large format printing : Media Services Large Format Printer:
Media Services wants to continue its commitment of supporting the community where technology meets the classroom. Media Service’s large format printer is getting tremendous use. This guide for large format printing will assist faculty, staff and students in obtaining the best results for a large format print. Media Services has a more detailed pamphlet available upon request via email or pickup.
Media Services has made this reference guide to make large format printing easier for you. All of the following information is important to insure that your project will print properly.
I. Software we support:
PowerPoint: Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF *.PPT
Adobe Photoshop: Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF, *.PSD
Adobe Illustrator: (not preferred) Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF, *.IA
II. Media Services Large Format Printer:
Printer Model: Epson 9000
Paper Dimensions: 34” X 36” *We can not print out to a full 3 feet (36 in.)
Paper Media Types: Presentation Matte Paper or Glossy Poster Paper
Paper Media Size: 914mm (36 inches) x 25m (*The printer will not print all the way to the edge of the paper. Therefore one side of the poster needs to be set to 34 inches).
Media Services Computers: Media Services uses Windows XP for compatibility.
Cost: $11.25 a roller foot
Size: 34 inches X ? feet (compute the cost)
©2006 Berea College
Media Services has made this reference guide to make large format printing easier for you. All of the following information is important to insure that your project will print properly.
I. Software we support:
PowerPoint: Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF *.PPT
Adobe Photoshop: Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF, *.PSD
Adobe Illustrator: (not preferred) Supported image format: *.JPEG, *.PICT, *.TIFF, *.IA
II. Media Services Large Format Printer:
Printer Model: Epson 9000
Paper Dimensions: 34” X 36” *We can not print out to a full 3 feet (36 in.)
Paper Media Types: Presentation Matte Paper or Glossy Poster Paper
Paper Media Size: 914mm (36 inches) x 25m (*The printer will not print all the way to the edge of the paper. Therefore one side of the poster needs to be set to 34 inches).
Media Services Computers: Media Services uses Windows XP for compatibility.
Cost: $11.25 a roller foot
Size: 34 inches X ? feet (compute the cost)
©2006 Berea College
large format printing : DesignJet 30 Large Format Printer
The HP Designjet 30 wide-format, six-color printer series produces fade-resistant, photo-quality images, giving you stunning results print after print. Whether designs call for postcard-size images or full-color pages, this printer delivers the job affordably and reliably. Quick print speeds up to 4mpp for /B size in Normal mode help you get the job done. Color technologies from HP deliver reliable and accurate color. Automatic Closed Loop Color (CLC) calibration ensures reliable color consistency, while automatic Pantone calibration, offset emulations, and CMYK plus support, available via an optional RIP provide highly accurate and predictable color. HP Color Layering technology produces a range of colors and smooth tonal transitions. Six printheads and individual ink cartridges mean fewer ink changes and no waste. Drivers with special graphic options are optimized to support both Mac and Windows printing.
Features include:
Color images that last
Fade-resistant, photo-quality images. The HP Designjet 30 Series printing systems bring impressive photo quality to your images. New inks, designed together with HP Premium Plus Photo and HP Proofing Gloss papers, produce images that resist fading longer than traditionally processed photos.1 Professionals can rest assured that the images they create will maintain their impact.
Rich color depth, minimal dot visibility and uniform gloss. A six-ink writing system combines HP color layering technology, 2400 dpi maximum resolution and a four-picoliter ink drop size for fine details, smooth tonal transition, a broad gamut of colors and gloss uniformity.
Media that shows off your ideas. With a wide range of HP media weights and types, you can choose the media type that best conveys your concepts. The HP Designjet 30 Series printers can handle stock in weights up to 80 lb, as well as thick or rigid media (up to .015 in). Choose from a variety of media finishes, including gloss, satin and matte.
Reliable color
See reliable, consistent color from print to print. The HP Designjet 30 Series printers feature automatic closed-loop color calibration to provide consistent color, print to print and printer to printer.
Graphics drivers for Mac and Windows. Optimized drivers provide key features for creative professionals, including RGB ICC profile support and Apple ColorSync compatibility for color matching throughout your RGB workflow.
Optional RIPs for advanced color management. With optional Adobe PostScript 3 software RIPs, graphics customers have access to a wide array of HP color technologies, including automatic PANTONE2 calibration, CMYK plus support and offset emulation for robust color management in a CMYK workflow.
Time to design
See results and get client approval fast. Print images up to 4 mpp for B size (11 x 17 in) in Normal mode, with fast color stability. Proofs and prints can be reviewed and approved in real time.
