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



 
 
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  #81  
Old January 14th 18, 07:58 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,514
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

"Eco Clean" wrote

| If you haven't tried Rasterbator, you really should. It's very easy.
|

And that worked fine? Then how about this:
Glue the results directly to the sign with spray
adhesive. Then cover it with sheets of adhesive
plastic laminating sheets.
Not exactly slick looking, but neither will be
ythe spray painting.

| When you mentioned the DPI, it confused me because it didn't have any
| effect on the output so I gave up on even looking at the DPI.
|

It gets complicated. If you have a 300-pixel-
wide image and print at 300 dpi, the result will
be 1" wide. But if you're using software and telling
it to print the size of the page, the software will
be resizing the image before sending it to the
printer. As Jonathan pointed out, that will probably
make for inferior results at some point, depending
on how big you made the original font. In other
words, a 12pt A enlarged to 200pt is probably going
to have very rough anti-aliasing. But if you used
a 200pt letter in the first place then it's not
being enlarged as a raster image.

At any rate, if it works and it prints the way
you want it then you may as well forget about
dpi for now.

| The task now is creating spray-painting templates with standard home
tools.
| Any suggestions?

Spray paint cans? It sounds like a hard job to
do well. Dripping. Overspray under the template.
And that's after the tricky task of cutting out
the letters.....
That's why I suggested stick-on letters or
gluing the printed sheet down directly.


  #82  
Old January 14th 18, 07:59 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Susan Bugher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 43
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On 1/14/2018 12:55 PM, Eco Clean wrote:
- 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?


I seem to be missing some key point. Why can't you tape/mount the taped
together pages on the sign material and protect THEM with plastic?

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


  #83  
Old January 14th 18, 08:03 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Jonathan N. Little wrote:

Well if you ignored the first few suggestions then I not convinced
further repetition would change things.


I apologize if I haven't tested out everything you suggested, as I thought
I did, where "google is your friend" was done well *before* I even opened
this thread.

So I've tested 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, all of which failed on the
first pass until I got to Rasterbator which worked easily on the first
pass, creating 4-page PDF with alignment marks and the non-printable
borders already lined off.

I apologize if I didn't test one of your suggestions.

Looking back at *all* your posts to see what I missed:
13-Jan 4:45:58:
Create in LibreOffice Draw custom size paper, i.e. full scale 12"x18"
Do Tile printing


13-Jan 6:44:04
LibreOffice's "PowerPoint" is Impress not Draw. If you were making a
graphic then PowerPoint was the wrong too to start with. PowerPoint is
for presentations...multiple "slides". I would try exporting PowerPoint
slide as PDF then import PDF into LibreOffice Draw.


14-Jan 4:57:58
Illustrator, CorelDraw, Inkscape, ... closest thing MS made was Publisher.


14:Jan 10:09:52
As I have pointed out there are *free* applications at your disposal.


14-Jan 7:12:14
With the *proper* tool this is a snap:
http://www.littleworksstudio.com/temp/usenet/tiled-print
(which appears to be Corel Draw which is not a freeware tool)
You can even set overlap and registration marks to facilitate the process.


14-Jan 8:10:56
It was CorelDraw but that was not my point. My point was
using a program specifically for "making signs" or other such graphics
is the best (and easiest) way to get the job done. You *could* use a
word processor or spreadsheet program to do the job but it would be
neither easy, nor "best", nor even suitable for the task.


14-Jan 10:21:26
If you resample a 1200x1800 to 3600x5400 you will lose clarity. The
"tween" pixels must be extrapolated.You cannot "gain" information that
does not exist. CSI on TV is really fantasy.


14-Jan 10:25:02
Well if you ignored the first few suggestions then I not convinced
further repetition would change things.


I thank you for letting me know that the one suggestion of yours that I
didn't already test was this thing called "Inkscape", which, googling,
appears to be somewhere he
[https://sourceforge.net/directory/os...s/?q=inkscape]

But it's not there, so maybe it's here?
[https://downloads.tomsguide.com/Inks...301-6057.html]

Which points to here for the softwa
[https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/]

Which points to here for the download:
[https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/platforms/]

So you were right!

I'll install Inkscape as that seems to be the only vector-based
sign-creation with alignment marks and border control Windows freeware
you've suggested that I haven't already tested.

