BG-05 · Setout

Sizes on the drawing, at the real size.

Sign artwork is drawn small and made big. Select something, pick the sides, press the button, and the dimensions land on your artwork at your working scale. Contour length for neon and LED, priced. Transform, Align and Pathfinder in the same column.

Download Setout free See pricing

Free to download, in full, for the trial. One activation code keeps it.

Adobe Illustrator Windows

macOS · on the roadmap

Requirements: Adobe Illustrator 2026, on Windows. It may run on 2024 and 2025, but we have not tested them and do not claim them.

Help guide · Requirements and install

A sign drawing with Setout's dimensions on it: the real sizes written on the artwork at the working scale.

Measure, price, and keep three windows shut.

Placeholder Clip slot: Add dims

Dimensions at your scale

Pick the sides you want a size on and press Add dims. At 1:10 a 100 mm object is labelled 1000 mm: the label reports the real sign and the artwork is never touched. Drawn to the same anatomy as Illustrator's own Dimension tool, on their own Dimensions layer.

Placeholder Clip slot: Contour

Contour length, priced

The length round the outside of a selection, grouped or compound, as one number. Put a rate per metre in the settings and the cost sits under the length: the figure a neon or LED quote is built on.

Placeholder Clip slot: the native three

Transform, Align and Pathfinder

Illustrator's own three, in the same column, working in document units exactly as their own panels do. Three floating windows can stay closed.

Placeholder Clip slot: live text

Live text, measured as letters

Select live text, press Add dims, and you get the size of the letters rather than the box around them. Your text stays live and editable.

Built for the drawing that has to be right at the real size.

The scale is the whole point At 1:10 a 100 mm object is labelled 1000 mm. The label reports the real sign; the artwork is never touched, and Transform still works in document units.
Seven extra measurements Gaps, area, segment length, corner radius, angle, centre to centre and distance to the artboard, each one switch away from Add dims.
Drawn like a draughtsman would Extension lines at half weight, labels stacking clear of each other and of the artwork, on their own Dimensions layer so they are easy to hide.
Profiles for the whole team Scale, unit, number format, line and type styles and the material rate, saved under a name. Export one and the rest of the team have your set up.
It names a problem rather than guessing A missing font, warped text, an envelope, text on a path: Setout stops and says so instead of writing a wrong number.
Re-measure after a change Resize something and press Re-measure: every Setout label in the document is rebuilt from the artwork as it is now.

If a drawing has to be approved, priced or made at the real size, Setout is for you.

The job it replaces: measuring with the ruler, typing each size into a text box, working the scale out in your head, and doing it all again when the artwork changes.

Placeholder Sign drawings

Sign drawings for approval

Every size on the drawing says the real size, so the customer signs off the sign, not the page.

Placeholder Neon and LED

Neon and LED quotes

Contour length, priced off your rate per metre, before the quote goes out.

Placeholder Fabrication

Fabrication drawings

Dimensions for the bench and the CNC, on their own layer, rebuilt with one press when the artwork changes.

Select, pick the sides, press the button.

Three shapes on an Illustrator artboard, unmeasured.

Select your artwork

Anything on the artboard: a shape, a group, a letter. One measurement per selected object.

The side picker with the top and left circles filled.

Pick the sides

Press the small circles on the box in the middle of the panel: top, bottom, left, right. Hover one and it names itself.

The scale drawer: chips for the common ratios and a box for any other.

Check the scale

The top bar shows the scale you are drawing at, 1:10 by default. Tap it to change. The label reports the real sign; the artwork is not touched.

The same three shapes with dimensions on their top and left sides.

Press Add dims

The sizes land on the drawing, on their own Dimensions layer. Resize something later and Re-measure rebuilds every label.

What it needs, and what it takes.

Adobe Illustrator Windows macOS Roadmap
Illustrator
Requirements: Adobe Illustrator 2026, on Windows. It may run on 2024 and 2025, but we have not tested them and do not claim them.
Platform
Windows. macOS are on the roadmap and do not run it today.
Artwork and files
Any Illustrator artwork, in any file Illustrator opens: paths, groups and compound paths, one measurement per object, and live text measured as letters.

The licence, in plain words.

The long version is on the licence page. This is all of it that matters when you buy.

The subscription You subscribe, monthly or yearly, for the seats and machines your tier allows. The yearly price is the one most shops pick.
Seats and machines Solo: 1 seat, 2 machines; Shop: 5 seats, 10 machines; Site: 20 seats, 40 machines. One seat covers two machines, for example a desktop and a laptop. The number of seats is how many people can be signed in at the same time.
When it ends Stop paying and the subscription ends at the close of the period you paid for. Nester drops back to the free version, which still nests and prices but will not place; Setout shades over until you come back. Nothing is deleted and your files are untouched.
Updates Every update is included for as long as you subscribe: fixes, speed-ups and new features alike. There is no v2 to pay for and no upgrade fee.
Before the code goes in Setout runs in full for 7 days from install; when Illustrator opens, the panel says how many days are left and carries a Buy now button.
Off the network A machine that is off the network keeps working for 30 days, then needs to reach the licence server once to carry on.
Placeholder Setout in use on a live drawing

Built for sign drawings. Used on them every day.

Setout is in daily use at a working manufacturer, on live sign drawings. The point-to-point Tape Measure is parked while its gesture is settled; the button is in the panel and says so rather than pretending otherwise.

One subscription. Every update included.

Monthly or yearly Every update included Stop whenever you like 7-day trial first

Pay yearly and pay half.

