if you have any issues using it.

John

Edited March 9, 2010 by John Heiter

[rgkeller]

I used regular graph paper, drew it out (made each square equal to 1 yard)and scanned into a file.

Matt

Me too.

[austex]

+1 on StageCad. It's a little buggy, but well worth the learning curve and quirks. In addition to the overhead view and flyover view, it also allows you to "walk through" the course and observe all of the views and props, and estimate shot trajectories.

I use it with a dual monitor set up, with the walk-through view on one screen and the overhead view on the other. They are interactive, and both update with new design information at the same time.

Try StageCad

http://www.stagecad.com/

It's a compact 3-d layout program for making USPSA stages. It let's you "fly over" your stage, includes a built in grid, etc. It also has some cool features like the ability to virtually squat or go prone so you can check angles and such. There's a little bit of a learning curve but not too bad and it's free. PM me if you have any issues using it.

John

[JThompson]

I used regular graph paper, drew it out (made each square equal to 1 yard)and scanned into a file.

Matt

Me too.

3

[Joe4d]

I used regular graph paper, drew it out (made each square equal to 1 yard)and scanned into a file.

Matt

Me too.

3

Graph paper and a pencil,

computers are suppossed to make things easier but sometimes we tend to make a simple task harder just so we can do it on a computer.

[open17]

I use the template from Stageexchange.com for match stages, but for my CRO stage

it was pencil and graph paper.

[JThompson]

I use the template from Stageexchange.com for match stages, but for my CRO stage

it was pencil and graph paper.

Sometime you can spend hours screwing around in a program trying to get everything in there and setup when it takes 15mins to grab a damn pencil. There are times for the new and there are times for the old. I never disregard the old because I "can" use something newer.

Your mentor isn't going to give a damn what format it's in... chances are he uses a pencil himself. Besides, most of the mentors are old school anyway.

Edited March 13, 2010 by JThompson

[BayouSlide]

Your mentor isn't going to give a damn what format it's in... chances are he uses a pencil himself. Besides, most of the mentors are old school anyway.

True...but but the older the school, the more demanding the headmaster. After the sixth revision (I sorta lost count) I would have used up a box of erasers. Thank God for the digital domain.

[JThompson]

Your mentor isn't going to give a damn what format it's in... chances are he uses a pencil himself. Besides, most of the mentors are old school anyway.

True...but but the older the school, the more demanding the headmaster. After the sixth revision (I sorta lost count) I would have used up a box of erasers. Thank God for the digital domain.

Well. ya just have to get it right the first time. It was pretty easy for me, I think I was done in a week or two... my mentor was always there when I had a question and very quick with an answer. I should have given all the props to the Enoverse as I learned most everything I know from going round and round with the guys here.

Your mentor has nothing on this crowd! :devil:

Edited March 13, 2010 by JThompson

[BayouSlide]

Your mentor isn't going to give a damn what format it's in... chances are he uses a pencil himself. Besides, most of the mentors are old school anyway.

True...but but the older the school, the more demanding the headmaster. After the sixth revision (I sorta lost count) I would have used up a box of erasers. Thank God for the digital domain.

Well. ya just have to get it right the first time. It was pretty easy for me, I think I was done in a week or two... my mentor was always there when I had a question and very quick with an answer. I should have given all the props to the Enoverse as I learned most everything I know from going round and round with the guys here.

Your mentor has nothing on this crowd! :devil:

I always like to travel the path least taken...the more brambles the better...and I'm the kind of guy who will always find a way to complicate a one horse parade, just ask George Jones

Curtis

[JThompson]

Your mentor isn't going to give a damn what format it's in... chances are he uses a pencil himself. Besides, most of the mentors are old school anyway.

True...but but the older the school, the more demanding the headmaster. After the sixth revision (I sorta lost count) I would have used up a box of erasers. Thank God for the digital domain.

