fix: a zoomed trace is drawn on the x its readout quotes

gather() staged x as f32 relative to the series' own x0() -- the start of
the whole retained window -- so the quantisation was a fraction of the
ring rather than of the view: 1.9 us at 20 s of retained data, which at a
10 us view across a 716 px axis is over 100 px between where a sample is
drawn and the x a readout quotes for it (crosshair_point() reads x_at()
in exact f64). It halved on every zoom out, which is what made it read as
"zooming in makes the crosshair select a point beside the data".

The origin is now the caller's (plotter c2c8c59): the renderer passes the
visible range's minimum, so the error is a fixed 2^-24 of what is on
screen -- about 4e-5 px over a 700 px axis -- at any zoom. The parameter
sits before out_xy so every call site is a compile error rather than a
silent change of behaviour.

The renderer no longer reads series.x0() at paint time at all, which
removes two of the three symptoms of the torn window_x0_ read by
construction; the ink probe's now-vacuous kept_fixed_x0 walk goes with
them, replaced by a drawn-vs-quoted pixel figure. neighbours() still
tests the visible range against x_at(0), so the cache stays load-bearing.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -608,10 +608,12 @@ Two lines of the self-check output are assertions in disguise:
   lines and the disarm probe's `axis=`/`snap=` need a fast source to say anything —
   `tools/mock_udpstreamer.py --rate 1300000 --batch 20000` — since at the default 10 kS/s a
   whole window fits in the raw path and the publish is too short to lose a race.
-- `trace ink: N paints checked, C collapsed, S staircase, H short, worst cover P%` plus a
+- `trace ink: N paints checked, C collapsed, S staircase, H short, worst cover P%, worst
+  drawn-vs-quoted D px over R raw paints` plus a
   `[ink] paint N <flags> mode=.. axis=[..] n=.. idx=[..) spp=.. level=.. pts=.. kept=..
-  ink=[..] cover=..% x0=.. x_at=[..] bounds=[..] rel=[..] dx=.. kept_fixed_x0=.. drops=[..]
-  back=..` line per anomalous frame (stderr) — **`collapsed` and `staircase` must both be 0**.
+  ink=[..] cover=..% x0=.. x_at=[..] bounds=[..] rel=[..] dx=.. drops=[..]
+  back=..` line per anomalous frame (stderr) — **`collapsed` and `staircase` must both be 0**,
+  and **`drawn-vs-quoted` must stay far under a pixel** (0.0000 is what a clean run reads).
   This is the only check that can see a frame whose *waveform* vanished: `staged_segments`
   counts geometry including the grid and the instruments, and `lod_traces` counts a trace whose
   points are then collapsed, so both read healthy through the flicker. The probe runs on every
@@ -621,11 +623,22 @@ Two lines of the self-check output are assertions in disguise:
   `collapsed` is fewer than two distinct positions left (nothing to draw at all), `staircase`
   is the filter dropping over three quarters of the points, `short` is ink reaching under a
   quarter of the axis (reported only once the data spans the window, since a filling ring is
-  *meant* to leave its left side empty). `kept_fixed_x0` is the same filter with `x0()` hoisted
-  out of the loop: it exceeding `kept` means `x0()` moved *during* the walk. **`back` ≈ one ring
-  span is the signature** of the torn `x0()` read (see the cached-first-stamp invariant); so is
-  an `ink=` range disjoint from `axis=`, or an `idx=` covering the whole ring with `cover` far
-  over 100%. It is a race, so it needs load and a reason for long frames —
+  *meant* to leave its left side empty). `drawn-vs-quoted` is the other reading, and it is the
+  one that names a *defect of position* rather than of presence: at a raw level a gathered pair
+  **is** sample `first + k`, so the line differences where a sample is drawn
+  (`axis.min + gather[2k]`, the renderer's own reconstruction) against the x a readout quotes
+  for it (`x_at()`, exact f64) and reports the worst of them in pixels. That is the
+  gather-origin invariant below read from the screen's side; it was over a hundred pixels at a
+  deep zoom before the origin became the caller's. It is measured on the raw levels only — above
+  them a gathered point is a bucket's envelope and has no single sample to be off from — so `R`
+  is legitimately below `N`. **`back` ≈ one ring span is the signature** of the torn `x0()` read
+  (see the cached-first-stamp invariant); so is an `ink=` range disjoint from `axis=`, or an
+  `idx=` covering the whole ring with `cover` far over 100%. There was a `kept_fixed_x0` field
+  beside `kept` — the same filter with `x0()` hoisted out of the loop, since the renderer used to
+  re-read `x0()` per point and a ring-backed one advances with the producer. The origin is a
+  local of the renderer's now, so that failure mode is structurally impossible and the field is
+  gone; the `[ink]` walk and the renderer still agree because both add `axis.min`. It is a race,
+  so it needs load and a reason for long frames —
   `tools/mock_udpstreamer.py --rate 1300000 --batch 2000 --clock-jitter 0.4` with the
   measurements *and* cursors panes up:
   `UDPSCOPE_ENABLE_ALL_MS=1000 UDPSCOPE_PROBE_MEASURES_MS=2000 UDPSCOPE_PROBE_CURSORS_MS=3500
@@ -946,15 +959,32 @@ far the largest file.
   `gather()`, `x_at()`, `neighbours()` and `x_bounds()` use the real time ring.
   Nothing may walk that grid to find *which* samples a range covers — the renderer did,
   and it lost the two end segments (see the margin invariant above). `gather()` emits x
