2-D designer

Use the 2-D workspace to inspect the same live sail in orthographic views, drag its current shape handles, or enter exact values beside a handle.

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All shows three projections of the same Albin Vega 27 gennaker example. The sheet-position guide appears only in Front, and each subview keeps its own pan and zoom.

1. 1 Front projection and sheet guide
2. 2 Side projection
3. 3 Top projection and tangent handles
4. 4 Layers and selected-detail pane

Choose an orthographic view

Click 2D in the top-right canvas switch. The first visit in a session opens All; after you choose another view, your choice is retained while you switch workspaces.

View	Current behaviour
Front	Sail-face projection; the most complete keyboard traversal, including corner handles
Side	Camber projection with the spanwise profile curve and its automatic handles
Top	Plan projection; the only view that draws tangent handles
All	Front and Side above a full-width Top view

In All, each subview pans and zooms independently. The bottom coordinate and zoom readout follows the subview most recently used. A focused handle is shared across the three projections; its numeric popover is placed in the Top subview.

The right-side Layers section starts with Edges, Sections, Tangent markers, and Grid visible. The top-bar Grid button and the right-side Grid checkbox control the same grid state.

Read the sheet-position guides

With Edges enabled, Front draws dashed coral guides from the selected luff position to the measured sheet points. All shows the same guides in its Front subview; Side and Top do not draw them.

• Gennaker and Symmetric spinnaker show one guide to the spinnaker sheet pulley.
• Code 0, Genoa 135%, Working jib, High-aspect jib, and Storm jib show two guides to the foremost and aftmost genoa-car positions.
• Mainsail and Storm trisail show no sheet guide.

Use the guides to place the clew:

• When the foremost and aftmost genoa-car guides are shown, keep the clew between the two guides.
• When a single guide is shown, as for a Gennaker (asymmetric spinnaker), place the clew on the guide or below it if a twing is to be used.

Never place the clew above the uppermost guide.

Use Design > Rig > Sheet positions to enter the horizontal distances and separate genoa-car and spinnaker-pulley heights. Use Design > Sail Shape > Edges > Sheet line (% up luff) to choose where the guides meet the luff. See Rig and dimensions for how those measurements are defined.

Drag the current handles

The visible handles change parameters already used by the Shape and Profile controls; they do not create an independent 2-D copy of the sail.

The Automatic / Individual choice is shared with Design > Sail Shape and 3D Profile Edit. In Automatic mode, individual section and tangent edits are locked in Front, Side, Top, and All. Edge and corner controls remain available. Use the curve's peak and rounding handles in Side, including the Side viewport of All, for coordinated changes. The curve follows Sections visibility. Numeric controls remain in the right-hand pane.

Choose Individual to preserve the current shape and unlock section edits for small tweaks. Reconnecting asks before replacing them; Undo restores them. See Profiles and fullness for the workflow and responsibility for smoothness between stations.

Handle	Where it appears	What a drag changes
Cyan circle on an edge	Luff, leech, and foot in each projection	Edge round, its position, and opening
Cyan circle on a section	Every displayed section, editable in Individual mode	Front changes draft only; Side changes depth only; Top changes both
Amber tangent tip	Start and end of each section in Top, editable in Individual mode	Entry/exit angle for Cubic profiles, or tangent round for two-quadratic profiles
Magenta square	Clew and the current head handle or handles	Clew cords, luff cord, or head length/angle; the tack is fixed

Clicking an edge line also opens its Opening slider in the Detail pane, with Round, Open, and Hollow positions. Clicking a section line opens that section's profile controls. You can also choose the edge or section from the Detail dropdown below Layers. Tab to the dropdown and use the arrow keys to select it; Automatic mode keeps section controls read-only. The full profile workflow belongs in Profiles and fullness.

Enter an exact or relative value

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Clicking a handle focuses it, highlights its glyph, and opens fields in that handle's natural units.

1. 1 Focused section draft handle
2. 2 Draft and depth input popover
3. 3 Matching section detail controls

1. Click a handle

   The popover opens beside it and focuses the first field. Current values appear as placeholders. Units are specific to the parameter: millimetres, percentages, or degrees.

2. Type one value

   Enter a plain number for an absolute value. Millimetre fields also accept the imperial forms in Mouse and keyboard controls. Enter +5 or +1/2 in to add to the current value. To subtract, enter --3 or --1/2 in; a plain negative expression remains an absolute value.

   Press Enter, move focus away, or press Tab to apply a non-empty field. Other fields in the same popover stay unchanged. There is no Apply button.

3. Move through fields and handles

   Tab moves through the fields. Pressing it after the last field moves to the next handle and repositions the popover; Shift+Tab moves backwards and the order wraps. Escape clears the handle focus.

   Corner squares are directly draggable in every projection, but the current Tab order includes them only in Front. In Top, the order covers edge handles, then each section's draft and tangent handles.

4. Nudge or drag

   With an empty popover field focused, press an arrow key to nudge by 0.1 in that field's displayed unit; hold Shift for 1 unit. Horizontal arrows act on the first field and vertical arrows on the second; a one-field tangent uses horizontal arrows.

   You can instead drag the glyph. The popover hides during the drag, the other workspace updates live, and releasing the pointer records the whole gesture as one undo step.

Press ? while the 2-D workspace is active for the in-app handle help. See Mouse and keyboard controls for the complete shortcut table.

Pan and zoom without editing

• Scroll the wheel to zoom towards the pointer.
• Middle-drag, or hold Space and left-drag, to pan.
• Press E, or press Z then E, to fit the active view to its extents.
• Press Z then W, then drag a rectangle, to fill the viewport with that window. Press Escape to cancel the window before drawing it.

In All, these actions affect only the active subview. Pan and zoom for Front, Side, and Top are retained separately, including while you visit 3-D.

Undo and compare with 3-D

The top-bar Undo and Redo buttons use one history for the whole design. Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes; Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z or Ctrl/Cmd+Y redoes. A pointer drag is recorded at release, and a typed field is recorded when it is applied.

History covers committed measurements, cloth properties, and construction settings. It does not undo camera position, 2-D pan/zoom, selected view, layer visibility, grid visibility, or 3-D display units. Starting or opening a design clears the old timeline; making a new edit after Undo clears Redo.

Because 2-D and 3-D share one design, a handle drag reshapes the 3-D mould, and a Shape or Profile edit made beside the 3-D canvas moves the matching 2-D curves and handles. You do not need to save, apply, or regenerate between the two workspaces.

Inspect the design3-D preview → Orbit around the updated surface and read its live mould statistics. Inspect the designViews and layers → Choose which shared and workspace-specific layers are visible.