Solo

£60

a year · 1 seat, 2 machines

£10

a month · 1 seat, 2 machines

  • Sole traders and single workstations
  • Every control, the whole panel
  • Profiles, export and import
  • Every update included
Download free

Most shops pick this

Shop

£150

a year · 5 seats, 10 machines

£25

a month · 5 seats, 10 machines

  • A working sign shop
  • Every control, the whole panel
  • Profiles, export and import
  • Every update included
Download free

Site

£360

a year · 20 seats, 40 machines

£60

a month · 20 seats, 40 machines

  • Bigger shops, everything under one roof
  • Every control, the whole panel
  • Profiles, export and import
  • Every update included
Download free
What you get, and what changes
Setout tier Solo Shop Site
Price Differs £60 a year£10 a month £150 a year£25 a month £360 a year£60 a month
Seats Differs 1 5 20
Machines Differs 2 10 40
Dimensions added with one button press. No dragging. Included Included Included
Dimensions written at your working scale Included Included Included
Contour length measured with one button press Included Included Included
Contour length priced from your rate per metre Included Included Included
Live text measured as letters, not as the box round them Included Included Included
Transform, Align and Pathfinder in the same panel Included Included Included
Seven more measurements, one switch away Included Included Included
Draughtsman line work, on its own layer Included Included Included
Profiles you can export and share with the team Included Included Included
Tells you the problem. It does not write a wrong number. Included Included Included
Re-measure makes every label again after a change Included Included Included
Free trial: the whole tool, 7 days Included Included Included
Every update included while you subscribe Included Included Included
Monthly or yearly, stop whenever you like Included Included Included
Answered by the people who wrote it Included Included Included

Every tier is the whole tool. The only differences are the price, the number of seats and the number of machines.

One seat covers two machines, for example a desktop and a laptop. The number of seats is how many people can be signed in at the same time.

Want Nester as well?

Both tools Nester · Tight nests, less waste

Nester and Setout together, on one subscription.

Both tools, Shop: £270 a year£45 a month for 5 seats, 10 machines. From £120 a year£20 a month.

See the Both tools prices. See Nester.

Every tier is the full Setout: same panel, same measurements, same profiles. The only difference is the number of seats and machines: Solo 1 seat, 2 machines; Shop 5 seats, 10 machines; Site 20 seats, 40 machines. Pay monthly or yearly, and every update is included for as long as you subscribe. Stop, and Setout shades over until you come back.

Requirements: Adobe Illustrator 2026, on Windows. It may run on 2024 and 2025, but we have not tested them and do not claim them.

Read up first: Help guide · Requirements and install.

Not sure yet? Download it free and use it in full for the trial. It's below.

Download it free. Use it in full. Then decide.

One file, free, no card and no account. Setout runs in full for 7 days: every control, every measurement, on your own drawings. When Illustrator opens, the panel says how many days are left and carries a Buy now button.

Buy a licence, paste the activation code into the panel, and the clock stops.

No download here yet: the signed installer is not finished. Email hello@bluegrey.ai and we send you the current Setout build by hand.

The five things people ask before they buy.

What does the free download do before I pay?

Setout runs in full for 7 days from install; when Illustrator opens, the panel says how many days are left and carries a Buy now button. It is the full engine and the full panel; nothing is cut down. One file, downloaded free by anyone. The activation code you buy opens it. The thing you tried is the thing you bought.

What do seats and machines mean, and how many do I get?

One seat covers two machines, for example a desktop and a laptop. The number of seats is how many people can be signed in at the same time. A machine is one computer with Illustrator on it. Your tier sets how many you can activate at once; on one more than that, the panel says so and stays as it was until an activation is released. Replace a machine and the old activation can be released. Solo: 1 seat, 2 machines; Shop: 5 seats, 10 machines; Site: 20 seats, 40 machines.

Is it a subscription?

Yes, monthly or yearly. You subscribe, monthly or yearly, for the seats and machines your tier allows. The yearly price is the one most shops pick. Every update is included for as long as you subscribe: fixes, speed-ups and new features alike. There is no v2 to pay for and no upgrade fee. Stop paying and the subscription ends at the close of the period you paid for. Nester drops back to the free version, which still nests and prices but will not place; Setout shades over until you come back. Nothing is deleted and your files are untouched.

What if it is not for me?

Do not buy it: download it free and run it on your own artwork first. Once an activation code is issued the purchase is final, unless the software is broken: if it does not do what this page says, or will not run on a setup this page says it runs on, we fix it or refund it. The refunds page says it plainly. Lemon Squeezy takes the payment as merchant of record, handles VAT and emails the activation code. Prices here are in pounds; checkout shows your own currency.

Which versions of Illustrator, and what about a Mac?

Requirements: Adobe Illustrator 2026, on Windows. It may run on 2024 and 2025, but we have not tested them and do not claim them. macOS are on the roadmap. If it will not run on a setup this page says it runs on, that is covered by the refund above.

How support works.

One address hello@bluegrey.ai Read by the people who write the software.

Email hello@bluegrey.ai with what happened and, if you can, a screenshot and roughly what the job was. The person who wrote the thing you are asking about is the one who answers. No phone line, no chat widget, no ticket system.

Read up, if you like: Help guide · Requirements and install.

Hear when Setout changes.

One line when a Setout release is worth knowing about. Nothing else.

No spam, no list-selling. A few emails a year at most, and one reply takes you off.

Pairs well with

Nester Tight nests, less waste Packs real shapes, not bounding boxes, across every sheet, and shows the material cost before you cut. From £90 a year See Nester Fellside business dashboards One place to run the business from One screen your whole team checks each morning: sales, cash, jobs and people, pulled from your own systems and kept current. Priced once we've met See Fellside

Setout, in plain words

Setout is a dimensioning and measuring panel for Adobe Illustrator, built for sign makers. It writes dimensions onto artwork at the working scale, measures contour length for neon and LED, and keeps Transform, Align and Pathfinder in one column.