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Plan page counts, blank pages and printer spreads for a saddle-stitched or perfect-bound booklet

Imposition plannerFreeFor designers

15 min

saved on a typical run. Our estimate, against working out the outer and inner page pairs for each sheet by hand.

Before: what you give it

The example input, as typed in. You type in numbers or values.

pages: 20
binding: saddle
signature: 16
caliper_microns: 100

After: what comes back

The first lines of a real run on that input. Nothing here is edited by hand.

20 pages, saddle
Padded to 20 pages (0 blank page(s) to add).
5 sheet(s), nested. Spreads (left page | right page):
- Sheet 1: outer 20 | 1; inner 2 | 19; creep 0.4 mm
- Sheet 2: outer 18 | 3; inner 4 | 17; creep 0.3 mm
- Sheet 3: outer 16 | 5; inner 6 | 15; creep 0.2 mm
- Sheet 4: outer 14 | 7; inner 8 | 13; creep 0.1 mm
- Sheet 5: outer 12 | 9; inner 10 | 11; creep 0 mm
Estimated creep on the outermost sheet: (5 - 1) x 100 microns = 0.4 mm. Shift outer-sheet content toward the spine by that amount in steps (innermost 0), or let the printer's software do it. Face trim then evens the edge.

Limits: pairs assume a single nested stack for saddle and left-to-right binding. Right-to-left languages mirror the pairs. Press sheet layout (work-and-turn, gang runs) is the printer's call. Creep is an estimate.

What you get

Padded page count, blanks to add, signatures or sheets, spreads per sheet, and creep estimates

What it cannot do

Creep is an estimate from the paper caliper; confirm the signature size and imposition scheme with your printer.

Who it is for

  • Designers

Free and Pro

Free25 runs a day per IP address, up to 100,000 characters a run.
ProNo daily limit, 300 requests a minute, up to 200,000 characters a run.

What each plan includes

Use it from your assistant

The tool is called plan_imposition. Connect the server once, then ask for it by name or just describe the job. Install steps for each app.

claude mcp add --transport http designers https://designers.allthepossibles.com/mcp
curl -X POST https://designers.allthepossibles.com/api/imposition-planner -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"pages":20,"binding":"saddle","signature":"16","caliper_microns":100}'

Try it here

The form starts with the same example input, so you can run it first and then swap in your own.

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