5.2 Overlap or step
Each axis is driven by one of two numbers, and shows the other:
- Overlap % — the share of the image that two neighbours share. This is the number a blend is specified in.
- Step (m) — the physical spacing between machines.
The percentage is solved against the image the anchor actually makes on the surface it hits, recomputed live — so 20 % means 20 % of a real image, not of an assumed one.
Worked example — Demo2’s 4 × 2 array
| Anchor image | 6.557 × 4.098 m |
| Horizontal overlap | 17.63 % (1.156 m) |
| Step across (6.557 × 0.8237) | 5.401 m |
| Vertical overlap | 35.48 % (1.454 m) |
| Step up (4.098 × 0.6452) | 2.644 m |
| Total width (2 × 6.557 − 1.156) | 11.958 m |
| Total height (4 × 4.098 − 3 × 1.454) | 12.030 m |
Eight machines, two columns by four rows. The vertical overlap is twice the horizontal because the rows are stacked up a surface the beams meet head-on, where the cost of overlap is cheap.