|
Preparing
a Poster for Printing on the HP DesignJet 1055CM Printer
How large can the poster be?The
Printer uses 36 inch roll paper, so the length can be whatever you want. Standard sizes are 36Ó x 48Ó, 36Ó x 56Ó
(PowerPoint), 36Ó x 60Ó, and 36Ó x 72Ó.
What
software should I use to make a poster? There are a number of choices, but what you will need is a program that can lay out panels of text and graphics, such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, PowerPoint, Canvas, etc.
File
formats: The
file format I currently prefer is PDF, although I can work directly
with PowerPoint and Adobe formats also.
If youÕre using a Macintosh running OSX, you can make a PDF file
directly from the print dialog box, although you may have to create
a custom page size the matches the desired poster size.
On the PC, you will probably need to have Adobe Acrobat installed
to make PDF files from any application.
There are several advantages to PDF files:
¥ I donÕt need the application that you used to create the poster. ¥ If the PDF file looks correct when you view it, it should also print correctly.
If youÕre using PowerPoint (on either platform), don't worry about creating a PDF file, just bring me the original PowerPoint file.
Using Microsoft PowerPoint: While I still think that there are better programs for poster creation, PowerPoint seems to have emerged as a standard, since itÕs a program that most people have and know how to use. With that in mind, IÕll pass on some suggestions for making posters with this program. When you create a poster in PowerPoint, you are essentially creating one big ÒslideÓ. Start with Page Setup, select ÒCustomÓ and specify the size you want, i.e. 36 x 48, 36 x 56, etc. (PowerPoint limits you to 56Ó). Remember that paper width is 36Ó, so the smallest dimension canÕt be any larger than that. It is possible to make posters longer than 56 inches by reducing the size of the original. For instance, if you need 36 x 60, make the poster one-half that size, 18 x 30. We can then scale the poster here to print the correct size. One thing to keep in mind with this method is that you have to consider what happens to the resolution of images that are placed in the file when it is scaled up. Placing photographic images in PowerPoint is pretty straightforward (Insert> Picture> From File). Images placed into your poster should have a resolution of about 100 Ð 150 ppi at the final printed size. The only time you might want higher resolution is if your image contains sharp lines or text. Photos generally donÕt require very high resolution. Images should be sized correctly before you place them. You can scale images by dragging the corner and holding down the shift key, but the number if pixels in the image remains the same, so the resolution becomes higher or lower as you scale them. To make sure images will look good when printed; view the poster at 100%, or 200% if youÕre scaling up from half-size. I have created a sample template in PowerPoint that you may modify for your own use if you wish. Things to avoid in PowerPoint: Transparent colors may print incorrectly due to the way transparency is implemented in PowerPoint. Don't take a solid color and make it lighter by using the transparency slider. Choose a lighter solid color instead.
__________________
When your poster is finished, put it on a USB flash drive or CD, and bring it to me so we can both look at it and make sure everything is the way it should be before printing it. Poster files sent as email attchments will not be printed.
Other suggestions for successful poster printing: Too often, posters are printed at the last minute before a meeting. This is discouraged, of course, because problems can and do arise with printing posters. You can minimize problems by observing some simple guidelines:
Avoid unusual fonts. Stick with the tried and true boring fonts like Helvetica, Times, Arial, Palatino, etc. I do have a large number of fonts in my system, so if you want something special, ask and IÕll see what we can do. With PDF files, thatÕs not a problem, because the fonts can be embedded in the document, which is another good reason to use that format.
DonÕt use dark backgrounds unless you really have to. This puts a lot of ink on the paper, and tends to make it wet and wavy (and harder to laminate).
Keep the file size down to a minimum. Most of the posters I see are between 20 and 80 Megabytes. I can work with bigger files, but itÕs much slower and more likely to have a problem.
Please do not send me poster files as email attachments.
DonÕt hesitate to call for advice. My number is 6-4552
The Bio-Optics lab is located in the Lokey laboratories, Integrative Science Complex, room 86. (undergound, east of Huestis hall) Thanks,
|