Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

A requirement that comes up for me quite often is this. My clients want uncropped images center printed to fit on a specific sheet size, e.g. 12x8, with for example a 1/4" minimum white border all around. However, I don't actually print on 12x8 sheets of paper--I simulate these sheets on 24" or wider roll paper by printing 2-up or 4-up, etc. and then trim out the individual "sheets". I can do this with, say, a 12x8 template placed 4-up on a 24" wide roll paper, with the image border set to 0.25", auto-crop off, with template/centred layout. This will resize and position the images correctly.

The problem is how to get Qimage to print the trim lines between the images. Any ideas?

Thanks so much.

Cheers!

Brad

  After you have set up your page size by adding the .25"with the borders set to B+ (outside the image), you can do it by selecting the 'crop marks' option in the Edges popup dialogue box below the preview screen.It will show the corner marks for trimming purposes.
I do this for printing multiple gift card layouts. The only thing that bothers me a little is when I have the cards layed out with the space saving feature and the cards are right next to each other, you inevitably show the mark slightly on one side or the other after the trim. You would have to trim just inside the marks if you don't want to see them,  since even though they are thin, they are black and show if your not exactly inside the marks on the trim. I wish there was a way to make the marks just barely visible, a very light gray for instance. ;-)

From Help Menu....
Mark Edges - Click the "Job Properties" tab on the bottom/right of the main window and check "Edges" to produce crop marks or a thin outline around each print to aid cutting.

The two options below produce lines that extend past the edge of prints to aid cutting.  Be aware that since crop marks and guide lines extend beyond the edges of prints and into "unused" portions of the paper, they should not be used if you intend to reuse/refeed the paper into the printer at a later time in order to use more of the paper.

Crop marks*: crop lines that extend 1/4 inch from all four corners of each print.
Guide lines*: guide lines for cutting extend from all four corners of each print all the way to the edge of the printable area on the paper.
* Note: crop marks and guide lines will not print on corners/edges that are too close to the printable margins of the paper.  Unless borderless printing is selected, your printer will not be able to extend the crop marks/guide lines all the way to the edge of the paper due to physical printer limitations.


 

How about -'Page formatting-mark edges of print-use border colour. Slect the width of border and whatever colour you want. works ok in qi studio.

Best wishes,

Ray

Hi
Just to clarify Ray's method, you set the 'Border 1' colour to grey and width to zero then 'Border 2' to your .25" margin and White, then choose 'Mark Edges, use border color'.


Brian

Thanks for the responses. Sorry, but I failed to mentioned that the shape/proportion of the images do not always match the shape/proportions of the template. So when they are resized by QI to fit within the template, the space between the edge of the image and the edge of the template can be unequal.

That's where the problem arises, because my understanding of (and experience with) QI Borders and Mark Edges is that the marks are always relative to the edge of the printed image area, not the edge of the template. I was hoping there was some way to get the trim lines along the edge of the template.

Cheers!

Brad

Brad,
Excuse me for butting in, but I need to understand. The print sizes vary inside the template, plus a .25 inch white border, and you want guides for trimming
Please see attached screen snap, and point out what is missing that you require.
I have trim guides at the edge of the print and again at the edge of the template.

Fred

PS  Terry et al will try to help. I have to leave for a :Stress Test" in a few minutes.
As if the forum wasn't a stress test enough!     ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hi, Fred. Good luck on the stress test. I appreciate the "butt in"--a picture is worth a thousand words. Taking inspiration from your illustrations, here is one the shows exactly the scenario and the trim lines I'm hoping have QImage Ultimate print for me.

Just a quick question....  Which printer are you using... so I can get 2 x 12 on a 24" roll?

Fred

I'm using an HP Z3100 44". Typically, I print full size canvases, 1-up. However, many clients want me to print sets of portfolio prints from their scanned artwork all to fit a specific portfolio size, e.g. 14x11, 18x12, etc. The source images are all different in shape, but final trimmed out pieces have to be the same.

Cheers!

Brad

Don't have the driver for that one, but I tried on an Epson 7800

Hi Fred. Looking good. In your top two images, I would want them resized up to fully fit the short dimension. And of course, are there any trim lines to separate each template? That's the missing piece to make this work. Well, I'm able to do it manually, but it sure would be nice if QU printed those trim lines for me!

I think what I'm doing here might go against the philosophy of minimizing paper waste, since I actually want wider margins around some images in order that the trimmed out sheets are identical.

Cheers!