-  relative to `x0()` because absolute epoch seconds do not survive `f32`.
-- **`gather()` emits x relative to `x0()` in *every* series here**, `EventSeries`
-  included, and the renderer adds `x0()` back. An event's stamps are small (edge
-  relative, `[-pre, +post]`), so emitting them absolute does not overflow anything and
-  does not look like a bug — it just draws the whole capture `x0()` = one pre-trigger
-  window to the left of the axis. That was the "half the plot is empty / the marker sits
-  at the end of the data / nothing is drawn but the crosshair reads values" defect: the
-  crosshair reads `x_at()`, which was right all along. The probe's `data=` vs `drawn=`
-  is the guard.
+  relative to an origin because absolute epoch seconds do not survive `f32`.
+- **`gather()` emits x relative to an origin *the caller names*, in every series here**,
+  `EventSeries` included, and the consumer adds that same origin back in `f64`. Two separate
+  rules live here and both were learned from a defect.
+  (1) **It must be relative at all.** An event's stamps are small (edge relative,
+  `[-pre, +post]`), so emitting them absolute does not overflow anything and does not look
+  like a bug — it just draws the whole capture `x0()` = one pre-trigger window to the left of
+  the axis. That was the "half the plot is empty / the marker sits at the end of the data /
+  nothing is drawn but the crosshair reads values" defect: the crosshair reads `x_at()`, which
+  was right all along. `[trig-probe]`'s `data=` vs `drawn=` is the guard.
+  (2) **The origin is the *view's* minimum, not `x0()`.** `x0()` is the start of the
+  **retained window**, so the f32 had to resolve 2^-24 of the whole ring however little of it
+  was on screen: 1.9 µs over 20 s of retained data, which at a view 10 µs wide across a 716 px
+  axis is over a hundred pixels between where a sample is drawn and the x `x_at()` quotes for
+  it — and it halved on every zoom out, so it read as "zooming in makes the crosshair select a
+  point beside the data". `Renderer::draw_traces` passes `x_range.min`, making the error a fixed
+  4e-5 of a pixel at any zoom. The parameter sits **before** `out_xy` deliberately, so a call
+  site that was not thought about is a compile error rather than silent drift. A caller that has
+  no view in mind may still pass `x0()`, and `[trig-probe]`'s `drawn=`/`data=` does exactly that
+  on purpose: it reads the series' *whole* span, which is the widest relative value a gather can
+  be asked to stage. The two guards are upstream's
+  `a_gather_origin_at_the_view_keeps_a_deep_zoom_on_the_sample_it_quotes` and the
+  `trace ink:` line's `drawn-vs-quoted` figure.
+  **A probe that recomputes what the renderer gathers must pass the same origin the renderer
+  does** (`[ink]` and `[zoom-probe]` both pass the axis minimum), or its reconstruction stops
+  being the renderer's and its pixel readings mean nothing.
 - **Every series bound to a trace must carry a real `MinMaxPyramid`**, including an
   immutable one. `MinMaxPyramid::level_for()` descends to level 0 — raw samples — on a
   pyramid with no levels, whatever `n` is, so a series that answers `pyramid()` with an
@@ -1010,14 +1040,19 @@ far the largest file.
   sample 0 is the ring's oldest, the very slot the producer is about to overwrite. `time_of()`
   checks the bounds and then copies, and when the producer laps the slot in between the stamp it
   returns is **one whole ring-span too new**. Everything else on a `ChannelBuffer` is read at
-  paint time with no lock, and `x0()` is the origin the renderer reconstructs every trace point
-  from (`gather[i] + series.x0()`), read both inside its increasing-suffix filter and again at
-  `stage_xy()` — so one torn read of that one slot produced three pictures, all of them "the
+  paint time with no lock, and `x0()` *was* the origin the renderer reconstructed every trace
+  point from (`gather[i] + series.x0()`), read both inside its increasing-suffix filter and again
+  at `stage_xy()` — so one torn read of that one slot produced three pictures, all of them "the
   waveform is gone while the grid and the axes stay": `neighbours()` tests against `x_at(0)` and
   refused the whole visible range (the renderer then gathered the *entire* ring at a coarse level
   and drew it off the axis — `idx=[0..8388608) level=7 cover=320%`); `x0()` changing *during* the
   filter loop dropped three quarters of the points; and `stage_xy()` shifted the finished polyline
-  a ring-span off its axis. That is the "with measurements and cursors active the plot flickers as
+  a ring-span off its axis. The gather origin is the *view's* minimum now (see the `gather()`
+  invariant), a local of the renderer's, so the second and third of those are structurally
+  impossible — but **the first is not**, `x_at(0)` is still what `neighbours()` tests the visible
+  range against, and that is the one that gathered the whole ring. The cache is load-bearing for
+  that reason; do not read the slot at paint time because two of its three symptoms are gone.
+  That is the "with measurements and cursors active the plot flickers as
   if there were no data, at no constant frequency" defect. It is **live only** (a snapshot is
   immutable, so `x0()` is constant for `Held`/`Paused`), it is a race against packet arrival so it
   is irregular, and the measurements pane makes it both likelier and larger: the pane holds

