cable on footing another aspect of truss application is the need to balance certain loads under the truss itself if for example a load such as a piece of scenery is hung from a truss it is most conveniently hung from one chord or the other on the u201c bottom u201d side the result however is that the load is asymmetrically applied to the truss causing among other effects the truss to rotate about its longitudinal axis dropping one lower chord relative to the other and causing the truss to seek its displaced center of gravity shifting away from the heavier side techniques to compensate notably changing the relative lengths of the two legs of the u201c spansets u201d used to hang the truss to a supporting chain motor complicate the setup and are not exact where the truss is ground supporterd by a lift or tower such compensation is difficult or impossible and the offset load will result in undesirable stresses on the system including side loads and increased friction in the lifting process whether oriented up or down the u201c channel truss u201d affords the additional member 501 which is centered by hanging a load from the additional member 501 rather than in this example the traditional alternatives chord 401 or 404 the load is centered under the truss and no undesirable offset in load on the truss with its undesirable associated effects is produced another advantage of the u201c channel truss u201d is the u201c masking u201d that it affords to the adjacent edge of scenic and other elements attached to it with the use of u201c channel truss u201d scenic elements or material can be.