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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer



 
 
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  #71  
Old January 14th 18, 06:42 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
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Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Eco Clean wrote:

Rasterbator worked the first time and it works even better if you know just
two things:
1) Use 1.4 and tile by width (or use 1.6 and tile by length)
2) Use a dot size around 1mm (whatever that dot size means to Rasterbator)


Actually you need to know 3 things to use Rasterbator well.
1) Use 1.4 and tile by width (or use 1.6 and tile by length)
2) Use a dot size around 1mm (whatever that dot size means to Rasterbator)
3) Set the color and then press multi-color (this prints best it seems)

Here is a screen shot of the PDF that results from Rasterbator freeware.
[http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id...3aae4f0 1ba9]

If you haven't tried Rasterbator yet, you won't know how easy it turned out
to be to tile any image on Windows up to any poster size (as long as you
calculate the expansion ratio ahead of time).

So the creation and tiling is now a fait accompli (although I'll still test
out a good vector based Windows program that is free and has alignment and
hole marks if someone suggests one).

If anyone can suggest a single free Windows vector program that does what
everyone says it does, I will test that suggestion and report back - so
just name the one free vector based program everyone thinks will work.

Meanwhile...

What's left is how to create a decent spray-paint template on plastic.
Any ideas using home equipment on how to do that?
  #72  
Old January 14th 18, 06:48 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
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Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Big Al wrote:

My wife worked in a school and the teachers had clear sheets for the
xerox printer they could put stuff on for overhead projectors. Mind you
it was the 80's. But Office Depot etc (US). Not sure if they exist
now since projectors now are made to hook directly to the PC, no need
for those clear sheets now.


I remember those clear plastic 8.5x11 "transparencies" which we used to
print on a printer, so they should work.

I think I'll pick up a box of them at Office Max or Staples, if the heat of
the laser printer won't melt them and if they're not too stiff for the
bending that goes on inside a small home 10-year-old or so laser printer.

[https://www.staples.com/apollo-plain...roduct_829911]
[https://www.officemax.co.nz/Office-P...f-100-1219839]

If I can print directly to those transparencies, that eliminates the step
of printing to paper and transferring the results to those transparencies.

  #73  
Old January 14th 18, 06:49 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Ken Blake[_2_]
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Posts: 12
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On Sun, 14 Jan 2018 09:23:31 -0800, Eco Clean
wrote:


Everyone has PowerPoint,




An *enormous* exaggeration.
  #74  
Old January 14th 18, 06:55 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
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Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Susan Bugher wrote:

I misunderstood the type of sign you wanted to print. I'll add a couple
more suggestions to your post about Rasterbator.


Thanks.

Based on all the helpful suggestions, and keeping in mind that it has to be
done with stuff that we already have (or with Windows freeware), here's
what I'm planning at the moment.

1) I'll test one vector-based freeware Windows sign-making program if
someone suggests one, but if not, the PowerPoint works just fine, where I
save the PowerPoint slides to any image format.

2) I use Rasterbator with a 1.4 ratio to width, with 1mm dot size (whatever
that means because no dots are anywhere that big) to create a PDF of 4
pages, each of which is "tiled" perfectly (no overlap whatsoever) with the
unprintable 1/4 inch taken care of with a thin outside alignment border
perfectly placed there by Rasterbator.

3) I print the 4-page PDF to 8.5x11 plastic transparency sheets in the old
B&W laser printer (if that works) and I cut along the Rasterbator alignment
border and tape it together (there is zero overlap in the printing though).

4) With an X-acto knife, I cut out the letters and tape the template to a
sign for spray painting.

Any suggestions for the type of paint and for how to prevent bleeding?
  #75  
Old January 14th 18, 07:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
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Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Ken Blake wrote:

Everyone has PowerPoint,




An *enormous* exaggeration.


It wasn't an exageration but I understand your "everyone" wasn't my
"everyone" where I meant that everyone who is going to the birthday party
who is part of the sign-making task has powerpoint.

I apologize if I didn't make it clear that I meant that all the people
contributing to this birthday project are on Windows and we all have
Microsoft Office.

As I said though, I would love to test out the one free Windows vector sign
making program that people suggest, where I already tested LibreOffice and
Paint Shop Pro and Rasterbator (which prints thin border alignment marks).

What one free Windows vector based sign-creation software do you recommend
I test that I haven't tested yet?
  #76  
Old January 14th 18, 07:14 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

In article , Eco Clean
wrote:

Everyone has PowerPoint,


no, not everyone does.

but very few people who are working on this have
professional drawing programs,


then get one, since it's the correct tool for the job.
  #77  
Old January 14th 18, 07:24 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Susan Bugher
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Posts: 43
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On 1/14/2018 4:26 AM, Eco Clean wrote:
- Eco Clean wrote:

Plan is to spray paint once I tape the life-sized paper templates over
12x18" plastic stock white boards.


I finally solved the problem, at least one method, although I'm sure
there are plenty of ways to solve the problem set of printing on
a home printer, poster-sized output.

Here are the sample files so anyone can reproduce the effort below.
http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id...268090b3 2a7f


Here is one free Windows software method I documented so that others
could try it, and perhaps improve upon it, for the use of everyone who
wants to make a perfectly aligned and matched up poster, without any
guessing, that is larger than what their printer can handle.

There is no guessing in this method, and no editing software is needed.
It seems to work only with image files, but I didn't test anything other
than BMP and JPG image files.

This method takes into account the fact that most printers leave 1/4
inch at the edges.

And advantage of this Rasterbator method is that there is no GUI, per
se. And that it seems to input any desired image file format.

Rasterbator is essentially a printer wizard, where you can print to
*any* sized poster as long as you can calculate the ratio of the actual
printer paper size to the desired final poster size.

