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- Load your PDF file on station 11 and open it with Preview.
- Make sure your poster looks correct in Preview.
For an example of a poster that looks wrong in Preview, go to step 11. - Go to File > Print. Make sure the printer is set to dmc-plotter.
- Portrait orientation should always be selected.
- Choose Manage Custom Size… under Paper Size drop down menu.
- Click on + to add a Custom Paper Size, then change name from "Untitled" to your poster's dimensions -- 36"x48" in this example.
- Input your poster width and height in inches. Note that with portrait orientation selected in step 3, the width of the poster should be 36" in this case, and 36" paper should be loaded on the plotter. Note that the width is the edge that comes out first from the plotter; the height is how far along the paper roll you are printing.
- Choose User Defined under Non-Printable Area and make sure to leave 0.25 in margin for all sides. Click on OK.
Refer the following screenshot. - If your poster has no margins on all the four sides, refer to the following screenshot for a final check before sending your print job to the plotter. In the following example, the poster is printed at 99% scale to have the entire poster plotted.
- If your poster does have at least 0.5 inch margins on all the four sides, on the above screenshot, instead of Scale to Fit and Print Entire Image at 99%, choose Scale 100%, then Click on Print button. Your poster will be printed in its design size at 100% scale.
- An example of a poster that looks wrong in Preview: The light gray color in the background in the image copied below shouldn't appear. Don't print from Preview if the errors on the poster are so obvious and visible.
- The poster looks right when opening in Acrobat (i.e. no light gray background color appears.). Print from Acrobat instead of Preview.
Printing from Adobe Acrobat
Note:- A 48""x36" poster in landscape orientation is used in this illustration and a 36" paper/canvas roll is loaded.
- Mac works better than PC. It is recommended that you use a Mac to print a PDF file. For instance, if your poster is 60"x30" in landscape orientation, PC doesn't allow you input a 60"x30" paper. Instead, PC insists the paper used should be bigger in the length. If you enter 60"x30" width x length for paper size, it keeps changing the paper to 30"x60" and prints out the short edge of the poster first. If you have 60" wide paper loaded, it will be a waste of paper this way. This pitfall can be easily avoided on a Mac.
1. Open the PDF poster file with Adobe Acrobat on station 11.
- A 48""x36" poster in landscape orientation is used in this illustration and a 36" paper/canvas roll is loaded.
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