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Creating a stage

Build and save a seating chart in the Stage Builder, including seats, regions, labels, layout controls, and venue details.

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Create a seating chart in the Stage Builder by adding and arranging its elements, checking for errors, and saving it with its venue details. For opening, copying, deleting, and managing charts on the Stages page, see Stages overview.

Understand the Stage Builder

The Stage Builder usually opens in a new pop-up window. It has three areas:

  • The Artboard in the center is where you build the seating chart.
  • The Toolbox on the left contains the available tools and element options.
  • The Overview panel on the right contains chart-wide actions and settings, sector capacity, and any errors or recommendations.

When you select one or more elements of the same type, their settings inspector appears in the Toolbox below the available tools. If you select different types of elements together, their settings are not shown.

Work in pixels

The working measurement unit is pixels (PX). Build the chart by eye, concentrating on the overall appearance and the placement of seats, regions, and sectors. Entase automatically fits the seating chart to the available space wherever it is displayed.

Add elements from the Toolbox

Drag an element from the Toolbox and drop it onto the Artboard. The available elements are Stage, Region, Static element, One seat, Group of seats, and Text.

For guidance on planning and using sectors as ticket price groups, see Sectors explained.

Add a stage element

A Stage element shows where the stage is. You can add as many stage elements as needed for a multi-stage event.

Use its settings to configure:

  • Name — choose Stage, Screen, Ring, Arena, Field, or Court, or enter a custom label.
  • Size — set the width and height.
  • Rounding — set corner rounding from 0–100%.

Best practices:

  • Use Static element for decoration rather than a stage element.
  • In the modern interface, the stage appears at the top of the chart. This matches an attendee's forward-facing perspective in a 2D chart. You can position the stage anywhere, but consider rotating a source chart that places it at the bottom for a clearer customer experience.

Add seats

A seat represents a reservable place for one attendee. Each separate seat counts as one unit of capacity.

To add one seat, drag One seat to the Artboard.

To add several seats at once:

  1. Drag Group of seats to the Artboard.
  2. In the box that appears, enter the number of rows and seats per row.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Adjust the added seats individually if needed.

For either individual or grouped seats, use the settings inspector to set:

  • Sector and color — the sector assigned to the seat or seats.
  • Row — alphabetical text.
  • Seat — alphabetical text.
  • Attributes — information that can be used with coupons and price policies for discounts:
    • Suitable for handicaps
    • Limited view
    • Not available
  • Seat view — a photo showing the view from that seat.

If you change a seat's sector name to an existing sector name, the selected seats automatically inherit that sector's color. If you change only a sector color, the change applies to every seat in that sector, even when only one seat is selected.

Add regions

Region elements are capacity-only spaces. Attendees in a region do not reserve a specific place, so the area is first-come, first-served. A region can represent standing space, seating without reserved seats, or both.

Configure a region with:

  • Sector and color — the sector assigned to the region.
  • Region name — displayed at the top of the element.
  • Capacity — the maximum number of attendees.
  • Minimum to book — the minimum number of seats an order must include.
  • Lock on booking — locks the entire sector when the first booking order is made.
  • Seat view — a photo showing the view from that sector.
  • Size — width and height.
  • Rounding — corner rounding from 0–100%.
  • Visualization — standard or SVG.

Choose a region visualization

The standard region visualization is a colored rectangle, optionally with rounded corners.

For an advanced shape, choose SVG visualization and paste SVG paths. The region takes the shape defined by those paths. Sector colors and the region name do not apply in SVG visualization: include colors and any text within the SVG paths. Without a color in the paths, the shape inherits a transparent color and is not visible.