Thanks for reminding me of your helpful suggestion that I had missed.
  #84  
Old January 14th 18, 08:14 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Susan Bugher wrote:

" 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. "


Hi Susan,
I know you are a regular on the a.c.f newsgroup so I appreciate that you
proofed the instructions and the Rasterbator web site.

I am on Windows 10, where I downloaded the Rasterbator_Standalone_1.21.zip
file and extracted it and then made a shortcut to the exe in my menu.

That worked. I have *never* installed (on purpose anyway) .NET Framework on
this machine as you and I both know .NET Framework is a PITA.

So I agree that a .NET dependency sucks, if it is real.
But I didn't add .NET Framework to make it work.

Maybe .NET Framework was already on my Win10 system?
I don't know.

How do I tell what .NET Framework I have, if any?
Looking in CCleaner, it doesn't show up under Microsoft or under .NET.

Maybe it's hidden? Or maybe Windows 10 comes with it?
I don't know, but the extracted EXE ran fine on Windows 10 without me doing
anything else but click on a shortcut to it.

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.


Thanks Susan. I don't know how or why Rasterbator worked in Windows 10
without me adding anything. Does Windows 10 come with all the .NET
Framework that is needed?

How can I tell, on Windows 10, what .NET Framework already exists?

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.


I will try that and report back. Thanks.

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.


Thanks for the two additional choices to test, so I will try them, along
with inkscape that Jonathan Little suggested - and report back.
1) https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/
2) http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US
3) https://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/

Thank you very much for being helpful as it's hard to communicate with so
many people and get everything right in the first pass!

So thanks for taking a second pass at the problem so that everyone learns
from all our combined efforts as it would be nice to have a single best
solution for free home creation and printing of posters that are larger
than the size of the paper in our home printers.
  #85  
Old January 14th 18, 08:19 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Susan Bugher wrote:

I seem to be missing some key point. Why can't you tape/mount the taped
together pages on the sign material and protect THEM with plastic?


Thanks Susan for trying to understand the problem to be solved.

These will be outdoor signs, which have to weather rain and snow, so paper
won't work.

The blanks will be metal or plastic (whatever we can get) and the paint
will be "outdoor" paint (whatever that means), so that they will last a few
years outside.

The advantage of solving this problem is that everyone hear will learn
from all our combined efforts as it would be nice to have a single best
solution for free home creation on Windows and printing of posters on
standard home printers, so that we can make outdoor posters that are
larger than the size of the paper (or plastic) in our home printers.
  #86  
Old January 14th 18, 08:20 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,514
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer


"Eco Clean" wrote

| I care about you because you were helpful to me, so I would like to know
if
| you've tried Rasterbator yet? It's great, but it takes a little getting
| used to. But with Rasterbator, you can scale anything up with nothing more
| than knowing the ratio.
|

It's a very interesting little ditty, if you wanted to
make giant posters. But I don't see why you'd want
pointilized letters.

|
| Any ideas for how to get the paper transferred to plastic with common home
| equipment?

Spray adhesive? Expensive. It's basically
rubber cement in a spray can, so you could
also use rubber cement.


  #87  
Old January 14th 18, 08:46 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Susan Bugher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 43
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On 1/14/2018 2:14 PM, Eco Clean wrote:
- Susan Bugher wrote:

" 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. "


Hi Susan,
I know you are a regular on the a.c.f newsgroup so I appreciate that you
proofed the instructions and the Rasterbator web site.

I am on Windows 10, where I downloaded the Rasterbator_Standalone_1.21.zip
file and extracted it and then made a shortcut to the exe in my menu.

That worked. I have *never* installed (on purpose anyway) .NET Framework on
this machine as you and I both know .NET Framework is a PITA.

So I agree that a .NET dependency sucks, if it is real.
But I didn't add .NET Framework to make it work.

Maybe .NET Framework was already on my Win10 system?
I don't know.


per a quick Google "Latest Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 is already part
of Windows 10"

How do I tell what .NET Framework I have, if any?
Looking in CCleaner, it doesn't show up under Microsoft or under .NET.


If you REALLY, REALLY ca
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/migration-guide/how-to-determine-which-versions-are-installed


Maybe it's hidden? Or maybe Windows 10 comes with it?
I don't know, but the extracted EXE ran fine on Windows 10 without me doing
anything else but click on a shortcut to it.

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.