README.md

@@ -1194,6 +1194,31 @@ those are two places. The library's hover crosshair snaps the same way and draws
 since a snapped mark lands among those dots and at their size would read as one more sample
 instead of as the answer to the question the hover asks.
 
+**A zoomed-in trace is drawn on the x its readout quotes, which needed the gather's origin to
+become the caller's.** Separately from the half-sample offset above — which is a property of
+*which datum* is quoted — there was an offset in *where the polyline was drawn*, and it grew
+with the zoom. `plot::data::Series::gather()` stages x as `f32`, which cannot hold an absolute
+epoch time, so it emits a value relative to an origin the consumer adds back in `f64`. That
+origin was fixed at `x0()`, the start of the **retained window**: the f32 then had to resolve
+2^-24 of the whole ring however little of it was on screen — 1.9 µs over 20 s of retained data
+— while a readout reads `x_at()`, exact `f64`. At a view 10 µs wide across a 716 px axis
+(14 ns a pixel) that is over a hundred pixels between the drawn sample and the x reported for
+it, and it halves with every zoom *out*, which is why it read as "zooming in makes the
+crosshair pick the wrong point".
+
+The origin is now an argument, and `Renderer::draw_traces` passes the **visible range's
+minimum** — so the quantisation is 2^-24 of the span on screen, a fixed 4e-5 of a pixel, at
+every zoom. The fix is upstream (`deps/plotter`), where the parameter was deliberately placed
+*before* the output buffer so that every one of the library's and this app's call sites was a
+compile error rather than a silent change of behaviour. One simplification fell out of it:
+`stage_xy()` took a gather origin and a draw origin, those are now always the same value, and
+the linear case hands the gathered buffer straight to the line batch with no per-point copy.
+Two guards: the library's
+`a_gather_origin_at_the_view_keeps_a_deep_zoom_on_the_sample_it_quotes`, which measures the
+error in pixels both ways (under 0.05 px with the view's minimum, over 10 px with `x0()`), and
+this app's `trace ink:` line, which now reports `worst drawn-vs-quoted P px` over the raw-level
+paints of a whole run.
+
 The readouts are a **table**: a header naming the columns, then one row per instrument —
 `| who | A | B | delta |`. The first row is the two times and their difference, and the
 rows below it are the rulers (one per row, in `horizontal`/`both`) or the traces (in