A) Download & install "Rasterbator" freeware https://rasterbator.net &
https://rasterbator.net/Download


" Instructions
Download the zip file, extract the entire archive and run. If you get
errors, you probably need to install the pretty ancient .NET framework
1.1. "

Described at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/print-yo...giant-posters/


B) Note that Rasterbator units are in metric where I need a 1.4 ratio.
a. US Letter is 8.5x11" which is 216mm x 279mm (Rasterbator uses mm)
b. US sign is 12x18" which is 30.48cm x 45.72cm (Rasterbator uses cm)
c. The ratio is 1.411 sized by width or 1.639 sized by height
(practically, it doesn't seem to make a difference which you use)

C) That means if we let Rasterbator tile by width, we use a 1.411 ratio.
(304.8mm divided by 216mm is a ratio of 1.4111)
If we let Rasterbator tile by length, we use a 1.64 ratio.
(457.2mm divided by 279mm is a ratio of 1.639)

D) Start Rasterbator, choose "English", & press "Continue".

(1/5) Select source image "C:\files\newt.bmp" & press "Continue"

[http://www.flileconvoy.com/dfl.php?i...064faba 60af]

(2/5) Select paper size of "US Letter (216x279mm)" & "portrait"
and press "Continue"
(3/5) Define output size either of 1.4 sheets wide (which shows an
"Output image size" of 30.2x45.4cm) or
1.6 sheets high (which shows an "Output image size" of 30.5x45.8cm)
and a "Paper consumption" of 2x2=4 sheets
Press "Continue" You may need to click "Yes" on a
small-dots-take-longer popup warning.
(4/5) Set rasterbation options
[x]Draw cutout line around rasterbated area
Dot size = 1mm (0.1mm works ok also - but the default of 10mm is
too big)
Color mode = (o)Multi-color
Press "Continue"
Note: Best results are when you click the color to choose your
text color and then you set the Multi-color option. (5/5) Save
rasterbation as "C:\files\newt.pdf"
Press "Rasterbate"
Note the advice for printing from Adobe Reader:
"When printing the image in Adobe Reader, choose Page scaling: Fit to
paper at the options window that comes up. If you choose horizontal
paper alignment, also make sure Auto-Rotate and Center is selected.
Most printers cannot print to the margins of the paper - these
settings
ensure that all the images will be completely printed."
E) Press "Close application"
[x]Open rasticulate file

F) The file will come up in Adobe Reader as a PDF.
G) In Adobe Reader, press "File Print"

H) In the Print options form, press "(o)Fit" & print it.

I) Tape the 4 sheets of paper together & trim to fit the sign round edges.
Notice that there are trim lines by default, which are accurate.

Caveat: The printing is *exact* so there is zero overlap when you trim.
It's not perfect, but it easily extends to any size poster.


The Rasterbator .exe is dated 2005 and requires NET framework 1.1 Below
are a couple of similar apps that are also long in the tooth but don't
have that dependency. I opened them in Win7 but didn't try to print
anything.

Program: Posteriza
Company: E-presencia
Wa (Freeware)
http://www.posteriza.com/
get the zip file which contains the 620KB .exe file
http://www.posteriza.com/es/ficheros...riza_1.1.1.zip
Results go directly to your printer.

Program: PosteRazor
Author: Alessandro Portale (aportale)
Wa (Freeware) (open source: GNU GPL)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/
A zip is here which contains the no-install .exe
https://newcontinuum.dl.sourceforge.net/project/posterazor/Binary%20Releases/1.5.2/PosteRazor-1.5.2-Win32.zip
Results must be saved as a PDF file for printing.

Susan
--
Posted to alt.comp.freeware (using WinXP-SP2, Win7professional-32 bit)
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.pricelesswarehome.org


  #78  
Old January 14th 18, 07:30 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Ken Blake[_2_]
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Posts: 12
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On Sun, 14 Jan 2018 10:04:13 -0800, Eco Clean
wrote:


- Ken Blake wrote:


Everyone has PowerPoint,




An *enormous* exaggeration.


It wasn't an exageration but I understand your "everyone" wasn't my
"everyone" where I meant that everyone who is going to the birthday party
who is part of the sign-making task has powerpoint.

I apologize if I didn't make it clear that I meant that all the people
contributing to this birthday project are on Windows and we all have
Microsoft Office.



OK, understood. Thanks for the clarification.
  #79  
Old January 14th 18, 07:31 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
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Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Jonathan N. Little wrote:

Ah, no that is not really accurate. As I have pointed out there are
*free* applications at your disposal.


If you know the answer and if I missed that answer, I apologize.

Can you repeat the one free vector-based tiling program you recommend?

As you are well aware by now, I tried Libre Office, Irfanview, Paint Shop
Pro, HP Deskjet 6940 printer driver, Adobe Reader, Sourceforge
poster-printer beta 1.0, an older version of fineprint for which I had a
serial, & Rasterbator, where only the last one worked, so I stopped testing
at that point.

I'm sorry if I missed your suggestion.

Can you repeat what one free Windows vector-based sign-making (with
alignment marks and easy tiling) did you recommend that I haven't tested
yet?
  #80  
Old January 14th 18, 07:50 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Mayayana
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Posts: 1,514
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

"Eco Clean" wrote

| I think I have the process working fine now, as I've already "printed" a
| half dozen templates since last night, but the *next* step is the killer.
|
| Cutting the smaller letters with an Exacto knife is just too difficult.
| So we're going to have to forgo the smaller letters.
|
Have you definitely ruled out stick-on letters?
That would cost more, but it might be a lot
easier.
Rub-down letters used to be very reasonably
priced, but I'm not sure if you can get them
anymore.


 




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