Multi-Gauge Canvas

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The headline feature of GaugeMaster Pro 2: the Canvas can now hold any number of gauges, from zero to many, and each gauge is designed, positioned, printed and exported as part of a single document.

Every canvas is now a multi-gauge document, and the multi-gauge UI is always visible, even with a single gauge. Fear not if you only ever design one gauge at a time, as your usual workflow doesn’t change at all.

The Active Gauge

Exactly one gauge is active at a time. Layer editing, the Gauge settings pane, and the layer keyboard shortcuts always act on the active gauge.

To activate a gauge simply click on it, or on any of its layers, on the Canvas. The sidebar gauge header and the on-canvas gauge header share the same highlight color, so the active gauge is easy to spot in both places.

Active Gauge Frame

The active gauge shows a frame (bounding box) with a header bar on the Canvas. The header shows:

• The gauge name.
• The gauge’s diameter, prefixed with the diameter symbol Ø. A gauge with a size preset shows its fixed diameter, while a Free gauge shows the current diameter of its content.
• A zoom-to-fit button, to frame just that gauge on your screen.

Drag the header bar to move the gauge around the Canvas.

When is the frame shown?

To keep the canvas uncluttered, the gauge frame is only drawn for the active gauge, and only once that gauge has at least one layer or a size preset set. It also gets out of the way automatically while you are dragging a layer control.

Gauge frames are only a design aid, so they are never included on printed or exported gauges.

Managing Gauges

All the gauge management actions are available from the Layers Sidebar’s + dropdown menu, as well as with the new keyboard shortcuts:

• Add Gauge creates a new empty gauge and makes it the active gauge.
• Duplicate Gauge creates a full copy of the active gauge. Since this new gauge will overlap the original exactly, the copy will have Copy added to its name so you can tell them apart.
• Delete Gauge removes the active gauge.
• Import Gauges loads another .gmpro file and adds all of its gauges to the current canvas, instead of replacing it. Each imported gauge keeps its saved position, and any fonts embedded in the imported file come along too.

An empty canvas is a valid canvas

Deleting the last gauge is allowed, as a canvas with no gauges is a perfectly valid state. The way back is simply Add Gauge, Import Gauges or New Canvas.

Gauges on the Layers Sidebar

Each gauge is now a collapsible section on the Layers Sidebar, with its own header showing the gauge name plus visibility and printable toggle buttons.

• Toggling visibility or printable on a gauge header does not select or expand that gauge, so you can manage collapsed gauges without losing your current selection.
• Selecting a gauge scrolls its header into view at the top of the sidebar.
• The expanded/collapsed state of each gauge is saved with the file.

Moving layers between gauges

You can drag and drop any layer from one gauge onto another on the sidebar. The layer will move to the new gauge and be selected in its new home.

Hidden layers and gauges

Hidden items cannot be clicked on the canvas: a layer whose visibility is off, and a hidden gauge with all of its layers, are skipped by canvas click-to-select and by the right-click context menu, so an invisible element is never selected by accident.

To select a hidden layer or gauge, use the Layers Sidebar instead.

Gauge rendering order

The gauge order matters too

Just like with layers, the order of the gauges on the Layers Sidebar determines the order in which they are rendered, being the top most gauge on the list the top most gauge on the canvas.