src/channel.cpp

@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ void ChannelBuffer::raw(u64 begin, u64 end, f32* out) const {
   for (u64 i = count; i < end - begin; ++i) out[i] = 0.0f;
 }
 
-void ChannelBuffer::gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
+void ChannelBuffer::gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, f64 x_origin, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
                            plot::data::GatherMode mode) const {
   const u64 n = pyramid_.size();
   const u64 b = std::min(begin, n);
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ void ChannelBuffer::gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_
   if (b >= e) return;
 
   const u64 origin = pyramid_.window_base();
-  const f64 base = x0();  // x is emitted relative to this (see the header)
+  const f64 base = x_origin;  // x is emitted relative to this (see the header)
 
   const auto emit_raw = [&](u64 from, u64 to) {
     for (u64 i = from; i < to; ++i) {
@@ -302,13 +302,13 @@ u64 SlotSeries::snap_index(f64 x) const {
   return buffer_ != nullptr ? buffer_->snap_index(x) : 0;
 }
 
-void SlotSeries::gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
+void SlotSeries::gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, f64 x_origin, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
                         plot::data::GatherMode mode) const {
   if (event_ != nullptr) {
-    event_->gather(level, begin, end, out_xy, mode);
+    event_->gather(level, begin, end, x_origin, out_xy, mode);
     return;
   }
-  if (buffer_ != nullptr) buffer_->gather(level, begin, end, out_xy, mode);
+  if (buffer_ != nullptr) buffer_->gather(level, begin, end, x_origin, out_xy, mode);
 }
 
 void SlotSeries::copy_raw(u64 begin, u64 end, f32* out) const {

src/channel.hpp

@@ -80,9 +80,11 @@ class ChannelBuffer final : public plot::data::Series {
   plot::Range x_bounds() const override;
   plot::Range y_bounds() const override;
   const plot::data::MinMaxPyramid& pyramid() const override { return pyramid_; }
-  /// x is emitted **relative to `x0()`** (the library's contract): staging an
-  /// absolute epoch time as f32 would quantise it far coarser than a pixel.
-  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
+  /// x is emitted **relative to `x_origin`** (the library's contract): staging an
+  /// absolute epoch time as f32 would quantise it far coarser than a pixel, and
+  /// staging it relative to the whole *retained window* quantises it coarser than a
+  /// pixel of a zoomed view -- see `plot::data::Series::gather()`.
+  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, f64 x_origin, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
               plot::data::GatherMode mode = plot::data::GatherMode::Envelope) const override;
 
   /// `copy_raw`, published so the retargetable trace series can forward the
@@ -109,8 +111,9 @@ class ChannelBuffer final : public plot::data::Series {
   /// slot cannot be overwritten under the read. Everything else on this object is read at
   /// *paint* time with no lock, and this one slot is the ring's oldest: the one the producer is
   /// about to overwrite. Reading it there returned a stamp a whole ring-span too new whenever
-  /// the producer lapped it between the bounds check and the copy -- and `x0()` is the origin
-  /// the renderer reconstructs every trace point from (`gather[i] + series.x0()`), so one such
+  /// the producer lapped it between the bounds check and the copy -- and `x0()` is what
+  /// `neighbours()` tests the visible range against, as well as the origin the renderer
+  /// reconstructed every trace point from before the caller named one, so one such
   /// read moved the entire polyline a ring-span off its axis (an invisible trace) or, caught
   /// inside the renderer's increasing-suffix filter, made it drop most of the points. That is
   /// the "live plot flickers as if there were no data" defect. The cached value is also the
@@ -163,7 +166,7 @@ class SlotSeries final : public plot::data::Series {
   plot::Range x_bounds() const override;
   plot::Range y_bounds() const override;
   const plot::data::MinMaxPyramid& pyramid() const override;
-  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
+  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, f64 x_origin, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
               plot::data::GatherMode mode = plot::data::GatherMode::Envelope) const override;
   bool streaming() const noexcept override { return event_ == nullptr && buffer_ != nullptr; }
 