Brad

I just put different size images in the templates for effect.
I think that the  trimlines are there but get lost because you have the four 12" templates jammed together.
If you look at #009 from a few posts ago, which was a single template, you can see all the trim lines, images and templates.
That's why I suspect the timlines are there but covered.
I cannot make the print because I don't have a printer that takes 24" rolls.
Make a test

Fred

Thanks for sticking with this thread, Fred. I have one of these jobs to run tomorrow so I will definitely give it a go. But which option enables the trim lines on the template? AFAIK, the only trim lines are the "Edges" option in the "Job Properties" box and those lines will appear inside the template next to the image, which isn't what I'm looking for.

Cheers!

Brad

I think this is resolved! My assumption about "Edges" was wrong in the case of templates. With a template, the trim lines are placed around the template, not around the image inside the template. If there are templates 2-up or 4-up, all the trim lines are visible. It works like a charm, all I had to do was try it! Thanks Fred.

BTW, I discovered a way to simulate these jobs regardless of what printer you have--just print to "Adobe PDF" and set the paper size at 24" x 16" or whatever. Not only does it work, you get a PDF that shows all the trim lines. Sweet!

Cheers and thanks again.

Brad

Hi Brad,
I've used that technique to demonstrate Qimage to a group via a digital projector.
For those who do not want to line the pockets of Adobe  :o then use Tracker Software PDF-XChange Lite, it's free for non-commercial use.
http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-lite
The other free option is open source PDF Creator http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Terry

Brad,
I used the selection, "GUIDE LINES" in the Edges selection menu.

Glad that all is working fine for you but I have a question, and I don't mean to pry or to judge, so if you choose to ignore the question I quite understand.

When you use templates in this fashion and the prints will vary in size since the print crop is off and the images are at different aspect, and the templates don't print anyway, the results seem to be odd looking.
By odd looking I have all cut prints at the same size pages as if the prints were on sheet paper, but the smaller prints seem to have a large border that just "feels" odd.
I actually tried to do what you did but I used 4 x 5 templates on 8.5 x 11 paper instead of the 8 x 12 templates.

So what I did was to change the background color of the page to a 238, 238, 238; and made another print.
Now my odd size print looks more intentional than accidental with a faint gray background.

Sorry to butt in, but it must be in my genes..   and you can just detour around the query.
See screen snap

Fred

Cute PDF does a good job for me.

Great tip on proofing a layout by printing to PDF, thanks much.

These particular jobs serve three different purposes. In one case, the artist wants consistent sheet sizes because they are inserting them into a portfolio book. A light gray page colour would probably be OK but the extra white border doesn't seem odd as you're flipping through a portfolio book.

In another case, the artist wants to sell prints on a consistent sheet size. The border should be white all around so the buyer can trim and matte them as they see fit, e.g. use a standard pre-cut matte (and have extra border) or custom cut a matte to fit the image. A gray page colour would hamper that.

The third case is to provide canvas proof prints when I scan a number of paintings for an artist. Here again I want the sheet sizes to be consistent to reduce trimming complexity and time (even at the expense of some  wastage). I think the background should be white all around so the image colours aren't contrasted with the page colour.

Cheers!

Brad

Alas, not resolved (completely). Sometimes I want to force a 1" empty zone at the top of the sheet. To so this, I add 1" to the length of the page size (driver setting), e.g. change from 24"x18" to 24"x19". Then add 1" top margin (well, perhaps only 0.9992" since the bottom margin has a fixed 0.0008"). Unfortunately, the trim lines don't follow the template correctly in that case. See the attachment.

Also, there is an oddity in how QU reports the page size in the preview window. Before the margin is adjusted, QU reporst 24"x19" as expected. After the margin is adjusted, QU shows 24"x18".

Any thoughts on how to get the trim lines to be in the proper location when there is a top margin offset applied?

Thanks so much again.

Cheers!

Brad

Brad

How about adding a 12" x 1" white tif at the top of the template?

Brian

Hi Brad,

Your requirements are getting more complex by the minute  ;). That always produces a conflict with any automatic method. One thing to remember, as Brian almost mentioned, you can print an image on top of another one. In other words, make some white images with your desired cropped marks placed how you want, (or a single page sized white image with crop marks drawn in some other program) and save the image/page as a job if you need the same layout. Then simply drop your coloured images on top, and position as required. I expect with a bit of experimentation with templates, you can get the images centred on the crop marks exactly as you wish.

Best wishes,

Ray

I suppose you're right. I've come to know that QU has huge amounts of built-in capability, perhaps largely untapped by most users. If QU has been programmed to do what I need, I think that's worth finding out.
 

Clever ideas. I will certainly try them out.

Thanks Ray (and Brian).

Following on from Ray's idea to use a blank white image, don't forget you can use that as part of a template.
See screen shot attached below.
I've put a thin grey border on the white image so you can see it and shown the trim "guide lines".
Maybe this will give you another idea to achieve what yo want.
Terry