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large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator

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  large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2016-01-07 01:34 +0000
    Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator luser- -droog <mijoryx@yahoo.com> - 2016-01-06 19:38 -0800
      Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2016-01-08 01:29 +0000
        Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator John Reiser <jreiserfl@comcast.net> - 2016-01-07 21:54 -0800
          Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2016-01-08 22:33 +0000
        Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator Ross Presser <rpresser@gmail.com> - 2016-01-07 22:09 -0800
          Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator John Reiser <jreiserfl@comcast.net> - 2016-01-12 15:00 -0800
        Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator JohnF <john@please.see.sig.for.email.com> - 2016-02-10 12:04 +0000
    Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> - 2016-01-06 23:14 -0500
    Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator John Reiser <jreiserfl@comcast.net> - 2016-01-07 06:30 -0800
      Re: large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator John Reiser <jreiserfl@comcast.net> - 2016-01-07 06:40 -0800

#2411 — large format to multi-page tiles in Illustrator

I'm trying to help someone solve a problem that involves large (arch-D:
 24" x 36" / 610mm x 914m; and larger) sized documents and printing from
non-oversize printers.

Unfortunately my first hand experience with Illustrator is very out of
date. I'm know Illustrator can cut the document up for me to print to
a printer directly (because that existed last time I used the program),
I don't know how clean / friendly it is.

Can Illustrator create a version that will print on US Letter OR A4
as a single PDF? It is critical that output not be scaled, the document
is very size sensitive.

Will there / can there be helpful notes in the margins to assist in
reassembling the output? I'm thinking of stuff like "Cut out along the
light gray lines. This is column 2 row 3." Obviously notes could be
added in post, but a one-click export to an easy print version is ideal. 

Solutions that involve another product to slice and dice are also
welcome, if they don't cost an arm and a leg and run on a Mac. Most
output is being printed on plotter, but a few uses per month for
something like this would be handy.

Elijah
------
for values of "plotter" that include Canon imagePROGRAF inkjets

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#2412

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 7:34:58 PM UTC-6, Eli the Bearded wrote:
> I'm trying to help someone solve a problem that involves large (arch-D:
>  24" x 36" / 610mm x 914m; and larger) sized documents and printing from
> non-oversize printers.
> 
> Unfortunately my first hand experience with Illustrator is very out of
> date. I'm know Illustrator can cut the document up for me to print to
> a printer directly (because that existed last time I used the program),
> I don't know how clean / friendly it is.
> 
> Can Illustrator create a version that will print on US Letter OR A4
> as a single PDF? It is critical that output not be scaled, the document
> is very size sensitive.
> 
> Will there / can there be helpful notes in the margins to assist in
> reassembling the output? I'm thinking of stuff like "Cut out along the
> light gray lines. This is column 2 row 3." Obviously notes could be
> added in post, but a one-click export to an easy print version is ideal. 
> 
> Solutions that involve another product to slice and dice are also
> welcome, if they don't cost an arm and a leg and run on a Mac. Most
> output is being printed on plotter, but a few uses per month for
> something like this would be handy.
> 
> Elijah
> ------
> for values of "plotter" that include Canon imagePROGRAF inkjets

I have some ideas for *some* of the things you're facing.
There's a bit of code I use to instruct Acrobat Reader 
not to rescale the pdf.

% persuade acrobat reader to obey the numbers 
[ {Catalog} << /ViewerPreferences << /PrintScaling /None >> >> /PUT 
pdfmark 

And if you decide to make cut-marks, that *may* be an 
appropriate use for a `0 setlinewidth` hairline.

I seem to recall seeing a posterize program in this group.
I'll try to find it.

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#2416

In comp.lang.postscript, luser- -droog  <mijoryx@yahoo.com> wrote:
mijoryx> I seem to recall seeing a posterize program in this group.
mijoryx> I'll try to find it.

I had misremembered the keyword to search on.