src/event_series.hpp

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class EventSeries final : public plot::data::Series {
   /// Indices need no rebasing: the pyramid is built from sample 0 and nothing is ever
   /// dropped from it, so `window_base()` is 0 and a window index *is* the absolute one
   /// (unlike the ring, whose window slides).
-  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
+  void gather(u32 level, u64 begin, u64 end, f64 x_origin, std::vector<f32>& out_xy,
               plot::data::GatherMode mode =
                   plot::data::GatherMode::Envelope) const override {
     if (channel_ >= snap_->values.size()) return;
@@ -118,17 +118,17 @@ class EventSeries final : public plot::data::Series {
     const u64 b = std::min(begin, n);
     const u64 e = std::min(std::max(end, b), n);
     if (b >= e) return;
-    // x **relative to x0()**, which is the library's gather contract: the renderer
-    // adds `x0()` back before mapping to the screen. Emitting the absolute stamp made
-    // it add x0 twice, so the whole capture was drawn one `x0()` -- a full
-    // pre-trigger window -- to the left of the axis it had just been measured
-    // against. The event's own stamps are small (edge-relative, so [-pre, +post]),
-    // which is why that shift looked like a plausible picture: with a 50/50 split the
-    // right half of the plot was simply empty, zooming out showed the trace ending at
-    // the x = 0 marker, and zooming in past the shift showed nothing at all while the
-    // crosshair -- which reads `x_at()`, never `gather()` -- went on reporting the
-    // right values.
-    const f64 base = x0();
+    // x **relative to `x_origin`**, which is the library's gather contract: the
+    // renderer adds that same origin back before mapping to the screen. Emitting the
+    // absolute stamp made it add an origin twice, so the whole capture was drawn one
+    // `x0()` -- a full pre-trigger window -- to the left of the axis it had just been
+    // measured against. The event's own stamps are small (edge-relative, so
+    // [-pre, +post]), which is why that shift looked like a plausible picture: with a
+    // 50/50 split the right half of the plot was simply empty, zooming out showed the
+    // trace ending at the x = 0 marker, and zooming in past the shift showed nothing
+    // at all while the crosshair -- which reads `x_at()`, never `gather()` -- went on
+    // reporting the right values.
+    const f64 base = x_origin;
     const auto rel = [&](u64 i) {
       return static_cast<f32>(stamps[static_cast<std::size_t>(i)] - base);
     };

src/ui.cpp

@@ -418,6 +418,14 @@ struct App {
   int dbg_ink_staircase = 0;  ///< the filter dropped over three quarters of the points
   int dbg_ink_short = 0;      ///< the ink reached under a quarter of the axis' width
   double dbg_ink_worst_cover = 1.0;
+  /// The worst distance, in pixels, between where a sample is *drawn* and the x a readout
+  /// quotes for the same sample. `gather()` stages x as an f32 relative to an origin the
+  /// renderer names, while `Plot::crosshair_point()` reads `x_at()` in exact f64, so this is
+  /// the quantisation of that f32 expressed in the unit the user sees it in. Measured on the
+  /// raw levels only, where a gathered point *is* a sample; above them a point is a bucket's
+  /// envelope and has no single sample to be off from.
+  double dbg_ink_worst_offset_px = 0.0;
+  int dbg_ink_raw_checked = 0;  ///< frames the figure above was measured over
   int dbg_ink_reports = 0;
   /// Frames the badge spent in each `BadgePhase`. Both `lit` and `dim` have to be non-zero
   /// over a run that acquired anything -- that is what "it blinks" means, and a badge
@@ -1093,21 +1101,19 @@ void check_frame_ink(App& app) {
   const plot::u32 level = spp >= 64.0 ? s->pyramid().level_for(n, spp) : 0u;
   std::vector<plot::f32>& xy = app.measure_ink_scratch;
   xy.clear();
-  s->gather(level, first, last, xy);
+  // The same origin the renderer names (`x_range.min`), so the reconstruction below is its
+  // reconstruction: see `plot::data::Series::gather()` for why the caller owns it.
+  s->gather(level, first, last, axis.min, xy);
   const std::size_t pts = xy.size() / 2;
 
