Offset PDF
Download A4 measurement sheets for reconstructing each generated panel with a tape measure, straight-edge, and fairing tool instead of a full-size printer.
Choose whole or split pages
The two entry points do not use the same default:
- File > Export > Offset PDF (hand-plotting) opens the Offset PDF dialog. Split panels longer than the workbench is enabled at 2,400 mm by default. Change Max panel length to a positive limit, disable the option for one sheet per panel, then choose Generate.
- Offset PDF in the panel-viewer toolbar downloads immediately with splitting disabled.
The browser downloads panels-offset.pdf. When a panel exceeds the enabled limit, its plotting shape is halved repeatedly until each part fits. The cloth still remains one piece; only the measurement pages are split.
After the dialog, the File-menu path has no in-progress label. The direct panel-viewer action shows Offset PDF… and pauses the other export buttons.
A split page from the Albin Vega 27 gennaker example at the 2,400 mm default; the drawing is schematic and the tables carry the full-size measurements.
- Schematic — not to scale
- Split-page loft warning
- 17-station edge tables
- Source design filename
Read the sheet
Each A4 page contains a schematic, not a print-to-scale pattern. The header identifies the panel, sail type, grain direction, and seam allowance. If the design was opened or saved as a JSON file, its filename appears in the footer.
The schematic labels the corners around the panel and gives chord and arc lengths for each perimeter edge. A four-sided panel also shows a construction diagonal. The page marks which seams say allow seam and which say cut to line. Triangles have three edge tables, four-sided panels have four, and five-sided panels use five compact tables.
Every curved edge has 17 stations from 0/16 to 16/16. Triangle and four-sided tables show all four columns below; the compact five-sided layout omits the arc (mm) column so five tables fit on one A4 page.
| Column | Use |
|---|---|
| Station | Identifies one of the 16 equal intervals along the chord. |
| chord (mm) from A | Gives the distance from the named start corner along the straight chord. |
| perp offset (mm) | Gives the perpendicular distance from the chord to the curved edge. Positive is outward from the panel interior. |
| arc (mm) | Gives cumulative distance along the curved edge for checking the faired result. |
Dark rows mark quarter stations; lighter rows mark the intermediate eighth stations. The remaining rows fill the sixteenth-station detail.
Plot one panel
Construct the corner skeleton
Mark the named corners from the chord lengths and the labelled construction diagonal. Check the resulting outline against the schematic's corner order; do not copy the schematic size or angle from the page.
Draw each straight chord
Join the two named endpoints of one curved edge. The table direction runs from the first corner in the edge title toward the second.
Mark quarter, eighth, then sixteenth stations
Start with the dark rows, add the lighter rows, then add the unshaded rows. At each chord (mm) distance, mark the listed perp offset (mm) at right angles to the chord. A positive value goes away from the panel interior.
Fair and check the curved edge
Draw a smooth curve through the marks. Measure along it and compare the result with the final arc (mm) value before continuing to the next edge.
Apply the seam instruction
On an edge labelled allow seam, add the allowance stated in the page header outside the plotted panel line. On an edge labelled cut to line, use the plotted line itself.
Join split plotting pages
Split headers read half N of M — DO NOT CUT EDGE … (loft only). The dashed loft edge in the schematic is an alignment line introduced by the split; draw and align it, but do not cut the cloth there. Split pages omit the cut-edge offset table for that artificial edge.
The cloth is not split
Repeated splitting can produce two or four pages for one long panel. These are sections of one plotting construction, not separate cloth pieces. Keep the panel short number and half N of M set together.