Other contributions so far:

tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> suggested:
tlvp> If it's a 24" x 36" PDF, why not use Acrobat Pro to crop it into a
tlvp> dozen 8" x 9" cells, print each of those on letter or A4 paper, trim
tlvp> the printouts, and reassemble with clear cello tape?

John Reiser <jreiserfl@comcast.net> suggested:
jreiserfl> The "Tiler" app by MindCraft from the Apple AppStore for Mac
jreiserfl> is $5. It requires an AppleID (iTunes ID) to purchase, but then
jreiserfl> can be installed and run on multiple machines. Tiler works with
jreiserfl> any .pdf and actual printer. The printer driver must be installed
jreiserfl> so that Tiler can inquire the printable area; extra margins can
[...]
jreiserfl> At the lowest level, the PostScript code to perform the tiling
jreiserfl> is trivial. Set a clipping region according to the paper size,
jreiserfl> and a translation according to the tile, then show the whole
jreiserfl> input. Iterate over the tiles.


From these suggestions, I can see I have not been clear enough in what I
am looking for. (For "I" know that it is a family member I'm helping
out, not really me.)

I have a document[*] in Illustrator that is very large. I can print it
at very large sizes for myself. I want to be able to easily create a PDF
that is pre-paginated for letter or a4 with trim marks and page
placement to send to other people for them to print. I do not have
access to the printers that will ultimately be used. I don't know if
they are printing on letter or a4. I do know that the content CANNOT be
resized and has large amounts of whitespace.

  [*] For sake of example. There are actually a lot more than just one.

These are sewing patterns. If the output is resized, the pattern is
wrong. There might not be any output intersecting a left edge or a right
edge or a bottom edge, etc, so trim marks are essential to know where to
cut. Ideally trim marks are easy to tell apart from the actual pattern
content. Ideally reassembly is mindlessly easy.

Normally patterns are just printed and mailed out, but it would be handy
for pattern testers to get digital files more quickly than the post
allows. Any process that requires hand iteration on the files is going
to be too tedious to consider. 

I have Illustrator but not the full suite of programs that includes
Acrobat. Illustrator is already costing $20/month, adding Acrobat at
$15/month for the sole purpose of adjusting occasional files for
printing doesn't seem like a good value add. A one-off purchase of
something in the sub-$100 range, Maybe. A one-off purchase of something
in the sub-$25 range, that's an easy Yes.

So, new suggestions?

Elijah
------
doesn't feel confident enough in PS to write a filter program for this

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#2417

> These are sewing patterns. If the output is resized, the pattern is
> wrong. There might not be any output intersecting a left edge or a right
> edge or a bottom edge, etc, so trim marks are essential to know where to
> cut. Ideally trim marks are easy to tell apart from the actual pattern
> content. Ideally reassembly is mindlessly easy.

So the re-assembly instructions "row J, column K" probably could appear
*inside* the region whose boundary is the cut marks?
This is an important flexibility for saving paper.
The waste of an extra row or column because of discarded margins
can be painfully obvious.

Typical printed output is not dimensionally accurate.
Paper stretches, particularly when heated by a fuser
or saturated by water-soluble jetted ink.
The output can be off by 2% quite easily.
That's more than an inch on a 5-foot garment,
and those who sew will not be happy about the stretching.

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#2419

In comp.lang.postscript, John Reiser  <jreiserfl@comcast.net> wrote:
> So the re-assembly instructions "row J, column K" probably could appear
> *inside* the region whose boundary is the cut marks?

Yes, and would be ideal if it didn't overlap anything.

> This is an important flexibility for saving paper.
> The waste of an extra row or column because of discarded margins
> can be painfully obvious.

I can imagine.

> Typical printed output is not dimensionally accurate.
> Paper stretches, particularly when heated by a fuser
> or saturated by water-soluble jetted ink.
> The output can be off by 2% quite easily.

That much stretch sounds dubious. Do you have a cite? And note, the 
the paper will not be close to saturated.