Paste the content from inside the main <svg> element, for example:

HTML
<circle fill="#a8c8d8" cx="50" cy="50" r="50" />
HTML
<g clip-path="url(#clip0_1_2)">
<path d="M42.35 12.51L52.89 1.70001V50.48L42.35 40.03V12.51Z" fill="#35A248"/>
<path d="M10.54 40.03L0 50.84V2.04999L10.54 12.51V40.03Z" fill="#35A248"/>
<path d="M12.78 10.54L1.97 0H50.75L40.3 10.54H12.78Z" fill="#35A248"/>
<path d="M40.21 41.64L51.02 52.18H2.23001L12.69 41.64H40.21Z" fill="#35A248"/>
<path d="M40.2 12.69H13.04V39.85H40.2V12.69Z" fill="#35A248"/>
</g>

<clipPath id="clip0_1_2">
<rect width="52.89" height="52.18" fill="white"/>
</clipPath>

Set up a booth with locked capacity

For a bar or club chart, use Lock on booking to designate an area for a company. For example, for a VIP booth for 5–10 people:

  • Set Capacity to 10.
  • Set Minimum to book to 5.
  • Enable Lock on booking.

The first customer must pay for at least five tickets, and the booth locks with the first booking even if its capacity has not been reached.

Add static elements

A Static element is for decoration only and does not count toward the seating chart's total capacity.

Its settings are:

  • Size — width and height.
  • Rounding — corner rounding from 0–100%.
  • Visualization — standard or SVG. Follow the same SVG instructions as for regions.

Add text

Use Text elements to make the chart clearer. Set:

  • Value — the displayed text.
  • Text direction — horizontal or vertical.
  • Rotation — from 0–360 degrees.

Arrange the Artboard

The white center area is the Artboard; the surrounding area is gray. Keep every element that customers should see inside the white Artboard borders. Anything outside those borders is truncated and is not visible at checkout.

Zoom and move around the chart

  • Zoom in or out with the mouse wheel or the zoom controls at the bottom of the window.
  • Move the visible area by holding the Space bar and the left mouse button, then moving the mouse.

Move, rotate, and resize elements

  • Move: Select one or more elements, then drag with the left mouse button. Use the keyboard arrow keys for finer placement.
  • Rotate: Select one or more elements. Hold the left mouse button on the circle handle above the selection, then move the mouse.
  • Resize: For supported elements, either enter dimensions in the settings inspector or select one element and drag one of the square handles around it. Not every element supports resizing.

Use alignment guides

Blue horizontal or vertical lines appear when an edge of your selection intersects with an edge of another element. Use these alignment guides to refine placement, and combine them with the arrow keys for especially fine adjustments.

Delete elements

Select the elements you want to remove, then either:

  • Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or
  • Click Delete selected in the settings inspector.

The settings inspector is not visible when the selection contains multiple element types. In that case, press the Delete key or select elements of the same type before using Delete selected.

Use the Overview panel

Undo and redo changes

Use Undo and Redo to move backward or forward through changes. You can also use these operating-system shortcuts:

  • Windows: Ctrl + Z for Undo and Ctrl + Y for Redo.
  • macOS: Cmd + Z for Undo and Cmd + Shift + Z for Redo.

Review sectors and capacity

The Sectors list shows the current sectors in the chart and the calculated capacity for each one. Click a sector name to select all elements in that sector on the Artboard.

Set the Artboard size

Use Artboard settings to set the Artboard width and height. Extend it when you need more space, then reduce it when the chart is complete.

Avoid leaving excessive white space between the chart and the Artboard border. Aim for 40–50 PX of padding around the chart.

Fix errors and follow recommendations

The errors and recommendations panel lists issues found while you build the chart. Follow recommendations and resolve errors where possible. Errors commonly relate to missing or duplicate seat names.

Click an error to select its related elements on the Artboard, making them easier to locate and correct.

Important: You can save a seating chart with errors, but you cannot create events with that stage until the errors are fixed.

Save the stage and set its location

  1. Click Save changes in the bottom-right corner of the Stage Builder.
  2. In the location pop-up, enter the venue name in the Search window. Use the name as it appears in Google Places where possible, so the system can try to extract the details.
  3. On the next screen, review and edit the location details:
    • Place name — the venue or building name.
    • Stage — optional. Enter the hall name if the seating chart is for a specific hall inside the venue; otherwise, leave it empty.
    • Note — optional internal information for you and your team.
    • Address — the street address.
    • City — the city, including the state where applicable, such as New York, NY.
    • Country — the country name.
    • Lat/lng — an adjustable GPS pin. Move it to refine the coordinates if needed.
  4. Click Save.

All location details except Note are shown to attendees. Use Note only for internal information. After saving, the chart appears on the Stages page.