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#101
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
"Eco Clean" wrote
| But then you *still* have to solve the problem of tiling, which I see | nothing in Inkscape that has *anything* to do with tiling. | I think his main point was that vector graphics make more sense for large scaling of simple images. Which is true in principle. It just doesn't apply here because 1) you don't need perfect edges and 2) you can still get them in raster if you needed to and 3) vector requires mastering an entirely new, complex program. I don't know about the tile printing. Rasterbator looks very good for that, assuming you can get the right scale. I've never needed to do such a thing. From reading these posts I get the impression that either "every program and his brother" does tile printing and you're just having a hard time figuring it out, or that very few programs can do it but people posting don't understand what you need. You seem to have somehow missed that you *can* get all 4 corners printd in IrfanView by working with the "Position on paper" settings. But that really doesn't matter if Rasterbator is working. So, yes, after all that debate, the real work will be cutting out the letters. Then there's the work of figuring out how to avoid overspray under the template when your template is not adhesive. Maybe you should just buy your elderly neighbor a rose bush and call it a day? |
#102
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
- Eco Clean wrote:
I'm spending my time installing and running the three suggested softwares. http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US https://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/ https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/ Inkscape freeware did very nice vector fonts but it didn't do *anything* else, least of all tiling, so, I don't see how that's a solution for cut-out templates for spray painting on larger stock than what a home printer can print. [http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id...0cd330d e1fb] I'm confused about this vectored stuff. Isn't trutype a vectored font anyway? Anyways, moving to your first suggestion, here are my installation logs. [http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US] http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US There are three types: zip, exe, exe installer I chose the exe installer http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.ph...d=5&lang=en_US That installed Posterizia 1.1.1, which came up *fast* (as fast as Irfanview). It wouldn't open Powerpoint, but it took image formats. You have to use "open image" to open an image, but no big deal that they have two different open buttons. You can set the border, which may be useful to wall off the 1/4 inch that is not printable in the printer. In the size tab, you can set the width and height in "page units. Default Width = 3 pages (US Letter) Default Height = 4 pages (US Letter) I turned off the automatic button to manually change the width to 1.4111 And I changed the height to 1.639 There's an "apply" button but it did nothing so you're not sure the changes stuck. I printed to PDF because I wasn't sure why it still showed 12 tiles. The PDF was 12 pages. So there's a trick to get Posterizia "take" the manual page-size commands. I set the width to *even* increments of 2 pages wide by 2 pages tall, and *that* did apply. But it actually created 2 pages by 3 pages tall. WTF? Then I noticed that everything is *symmetric*! So that's why, I guess. I need to turn off the symmetry. That's when I saw the "Poster Centered" checkbox, which is checked by default. I unchecked that and hit apply. I also noticed "For Sale" text overlayed, which I removed by unclicking the text checkbox. I turned off the border and header, but stil an apply centered the darn thing. With the centering off and the apply, at least I could get it to take a width of 1.411 pages and a length of 1.639 pages, for a size of 15.4x20.4 inches, which seems wrong since it should be 12x18, but the program *insists* on centering every page! I never could get it to a final size of 12x18 though, no matter what I did with the numbers. This guessing stuff is for the birds. |
#103
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
In article , Mayayana
wrote: I think his main point was that vector graphics make more sense for large scaling of simple images. Which is true in principle. It just doesn't apply here because 1) you don't need perfect edges maybe you don't, but that's not universally true. and 2) you can still get them in raster if you needed to not necessarily. it depends on the app. and 3) vector requires mastering an entirely new, complex program. no it doesn't. create a text object and type the text. choose print, select tiled output and collect the pages from the printer. |
#104
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
- Eco Clean wrote:
I never could get it to a final size of 12x18 though, no matter what I did with the numbers. This guessing stuff is for the birds. I gave up on Posteriza, but Poserazor was a keeper for sure! Posterazor is exactly the same as Rastergator, only faster & easier to use! Here is my initial 10-minute log file that I store with all my installers for archival purposes. https://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/ There is only the one installer file: PosteRazor-1.5.2-Win32-Installer.exe https://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/pro...-Installer.exe Like Rasterbator, it has 5 steps: In Settings, you can set the unit of length (mm, cm, inches, etc.). I set mine, naturally, to inches (which Rasterbator didn't have an option for). (1/5) Input image newt.bmp Next (2/5) Define the paper printer format Letter, portrait You can set the four borders which for me are each about 0.250" (3/5) Define the image tile overlapping This is nice which Rasterbator didn't have (there was 0 overlap). I took the default of 0.397" overlap on bottom right. Next (4/5) Define the final poster size This is *nice* since that's all that really matters! You had a choice of absolute size or page size or percent size. Selecting "Size in pages" and setting it to 1.4 works fine. That sets the height at 1.6033 pages which is fine. The cuts were NOT centered - which is great (it's what you want) I could also select "Absolute size" which is the most direct way. I then set the width and length to 12x18 inches Next (5/5) Save the poster Hit the save button. This created a 4-page PDF extremely quickly (much faster than did Rastergator). Wow. This was faster, easier, with more options than was Rasterbator! They're both exactly the same type of tool though. Exactly. This is just a lot easier to use than is Rasterbator. There are no alignment marks like there are with Rasterbator but since there is a clear overlap, that shouldn't be a problem. Overall, this is *better* than Rasterbator, and is a win for sure for easy tiling of smaller images to multi-page posters of any desired size. Even the printing is *vastly* faster - so I suspect this is vector graphics, but I don't know that (but X-acto knives are inherently vector graphics anyway). |
#105
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
- Mayayana wrote:
I think his main point was that vector graphics make more sense for large scaling of simple images. I don't disagree with you that if you are printing *directly* to the final medium, then vector printing is better but in my case, the X-acto knife is the final vector-graphic editor. Besides, Inkscape didn't tile at all, but, Inkscape, coupled with Posterazor will likely get the best results for a tiled image with ease and aplomb. What I don't understand yet is if you have to TILE with some other utility, what does it matter if you use powerpoint with truetype fonts, or inkscape with truetype fonts? The tiling is going to be done with something like Posterazor anyway, so, how does starting with Inkscape get you any better results than starting with Powerpoint? Which is true in principle. It just doesn't apply here because 1) you don't need perfect edges and 2) you can still get them in raster if you needed to and 3) vector requires mastering an entirely new, complex program. I agree that Inkscape seemed complex, and, anyway, it doesn't tile. If it tiled, that would be a different story, but AFAICT, it doesn't tile. So if Inkscape doesn't tile, then *something else* will have to tile. SO isn't *that* tiling program the one that needs to be vector graphics? BTW, the tiling with Rastergator sucks compared to the tiling of Susan's suggested Posterazor! Posterazor, besides asking more intuitive questions (like what's your final size) never asked for a "dot size" and it printed in seconds, compared to the printer thinking for minutes on the Rastergator output. So it might be that Posterazor is vector graphics anyway. Do you think it could be? I don't know about the tile printing. Rasterbator looks very good for that, assuming you can get the right scale. I thought Rastergator was the cat's meow until Susan came up with Posterazor, which is so much better that I'll never use Rastergator ever again. I've never needed to do such a thing. From reading these posts I get the impression that either "every program and his brother" does tile printing and you're just having a hard time figuring it out, or that very few programs can do it but people posting don't understand what you need. I think any program will print to "actual size", but the problem I saw is that every one that did that only printed the one page that fit on the first page, but what about the other 4 pages. Maybe there's a trick, but manually breaking an image into 4 images is crazy when you have tools like Postergator which do that for you already. You seem to have somehow missed that you *can* get all 4 corners printd in IrfanView by working with the "Position on paper" settings. But that really doesn't matter if Rasterbator is working. I understood you. It's crazy to tile manually. It just is. It's not something a human should bother with doing manually when a computer can do it much better, plus with alignment marks, overlap distances, unprintable borders, etc. As I said, I've relegated Rastergator to the round basket. It's Susan's suggested Posterazor from now on (until something better comes along). The current plan is: 1) Create the document any way you can & save to an image 2) Tile that image to a 4-page PDF with Posterazor 3) Print to clear plastic and cut with scissors and tape it together Then... 4) Cut the letters out with an X-acto knife (a vector graphics tool) 5) Spray paint red letters on white background' 6) Spray some kind of clear overcoat (any recommendations?) So, yes, after all that debate, the real work will be cutting out the letters. Yup. The ultimate vector-graphics tool is the X-acto knife! The small 7/8" letters are far too thin for paper, but they might work with the clear transparencies. Then there's the work of figuring out how to avoid overspray under the template when your template is not adhesive. Yes. The bleeding will be a problem with technique. The one technical question that I don't get is what's the difference between making a sign in PowerPoint versus Inkscape, if the end results has to be tiled by a third-party program (since neither PowerPoint nor Inkscape appear to have tiling set up to print to a posterized size). |
