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Author Topic: optimising paper space  (Read 2626 times)

Endeavour

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optimising paper space
« on: July 12, 2017, 12:04:35 pm »

I have a number of print jobs coming up, where I'm having to use custom sizes for an artist.

Are there any standard methods/tools for optimizing print/paper space for rolls of paper (in my case 24" wide) rather than "wasting" paper with large blank areas?
I was thinking something where I have 10 or so random sized prints to make on the same paper, and be able to define min borders around each and have them printed on a roll which can then have each bordered print cut to size
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Mark D Segal

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2017, 12:10:21 pm »

LaserSoft Imaging's "PrinTao" application has automated presets for achieving this. We reviewed this application a good while back on this website.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Endeavour

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2017, 12:29:15 pm »

LaserSoft Imaging's "PrinTao" application has automated presets for achieving this. We reviewed this application a good while back on this website.

Thanks Mark

Unfortunately I'm Win/Linux based, not Mac - I do have a macbook pro kicking around, but I've only used that for tethered capturing to Capture One - not printing
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Ken Doo

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2017, 12:33:34 pm »

Qimage Ultimate will tile the images for you optimizing space on the roll.

And it is Windows based.

ken

Jim Metzger

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2017, 12:47:09 pm »

You can do this manually in Lightroom in the Print Module. Select page size first and use "Picture Package" and define size of print, inner stroke and / or outer stroke boarder. Just drag images onto the page, You can move images around on the page and rotate as necessary. I make collages of event images for clients all the time.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2017, 01:48:54 pm »

You can do this manually in Lightroom in the Print Module. Select page size first and use "Picture Package" and define size of print, inner stroke and / or outer stroke boarder. Just drag images onto the page, You can move images around on the page and rotate as necessary. I make collages of event images for clients all the time.

That's true Jim, but for someone who needs to do a lot of this, it's less time-consuming to have a piece of software that does it automatically. Indeed the limitation here is that the O/P is on Windows and PrinTao is an OSX-only application.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Ethan Hansen

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2017, 02:15:25 pm »

+1 to Ken's suggestion of Qimage. The Lightroom and Photoshop plugins bypass much of the cryptic GUI and allow for straight up printing. Qimage does a good job at optimizing layouts to cram the most images onto the least paper.

Having access to the Qimage interpolation routines is a definite bonus if you print enlargements at >300%. I'm less sold on the Qimage sharpening tools. I find Lightroom does at least as good a job here,

picman

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2017, 03:37:13 pm »

What printer? If Canon, buried in the print driver is an option for optimizing printing layout.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2017, 03:42:40 pm »

What version of the Canon driver for what printer model? I'm printing with a Pro-1000 as we speak and I just flipped through all the driver settings and couldn't find anything that optimizes layout; or its buried more deeply than I could find. Are you thinking of a Canon printing plug-in such as Print Studio Pro or its predecessor?
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Endeavour

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2017, 03:43:23 pm »

I'm on an HP Z3100
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picman

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2017, 04:16:35 pm »

Mark, for the IPF Pro 4000 driver, it's under the pdf tab.
Not as good as the previous free layout utility.
Working now to see if I can get it back working on InDesign and Illustrator.

Apologies to OP.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2017, 04:27:13 pm »

OK, not in the Pro-1000 driver. I suppose Canon figured it would be of little interest for a 17" printer.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2017, 08:32:02 pm »

I have a number of print jobs coming up, where I'm having to use custom sizes for an artist.

Are there any standard methods/tools for optimizing print/paper space for rolls of paper (in my case 24" wide) rather than "wasting" paper with large blank areas?
I was thinking something where I have 10 or so random sized prints to make on the same paper, and be able to define min borders around each and have them printed on a roll which can then have each bordered print cut to size

Hi,

As others have already suggested, Qimage Ultimate is the highest performance / lowest cost option available and it offers a slew of other benefits for printing. It has been my preferred print output application for almost 2 decades, and while it was already superior at the time, it has gotten even better since.

In March of this year, the nesting quality was further improved with the "Intellispace placement" and  "IntelliCut print placement" options. "Intelliprint" optimizes printed area usage of a batch, while "Intellicut" additionally optimizes the ease of cutting out multiple prints from larger sheets/rolls. It became even more intelligent than it already was, while at the same time retaining the option to override the placement strategy with other preferences (although the new methods are pretty awesome in most cases).

Cheers,
Bart
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Endeavour

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2017, 07:26:38 am »

I took a look at Qimage yesterday, and apart from the ghastly interface I wasted a bunch of sheets due to it printing when I didnt tell it to or when it did the results were way off what I was expecting. Suspect I need to do more research with the app but what I was seeing on the screen had no relation to what I was getting out of the printer.

My photoshop outputs on the other hand are spot on, so I'm going to stick with that for this job and maybe look at qimage in the future, although I cant say I'm in a rush to return to it at the moment.
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Ernst Dinkla

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2017, 08:46:18 am »

Suspect I need to do more research with the app but what I was seeing on the screen had no relation to what I was getting out of the printer.

Odd, if you find an application that shows and describes the nesting of multiple images on a print page better than QU, then tell us. Photoshop is not among them. Z3200 user too but a 44" which gives more economy already for that kind of tasks.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
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Endeavour

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2017, 09:31:53 am »

Odd, if you find an application that shows and describes the nesting of multiple images on a print page better than QU, then tell us. Photoshop is not among them. Z3200 user too but a 44" which gives more economy already for that kind of tasks.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

thats not what I was saying. I was referring to the colour output not being what I was expecting, not the nesting of multiple images.  (although QImage was cropping off some parts of the image despite me turning off the cropping feature - that I could find)
« Last Edit: July 13, 2017, 09:37:26 am by Endeavour »
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2017, 11:12:22 am »

thats not what I was saying. I was referring to the colour output not being what I was expecting, not the nesting of multiple images.  (although QImage was cropping off some parts of the image despite me turning off the cropping feature - that I could find)

Hi,

Sounds a bit like some practice and viewing of tutorials is required. Qimage uses the same profiles as Photoshop does, so the color should basically be identical. Qimage does use better resampling algorithms and several other image enhancements such as halo-free output sharpening and smooth gradient dithering, and that might affect the finest of detail. Cropping is sub-millimetre accurate, so I don't know what happened (maybe your printer driver settings were not optimal, e.g. borderless printing), hard to say from a distance.

Cheers,
Bart
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Ethan Hansen

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Re: optimising paper space
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2017, 04:48:38 pm »

I took a look at Qimage yesterday, and apart from the ghastly interface [snip]

The GUI is, to be charitable, unique. As with Adobe, Qimage carved its own path. Once you learn how to navigate, it is remarkably efficient. That said, I use Qimage infrequently enough that I end up swearing mightily.
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