   std::size_t kept = 0;
   double lo = 0.0;
   double hi = 0.0;
-  // Where the filter's drops fall, and how far back each one steps. The renderer reconstructs
-  // every point's absolute x as `gather[i] + series.x0()` **inside** this loop, so an `x0()`
-  // that is not constant for the loop's duration shifts the comparison under itself -- and on a
-  // ring-backed series `x0()` is `time_of(window_base)`, which *clamps to the oldest readable
-  // slot* and therefore advances with the producer. The two readings that separate that from a
-  // genuinely out-of-order gather are the drops' *positions* (spread through the points, or
-  // bunched at the front where the clamp lives) and `back` (one sample's spacing, or a packet's
-  // worth). So the loop is run twice: once the renderer's way, and once with `x0()` read a
-  // single time.
+  // Where the filter's drops fall, and how far back each one steps. The origin is a constant
+  // for the walk's duration *by construction* now -- the renderer reconstructs
+  // `gather[i] + x_range.min`, a local of its own, where it used to re-read `series.x0()` on
+  // every point and a ring-backed `x0()` advances with the producer. So a drop here is a
+  // genuinely out-of-order gather, and `back` says by how much.
   std::size_t drop_first = 0;
   std::size_t drop_last = 0;
   double worst_back = 0.0;
@@ -1115,7 +1121,7 @@ void check_frame_ink(App& app) {
   {
     double next = std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity();
     for (std::size_t k = pts; k > 0; --k) {
-      const double x = double(xy[2 * (k - 1)]) + s->x0();
+      const double x = double(xy[2 * (k - 1)]) + axis.min;
       if (!(x < next)) {
         worst_back = std::max(worst_back, x - next);
         if (!any_drop) drop_last = k - 1;
@@ -1129,18 +1135,24 @@ void check_frame_ink(App& app) {
       ++kept;
     }
   }
-  std::size_t kept_fixed = 0;
-  {
-    const double base = s->x0();  // one read, held for the whole walk
-    double next = std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity();
-    for (std::size_t k = pts; k > 0; --k) {
-      const double x = double(xy[2 * (k - 1)]) + base;
-      if (!(x < next)) continue;
-      next = x;
-      ++kept_fixed;
-    }
-  }
   ++app.dbg_ink_checked;
+  // Drawn against quoted, in pixels. At level 0 a gathered pair *is* sample `first + k`, so
+  // this is the one place the two numbers the user compares by eye -- the polyline's position
+  // and the crosshair's readout -- can be differenced. The origin is what decides it: the f32
+  // resolves 2^-24 of whatever span it is relative to, so a view narrower than that fraction
+  // of the *retained window* drew a sample visibly away from the x quoted for it, which is
+  // what "when zooming there is a visible offset between the real data point and the crosshair
+  // selected one" was.
+  if (level == 0 && pts > 0) {
+    const double px_per_x = axes_w / axis.span();
+    double worst = 0.0;
+    for (std::size_t k = 0; k < pts; ++k) {
+      const double drawn = axis.min + double(xy[2 * k]);
+      worst = std::max(worst, std::abs(drawn - s->x_at(first + k)) * px_per_x);
+    }
+    app.dbg_ink_worst_offset_px = std::max(app.dbg_ink_worst_offset_px, worst);
+    ++app.dbg_ink_raw_checked;
+  }
   const double cover = kept >= 2 ? (hi - lo) / axis.span() : 0.0;
   app.dbg_ink_worst_cover = std::min(app.dbg_ink_worst_cover, cover);
   const bool collapse = kept < 2;
@@ -1155,22 +1167,23 @@ void check_frame_ink(App& app) {
   if ((collapse || staircase || short_ink) && app.dbg_ink_reports < 40) {
     ++app.dbg_ink_reports;
     // The series' own answers beside the reconstruction, because the two disagreeing is itself
-    // a reading: `rel` is what `gather()` emitted (relative to the `x0()` *it* read) and `x0`
-    // is the `x0()` read here one call later, so a trace whose ink sits a whole ring-span off
-    // its axis separates into "the stamps moved under us" and "the window is the wrong one".
