Printing

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Samson
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Printing

Post by Samson »

Another question.
I've never attempted to print a drawing before, but I have a need to print one.
I can't seem to get it scaled to fit a sheet of paper. I need it to fill a 8.5x11 sheet, but it stays the same size and is only about a fifth of the scale I need.
Any suggestions?

Samson
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Re: Printing

Post by Samson »

I found a work-around...
I exported as an eps and opened it in PS. I scaled it as needed and it printed pretty well.

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Adrian
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Re: Printing

Post by Adrian »

The print function is not designed to print to scale. To print to scale you can use the Export PDF function and print from your preferred PDF reader to scale. The EPS will work as well but not so many people have a program capable of printing to scale from that.

Samson
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Re: Printing

Post by Samson »

Well... when I tried the export as eps and opened in PS the first time, it worked. I've tried several more times, and it will open, but it is grey instead of black like the first time.
This won't work, as the color is too light to see.
I looked for a pdf export, but I don't see it. Maybe it was added after my version.
I need to print these pages for an assignment, but I just can't figure it out now.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
TIA

Samson
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Re: Printing

Post by Samson »

OK, I finally figured out what I was doing incorrectly. It's working again and now I can use my new printer.
I'm going to have to write down the procedure, so next time, I might remember. :?

It would be nice if Vectric could add this feature... print to scale.

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FixitMike
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Re: Printing

Post by FixitMike »

And please post the procedure when you have it written down.
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement.

ezurick

Re: Printing

Post by ezurick »

Samson wrote:OK, I finally figured out what I was doing incorrectly. It's working again and now I can use my new printer.
I'm going to have to write down the procedure, so next time, I might remember. :?

It would be nice if Vectric could add this feature... print to scale.

So printing your item "to scale" is basically sizing it to fit on your size paper... but if you don't export to eps or pdf, is it going to print the exact size of the item regardless of paper size? This is important since one may want to have a print of the exact size for reference of a object, hole or something.

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Adrian
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Re: Printing

Post by Adrian »

Print to scale is being used in a couple of different ways in this thread. To me print to scale means that if I have a part that is 6" x 4" in VCarve when I print it it should be 6" x 4" on the paper. Scaling to fit the paper is a different thing.

To print to the size of the paper in VCarve you use the standard zoom features in combination with print preview to adjust the view to fit the paper size selected.

If you want to print to the scale of the vectors then export as PDF and use the 1:1 to print feature of most PDF programs to print to real scale. Of course you can also use the same programs to shrink or expand to fit any size of paper but the real world scale will be off then.

Samson
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Re: Printing

Post by Samson »

Adrian, you are correct. I was using the incorrect term. I wanted to scale to fit a 8.5 x 11 sheet.
However, in VCP, I've tried the zoom function, as well as the scale function, and have been unsuccessful on fitting the vectors to the page.
By exporting and using Photoshop, I can scale the vectors to fit the page, as well as scaling to actual size. I'm guessing that other programs are
capable of doing the same thing. Maybe Inkscape... it's free.
This has worked for me, but if it can be done in VCP, that would be great.

I apologize for any confusion I have created.

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FixitMike
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Re: Printing

Post by FixitMike »

How I do it.
Export the vectors you want to print as a DXF file.
Open the DXF file with CadStd Lite (a free program).
You can print from CadStd Lite) an actual size drawing* or export as a PDF and use the PDF printing options in Adobe Acrobat Reader or other programs to print to a scale desired.

Both CadStd Lite and Adobe Acrobat Reader can tile an oversize picture to use multiple sheets.

*CadStd Lite can downsize by halves until the file fits the printer paper.
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement.

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FixitMike
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Re: Printing

Post by FixitMike »

Addition to above post.
I don't export a pdf directly from VCarve for printing because I have found that some of the resulting lines are too faint in the PDF. I asked Vectric Tech. Support how to make sure all of the lines would be dark, and they said that it was not possible.

Here's an screenshot showing the difference between the vectors as they show in VCarve and in a pdf exported from VCarve.
pdf compare.JPG
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement.

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Adrian
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Re: Printing

Post by Adrian »

That's down to settings in Acrobat rather than Aspire. It's the same with pretty much all vector based exports from other programs. I don't remember the exact setting as I did it ages ago (although I have posted it here before when the same issue came up) but it can definitely be changed.

The attached picture has VCarve on the left and the exported PDF in Acrobat on the right.
pdf.jpg

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FixitMike
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Re: Printing

Post by FixitMike »

Adrian wrote:That's down to settings in Acrobat rather than Aspire.
Adobe Acrobat is $299. I use Acrobat reader which is free, as is CadStd Lite. Color me cheap.
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement.

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Adrian
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Re: Printing

Post by Adrian »

FixitMike wrote:
Adrian wrote:That's down to settings in Acrobat rather than Aspire.
Adobe Acrobat is $299. I use Acrobat reader which is free, as is CadStd Lite. Color me cheap.
I meant the free version. I still call it Acrobat as that's what it was for years.

SteveMI
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Re: Printing

Post by SteveMI »

I have been fighting this for some time. In my case the printed file would be centered in middle of the page and much too small. The scale is irrelevant to me since the parts are bigger than letter size paper. I ran at the windmill again today and found an option in my advanced printer options for "borderless" printing and the print fills the page better. The margins are still not equal top to bottom or left to right, but it is bigger. I haven't found a margin option in Vectric or my printer options. My thought is that it is more in the printer than Vectric print.
Steve.

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