Save as file, postscript, partial image

[Benson Shaw]

I send files to a local print bureau for my large format printing (no in house plotter). In Vectorworks 11.5 and MacOS 10.3.9 if I choose Print:Save as File: Postscript in a large sheet, say US Arch E, the resulting file shows only part of the page. Usually the lower left area - about equivalent to a letter or legal sheet.

Print:Save as File:PDF or Print:Save as PDF return full image, but do not come in at scale. They end up a bit small .998 which translates to a 1/16 of an inch for every 4 feet - bad for full scale cartoon of 40 foot long mural). I can rescale objects in the drawing to compensate, but there should be a way to get the whole sheet in a Save as File:Postscript file. In letter sized tests the Save as File:Postscript file opened as pdf in Apple's Preview and when saved as pdf results in a properly scaled print.

Any experience with this problem?

Here is my drawing set up in VW:

one layer, one class

File Menu: Page setup:custom paper size: 48" x 36", scale 100% (I tried both landscape and portrait orientations - same problem)

Page Menu:Set print area:Arch E (it reverts to "one page"), show page boundary, show page breaks

Thanks

-B

[Guest]

Change the Page>Set Print area option from Arch E to ONE PAGE. This will ensure the proper page size will be created minus the print margin allowance.

Then, make sure the grey print boundary box is entirely around the part of the drawing you want to print. Anything outside that box will not print.

[Benson Shaw]

Thanks, Katie, but "One Page" is current setting. If I change it to some other page size, it updates the page break arrangement in the little preview window. If I change back to Arch E, close the Set Page box and reopen it, the size window says "One Page" again (responds to page size in File menu, I guess). pdf options give me the full image (slightly off scale), but the ps option only returns part of page.

???

-B

[Guest]

What printer do you have selected?

[Benson Shaw]

I only have two epson 820's in my printer list . these are letter/legal size ink jets. One of them is selected when I choose "Print". Do I need to add a wide format or postscript printer to the list? I thought the Save as Postscript is a virtual printer, but I've been wrong before.

-B

[Benson Shaw]

I have one at home and one at studio. Same model so I can buy same ink. They must have different signatures because I can't print unless the one I am plugged to is selected in the print center. I have to name them so I know which is which.

Most of the time no printer is plugged to the Powerbook. I don't print to paper that often, so don't bother to plug printer to usb port each time I move Powerbook (daily at least).

I am using the driver(s) supplied by Apple's OS disk and updates, not driver from Epson CD. Did I do something wrong?

-B

[ 07-28-2005, 07:35 PM: Message edited by: Benson Shaw ]

[Guest]

Why do you have the epson 820 installed twice?

[Benson Shaw]

New data, but still NO FIX - This is an OS/user related issue, not a VW problem, but we knew that. I tried same process with a photoshop file. Created a 36" x 48" canvas with some concentric rectangles filling it, set the File:Page Set Up to custom 48" x 36" and tried Print:Save as File:Postscript (not saved as postscript from Pshop save options). The resulting postscript file shows only lower left cornter of the Photoshop page.

[Barry Williams]

Try setting up a virtual printer using the HP driver for the 3500CP.

It's already installed as part of Tiger, not sure if it's in 10.3, if not just download it from HP.

I set this up as an IP printer with a non existent IP address (111.111.1.1), then go to PDF- save as postscript. It seems to work

[MKingsley]

I'm currently experiencing this same problem and Barry's solution did not work. Has anybody found a solution to this if they've run into it? Benson, are you still out there?

[Guest]

Michael,

Are you using the same printer?

Can you try to create a new user account and see if the problem persists in the new user account?

[MKingsley]

I'm in the same situation that Benson was a year ago, trying to send a file to a printing service. I tried Barry's suggestion above but that didn't help, but there may have been more combinations to that set-up that I didn't explore yet.

Just sending a PDF had it's own set of compatability problems for whatever reason, such as blank areas in some wall patterns, so the print service suggested sending the file as a postcript and they would distill it there. However it would only come through as an 8.5x11" portion of what is an 18x24" sheet. I could see the same thing happening on my end after making the .ps file and trying to open it on my Mac in Preview. It seems that there is different problem each time I send a file to an off-site printer, and I've tried a few. Often the sheet will look just fine on the print services computer moniter and then print out poorly from their printer and they don't know why.

I talked to David in tech by phone yesterday and we couldn't figure it out. Turned Quartz off and it didn't help either.