+    // a reading: `rel` is what `gather()` emitted (relative to `axis.min`, the origin it was
+    // given) while `x0`/`x_at`/`bounds` are the window the series says it holds, so a trace
+    // whose ink sits a whole ring-span off its axis separates into "the stamps moved under us"
+    // and "the window is the wrong one".
     const plot::Range xb = s->x_bounds();
     std::fprintf(stderr,
                  "[ink] paint %d %s%s%s mode=%s axis=[%.6f..%.6f] n=%llu idx=[%llu..%llu) "
                  "spp=%.1f level=%u pts=%zu kept=%zu ink=[%.6f..%.6f] cover=%.1f%% "
                  "x0=%.6f x_at=[%.6f..%.6f] bounds=[%.6f..%.6f] rel=[%.6f..%.6f] dx=%.3g "
-                 "kept_fixed_x0=%zu drops=[%zu..%zu] back=%.3g\n",
+                 "drops=[%zu..%zu] back=%.3g\n",
                  app.dbg_paint_n, collapse ? "collapse " : "", staircase ? "staircase " : "",
                  short_ink ? "short " : "", display_mode_name(app.dbg_display), axis.min, axis.max,
                  (unsigned long long)n, (unsigned long long)first, (unsigned long long)last, spp,
                  level, pts, kept, lo, hi, cover * 100.0, s->x0(), s->x_at(0), s->x_at(n - 1),
                  xb.min, xb.max, pts > 0 ? double(xy[0]) : 0.0,
-                 pts > 0 ? double(xy[2 * (pts - 1)]) : 0.0, s->dx(), kept_fixed, drop_first,
-                 drop_last, worst_back);
+                 pts > 0 ? double(xy[2 * (pts - 1)]) : 0.0, s->dx(), drop_first, drop_last,
+                 worst_back);
     std::fflush(stderr);
   }
 }
@@ -4681,24 +4694,29 @@ void report_event_zoom(App& a, const char* what) {
   const double spp = double(last - first) / axes_w;
   const plot::u32 level = spp >= 64.0 ? s->pyramid().level_for(n, spp) : 0u;
   std::vector<plot::f32> xy;
-  s->gather(level, first, last, xy);
+  // `axis.min` is the origin the renderer names, so every reconstruction below is its own --
+  // and at the deep end of this sweep that choice is the whole point: relative to the retained
+  // window instead, the f32's ULP would be a large fraction of these spans.
+  s->gather(level, first, last, axis.min, xy);
   double ink_lo = 0.0, ink_hi = 0.0;
   if (xy.size() >= 2) {
-    ink_lo = s->x0() + double(xy[0]);
-    ink_hi = s->x0() + double(xy[xy.size() - 2]);
+    ink_lo = axis.min + double(xy[0]);
+    ink_hi = axis.min + double(xy[xy.size() - 2]);
   }
   // The renderer's own increasing-suffix filter, counted rather than applied: it drops every
   // point that is not strictly older than the one kept after it, which for a *run* of equal x
   // keeps the last of the run. The stamps here are f32, so once the sample spacing falls below
-  // the f32 step at the stream's magnitude the gathered x has such runs -- and `kept` is how
-  // many distinct positions the polyline is left with. A `kept` far below `pts` is a staircase,
-  // and a `kept` of a handful is a trace with nothing to draw.
+  // the f32 step at the *gather origin's* magnitude the gathered x has such runs -- and `kept`
+  // is how many distinct positions the polyline is left with. A `kept` far below `pts` is a
+  // staircase, and a `kept` of a handful is a trace with nothing to draw. This is the other
+  // reading the origin change buys: the step is now 2^-24 of the span on screen, so a sweep
+  // that used to grind `kept` down as it zoomed keeps every point.
   std::size_t kept = 0;
   double worst_back = 0.0;  // the largest backwards step, in data units: non-monotonic gather
   {
     double next = std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity();
     for (std::size_t k = xy.size() / 2; k > 0; --k) {
-      const double x = double(xy[2 * (k - 1)]) + s->x0();
+      const double x = double(xy[2 * (k - 1)]) + axis.min;
       if (!(x < next)) {
         worst_back = std::max(worst_back, x - next);
         continue;
@@ -6247,23 +6265,27 @@ gboolean trig_trace_probe(gpointer user) {
     if (found) break;
   }
 
