To access the Beat Board go to View > Beat Board:
The Beat Board displays a field in which you may insert and arrange Beats (think of them as virtual index cards or sticky notes):
Align Selected
These commands are available when the Beat Board is the current active panel.
Align Selected > To Grid
If Grid Snapping is off and this command will snap selected Beats to the nearest grid line or grid half-line.
Align Selected > To Grid > Make Column
Align Selected > To Grid > Make Row
Align Selected > To Grid > Cascade
Note that after Beats are cascaded, they are not still selected. They must be selected again to perform some batch function on them (i.e. color, move, delete, etc.)
Connect
- Connect -- when two Beats are selected and this command is issued, a Flow Line will be drawn between the two Beats.
- Connect with Arrow -- when two Beats are selected and this command is issued, a Flow Line with an arrowhead pointing towards the second Beat selected will be drawn;
- Connect with Reverse Arrow -- when two Beats are selected and this command is issued, a Flow Line with an arrowhead pointing towards the first Beat selected will be drawn;
- Connect with Double Arrow -- when two Beats are selected and this command is issued, a Flow Line with an arrowhead pointing towards both Beats will be drawn.
A Flow Line type may also be changed at any time by right-clicking or Control + clicking on it and choosing another type from the context menu.
Beats can be connected by dragging one on top of the other. The dragged Beat will return to its original location and there will a Flow Line (with no arrows) between the two. Beats can be disconnected the same way.
Flow Lines stay attached to Beats even when they are moved.
Grid Snapping
When Grid Snapping is enabled, Beats will, when created or moved on the Beat Board, automatically be positioned along the nearest horizontal or vertical grid line or along the midpoint between horizontal or vertical grid lines.
Enabling Grid Snapping will not snap existing Beats to the grid; Beats are only aligned along a grid line at the end of a move.
Connection Color
Displays a color picker to change the color of a Flow Line. Click on a Beat at either end of the Flow Line to select it.
A Flow Line color may also be changed at any time by right-clicking or Control + clicking on it and choosing another color from the context menu.
Disconnect
When a Beat with one Flow Line is selected and this command is issued, the Flow Line between it and the other Beat to which it is connected will be removed.
When a Beat with multiple Flow Lines is selected and this command is issued, the Flow Line between it and the first Beat to which it was connected will be removed.
A Flow Line may also be removed at any time by right-clicking or Control + clicking on it and choosing Disconnect from the context menu.
New Beat
To insert a new, blank beat onto the Beat Board choose Insert > New Beat:
To learn more about using the Beat Board watch the following video:
To learn more about Flow Lines and how they work within the Beat Board watch this video:
To learn even more about Flow Lines read "How do I use Flow Lines?"
To read about getting the most out of the Beat Board read the following article:
Master the Beat Board and Take Control of Your Script at Every Stage