#106
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
- Susan Bugher wrote:
Perhaps you could shrink your signs down a bit 11"x17" is not a lot smaller than 12"x18". We already sourced a few dozen 12x18 steel blanks from someone who worked in a welding yard, so they're already painted and drilled and waiting for the spray painting. The plan at the moment is the following, since vinyl letters are prohibitive in terms of cost. 1) Create the document and save to an image format (where I don't see how a vector graphic program like Inkscape has any value over a non-vector program like Powerpoint given that neither does tiling so tiling has to be done elsewhere). 2) Use Susan's suggested posterazor to tile aimed at 12"x18" with overlaps and unprintable borders, and then print that PDF to plastic transparencies and tape it all together and cut the letters and borders out with an X-acto knife. 3. Spray paint the signs red on white, and cover with some kind of clear varnish. This wasn't the original plan, but it seems the best given that vinyl letters would be fine if they weren't fifty cents a letter and even vinyl letters still need an accurate floorplan and sizes determined accurately. |
#107
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
On 1/14/2018 5:09 PM, Eco Clean wrote:
- Eco Clean wrote: I'm spending my time installing and running the three suggested softwares. http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US https://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/ https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/ Inkscape freeware did very nice vector fonts but it didn't do *anything* else, least of all tiling, so, I don't see how that's a solution for cut-out templates for spray painting on larger stock than what a home printer can print. [http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id...0cd330d e1fb] I'm confused about this vectored stuff. Isn't trutype a vectored font anyway? Anyways, moving to your first suggestion, here are my installation logs. [http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US] http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US There are three types: zip, exe, exe installer I chose the exe installer http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.ph...d=5&lang=en_US That installed Posterizia 1.1.1, which came up *fast* (as fast as Irfanview). It wouldn't open Powerpoint, but it took image formats. You have to use "open image" to open an image, but no big deal that they have two different open buttons. You can set the border, which may be useful to wall off the 1/4 inch that is not printable in the printer. In the size tab, you can set the width and height in "page units. Default Width = 3 pages (US Letter) Default Height = 4 pages (US Letter) I turned off the automatic button to manually change the width to 1.4111 And I changed the height to 1.639 There's an "apply" button but it did nothing so you're not sure the changes stuck. I printed to PDF because I wasn't sure why it still showed 12 tiles. The PDF was 12 pages. So there's a trick to get Posterizia "take" the manual page-size commands. I set the width to *even* increments of 2 pages wide by 2 pages tall, and *that* did apply. But it actually created 2 pages by 3 pages tall. WTF? Then I noticed that everything is *symmetric*! So that's why, I guess. I need to turn off the symmetry. That's when I saw the "Poster Centered" checkbox, which is checked by default. I unchecked that and hit apply. I also noticed "For Sale" text overlayed, which I removed by unclicking the text checkbox. I turned off the border and header, but stil an apply centered the darn thing. With the centering off and the apply, at least I could get it to take a width of 1.411 pages and a length of 1.639 pages, for a size of 15.4x20.4 inches, which seems wrong since it should be 12x18, but the program *insists* on centering every page! I never could get it to a final size of 12x18 though, no matter what I did with the numbers. This guessing stuff is for the birds. I don't like guessing either and there's no help file. One of the web pages does note "Use any photograph as background. Supported formats are BMP, JPEG, PNG, EMF and GIF. Uou can even use just part of a photo!" I've played around a some more with Posteriza, When I selected a photo and then clicked "more" the app showed me how the image fit on the paper for the printer's current page selections and gave me options to rotate or crop it. It looks to me as if the easiest way to print exact widths or