Thanks Susan. I don't know how or why Rasterbator worked in Windows 10
without me adding anything. Does Windows 10 come with all the .NET
Framework that is needed?


apparently it does for that app.

How can I tell, on Windows 10, what .NET Framework already exists?


Seeabove. grin

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.


I will try that and report back. Thanks.

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.


Thanks for the two additional choices to test, so I will try them, along
with inkscape that Jonathan Little suggested - and report back.
1) https://inkscape.org/en/release/0.92.2/
2) http://www.posteriza.com/es/index.php?lang=en_US
3) https://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor/


Thank you very much for being helpful as it's hard to communicate with so
many people and get everything right in the first pass!

So thanks for taking a second pass at the problem so that everyone learns
from all our combined efforts as it would be nice to have a single best
solution for free home creation and printing of posters that are larger
than the size of the paper in our home printers.


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


  #88  
Old January 14th 18, 09:01 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Susan Bugher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 43
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

On 1/14/2018 2:19 PM, Eco Clean wrote:
- Susan Bugher wrote:

I seem to be missing some key point. Why can't you tape/mount the
taped together pages on the sign material and protect THEM with plastic?


Thanks Susan for trying to understand the problem to be solved.

These will be outdoor signs, which have to weather rain and snow, so paper
won't work.


It ain't necessarily so...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+waterproof+paper+signs&t=hg&ia=videos


The blanks will be metal or plastic (whatever we can get) and the paint
will be "outdoor" paint (whatever that means), so that they will last a few
years outside.

The advantage of solving this problem is that everyone hear will learn
from all our combined efforts as it would be nice to have a single best
solution for free home creation on Windows and printing of posters on
standard home printers, so that we can make outdoor posters that are
larger than the size of the paper (or plastic) in our home printers.



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


  #89  
Old January 14th 18, 09:01 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Eco Clean
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

- Mayayana wrote:

And that worked fine? Then how about this:
Glue the results directly to the sign with spray
adhesive. Then cover it with sheets of adhesive
plastic laminating sheets.


I'm not familiar with these sheets of adhesive plastic lamination sheets,
but I'm willing to use them if they'll weather years outdoors in sun, rain,
and snow.

Googling for these 12" by 18" sheets, are these what you mean?
[https://www.staples.com/self+adhesiv...nating+sheets]

Not exactly slick looking, but neither will be
ythe spray painting.


I think the spray painting should look professional, if we do a good job
with the painting.

We can laminate over the painting with your idea of those 12"x18"
laminating self-adhesive sheets.

Do you have a recommended supplier for those 12"x18" laminating sheets?

It gets complicated. If you have a 300-pixel-
wide image and print at 300 dpi, the result will
be 1" wide. But if you're using software and telling
it to print the size of the page, the software will
be resizing the image before sending it to the
printer. As Jonathan pointed out, that will probably
make for inferior results at some point, depending
on how big you made the original font.


The original font is a true type copyrighted but free road sign font.

Spray paint cans? It sounds like a hard job to
do well. Dripping. Overspray under the template.
And that's after the tricky task of cutting out
the letters.....


I agree with you that the spray paint will be the hardest part.
I'd prefer vinyl letters but that's hard to do from home.

That's why I suggested stick-on letters or
gluing the printed sheet down directly.


Vinyl letters cut with a laser would be perfect except that they don't
exist for home use that we know of.

The problem is the sizes needed, and the availability and price of the
letters.
[https://americansignletters.com/vinyl-letters/]
[https://www.alphabetsigns.com/signs/...ettering.html]
[https://www.signs.com/vinyl-lettering/]
  #90  
Old January 14th 18, 09:06 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware
Jeff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 48
Default Make 12x18" signs at home on 8.5x11" B&W laser printer

Eco Clean wrote in
news
- Jonathan N. Little wrote:

No, PowerPoint *can* be used to do it, but a drawing program is
*perfect* for making sign. The word is "vector".

http://www.littleworksstudio.com/temp/usenet/vector

Raster has scalabliity issues...

Sample vector programs:

Illustrator, CorelDraw, Inkscape, ... closest thing MS made was
Publisher.


While PowerPoint isn't free either, the point here was not to need to
buy anything that we didn't already have (this is, after all, not a
business).

Everyone has PowerPoint, but very few people who are working on this
have professional drawing programs, which is why they stuck the
so-called "computer whiz kid" with the task of figuring out how to make
the signs.

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.

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

 




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