-  // Where that slot's samples are *drawn*, reconstructed exactly as the renderer
-  // does it: `Series::gather()` emits x relative to `x0()`, and the renderer adds
-  // `x0()` back before mapping to the screen. So `x0() + gathered` must equal
-  // `x_at()`, and `drawn=` must equal `data=` to the f32's precision.
+  // Where that slot's samples are *drawn*, reconstructed the way the renderer does it:
+  // `Series::gather()` emits x relative to an origin **the caller names**, and the
+  // consumer adds that same origin back before mapping to the screen. So
+  // `origin + gathered` must equal `x_at()`, and `drawn=` must equal `data=` to the
+  // f32's precision. The origin named here is `x0()`, deliberately -- the renderer
+  // passes the visible range's minimum, but this line reads the series' *whole* span,
+  // which is the widest relative value a gather can be asked to stage and so the worst
+  // case for the f32.
   //
   // This is the one defect in this area the picture alone shows and no other probe
-  // line does: a series that emits absolute x instead makes the renderer add `x0()`
-  // twice, so the trace lands a whole `x0()` away from the axis it was measured
+  // line does: a series that emits absolute x instead makes the consumer add the origin
+  // twice, so the trace lands a whole origin away from the axis it was measured
   // against -- off screen entirely once the view is narrower than that shift, while
   // the crosshair (which reads `x_at()`) goes on reporting correct values.
   double drawn_lo = 0.0, drawn_hi = 0.0, data_lo = 0.0, data_hi = 0.0;
   if (shown != nullptr && shown->size() > 0) {
     const u64 n = shown->size();
     std::vector<f32> xy;
-    shown->gather(0u, 0u, 1u, xy);
+    shown->gather(0u, 0u, 1u, shown->x0(), xy);
     const std::size_t head = xy.size();
-    shown->gather(0u, n - 1, n, xy);
+    shown->gather(0u, n - 1, n, shown->x0(), xy);
     if (head >= 2 && xy.size() >= head + 2) {
       drawn_lo = shown->x0() + double(xy[0]);
       drawn_hi = shown->x0() + double(xy[head]);
@@ -8065,9 +8087,10 @@ int run_ui(int argc, char** argv, const Config& cfg, ScopeModel& model, Acquisit
                 app.dbg_notrace_frames, app.dbg_notrace_after_bound, app.dbg_notrace_last);
     std::printf("[udpscope]   worst side/pane min width: %d px\n", app.dbg_min_w_worst);
     std::printf("[udpscope]   trace ink: %d paints checked, %d collapsed, %d staircase, %d short, "
-                "worst cover %.1f%%\n",
+                "worst cover %.1f%%, worst drawn-vs-quoted %.4f px over %d raw paints\n",
                 app.dbg_ink_checked, app.dbg_ink_collapse, app.dbg_ink_staircase,
-                app.dbg_ink_short, app.dbg_ink_worst_cover * 100.0);
+                app.dbg_ink_short, app.dbg_ink_worst_cover * 100.0, app.dbg_ink_worst_offset_px,
+                app.dbg_ink_raw_checked);
     std::printf("[udpscope]   blank view frames: %d of %d\n", app.dbg_blank_frames,
                 app.dbg_axes_frames);
     std::printf("[udpscope]   trigger events: %llu total, %llu at the disarm (no event after it "