Gauge Settings

The Gauge Settings control the size, position, rendering and export options of the active gauge.

Size

New in GaugeMaster Pro 2

The Preset Size and Geometry sections are new in GaugeMaster Pro 2, building on the app-wide Measurement Units.

The Preset Size section lets you set the physical reference size of your gauge from the very start of your design.

The Preset Size selector offers Free, Custom, and the most common industry-standard gauge diameters (EN 837 / ASME standard sizes).

Choosing Custom reveals a Diameter field where you can enter any physical diameter.

When a size preset is set, the app draws a dashed reference ring at true physical size on the canvas, and shows the diameter in the gauge frame header.

The size preset is a design reference only

The size preset never clips or constrains the layers, the exported artwork, or the printed size. Those always come from the actual layer geometry, just as they always have.

The size preset locks once the gauge has layers

The Preset Size selector becomes read-only once the gauge has layers, so the reference cannot shift accidentally mid-design. To change the preset of an existing gauge, remove its layers first, or start a new gauge with the preset you need.

Gauge Wizards and Preset Sizes

The Gauge Wizards also read the size preset and scale their generated layers to the real-world size by default. Layers created directly on the canvas do the same: a new layer added to a preset-size gauge gets default dimensions proportional to the preset, matching what the wizard would generate at that size.

Geometry

The Geometry section has three groups of settings:

• Center X and Center Y set the gauge’s position on the canvas, editable numerically in the current measurement unit. You can also move a gauge by dragging its frame header on the canvas.
• Scale scales the whole gauge, from 0.1 to 10. It is disabled while a size preset is active, as otherwise with any scale other than 1.0 the preset size would not be honored.
• Offset X and Offset Y shift the gauge’s dial away from its physical center, for off-center gauges. They only appear while a size preset is active.

Off-Center Gauges

The Offset X and Offset Y fields shift the gauge’s dial away from its physical center, to achieve effects like the classic car-instrument-cluster look, where the arc scale sits in the middle of the gauge while the needle axis it off-center, at the bootom of it.

All of the gauge’s layers move together with the dial, along with the Draw Center and Draw Edge markers. The layers themselves need no changes and keep their own radii and angles. Both fields are edited in the current measurement unit, like every other position field.

Start from the preset size

The Offset fields only appear while the gauge has a size preset active, chosen in the Preset Size section. The preset defines the physical gauge face the dial is offset within, so there is no offset without one. And since the preset selector locks once the gauge has layers, an off‑center design starts by picking the preset size first.

Editing works exactly as on a centered gauge: selection, action-control drags, snapping, context menus, the Gauge Wizards and undo/redo all follow the offset dial, and the offset is saved with the file.

Off-center gauges print and export framed to their preset size, see Off-center gauges output.

Render Additions

The Render Additions allow you to add some useful markings to the gauge, to help during their designs or final print/export.

The Draw Center option will draw a small circle at the center of your gauge. You can choose the color of this circle and its radius.

Centering a Blueprint

This feature is very helpful when adding a Blueprint image and trying to center it with the canvas to replicate a gauge.

The Draw Edge option will draw a circumference around the entire gauge, its diameter matching the widest diameter of the gauge layers.

You can choose the color and width of the circumference’s line, as well as the spacing from the edge of the gauge. All these measures follow the current measurement unit.

Adding extra spacing to a gauge

With this feature you can easily add some extra spacing around a gauge when printing or exporting. Simply set the spacing to what you need and set its color to fully transparent. Even when transparent the output will honor the space taken by the edge circle, but it won’t be visible due to its transparency.

Print Layout (PDF Export)

By default gauges print and export at their true real-world size, 1:1, so there is no output diameter to choose: what you design is what you get. See the Print and Export Gauges page for the details.

Diam. Override

Turning the Diam. Override option on reveals a Diameter field to force an arbitrary output diameter when printing or exporting as PDF or SVG, scaling the design to it.

Changed in GaugeMaster Pro 2

Diam. Override replaces the Print Options (PDF Export) diameter of previous versions. Forcing an output diameter used to be the only way to control the printed size; with real-world measurement units it is now an option, off by default in favor of true-size output.

Opening pre-GaugeMaster Pro 2 files

Files saved before GaugeMaster Pro 2 open with the override ON, preserving their original print/export dimensions exactly. Turn it off whenever you are ready to adopt true-size printing.

Bitmap Image Export (PNG/JPG)

The Bitmap Image Export options allow you to specify the output diameter for raster images, when exporting as JPEG or PNG.

The Diam. (pixels) measure is always in raster image pixels, regardless of the current measurement unit.