lengths could be by changing the margin. Lessee, the default is 10 mm and there are 25.4 mm to an inch - I input a 50 mm "page margin" and, yes indeed (smile), got the 2" margin I was trying for on the (single) printed page. (A little work will be needed to calc the right margin setting for a grid of pages) .. There are some differences between what you saw on your machine and what I'm seeing here - dunno if it's because our Windows versions are different or because the printers are different. It aso seems to get stuck on some things when it should be changing the display, something you also noted. So - not totally glitch-free but easy to use and a think most of the glitches are from things I'd normally not be doing. Susan -- Posted to alt.comp.freeware (using WinXP-SP2, Win7professional-32 bit) http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.pricelesswarehome.org |
#108
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
On 1/14/2018 6:31 PM, Eco Clean wrote:
- Susan Bugher wrote: Perhaps you could shrink your signs down a bit 11"x17" is not a lot smaller than 12"x18". We already sourced a few dozen 12x18 steel blanks from someone who worked in a welding yard, so they're already painted and drilled and waiting for the spray painting. The plan at the moment is the following, since vinyl letters are prohibitive in terms of cost. 1) Create the document and save to an image format (where I don't see how a vector graphic program like Inkscape has any value over a non-vector program like Powerpoint given that neither does tiling so tiling has to be done elsewhere). 2) Use Susan's suggested posterazor to tile aimed at 12"x18" with overlaps and unprintable borders, and then print that PDF to plastic transparencies and tape it all together and cut the letters and borders out with an X-acto knife. 3. Spray paint the signs red on white, and cover with some kind of clear varnish. This wasn't the original plan, but it seems the best given that vinyl letters would be fine if they weren't fifty cents a letter and even vinyl letters still need an accurate floorplan and sizes determined accurately. look at https://www.etsy.com/search?q=vinyl%...inyl%20letters for possibly lower prices -- Zaidy036 |
#109
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
Jeff wrote:
Eco Clean wrote in Is there a way to print *directly* to plastic clear sheets using a standard laser printer? Printing to the plastic might be easier than transferring the paper to plastic and then cutting the plastic templates. What you are asking for is overhead projector tranparencies. These can be printed on a laser printer. https://www.staples.com/overhead+pro...ectory_overhea d%2520projector%2520transparencies Careful! There are two kinds. Ask someone who has gummed up the fuser unit in their laser, with the wrong kind, how many kinds there are :-) In the "Grafix Clear-Lay Acetate Alternative 0.005 In. 8 1/2 In. X 11 In. Pack Of 100 (K05CV0811)" item, the word "laser" doesn't appear anywhere in the description. That's a hint they will become gummy-bears, inside a laser fuser. Our stock cabinet at work, at one time, had new boxes of *both* types. Just to test the reading comprehension of the staff. And to make an eventual mess and smell at the laser station. Paul |
#110
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Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer
- Paul wrote:
What you are asking for is overhead projector tranparencies. These can be printed on a laser printer. There are two kinds. Ask someone who has gummed up the fuser unit in their laser, with the wrong kind, how many kinds there are :-) That's what I was worried about! In the "Grafix Clear-Lay Acetate Alternative 0.005 In. 8 1/2 In. X 11 In. Pack Of 100 (K05CV0811)" item, the word "laser" doesn't appear anywhere in the description. That's a hint they will become gummy-bears, inside a laser fuser. Our stock cabinet at work, at one time, had new boxes of *both* types. Just to test the reading comprehension of the staff. And to make an eventual mess and smell at the laser station. I like the idea of ensuring that they say 'laster' on them somewhere! Thanks for the warning. The pragmatic approach we'll take is the following, since we have strong winds, rain, and they need to last a long time. 1) We will design with PowerPoint because we don't see (yet) how the complexity of a vector-graphics program such as Inkscape adds any value when it can't tile so the tiler is what's rendering the images, and even then, the X-acto knife is the final vector-graphics renderer. 2) PowerPoint will save to an image which we will tile using Susan's suggested Posterazor which easily creates a 4-page PDF so that we don't have to worry about guessing how to print all four corners of the desired size as we would have to do with Irfanview or LibreOffice tiling procedures. 3) Those four tiles will be printed to laser-hardened transparencies, and taped together to make a stencil after cutting out with an X-acto knife and then spray painting red on white and maybe adding a clear coat of some sort on the outside. (Vinyl letters would be nice but at 50 cents each letter, the cost is astronomical compared to spray paint.) The hardest part likely will be the spray painting to get crisp edges. 3. |
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