Easy setup for immediate productivity. Set up, connection and operation are easy in both Macintosh and Windows environments. Standard interfaces and network capability (standard on 30n) ensure smooth operation in virtually all environments.
Less interaction means more creating. Modular HP ink cartridges and printheads require minimal user intervention and infrequent maintenance. Reliable operation further enhances the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of this printing system.
© Academic Superstore LP. All Rights Reserved
Features include:
Color images that last
Fade-resistant, photo-quality images. The HP Designjet 30 Series printing systems bring impressive photo quality to your images. New inks, designed together with HP Premium Plus Photo and HP Proofing Gloss papers, produce images that resist fading longer than traditionally processed photos.1 Professionals can rest assured that the images they create will maintain their impact.
Rich color depth, minimal dot visibility and uniform gloss. A six-ink writing system combines HP color layering technology, 2400 dpi maximum resolution and a four-picoliter ink drop size for fine details, smooth tonal transition, a broad gamut of colors and gloss uniformity.
Media that shows off your ideas. With a wide range of HP media weights and types, you can choose the media type that best conveys your concepts. The HP Designjet 30 Series printers can handle stock in weights up to 80 lb, as well as thick or rigid media (up to .015 in). Choose from a variety of media finishes, including gloss, satin and matte.
Reliable color
See reliable, consistent color from print to print. The HP Designjet 30 Series printers feature automatic closed-loop color calibration to provide consistent color, print to print and printer to printer.
Graphics drivers for Mac and Windows. Optimized drivers provide key features for creative professionals, including RGB ICC profile support and Apple ColorSync compatibility for color matching throughout your RGB workflow.
Optional RIPs for advanced color management. With optional Adobe PostScript 3 software RIPs, graphics customers have access to a wide array of HP color technologies, including automatic PANTONE2 calibration, CMYK plus support and offset emulation for robust color management in a CMYK workflow.
Time to design
See results and get client approval fast. Print images up to 4 mpp for B size (11 x 17 in) in Normal mode, with fast color stability. Proofs and prints can be reviewed and approved in real time.
Easy setup for immediate productivity. Set up, connection and operation are easy in both Macintosh and Windows environments. Standard interfaces and network capability (standard on 30n) ensure smooth operation in virtually all environments.
Less interaction means more creating. Modular HP ink cartridges and printheads require minimal user intervention and infrequent maintenance. Reliable operation further enhances the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of this printing system.
© Academic Superstore LP. All Rights Reserved
large format printing : Poster Digital Printing for Growing Business
With the modern complexities of life now days, it is but important to be abreast with the latest and the more effective ways of advertising and promoting your services and products to let your business grow and be wide known popular. That is why poster digital printing is recommended for a sure win advertisement for your growing business.
It can be noticed that in poster digital printing the pictures, images and illustrations are clearer and sharper because of the modern way of doing it. Even the smallest detail in the poster could be understood by its viewer. Large format printing from your digital files, photo enlargement from your own slides and negatives are just some of our latest innovation to attain that effectual poster digital printing for your growing business. Poster digital printing is recommended for growing business that wants to be more known by its target customers, for their digital poster will already build good impression for their company.
For the demand in continuous innovation of poster digital printing, commercial printing companies specially those that specialize in poster printing made sure that they are powered by creative team and skillful workers that conceptualizes and prints the digital posters for your growing business.
Here are some of the choices in poster digital printing that you can choose from to have your goal attained for your growing business. We are offering pigment based inks for large format printing and glossy paper for heavy weight materials. Since it is not good to look at it on a matte paper for the density of black ink on it is not very high. Also, dye based inks for large printing is recommended for prints will be clearer and sharper with the use of glossy paper again.
That is why if you want to have the advantages in poster printing, then it is the right time for you to try on poster digital printing afterwards access its results in your growing business. Our poster digital printing has an improved resolution that would impress your target clients and eventually would stop at your business. After all, that is the primary purpose of your poster to attract customers for your business to grow even more.
It is true that poster digital printing costs a bit higher than the conventional posters that we have yet are we going to sacrifice the good quality that would ultimately draw-in customers for your growing business. More often quality really matters for it will be the first focus of the interested clients since just after the accepted invitation of the prospect clients would made their decision to go with the business or not.
After all, if you will have poster digital printing it is guaranteed that your expenses will be given back to you by the customers that were hooked up and it can even be higher than that. Competitive price for your poster digital printing is what we're offering and satisfaction guaranteed for your money spent will be regain.
by Kristine Llabres
It can be noticed that in poster digital printing the pictures, images and illustrations are clearer and sharper because of the modern way of doing it. Even the smallest detail in the poster could be understood by its viewer. Large format printing from your digital files, photo enlargement from your own slides and negatives are just some of our latest innovation to attain that effectual poster digital printing for your growing business. Poster digital printing is recommended for growing business that wants to be more known by its target customers, for their digital poster will already build good impression for their company.
