In need of help

[Tom Cullen]

Hi all,
I have a big problem and need help from someone who uses a GCC Explorer laser or similar print driver. MY problem is this, I have a very large mural to complete,the size is 6ft X 6ft ( 36 tiles total ) on granite. I set up my work space in Corel (12) making the page size 72 inches X 72 inches. I place all the logos and graphics into the work area and then make a grid 6X6 to cover the work area and make it the same size as the overall mural. I then make sure all my graphics are in the areas they need to be in and remove the grid. Next I group all the objects to make one big graphic and re do the grid over them. At this point I powerclip the image into the grid and ungroup. I can now select each square and print. My problem is when I send it to my laser ,my driver starts to send all the squares at once one after the other ( actually it looks like more that the 36 tiles ) . So what I have done now is to take each square and make a seperate corel file and print it as you would a 12 inch tile. Only this time I get the message "Output dosen't fit printable area". I can make it fit if I do the print preview and tell it to "fit to page" but I don't know how this will effect the overall joining of the mural ( no grout). Please see attached design for an idea of what I mean. How come if the square I seperated from the powerclipped grid is 12inches and the work sheet I put it into is 12 inches, I'm getting the message it won't fit? I know this is a rambling message but it's hard to explain without really getting into it.

Thanks
Tom

[Dave Johnson29]

Hi Tom,

I would move each tile to its own layer then turn off printing and viewing for the other layers. Then move the only visible tile to the 0,0 corner and send it.

{edit}
Or "Select" the tile and click "Print Selected only"

Also the paper size would have to be reset to equal or less than the laser page.
{/edit}

[Tom Cullen]

Hi dave,
thanks for the reply , if I understand you correctly that's what I did. I took each square out of the larger file ( each one being 12" and ungrouped ) and opened a seperate page and made that 12" I then dropped the square from the big design onto the new page and used the position command to fit it exactly on the page. I tried to print that to the laser but my driver keeps saying it wont fit the printable area. I'm trying to figure out how this can be if both are already set at 12"? and if I just try to send one square of the large file it starts sending them all nonstop, it even looks like it's sending more info that just the 36 tiles because I see it says 40 items sent? I guess when you powerclip my GCC driver see's all the tiles at once.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

Here is what I do.

Once you get the complete mural the size you want create create a series rectangles made up of your actual sized tiles. In this case 12" x 12" Then place them in a grid and group.

Next use the power clip and place inside the grid. Once this is done you can ungroup the tiles and work with them individually.

Remember to turnoff the outline on each tile.

[Tom Cullen]

Hi Michael,
Yes that's what I did do, but my print driver seems to want to send them all at once even with one tile ( square) selected. I'm very familiar with the powerclip tool and making a grid and ungrouping etc. It's just that this GCC Explorer print driver can't seem to distinguish that I want to print one tile at a time.

[Dave Johnson29]

if I understand you correctly that's what I did. I took each square out of the larger file ( each one being 12" and ungrouped ) and opened a seperate page

Hi Tom,

Nope. A Page is different to a Layer. The concept of Layers can be a little hard to grasp at first but they are probably the most important thing you can learn for laying stuff out in Corel. Because they are Pages rather than Layers, all Pages are being sent to the printer.

Did you try selecting (corner blocks) just one 12" tile then in the Print dialog select "Print Selected only" or "Selection". That should only send the Selected tile.

Do you have the original 72 x 72 as one of the pages? That would be the one causing the "printable area" error. Try deleting that page so you only have 36 pages.

You will still need to have the tile to print Selected and select "Print Selected" or "Selection" You can use the Print Preview button to see what is going to be printed.

Heed Michael's tip of deleting the outline. Don't ask. :D:D

[Dave Johnson29]

It's just that this GCC Explorer print driver can't seem to distinguish that I want to print one tile at a time.

Tom,

That is Corel sending all pages, the Print Driver will only print what it gets.

[Larry Bratton]

Your page size is set larger than your table size. I set my page size to the same as my table size. If I were working with tiles, I would do them one at a time, set the tile in the upper left 0,0 position and then select the area for that tile and print it as "selected". Of course,set each tile on a separate page in the 0,0 position in Corel to correspond with your table and print only that page. Good luck.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Your page size is set larger than your table size. I set my page size to the same as my table size

That how I did my tile project, I splitted the image, left them all on one page and just moved every piece to the top left position and send them to the printer as "print selected"

[Gary Hair]

Tom,
You have to set the page size to the size of your laser otherwise you will get errors like you indicated.

I would create the entire drawing in the size you did, 72" x 72", and then copy each 12" x 12" piece to a new file with the page set to your laser and print.

Gary

[Tom Cullen]

Thanks everyone,
You have all be so very kind and helpful, I believe the setting the table size in Corel to match my lazer will do the trick. I'm at work right now but can't wait to get home and give it a try. I was setting my paper to match the tile size in Corel and getting clipping errors but now that I set it to the table size and position the 12X12 graphic in the upper left the errors are gone YAHOO! I was starting to freak out there a little. I told the customer I would have it knocked out next week. I've done small murals before with little or no issues but don't recall what my setting for page size and work area was. Well I learned something new today....

Now if this works my stress headaches will be gone.

Thanks
Tom

[Albert Nix]

Yeah I believe you will have to match table sizes also. And if your driver is the same as mine once you select file-print then you need to set scale to 100% then check the box that says print tiled pages--use negative overlap if desired--then go to properties--pages--and set x--y to the size tile that you will be using--then ok. If I remeber right the tiled image shows in the preview screen and you can either select them one at a time or all of the files are sent at once and each are printed from the 0,0 position. I havent tried it but once and that was a long time ago. If kevin from signwarehouse is still lucking about he could help you.

[Tom Cullen]

Hi Everyone,
Well I've tried just about everything I can think off and still can't get this job to come out right. I'm beginning to think it's either a corrupt file or the motherboard is having issues. What seems to happen is this, I can engrave any tile with just a logo in the design without issue, placed at point 00 on the table but when I try to engrave the larger parts of the compass rose the laser doesn't start on the tile in the location it should. Say for instance I have the job tiled to do two tiles at a time. Well the job is sent to the laser by selecting in the print drive the two tiles and saying print this selection now, the job gets to the laser but it will engrave two inches short to the right of the second tile, missing some of the design. I took just the compass rose and did that on a twelve inch tile and it engrave normally. The problem rises when I stretch it over the mural and tile it. The compass rose is in SVG format, can someone take a look at it for me to see if they can run a section ( even on paper) to see if it works. It seems to be any tile that has just the sections of the rose on it causing problems. If someone else checks it and it's fine then maybe it's my motherboard.

[Tom Cullen]

I can send anyone the file if you would like to look at it.

Thanks
Tom

[Doug Griffith]

Send it to me, I'll take a look at it. macskinz_at_yahoo_dot_com.

Also, have you thought about rasterizing it 100% size at the output resolution of your laser. Then break it up into multiple bitmap images.

Cheers,
Doug

[Shaddy Dedmore]

Not sure of what print settings you're using, but I had a small how-to in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=14086) from ages back... Using a Working document for the big picture, then a second doc to paste to, to actually print individual parts from.

Shaddy