The Flight Case

The Flight Case is a special view used to hold unhung fixtures, hang structures, and focus positions created or inserted in DATA mode but not yet placed on the drawing. This is an ideal way to work from a set inventory as you can add all of your fixtures in DATA mode, and then click and drag the fixtures out of the Flight Case until you have exhausted your stock.

To open the Flight Case

In CAD mode, click the Flight Case tab.

Tip: The Flight Case layout is preconfigured with the flight case and a wireframe view.

How objects get into the Flight Case

As you enter fixtures in the DATA mode spreadsheets, they appear in the Flight Case under the Unassigned Fixtures branch. When you type position names in the Position Manager, the individual positions appear under the Position branch. As you assign fixtures to those positions, they will move from the Unassigned branch to under the proper position. All fixtures that appear in the Flight Case are unhung fixtures, which means they are not in your drawing (regardless of whether they have been assigned a position or not).

If you create focus positions in the DATA mode by typing labels in the focus box of the spreadsheet, those focus positions will appear under the Focus Positions branch of the Flight Case. Unhung fixtures assigned to those focus positions will appear under their respective Flight Case headings.

To learn more about inserting objects in DATA mode, please refer to Data mode.

Entering and modifying objects in the Flight Case

• You can insert fixtures and focus positions directly into the Flight Case using the Library, Draw menu, or appropriate tools on the Draw toolbar.
• You can change a fixture’s assigned position by selecting the fixture in the Flight Case and dragging it to another position within the Flight Case.
• You can change a fixture’s assigned focus position by selecting the fixture and dragging it between Focus Positions within the Flight Case.

Transferring objects from the Flight Case to the drawing

The items that appear in the Flight Case can be transferred to your drawing by clicking and dragging.

To hang fixtures from the Flight Case

1. Open the Flight Case.
2. Click and hold on the desired fixture.
3. Drag the fixture into the wireframe view and place it on a hang structure.

Note: If a fixture appears in the flight case under a position branch, that fixture must be hung on that position. Fixtures with no position or unassigned fixtures may be hung on any hang structure.

4. Release the mouse button.
5. Repeat for the remaining fixtures.

Tip: You can hang all the fixtures on one position by dragging the entire position out of the Flight Case.

Selecting a fixture in your drawing and pressing the Backspace key will return the fixture to the Flight Case. The fixture will retain the position assignment.

To insert a hang structure from the Flight Case

If you drag a position from the Flight Case, you will create a pipe.

1. Expand the Positions branch to see all the hang structures.
2. Click and hold on the position that you want to insert.
3. Drag the pipe onto the drawing.
4. Release the mouse button.
5. Use the pop up dialog box to answer the questions about the trim height and length of the pipe, or use the Interactive button to draw the pipe in interactive mode.

Result: If you do not choose interactive mode, the pipe is inserted centered on the origin at the trim height specified.

Note: Multiple positions can have the same name.

For more information about inserting pipes, see Drawing pipes.

To insert a focus position from the Flight Case

1. Expand the Focus Positions branch in the flight case to see all the Focus positions that have not yet been placed in the drawing.
2. Click and hold on the focus position that you want to insert into the drawing.
3. Drag the Focus position onto the drawing.
4. Release the mouse button to place the focus position.

Flight Case properties

The Flight Case properties affect which fixture attributes are shown.

To modify the Flight Case properties

1. From the Options menu, choose View Options.

Tip: You can also use the View Options tool on the Standard toolbar.

The View Options button.

2. Click the Wireframe Details tab.
3. Select the fixture attributes that you want displayed in the Flight Case.

Note: The Unit Number is displayed by default, however, you can select all the attributes if you want.