For the demand in continuous innovation of poster digital printing, commercial printing companies specially those that specialize in poster printing made sure that they are powered by creative team and skillful workers that conceptualizes and prints the digital posters for your growing business.
Here are some of the choices in poster digital printing that you can choose from to have your goal attained for your growing business. We are offering pigment based inks for large format printing and glossy paper for heavy weight materials. Since it is not good to look at it on a matte paper for the density of black ink on it is not very high. Also, dye based inks for large printing is recommended for prints will be clearer and sharper with the use of glossy paper again.
That is why if you want to have the advantages in poster printing, then it is the right time for you to try on poster digital printing afterwards access its results in your growing business. Our poster digital printing has an improved resolution that would impress your target clients and eventually would stop at your business. After all, that is the primary purpose of your poster to attract customers for your business to grow even more.
It is true that poster digital printing costs a bit higher than the conventional posters that we have yet are we going to sacrifice the good quality that would ultimately draw-in customers for your growing business. More often quality really matters for it will be the first focus of the interested clients since just after the accepted invitation of the prospect clients would made their decision to go with the business or not.
After all, if you will have poster digital printing it is guaranteed that your expenses will be given back to you by the customers that were hooked up and it can even be higher than that. Competitive price for your poster digital printing is what we're offering and satisfaction guaranteed for your money spent will be regain.
by Kristine Llabres
large format printing : What's So Great About Popup Displays
PopUp Displays are currently the most common form of low priced trade show and event display. A Popup Display is not a trade show "booth" as much as it is a backdrop or background wall for your display area.
A popup display normally has only two main components, with two or three other optional accessories. The most substantial part of a popup display is the folding frame which is normally made of either fibreglass or aluminum tubes. The frame serves as a skeleton that you cover with display panels — either velcro-ready fabric panels, or graphic panels made of a material like Duralex which are lexan panels that have already been printed, normally using a high resolution large format printing process.
Before the frame is made to "popup", it comes folded down to a unit approximately 8" square by 30" wide. When it is unfolded, the frame "pops up" to a skeleton approximately 8' (or 10') wide by usually) about 8' high. This frame normally weighs about 15 lbs. and is stable enough to just sit on the floor without any anchoring or external support. For exact specifications and measurements, see the links below.
The panels (either fabric panels or graphic panels) are normally about 30" wide by 8' high. There are usually either 4 or 5 panels required to cover the frame, with extra "end cap" panels made of the same material to wrap around the ends of the frame. These panels are flexible enough to be rolled up so they fit in the lightweight carrying case. They are normally adhered to the frame by means of magentic strips applied to their back surface. These are attracted to the magnetized bars that are part of the skeleton frame. Once the panels are applied to the frame, it gains even greater stability.
If your popup display has duralex graphic panels, then the display is complete once the panels are applied to the frame. If you use the more generic fabric panels, then you will probably have a number of graphics that are adhered to the fabric with velcro strips. These graphics can be duralex (as above), flexible vinyl — essentially indoor vinyl banners — or posters (display prints) printed on paper and laminated so they are both flexible and durable.
Often, the display is finished off with two or three halogen lights that are attached at the top of the frame and illuminate your graphics.
The entire display — frame, magnetic bars, fabric and graphic panels, and lights can be packaged up in a sturdy, lightweight carrying case with wheels. The carrying case often doubles as a display counter or podium with its own special top (normally an optional accessory) and wrap around graphics (also optional).
A normal case for an 8' or 10' display is small enough to fit in the trunk or back seat of most cars, and normally weighs around 40 lbs., depending on the type of graphics and accessories included. This makes it light enough to be easily moved around by most people.
A normal popup display can be assembled by one person of average height in about 20 minutes. If you are shorter than about 5'6" you may need a small ladder to reach the top. Normally a chair works too.
If a popup display seems like overkill, or if you think you will be in situations where setting up a popup display will be difficult or impractical, you may want to consider an alternative like a Banner Stand or retractable Jiffy Roll. These units come in their own lightweight "over the shoulder" carrying cases and can normally be set up in less than one or two minutes.
by Rick Hendershot
A popup display normally has only two main components, with two or three other optional accessories. The most substantial part of a popup display is the folding frame which is normally made of either fibreglass or aluminum tubes. The frame serves as a skeleton that you cover with display panels — either velcro-ready fabric panels, or graphic panels made of a material like Duralex which are lexan panels that have already been printed, normally using a high resolution large format printing process.
