posted
Man, I need some help! I do a lot of dye sub jobs and have a customer who wants 4 or 6" tiles printed with an abstract design. It will be on the wall between the cabinets and countertops in their new kitchen and look like one continuous photo (2' high by whatever).
I know Conde sells tile making software (it's expensive) but it seems like Corel 10 should have a setting some place to print say 2- 4" tiles across and 3- 4" tiles down on a 8.5 x 14" sheet until the whole picture is printed.
I've tried all morning to work this out- I went into print> layout> print tiled pages, but it won't print the way I need it to. Tried setting my paper as 4" x 4" but that doesn't fool it either.
Anyone have an idea here?
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
any reason why you couldn't print the full sheet and cut with ruler and razor blade after? ... or export to a bitmap type program and slice then print
just thinking out loud
-------------------- Compulsive, Neurotic, Anti-social and Paranoid ... but basically Happy Posts: 2677 | From: Rochester, NY, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Linda, I do some dye sub tiles also, I use Corel 8. Check out http://www.dyesub.org/ they have a article there explaining how to do it. Tropical Graphics also has a tech section I think they explain how to do it in Corel and Photoshop. Basically you have to break up your image into 4" squares, once broken apart you can lay them out as you like to print.
-------------------- Mark Perkins Performance Signs & Graphics Eunice, Louisiana "The heart of Cajun Country" Posts: 506 | From: Eunice Louisiana 70535 | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks guys- Mark M.: while I think your suggestion would work I'm afraid I wouldn't get the professional results required.
Mark P: Those are great instructions. Thanks a bunch. I went ahead and ordered the mural maker- it wasn't as much as I thought, but in case it doesn't arrive FedEx overnight I'll use dyesubs steps. The newspaper wants to do an article on my shop Wed. PM and wants to take photos of work in progress- thought this this would be a good project to be in the middle of-- tired of showing signs.
Again- thanks all for your help.. is this a great place or what?
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Linda, What kind of printer do you have? I have been wanting to do a little dye sub and bought a used printer on ebay . But unfortunately this was the first and only thing that I have bought on ebay that I couldn't get working.
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged |
What I think you're wanting is to take a large picture and print it in 4" pieces. I don't know of a way in corel to do this, but in the past I've done something similar. It could be pretty time consuming it the image was very large.
Put your image on a page and set the page the same size, create a box 4" square, go to "arrange" "align and distribute" and set it to left, edge of page, top. Then powerclip into the box. There's one piece. Do this till you have all the pieces.
If you duplicate the image three times before you start, set two of them off the edge of the page. This way you can do the first one, move it out of the way, do the second one, move it out of the way, and do the third. This would be the top 3 images 4" square which you should be able to print on an 8.5 x 14 sheet.
Maybe this helps.
-------------------- Ace Graphics & Printing Camdenton, MO. USA
posted
Basically in Corel, let's say you have six tiles in your mural. You create six squares, align them to where the adjoining edges touch, then group the six squares together. Then Powerclip your image into the six boxes, break them apart and you have six individual prints. You can then place as many on a page as your printer can handle.
-------------------- Mark Perkins Performance Signs & Graphics Eunice, Louisiana "The heart of Cajun Country" Posts: 506 | From: Eunice Louisiana 70535 | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Linda, Epson printers are the only ones that work with dye sub, you can check out www.tropicalgraphics.com to see which printers they support with dyes and ICC profiles.
-------------------- Mark Perkins Performance Signs & Graphics Eunice, Louisiana "The heart of Cajun Country" Posts: 506 | From: Eunice Louisiana 70535 | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Laura- I have an Epson 980 printer that is dedicated strictly for dye sublimation. There are a few others out there but I'm not familiar w/ them. My only regret when purchasing the printer is that I didn't get the Epson 3000 to handle larger sheets. I buy my dye in bulk form from ColorFactory in CA- it's a lot cheaper than using cartridges... for that matter, I buy bulk ink for my Epson 780 that I use in the office from tssphoto. Once the systems are in place replacing the bottles/ packs is very inexpensive.
Perkins- you're way too smart for me!
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
I am curious what type of work you do with dye sublimation. I've always been curious about the tile walls you see at shows. The BIG Show is here next month and I'm going to check it out.
How does it work? Do you print all the tiles and give them to some to install or do you print right on the installed wall?
Sorry for all the questions! Good luck.
-------------------- Amy Brown Life Skills 101 Private Address Posts: 3502 | From: Lake Helen, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Amy, I've been playing around with sublimation for a couple of years, I do shirts, license plates, name badges,and tiles. The tile murals are printed then either framed or grouted to a wall. UV is a problem with dye sub, direct sunlight will fade the prints in a year or two, inside they should be good for a long time.
-------------------- Mark Perkins Performance Signs & Graphics Eunice, Louisiana "The heart of Cajun Country" Posts: 506 | From: Eunice Louisiana 70535 | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
Here's what ya do (and I know it works cause I just did it with one of my own images).
Go to Layout>Page Setup.
Find the Grid and Guidelines setup, set the Spacing to whatever size tile it is, PLUS the distance of the joint between tiles. Example a 4" tile with a 1/4" join would make your spacing 4.25"
Make sure "Show Grid" and "Snap to grid" are checked.
Now draw a rectangle the size of your tile (4x4) and position one corner on the grid. This will be easy cause it should snap right to the grid. Now hit the "+" (plus) key on your numeric keypad, that will duplicate the square directly over the first one, then move that square over to the next point on the grid. Now when you hit CTRL-D it will duplicate additional rectangles, automatically spaced correctly, this will save you lots of time.
When you have all the squares done, weld them all together.
Load your image, select it and go to Effects>PowerClip>Place Inside Container then click on one of the rectangles and the image will be placed inside them with the spacing cut out.
Now you can break them apart "Arrange>Break Apart" and position them for printing.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Jeez- you guys are smart! Thanks for all the advice.
Amy- go to www.conde.com and check out their website for various sublimation products. New items are added constantly so you kinda have to stay on top of it. I've done just about every product they have except jewelry and other small stuff- doesn't interest me. If you buy a dye system contact me first and I'll tell you why I chose the supplier I did. I've been dye subbing for 2 years now with no regrets.
Again- thanks to all of you for the information- I got the job done before the press arrived and they were blown away!
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mark- I'll show you mine if you show me yours!!!
Actually- I left the shop by 5:30 tonight- busy day getting ready for that interview. I was able to show a relief sculpture- thanks entirely to Dave Draper and the time he spent with me a few weeks ago in IL- and I had just finished 2 awards- dye sub, again!, when they arrived. Some things just make you feel so good- one guy said he'd like to take a couple days off and come and "play" in my shop. I told them all about the LetterHead site and how much help is shared between one another- they were really surprised and took particular notation of it. 3 years ago I was too shy to post a question- well, not any more... you guys saved me countless hours of figuring stuff out for myself and once set up it took all of 33 minutes start to finish... print>"bake">display= DONE! Didn't use the customer's artwork (in case they took a photo) so made a proto of a hi-res stock photo (12" x 16").
Some things in life just don't get any better !
-------------------- Linda Schmidt Vital D'Signs Greers Ferry, AR signlady@ozarkisp.net Posts: 160 | From: Greers Ferry, AR | Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged |
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic