CorelDraw Imposition Question

[Bill Jermyn]

Does anyone know if it's possible in CorelDraw do set up an imposition and have it only print the top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right (or even just the top and bottom lines) so I can test my spacing without waiting for the entire page to run?

[Dave Johnson29]

Does anyone know if it's possible in CorelDraw do set up an imposition and have it only print the top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right (or even just the top and bottom lines) so I can test my spacing without waiting for the entire page to run?

Not sure Bill,

You could try putting all the stuff you do not want to print on it's own layer then turn off the "Print" icon for that layer.

[George Brown]

Does anyone know if it's possible in CorelDraw do set up an imposition and have it only print the top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right (or even just the top and bottom lines) so I can test my spacing without waiting for the entire page to run?

Is this vector or raster?

[Bill Jermyn]

It's raster George. Not sure how I'd do that Dave, since for imposition layouts I generally make the page size slightly larger than the part, and use layout/imposition in the print dialog to set the number of pieces across and down. Maybe there's a better way.

[George Brown]

I assume alignment marks would not be good enough?

[Bill Jermyn]

Well, now you got me. What is an alignment mark?

[George Brown]

Well, now you got me. What is an alignment mark?

Do the setup on the page, whatever you need to engrave. Then in the four corners, on a different layer, draw marks which coincide with your layout. Turn off printing on all except the alignment layer. Print that, if ok, turn off print of alignment layer before sending the full job.

[Bill Jermyn]

That might work. I guess it would still print 150 sets of alignment marks if I were doing a 15 x 10 imposition, but it would save time from rastering the entire job.

[George Brown]

That might work. I guess it would still print 150 sets of alignment marks if I were doing a 15 x 10 imposition, but it would save time from rastering the entire job.

No it does not have to do that. If you want, send me the file or IM it and I'll show you what I mean.

[Dee Gallo]

I like to take the easy route: save your document first. Then make a white box with no line, cover what you don't want to print. Print your registration marks that are still showing and then either delete the boxes or revert to saved for the real deal.

I do it all the time for complex designs. If you just want to place the boxes with 1 pt. lines on top of your images, they will print an outline for you to use for placement. I find .5 pt. lines are too fine in the vertical to show up well without a lot of power at 100 speed.

cheers, dee

[George Brown]

I like to take the easy route: save your document first. Then make a white box with no line, cover what you don't want to print. Print your registration marks that are still showing and then either delete the boxes or revert to saved for the real deal.

I do it all the time for complex designs. If you just want to place the boxes with 1 pt. lines on top of your images, they will print an outline for you to use for placement. I find .5 pt. lines are too fine in the vertical to show up well without a lot of power at 100 speed.

cheers, dee

Hi Dee,

That would work just fine also. I like to leave the registration marks in the file (on a different layer) so I don't have to redo it if I want to print the file again.

[Dee Gallo]

I agree, George, that the layer concept would be efficient for future use. I keep my templates, so once I print the registration marks, I find it's a pain to have to deal with them again later. Each person needs to figure out what works for their own way of working. But there is no question that registration is essential and you don't need to waste time printing everything.

I would caution people making extra marks to make sure their marks line up in a closeup view - what looks lined up at 75-100% might not be exact at 200-300%. And you will be kicking yourself (voice of experience speaking...)

:) dee

[Roy Brewer]

Does anyone know if it's possible in CorelDraw do set up an imposition and have it only print the top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right (or even just the top and bottom lines) so I can test my spacing without waiting for the entire page to run?Bill,

If you mean you'd like one "copy" of your layout in the four corners of your table, the answer is yes. Set the Gutters in both horizontal and vertical to equal the "copies" you don't want.

If you mean can I just select the corner pages in the imposition layout after completeing the across/down, then I'm not aware of a way to do that.

I get the feeling, however, you're asking for some other reason since the imposition layout feature in DRAW is bulletproof as far as I'm concerned. That is, you don't need to test it, it will do exactly, precisely what you tell it to do every time. If you are talking about matching it to jigs made elsewhere, then don't make the jigs elsewhere; use the Imposition tool to made your jigs.

[Mark Plotkin]

bill,

yes you can use imposition layout and only print the corners. I will assume you are using a single page and doing a 10 x 15 array. If you are doing just one page when you do the layout you will see the page number(1) appear in the center of each page on the layout grid. if you click on the ones you don't want and make the (1) blank, you can then print only the corners and check for placement.

hope this helps,

[James Stokes]

Usually on some thing like that I will just draw vector lines around the outside and then set the laser to just vector.

[Bill Jermyn]

Thanks everyone for all the great replies!

Mark, that was it. I had no idea I could do that in the imposition layout page. I just clicked on the images I didn't want to print (one by one) and hit the delete button.

Sometimes my customers bring their own jigs and I need to get my spacing to match the jig. Usually they are for odd shaped parts and they are made with CNC equipment which I don't have. The last one was for aluminum rotors with shafts to be Cermarked and the customer had a delrin jig to insert the shafts into.

What a great site this is.

[Roy Brewer]

yes you can use imposition layout and only print the corners. Mark,

I never knew that; you can indeed! Thanks for tip.

[Bryan Bellars]

I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but couldn't you use the "print only selected" option from the print driver screen? then just select the bit you want to test. I often use this when putting an alignment box/circle on the drawing to line up on the piece being lasered.

[Bill Jermyn]

The problem is when I need to do a print merge that's not possible, because I only have 1 copy of the job and the print merge and imposition create the rest. By modifying the page size I can control the spacing, but I was looking for a way to check the spacing on the customer's jig without waiting for the entire imposition to run. Sorry, I didn't make that clear.