Before the frame is made to "popup", it comes folded down to a unit approximately 8" square by 30" wide. When it is unfolded, the frame "pops up" to a skeleton approximately 8' (or 10') wide by usually) about 8' high. This frame normally weighs about 15 lbs. and is stable enough to just sit on the floor without any anchoring or external support. For exact specifications and measurements, see the links below.
The panels (either fabric panels or graphic panels) are normally about 30" wide by 8' high. There are usually either 4 or 5 panels required to cover the frame, with extra "end cap" panels made of the same material to wrap around the ends of the frame. These panels are flexible enough to be rolled up so they fit in the lightweight carrying case. They are normally adhered to the frame by means of magentic strips applied to their back surface. These are attracted to the magnetized bars that are part of the skeleton frame. Once the panels are applied to the frame, it gains even greater stability.
If your popup display has duralex graphic panels, then the display is complete once the panels are applied to the frame. If you use the more generic fabric panels, then you will probably have a number of graphics that are adhered to the fabric with velcro strips. These graphics can be duralex (as above), flexible vinyl — essentially indoor vinyl banners — or posters (display prints) printed on paper and laminated so they are both flexible and durable.
Often, the display is finished off with two or three halogen lights that are attached at the top of the frame and illuminate your graphics.
The entire display — frame, magnetic bars, fabric and graphic panels, and lights can be packaged up in a sturdy, lightweight carrying case with wheels. The carrying case often doubles as a display counter or podium with its own special top (normally an optional accessory) and wrap around graphics (also optional).
A normal case for an 8' or 10' display is small enough to fit in the trunk or back seat of most cars, and normally weighs around 40 lbs., depending on the type of graphics and accessories included. This makes it light enough to be easily moved around by most people.
A normal popup display can be assembled by one person of average height in about 20 minutes. If you are shorter than about 5'6" you may need a small ladder to reach the top. Normally a chair works too.
If a popup display seems like overkill, or if you think you will be in situations where setting up a popup display will be difficult or impractical, you may want to consider an alternative like a Banner Stand or retractable Jiffy Roll. These units come in their own lightweight "over the shoulder" carrying cases and can normally be set up in less than one or two minutes.
by Rick Hendershot
large format printing : Understanding software differences WRT sizing
All software including PhotoShop and Qimage must work within the
limitations of the printer which are defined by the driver. If you specify an impossible task, like printing a 16x20 print on 16x20 paper without using borderless printing, different software may handle the request differently. For example, if you don't specify borderless printing, the maximum size print allowable on 16x20 paper using the Epson 4800 is 15.766 x 19.333 inches. If you try to print a 16x20 using PhotoShop, you will be told that the print size is larger than allowed but you will be given a "Proceed" option. If you proceed, PhotoShop will print at 16x20 but will clip the edges of the print and you'll end up with a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print that has the edges missing. In Qimage, you will be told that the print size is larger than one page and will be asked if you want a poster. If you say no, you'll end up with a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print (same size as PhotoShop) but without the edges cropped off. These are just two different ways of handling the same problem and in both cases you end up with (no more than) a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print: a printer/driver limitation. It is important to recognize how different programs handle sizing tasks and in particular, what happens when you try to print sizes that do not fit on the paper. Whatever printing software you use, be familiar with how it handles sizing discrepancies.
Spooling options
Qimage will almost always send more (potentially much more) data to the driver than PhotoShop or other printing programs due to Qimage's interpolation process. As such, you must make sure that the printer is set up properly for large format printing. Not having the printer/spooler set up properly may result in partial prints, no print at all, or crashes due to the system not being able to handle the [large] amount of data being handed to the driver. First and foremost, go to control panel, select "printers and faxes", and right click on your printer. Select "Properties" from the right click menu and then click the "Advanced" tab. If "Enable Advanced Printing Features" is checked at the bottom, UNcheck this option. This is the cause for 98% of printing troubles when printing large prints as this feature can only handle a small amount of data and isn't meant for photographic printing so the option should remain UNchecked. The other options on that tab usually make little difference but I recommend checking "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster" and also "Start printing immediately". Those options will ensure the best use of resources on the machine. Finally, click the "Print Processor" button and make sure that the right side is set to "RAW". If any other data type is selected, it is likely your photographic printing will not work properly. Click "OK" to save the changes.