Well. ya just have to get it right the first time. It was pretty easy for me, I think I was done in a week or two... my mentor was always there when I had a question and very quick with an answer. I should have given all the props to the Enoverse as I learned most everything I know from going round and round with the guys here.

Your mentor has nothing on this crowd! :devil:

I always like to travel the path least taken...the more brambles the better...and I'm the kind of guy who will always find a way to complicate a one horse parade, just ask George Jones

Curtis

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

[Jim Rusert]

I started using this a few years ago and used it for my CRO course as well. You need MS Word to use it.

http://www.uspsa.org/stageDesignTools/stageDesgnTools.html

I also received a CD with a bunch of different design programs back when I took my RO course - not sure if they still have this available at USPSA HQ but you could call and ask.

Good luck with your CRO designation.

[JThompson]

I started using this a few years ago and used it for my CRO course as well. You need MS Word to use it.

http://www.uspsa.org...DesgnTools.html

I also received a CD with a bunch of different design programs back when I took my RO course - not sure if they still have this available at USPSA HQ but you could call and ask.

Good luck with your CRO designation.

The should just put all those on the server for download...

[Spray_N_Prey]

Well I just finished the last of it. I did use MSword and powerpoint. Thanks to all for the help, special thanks to NIK - great guy.

Shawn Ginardi

[JThompson]

Well I just finished the last of it. I did use MSword and powerpoint. Thanks to all for the help, special thanks to NIK - great guy.

Shawn Ginardi

Glad to have you aboard Shawn. Thanks for taking the time....

JT

[bbbean]

I started using this a few years ago and used it for my CRO course as well. You need MS Word to use it.

http://www.uspsa.org...DesgnTools.html

I also received a CD with a bunch of different design programs back when I took my RO course - not sure if they still have this available at USPSA HQ but you could call and ask.

Good luck with your CRO designation.

The should just put all those on the server for download...

The powerpoint file won't open on my system. Office 2007 says it isn't a powerpoint file.

[joecichlid]

Sometime you can spend hours screwing around in a program trying to get everything in there and setup when it takes 15mins to grab a damn pencil. There are times for the new and there are times for the old. I never disregard the old because I "can" use something newer.

This reminds me of a story. NASA spent several million dollars to come up with a pen that would write upside down, under water and in zeroG. The Russians sent a pencil.

As others have mentioned, StageCAD is a very handy program. It does have a few little bugs in it but they are covered on the web site and how to fix them. The nice thing is the program is free. A year or so ago I contacted the creator of StageCAD and he has been working on an updated version (in his spare time and still not going to charge for the program) so keep an eye out for that one. Several years ago I stumbled across the program and have never looked back. It works like a champ and with some practice you can do some pretty darned cool stuff with it.

Two views of the same stage drawn up on StageCAD.

Joe W.

[gino_aki]

I use Stage Designer I for most of my designs. I'm not sure who posted the stuff I relabeled as Stage Designer II but I'll get around to playing with it someday. I normally don't put distances into my designs because I've been designing for the same range for so long I can sort of "see" the layout on the ground as I'm putting in my objects. I've also forgotten where I got IPSC Props 1 from but it's been very helpful for target detail, especially when resizing.

1 Stage Designer.ppt

1 Stage Designer II.ppt

1 A IPSC Props 1.doc

Stage Designer I is where I save objects that I think I'll use again in the future, hence the different sized targets, etc.

[GlennRasch]

Try StageCad

http://www.stagecad.com/

It's a compact 3-d layout program for making USPSA stages. It let's you "fly over" your stage, includes a built in grid, etc. It also has some cool features like the ability to virtually squat or go prone so you can check angles and such. There's a little bit of a learning curve but not too bad and it's free. PM me if you have any issues using it.

John

That is some COOL stuff...................I like that program.

[joecichlid]

That is some COOL stuff...................I like that program.

I have been using the program for around five years now and I love it. When the next version comes out I will be in hog heaven.

Joe W.

[vluc]

I used Google Sketch Up. JA was my instructor on it, he seemed to like it.