Working with the Stage
The Stage takes up the largest part of the document window. It displays the visual items (layers) of the currently selected slide. A visual item may be an image, a movie, or a title. These visual items can be sized and positioned on the Stage.
The Stage displays directly above the Storyboard/Timeline view. When a single slide is selected in the Storyboard/ Timeline, the slide is displayed on the Stage. If Animation is turned in for this slide, then the Stage displays two parts, the left side displays the start of an animation and the right side displays the end or finish of the animation. All layers contained in a single slide are displayed on the Stage.
Within the Stage, you can move, zoom and rotate each individual layer of a slide. There are several different methods you can use to manipulate and edit your slide. You can click and drag a layer, use the jog wheels, or edit the zoom and rotation values numerically. For more detailed information, see The Stage in the Reference section.

To drop and edit an image in the Stage:
- Select a single slide in the Storyboard/Timeline
- Drag a single image from the Image Browser or from the Finder.
- Drop the image in the Stage. A new image layer is added to the slide. A white outline indicates the image layer is selected.
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Click on the new layer and move the image to any location in the Stage. A hand cursor is visible while you are doing this. Moving the image in the Start window affects the start of the animation and moving the image in the Finish window, affects the end of the animation.
TIP: When dragging layers, you can use the snap to stage boundaries (green guidelines), or edges of other layers (yellow guidelines). Click the Control key to temporarily disable snapping.
- To zoom or enlarge the layer, click the image to select it and then drag a corner of the selected white outline, or Option+click and drag the mouse up and down. You can also use the Zoom jog wheel to enlarge your image or enter a percentage in the Zoom text box.
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To rotate the layer, click the image to select it and then drag the sides of the selected white outline (a rotate cursor appears), or Command+click and drag clockwise or counter-clockwise. You can also use the Rotate jog wheels to rotate your image or enter a degree value in the Rotation text box.
- Continue to add additional layers to the slide by dragging to the Stage again. A slide can have up to six layers.