Maximum print sizes
Some online sources report that the maximum print length in PhotoShop CS2 is about 90 inches. I have not confirmed this, but I can tell you that when set up properly, Qimage has no length limit. PhotoShop and most other applications that print photos try to send the image all-at-once to the driver: they basically hand off the entire original image at once and simply specify a print size for that image. Depending on the initial image size and specified print size, this all-at-once printing method can overwhelm the driver/spooler and lockups/crashes may ensue. Qimage has a "smart" handoff to the driver that passes the data in smaller chunks that don't overwhelm the system and can allow for much larger prints. With Qimage, you are only bound by the amount of RAM, virtual memory, and hard drive space available and by how well your print driver handles the printing task when dealing with the large amount of data normally used for big prints. Most of the big print failures that I've seen fall into three categories:
Content copyright © 1998-2006 Steve's Digicam Online, Inc.
limitations of the printer which are defined by the driver. If you specify an impossible task, like printing a 16x20 print on 16x20 paper without using borderless printing, different software may handle the request differently. For example, if you don't specify borderless printing, the maximum size print allowable on 16x20 paper using the Epson 4800 is 15.766 x 19.333 inches. If you try to print a 16x20 using PhotoShop, you will be told that the print size is larger than allowed but you will be given a "Proceed" option. If you proceed, PhotoShop will print at 16x20 but will clip the edges of the print and you'll end up with a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print that has the edges missing. In Qimage, you will be told that the print size is larger than one page and will be asked if you want a poster. If you say no, you'll end up with a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print (same size as PhotoShop) but without the edges cropped off. These are just two different ways of handling the same problem and in both cases you end up with (no more than) a 15.766 x 19.333 inch print: a printer/driver limitation. It is important to recognize how different programs handle sizing tasks and in particular, what happens when you try to print sizes that do not fit on the paper. Whatever printing software you use, be familiar with how it handles sizing discrepancies.
Spooling options
Qimage will almost always send more (potentially much more) data to the driver than PhotoShop or other printing programs due to Qimage's interpolation process. As such, you must make sure that the printer is set up properly for large format printing. Not having the printer/spooler set up properly may result in partial prints, no print at all, or crashes due to the system not being able to handle the [large] amount of data being handed to the driver. First and foremost, go to control panel, select "printers and faxes", and right click on your printer. Select "Properties" from the right click menu and then click the "Advanced" tab. If "Enable Advanced Printing Features" is checked at the bottom, UNcheck this option. This is the cause for 98% of printing troubles when printing large prints as this feature can only handle a small amount of data and isn't meant for photographic printing so the option should remain UNchecked. The other options on that tab usually make little difference but I recommend checking "Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster" and also "Start printing immediately". Those options will ensure the best use of resources on the machine. Finally, click the "Print Processor" button and make sure that the right side is set to "RAW". If any other data type is selected, it is likely your photographic printing will not work properly. Click "OK" to save the changes.
Maximum print sizes
Some online sources report that the maximum print length in PhotoShop CS2 is about 90 inches. I have not confirmed this, but I can tell you that when set up properly, Qimage has no length limit. PhotoShop and most other applications that print photos try to send the image all-at-once to the driver: they basically hand off the entire original image at once and simply specify a print size for that image. Depending on the initial image size and specified print size, this all-at-once printing method can overwhelm the driver/spooler and lockups/crashes may ensue. Qimage has a "smart" handoff to the driver that passes the data in smaller chunks that don't overwhelm the system and can allow for much larger prints. With Qimage, you are only bound by the amount of RAM, virtual memory, and hard drive space available and by how well your print driver handles the printing task when dealing with the large amount of data normally used for big prints. Most of the big print failures that I've seen fall into three categories:
Content copyright © 1998-2006 Steve's Digicam Online, Inc.
large format printing : Wide Load
Background
Wide format printers are getting cheaper and more economical, making large prints like 13x20, 20x30, and larger possible even for the advanced amateur. Logic dictates that a wide format inkjet printer is nothing more than a big printer and that printing to a wide format printer should be no different than printing to your typical desktop inkjet except that it allows you to work with larger page sizes. Unfortunately there are a lot of snags that you may encounter when printing (very) large prints. Most involve printer/driver setup and are easily corrected while others may require a rethink on how you have your equipment connected, what type of equipment you are using to print, whether or not your current hard drive has the capacity for wide format printing, whether or not you need more RAM, etc. Let's take a look at printing large and we'll try to cover all the common missteps in the minefield. We'll keep both Qimage and PhotoShop in mind for this article as those are popular PC/Windows printing applications and are the applications that I deal with most in wide format printing.