> That's more than an inch on a 5-foot garment,
> and those who sew will not be happy about the stretching.

Yeah, I suspect I'd want to include a calibration marker. "This line
should be exactly 5 inches / 127 mm." 

Elijah
------
did not find much credible in a quick search on paper stretching

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#2418

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8:29:34 PM UTC-5, Eli the Bearded wrote:
> So, new suggestions?
> 
> Elijah
> ------
> doesn't feel confident enough in PS to write a filter program for this

If the source file is PDF, Acrobat **READER** X and above will handle
tiling. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-posters-banners-acrobat-reader.html

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#2423

On 01/07/2016 10:09 PM, Ross Presser wrote:

> If the source file is PDF, Acrobat **READER** X and above will handle
> tiling.
>
> https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-posters-banners-acrobat-reader.html

I tried it on a Mac: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, version 2015.009.20069.

The cut marks are printed only for inside edges, and not for any outside edge.
This means that there are no guides for cutting the outside edges
so that a 3-sheet row [or column] can be taped and folded as a triptych
for easy carrying.  Put the UNCUT center sheet on the bottom, and tape
the CUT left and right sheets on top of the center sheet.  Fold
the right sheet along the tape line onto the center, then fold the
left sheet onto the pile.  The uncut right edge of the right sheet
will interfere with the fold between the left sheet and the center.

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#2430

Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:
> In comp.lang.postscript, luser- -droog  <mijoryx@yahoo.com> wrote:
> mijoryx> I seem to recall seeing a posterize program in this group.
> mijoryx> I'll try to find it.
> 
> I had misremembered the keyword to search on.
> Other contributions so far:
<<snip>>
> So, new suggestions?
> Elijah

Don't know if you're still looking, but that "posterize program"
mentioned above is at
   http://www.inkguides.com/eps-postscript-poster.asp
From that page...
   "If you're lucky enough to have access to a large-media
    printer/plotter, you can print it on that. Otherwise,
    Poster can print it out on your regular printer,
    on lots of sheets of paper which you glue together
    to make the poster."
I use the program myself. Works great.
P.S. It was somebody in this ng that mentioned poster to me
originally, when I posted a question about a similar problem.
But I don't recall who that was.
-- 
John Forkosh  ( mailto:  j@f.com  where j=john and f=forkosh )

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#2413

On Thu, 7 Jan 2016 01:34:57 +0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded wrote:

> I'm trying to help someone solve a problem that involves large (arch-D:
>  24" x 36" / 610mm x 914m; and larger) sized documents and printing from
> non-oversize printers.

If it's a 24" x 36" PDF, why not use Acrobat Pro to crop it into a dozen 
8" x 9" cells, print each of those on letter or A4 paper, trim the
printouts, and reassemble with clear cello tape?

Cheers, -- tlvp
-- 
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

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#2414

> I'm trying to help someone solve a problem that involves large (arch-D:
>   24" x 36" / 610mm x 914m; and larger) sized documents and printing from
> non-oversize printers.

The "Tiler" app by MindCraft from the Apple AppStore for Mac is $5.  It requires
an AppleID (iTunes ID) to purchase, but then can be installed and run on
multiple machines.  Tiler works with any .pdf and actual printer.  The printer
driver must be installed so that Tiler can inquire the printable area; extra
margins can be set.  The app allows interactive adjustment of scaling percentage
and number of rows and columns.  As far as I can tell, it cannot draw cut marks
nor print re-assembly instructions in the margins.  I use it to print
graphs produced by gperftools, the subroutine CPU time profiler.

Adobe Acrobat (full product, but not Reader) also can tile printouts.

At the lowest level, the PostScript code to perform the tiling is trivial.
Set a clipping region according to the paper size, and a translation
according to the tile, then show the whole input.  Iterate over the tiles.

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#2415

> The "Tiler" app ...

Tiler is by  MindCad .

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