Canvas Settings

The Canvas Settings control rendering, defaults, blueprint (image underlay), export/print, color swatches and file options that impact the entire canvas.

New in GaugeMaster Pro 2

The Canvas Defaults, Multi-Copy Print, SVG Export options, Color Swatches and Color Matching Tools sections are all new in GaugeMaster Pro 2.

Licensing

Some of the features on this page require a subscription, as described on the Login & Subscriptions page:

Standard

• Multi-Copy Print
• Print Swatches Grid
• Color Matching Tools

Render Style

The Background option allows you to set the background color of the entire canvas.

The Thumbnail Bgr option allows you to set the background of the thumbnail images on the layers list.

Working on a black background gauge?

If you were to be working on a black background gauge, it is very likely that your gauge components are white or very light colors. This can be very difficult to see against the default white thumbnail background color. Change this to a darker color to see those element layer thumbnails clearly.

Canvas Defaults

The Canvas Defaults section has an Industry selector with two choices:

• Instruments keeps the classic defaults for newly created radial layers: 135° start and 270° sweep.
• Horology pre-shapes new radial layers for clock faces: full circle, 12 divisions, numbers 1–12 with the 12 at the top. A watch dial takes shape with zero re-configuration!

Only new layers are affected

The Industry selection only affects layers created after selecting it. Existing layers never change.

The choice is saved per file, and the last selection you make explicitly becomes the default for your new files.

Blueprint Image

The Blueprint Image will add an image of your choosing to the background of the canvas, just as a reference image that will not be included on any of the gauge output options.

Click on the Image File button to select the image you want to add to the canvas.

Once you can see the image on the canvas, you can move it around by dragging it when there are no layers selected.

Centering image to gauge

Use the Draw Center option of the Gauge Settings to help you when centering a Blueprint image to a gauge design.

You can also adjust the scale, rotation or transparency of the image as needed.

The Visible option allows to show or hide the Blueprint image as required when designing your gauge.

Opacity is your friend!

Use the Image Opacity to make the Blueprint image visible enough to see it, but not too visible to be distracting when drawing over it.

Export/Print Rendering

Enable the Transparent Bgr option if you need to have a transparent background when printing or exporting your designs, for example if you will compose the output on other drawing tools.

Transparency on JPEG

The JPEG image format doesn’t support transparency, so even with this setting enabled, images exported in JPEG will not have any transparency.

Enable the Horizontal Mirror effect to export or print gauges that are mirrored horizontally. This effect is useful for example for heat transfer printing, where the gauges need to be printed as their mirror image so they appear correctly when transferred to their final surface.

SVG Export

The Text to Path option converts all the text in exported SVGs to pure outline paths, so the file renders identically everywhere. It defaults to on for new files, and off for files saved before GaugeMaster Pro 2.

See the Print and Export Gauges page for the full behavior.

Bitmap Image Export (PNG/JPG)

The Width (pixels) measure sets the pixel width used when exporting the whole canvas as a PNG or JPG image. It is always in raster image pixels, regardless of the current measurement unit.

Each gauge keeps its own pixel size for single-gauge image exports, with the Diam. (pixels) measure on its Gauge Settings.

Multi-Copy Print

Multi-copy printing has its own dedicated section, with settings to line up the printed copies with flat-bed printer jigs:

Setting	Description
Print Count	Sets the number of copies to print.
Print Offset X / Y	Shift the print origin, to line the copies up with the jig.
Print Gutter X / Y	Set the separation between copies.

The Multi-Copy Print button runs the print, fitting as many copies of your gauge on a page as possible, making sure they are not cut by page breaks. All four measures follow the current measurement unit.

If you have added a Serial Number to any Text Detail layer, each gauge printed will have a unique and sequential serial number on it.

Changed in GaugeMaster Pro 2

Multi-copy printing was part of the Export/Print Options in previous versions, with just a print count. The print offsets and gutters are new in GaugeMaster Pro 2.

File Saving

Since GaugeMaster Pro uses your local fonts on text layers, when sharing your designs with commercial relations that also use GaugeMaster Pro, you need to make sure they will have all the same fonts you used on your gauge, otherwise they will not see the design correctly. To avoid missing any fonts you have the option to embed all the fonts used on a design when saving your gauges.

Whenever the Embed Fonts option is enabled your GaugeMaster Pro gauge files will be saved with all the fonts used in your gauge design embedded in the file. So regardless if the recipient has those fonts or not, the gauge will render on their machines with fidelity.

Embedded fonts also travel with the gauges themselves when you import them into another canvas.

Watch that file size

Embedding fonts into a gauge file will make it increase in size considerably, so only use this option when absolutely necessary, and check to make sure the size of the gauge file is not too big when sharing it.

Font licensing

When embedding fonts and sharing gauge files make sure to check if your font license allows sharing them. Fonts included on computers by default or downloaded from the web may not always allow this kind of use.

Color Matching Tools

To help you match an exact color on your final gauge material, first pick a Color to Match, then use either of the following options:

• Print Color Grid prints a full page of close variations around the chosen color.
• Print Color Plate prints a color wheel on a round plate of your chosen Plate Diameter and Plate Min Rings.

Both printouts are aids for matching exact colors on the final gauge material, visually or with the help of a colorimeter.

Sample color plate output.

Getting the plate at its true size

When saving a Print Color Plate as a PDF with your browser’s Save as PDF option, the resulting page matches the round plate itself, with no wasted margins.

When printing on a real printer the page will always be your printer’s paper size, so make sure the print scale stays at 100% for the plate to come out at the Plate Diameter you asked for.

Color Swatches

The Color Swatches section adds professional color palettes built around Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) format.

Use the Load .ase File button to import an Adobe Swatch Exchange palette. All the palette’s colors become available in the app’s color picker. The palette is saved inside the .gmpro file, so it always travels with your design.

Once a palette is loaded, every color control in the app adds a new color swatches picker button.

Print Swatches Grid

The Print Swatches Grid button prints the loaded palette as a labeled grid of color boxes. This is very useful for checking how the palette colors reproduce on the target printer and material before committing to a final gauge print.

Printing color swatches on plate material

Once you have loaded a Color Swatches palette it will be available on the color picker of the Color Matching Tools, so you can use the Print Color Plate option to try them on your plate materials.

Clear Swatches

The Clear Swatches button removes the loaded palette from the file. Any colors already applied to layers keep their values.