Page Size
Wide format printers often handle paper/page size differently than your average inkjet, particularly with respect to borderless or "no margins" printing. First, it is important to realize that there are two methods that drivers use to perform borderless printing: expand page and expand prints. In the expand page mode, the driver simply increases the size of the page so that it is larger than the physical paper size. In this borderless printing mode, the driver will actually show a printable area larger than the physical paper size. For example, a 16 inch wide roll may show as 16.23 inches across in your printing software. What is actually happening is that the driver is printing approximately .12 inches off the left and right edges of the roll. With this method, it is important to print your large prints in the center of the page. For example, use "centered" or "optimal/spaced" in Qimage. This will ensure that the "overspray" that extends off the edges of the paper is minimized and you won't lose the edges of the print because they are printing up against one edge or the other. If you use something like "compact" or "optimal", Qimage will place the print at the left edge of the paper and .12 inches of the print will be off the page, cropping the print slightly. Epson calls this expand page mode "Retain Size" in their latest wide format drivers. In the older (7600/9600) drivers, this was the only option available so no options were visible. What you need to keep in mind with the expand page mode is that the driver expands the page size so that it extends slightly beyond the edges of the paper. In doing so, it is possible to print off the edge of the paper and lose some of your prints. Try to avoid this "clipping" by not printing anything all the way against the left/right edges of the paper when aligning your prints on the page preview on screen.
The other method of borderless printing (one that is used on most standard inkjet printers) is the expand prints mode. In this mode, the printable area remains the size of the paper (16.0 inches across for example), but prints are expanded in size. With this mode, you can specify 16 inches as the width and the driver will "artificially" expand the print to 16.23 inches so that the print is large enough for some overspray to the left/right: the overspray eliminates tiny slivers of unprinted paper at the edges due to slight misalignment of the paper. This mode is more common but often more confusing because every print you send will be slightly larger than what you specified. Even if you print 4x6 prints on a 16x20 page, the 4x6 prints will be just slightly larger than 4x6 and this may confuse people or prompt them to blame the printing software for the size problem when in fact it is the driver that took the 4x6 print and expanded it after the fact. If the expand prints mode (called "Auto Expand" by Epson in their latest wide format drivers) is being used, Qimage does have an option that can defeat the size expansion so that you can obtain prints of the specified size without the driver expanding them. See "Page Formatting", "Borderless Overspray/Expansion" in Qimage. Some drivers even allow you to turn this expansion off (or at least reduce it) by dragging the "amount of extension" slider all the way to the left in the driver. Keep in mind that doing this produces less overspray so any "sloppiness" in the paper loading mechanism may show up as unprinted slivers on the edges of the print.
Content copyright © 1998-2006 Steve's Digicam Online, Inc.
Wide format printers are getting cheaper and more economical, making large prints like 13x20, 20x30, and larger possible even for the advanced amateur. Logic dictates that a wide format inkjet printer is nothing more than a big printer and that printing to a wide format printer should be no different than printing to your typical desktop inkjet except that it allows you to work with larger page sizes. Unfortunately there are a lot of snags that you may encounter when printing (very) large prints. Most involve printer/driver setup and are easily corrected while others may require a rethink on how you have your equipment connected, what type of equipment you are using to print, whether or not your current hard drive has the capacity for wide format printing, whether or not you need more RAM, etc. Let's take a look at printing large and we'll try to cover all the common missteps in the minefield. We'll keep both Qimage and PhotoShop in mind for this article as those are popular PC/Windows printing applications and are the applications that I deal with most in wide format printing.
Page Size
Wide format printers often handle paper/page size differently than your average inkjet, particularly with respect to borderless or "no margins" printing. First, it is important to realize that there are two methods that drivers use to perform borderless printing: expand page and expand prints. In the expand page mode, the driver simply increases the size of the page so that it is larger than the physical paper size. In this borderless printing mode, the driver will actually show a printable area larger than the physical paper size. For example, a 16 inch wide roll may show as 16.23 inches across in your printing software. What is actually happening is that the driver is printing approximately .12 inches off the left and right edges of the roll. With this method, it is important to print your large prints in the center of the page. For example, use "centered" or "optimal/spaced" in Qimage. This will ensure that the "overspray" that extends off the edges of the paper is minimized and you won't lose the edges of the print because they are printing up against one edge or the other. If you use something like "compact" or "optimal", Qimage will place the print at the left edge of the paper and .12 inches of the print will be off the page, cropping the print slightly. Epson calls this expand page mode "Retain Size" in their latest wide format drivers. In the older (7600/9600) drivers, this was the only option available so no options were visible. What you need to keep in mind with the expand page mode is that the driver expands the page size so that it extends slightly beyond the edges of the paper. In doing so, it is possible to print off the edge of the paper and lose some of your prints. Try to avoid this "clipping" by not printing anything all the way against the left/right edges of the paper when aligning your prints on the page preview on screen.
