Help With Image Nesting

[NortheastPhotographic]

I print from PS to an Epson P6000.  Typically my images are from film cameras, and the images are 'floated' into a standard paper size.  I.E. my customers might shoot a square image, and order an "8x10" print with their image floated in the page, with lets say a 1" border.  What I'll do is exactly what I do in the darkroom, place the image with a weighted bottom. 

What I'm trying to do is arrange a number of 8x10s in this fashion when printing with roll paper.  Unfortunately the cut guides in PS are insufficiently exact when cutting in my opinion.  Ideally, I'd have a full faint line sitting 1mm or so outside of the border of the paper edge.  LR lets me do this, but I find that the LR printing program is completely broken at the moment.  It fully refuses to work with my P6000...long story.

Is there an easy way to do what I'm trying to do?  BTW the reason I print this way is because it simplifies the ordering process, and people can use standard frame sizes. 

[mearussi]

Have you tried using Qimage? It has a really good reputation as a excellent layout program.

[deanwork]

Q-Image . Try the free trial version first. I haven’t tried the Mac version but both platforms should work.

Have you tried using Qimage? It has a really good reputation as a excellent layout program.

[Moderator's edit: restored a left bracket]

[mfrohman]

If image nesting is your only need I highly recommend a program called ImageNest by software company Blue Cubit. I've been using it for years with 2 HP z3200 44". I tried qimage/binartem but it didn't have enough options for the crop marks. ImageNest lets you turn crop marks off and on, has several different style crops, and also, most importantly for me, let's you adjust the space between image and crop marks. I tried to get them to add this feature to Binartem but last I checked, it still wasn't possible.

It also has some other basic features for making efficient nests, but it doesn't do much more than that. What it does do, it does well. I think there's a demo you can try out.

[virojarvi]

In Qimage One you can use Guide Lines option under Cut Marks to get full line around the page. This should work if add the white borders at Photoshop. If you want the margins with weighted bottom added at print time, Qimage One won't work for you. It only supports symmetrical borders, which is one of the few issues I have with it.

[Ernst Dinkla]

In Qimage One you can use Guide Lines option under Cut Marks to get full line around the page. This should work if add the white borders at Photoshop. If you want the margins with weighted bottom added at print time, Qimage One won't work for you. It only supports symmetrical borders, which is one of the few issues I have with it.

For years now I use Qimage Ultimate with Corner Marks and a QI on the fly created white border of 0,5 to 1mm. Cut just within the corner marks and there will be a marking up to the last cut. Way easier for roll prints than using the traditional graphical cutting marks should be used for stacks of sheets on the guillotine cutter. Less paper waste too. One can also use dashed lines + thin border along the edges of a long print (>5') and part by part cut within that line with a ruler and knife. QI has a method for uneven borders, I never use it though. For that I find it easier to add borders in PS.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H. L. Mencken

[budjames]

Check out the free Epson Print Layout app for Mac or PC. It has the ability to print various layouts of prints to a single sheet of paper.
Using Capture One Pro 21, I output my finals to a 16-bit TIF. Depending on the print size, I may create a sharpened for print and resized image using Topaz Gigapixel AI. The TIFs are printed using Epson Print Layout as it offers more robust layout options than the printing capability of Capture One Pro 21.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto

[NortheastPhotographic]

I purchased a copy and Qimage and I think it's going to do the trick!  It's a little clunky but if I make the 'mattes' in PS and drop them into a print queue I can then just tell it to print cut lines and it's done.  Easy peasy.