The other method of borderless printing (one that is used on most standard inkjet printers) is the expand prints mode. In this mode, the printable area remains the size of the paper (16.0 inches across for example), but prints are expanded in size. With this mode, you can specify 16 inches as the width and the driver will "artificially" expand the print to 16.23 inches so that the print is large enough for some overspray to the left/right: the overspray eliminates tiny slivers of unprinted paper at the edges due to slight misalignment of the paper. This mode is more common but often more confusing because every print you send will be slightly larger than what you specified. Even if you print 4x6 prints on a 16x20 page, the 4x6 prints will be just slightly larger than 4x6 and this may confuse people or prompt them to blame the printing software for the size problem when in fact it is the driver that took the 4x6 print and expanded it after the fact. If the expand prints mode (called "Auto Expand" by Epson in their latest wide format drivers) is being used, Qimage does have an option that can defeat the size expansion so that you can obtain prints of the specified size without the driver expanding them. See "Page Formatting", "Borderless Overspray/Expansion" in Qimage. Some drivers even allow you to turn this expansion off (or at least reduce it) by dragging the "amount of extension" slider all the way to the left in the driver. Keep in mind that doing this produces less overspray so any "sloppiness" in the paper loading mechanism may show up as unprinted slivers on the edges of the print.
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large format printing : All About Popup Displays
popup display are currently the most common form of low priced trade show and event display. A popup normally has only two main components, with two or three other popup display accessories. The most substantial part of a popup display is the folding frame which is normally made of either fibreglass or alumnimum tubes. The frame serves as a skeleton that you cover with display panels — either velcro-ready fabric panels, or graphic panels made of a material like Duralex which are lexan panels that have already been printed, normally using an high resolution large format printing process.
Before the frame is made to "popup" it comes folded down to a unit approximately 8" square by 30" wide. When it is unfolded, the frame "pops up" to a skeleton approximately 8' (or 10') wide by (usually) about 8' high. This frame normally weighs about 15 lbs. and is stable enough to just sit on the floor without any anchoring or external support. For exact specifications and measurements, see our popup design specifications pages.
The panels (either fabric panels or graphic panels) are normally about 30" wide by 8' high. There are usually either 4 or 8 panels required to cover the frame, with extra "end cap" panels made of the same material to wrap around the ends of the frame. These panels are flexible enough to be rolled up so they fit in the lightweight carrying case. They are normally adhered to the frame by means of magentic strips applied to their back surface. These are attracted to the magnetized bars that are part of the skeleton frame. Once the panels are applied to the frame it gains even greater stability.
If your popup display has duralex graphic panels, then the display is complete once the panels are applied to the frame. If you use the more generic fabric panels, then you will probably have a number of graphics that are adhered to the fabric with velcro strips. These graphics can be duralex (as above), flexible vinyl — essentially indoor vinyl banners — or posters (display prints) printed on paper and laminated so they are both flexible and durable.
Often the display is finished off with two or three halogen lights that attach to the top of the frame and illuminate your graphics.
The entire display — frame, magnetic bars, fabric and graphic panels, and lights can be packaged up in a sturdy, lightweight carrying case with wheels. The carrying case often doubles as a display counter or podium with its own special top (normally an optional accessory) and wrap around graphics (also optional).
A normal case for an 8' or 10' display is small enough to fit in the trunk or back seat of most cars, and normally weighs around 40 lbs., depending on the type of graphics and accessories included. This makes it light enough to be easily moved around by most people.
A normal popup display can be assembled by one person of average height in about 20 minutes. If you are shorter than about 5'6" you may need a small ladder to reach the top. Normally a chair works too.
If a popup display seems like overkill, or if you think you will be in situations where setting up a popup display will be difficult or impractical, you may want to consider an alternative like a Banner Stand or retractable Jiffy Roll. These units come in their own lightweight "over the shoulder" carrying cases and can normally be set up in less than one or two minutes.
by Rick Hendershot
Before the frame is made to "popup" it comes folded down to a unit approximately 8" square by 30" wide. When it is unfolded, the frame "pops up" to a skeleton approximately 8' (or 10') wide by (usually) about 8' high. This frame normally weighs about 15 lbs. and is stable enough to just sit on the floor without any anchoring or external support. For exact specifications and measurements, see our popup design specifications pages.
The panels (either fabric panels or graphic panels) are normally about 30" wide by 8' high. There are usually either 4 or 8 panels required to cover the frame, with extra "end cap" panels made of the same material to wrap around the ends of the frame. These panels are flexible enough to be rolled up so they fit in the lightweight carrying case. They are normally adhered to the frame by means of magentic strips applied to their back surface. These are attracted to the magnetized bars that are part of the skeleton frame. Once the panels are applied to the frame it gains even greater stability.
If your popup display has duralex graphic panels, then the display is complete once the panels are applied to the frame. If you use the more generic fabric panels, then you will probably have a number of graphics that are adhered to the fabric with velcro strips. These graphics can be duralex (as above), flexible vinyl — essentially indoor vinyl banners — or posters (display prints) printed on paper and laminated so they are both flexible and durable.
Often the display is finished off with two or three halogen lights that attach to the top of the frame and illuminate your graphics.
The entire display — frame, magnetic bars, fabric and graphic panels, and lights can be packaged up in a sturdy, lightweight carrying case with wheels. The carrying case often doubles as a display counter or podium with its own special top (normally an optional accessory) and wrap around graphics (also optional).
A normal case for an 8' or 10' display is small enough to fit in the trunk or back seat of most cars, and normally weighs around 40 lbs., depending on the type of graphics and accessories included. This makes it light enough to be easily moved around by most people.
A normal popup display can be assembled by one person of average height in about 20 minutes. If you are shorter than about 5'6" you may need a small ladder to reach the top. Normally a chair works too.
If a popup display seems like overkill, or if you think you will be in situations where setting up a popup display will be difficult or impractical, you may want to consider an alternative like a Banner Stand or retractable Jiffy Roll. These units come in their own lightweight "over the shoulder" carrying cases and can normally be set up in less than one or two minutes.
by Rick Hendershot
large format printing : Large Format Posters
The present advertising realm calls for a more challenging way of promotional scheme that was not effectively achieve with the use of conventional advertising media. Present business scenario demands for better forms of advertising materials and what could be better than a large format poster. A large format poster is a great attention grabber since it is humongous unlike its standard size poster counterparts.
And with the application of full color printing in producing large format posters the result will definitely stand out and would be notice by a great number of potential customers. The vivid colors of prints will entice customers to purchase the products and services endorsed in the large format poster. But such effects can only be achieved if and only if a competent large format poster company is chosen to do the conceptualization as well as the actual printing of the large format poster. Remember that the very essence of advertising is to grab attention and to persuade customers to act in accordance to the desired effect of the advertisement. A failure on the part of the large format poster to grab attention as well as encourage sale is an evidence of poor market appeal of the created large format poster and such will entail low sales revenue for the business.
Then there is also the right time for placing up of advertising materials. In business timing is everything that is why there is also a need to study the purchasing behaviors of customers because that will guide businesses unto the type of advertising scheme to implement. A large format printing company that has a reputable track record for excellence and a reliable quick turnaround printing time is also best to hire for any promotional venture. Likewise, such types of printing companies are also known to make use of the latest printing technology and machineries in order for them to render exemplary printing services. The latest in printing technology are employed to heed the ever increasing demands for effective advertising tools.
The use of large format posters varies in terms of the advertising campaign that a business has in mind. Nevertheless, large format posters are commonly employed in events like exhibits, trade shows and many other activities where large format posters are applicable. In addition, proper planning when it comes to the implementation of advertising scheme is crucial for success. A successful advertising scheme is a gate way to numerous opportunities for growing business.
by Jinky C. Mesias
And with the application of full color printing in producing large format posters the result will definitely stand out and would be notice by a great number of potential customers. The vivid colors of prints will entice customers to purchase the products and services endorsed in the large format poster. But such effects can only be achieved if and only if a competent large format poster company is chosen to do the conceptualization as well as the actual printing of the large format poster. Remember that the very essence of advertising is to grab attention and to persuade customers to act in accordance to the desired effect of the advertisement. A failure on the part of the large format poster to grab attention as well as encourage sale is an evidence of poor market appeal of the created large format poster and such will entail low sales revenue for the business.
Then there is also the right time for placing up of advertising materials. In business timing is everything that is why there is also a need to study the purchasing behaviors of customers because that will guide businesses unto the type of advertising scheme to implement. A large format printing company that has a reputable track record for excellence and a reliable quick turnaround printing time is also best to hire for any promotional venture. Likewise, such types of printing companies are also known to make use of the latest printing technology and machineries in order for them to render exemplary printing services. The latest in printing technology are employed to heed the ever increasing demands for effective advertising tools.
The use of large format posters varies in terms of the advertising campaign that a business has in mind. Nevertheless, large format posters are commonly employed in events like exhibits, trade shows and many other activities where large format posters are applicable. In addition, proper planning when it comes to the implementation of advertising scheme is crucial for success. A successful advertising scheme is a gate way to numerous opportunities for growing business.
by Jinky C. Mesias
