Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
So I have discovered at my Uni we have some giant large format printers.

I'm talking big big!

Picture_iPF8300_Slant_200_tcm13-755064.jpg


I've been having a great time printing off some poster sized shots of my photos at less than cost price but I was wondering if anyone had any tips for what I next want to achieve.

For a project I have going on I need 40 6x4s printed.

Does anyone know a way to take 40 PSD files and quickly and easily collated them into one image then print them on a large format printer? It would save a lot of time and paper rather than printing them all individually and then I would be able to cut them out on the guillotine.

I suppose I am looking for some sort of "collage" filter/function.

Does anyone have any tips?
 

andy.barron

macrumors 6502
Nov 30, 2006
441
0
Bedford, England
Personally I would set up an Adobe Illustrator doc to the max width size of the sheet of your printer, place the first pic into a mask of 6x4 & step & repeat over the doc size till 40 up.

Then, replace link to the different pics you require & once finished print the sheet & hey presto!

Hope that helps.
 

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
1,130
Somewhere!
Could also place them together in Photoshop and export as one PDF. Just make sure your file size is not wider than your printer. Also make sure your PDF export settings are set correctly.
 

andy.barron

macrumors 6502
Nov 30, 2006
441
0
Bedford, England
Could also place them together in Photoshop and export as one PDF. Just make sure your file size is not wider than your printer. Also make sure your PDF export settings are set correctly.

You may struggle with ensuring that they are 6x4 & also resolution differences in the file sizes.....
 

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
1,130
Somewhere!
You may struggle with ensuring that they are 6x4 & also resolution differences in the file sizes.....

Agreed, but both ways will work as long as you have the experience with Illustrator & Photoshop. I just have a tad more experience with PS. I also noticed OP is photographer so I assumed he would have some kind of experience with PS. I could be wrong though. Just thought of offering additional options for OP.
 

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
If you have access to Lightroom 4, this may be the easiest solution. Go to the Print Module. Select all 40 images. Select the paper size, of course. There is an option Single Print/Contact Sheet. Here you just set the number of columns and rows, how big each cell is (in your case 4x6), and the space between the cells. Lightroom will populate the cells for you, and line things up. If memory serves it will even rotate the images that need to be to fit the cell aspect ratio (portrait or landscape, that is).

Good Luck... and Lucky you... access to a wide format printer...
 

andy.barron

macrumors 6502
Nov 30, 2006
441
0
Bedford, England
Agreed, but both ways will work as long as you have the experience with Illustrator & Photoshop. I just have a tad more experience with PS. I also noticed OP is photographer so I assumed he would have some kind of experience with PS. I could be wrong though. Just thought of offering additional options for OP.

Of course, no problem. I agree it is always best to use what you are most confident with so if the OP is used to PS then would be better route of choice.:)
 

jammiefreerider

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2006
129
2
With LF printers your uni should have a software RIP. This will lay everything up on a page automatically and reduce the amount of ink used on a print. Use that and you'll have no problems.
 

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
Wow thanks for all the great responses and overnight (well overnight for me!).

Personally I would set up an Adobe Illustrator doc to the max width size of the sheet of your printer, place the first pic into a mask of 6x4 & step & repeat over the doc size till 40 up.

Then, replace link to the different pics you require & once finished print the sheet & hey presto!

Hope that helps.

This is similar to the idea I had but instead set it up in InDesign. Relinking is a great idea to ensure that I get the same size for each print.

Agreed, but both ways will work as long as you have the experience with Illustrator & Photoshop. I just have a tad more experience with PS. I also noticed OP is photographer so I assumed he would have some kind of experience with PS. I could be wrong though. Just thought of offering additional options for OP.

The computers linked to the printers have photoshop although they are ridiculously slow so I may have to create it on my own machine before exporting to a PDF as suggested. I might try the InDesign/Illustrator method first as I would be a little more confident laying them out in that before using photoshop to try it.

If you have access to Lightroom 4, this may be the easiest solution. Go to the Print Module. Select all 40 images. Select the paper size, of course. There is an option Single Print/Contact Sheet. Here you just set the number of columns and rows, how big each cell is (in your case 4x6), and the space between the cells. Lightroom will populate the cells for you, and line things up. If memory serves it will even rotate the images that need to be to fit the cell aspect ratio (portrait or landscape, that is).

Good Luck... and Lucky you... access to a wide format printer...

What a great idea! Hadn't even considered it. However, I will check out the module later today but I am not allowed to plug my laptop into the printer and the PCs that are connected only have CS4 and no Lightroom so I will see if I can export the ready to print file as a PDF.

Yeah, I wish I had one at home like that. I have 2 x 48 inch ones at work, so access still available just not at home.

With LF printers your uni should have a software RIP. This will lay everything up on a page automatically and reduce the amount of ink used on a print. Use that and you'll have no problems.

I will be sure to check with IT. I think they are trying to pretty much hide these printers from us as we get no formal learning on them and there is little instruction on the Intranet as to how to use them but with the cost being so low it's worth trial and error!

Thanks again everyone!
 

rick d

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2009
27
0
printing multiple prints

Lightroom is made for that type of printing. Set the paper size, print size, rows and columns, select the prints and they show up in the holes. You can save the template for further use if desired.
 

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
Lightroom is made for that type of printing. Set the paper size, print size, rows and columns, select the prints and they show up in the holes. You can save the template for further use if desired.

Yep I have figured out that Lightroom is pretty much perfect. I will then save as a 600DPI JPEG and load it up onto the Uni computers to print.

The only option I am still searching for is the ability to turn on "cut markers" on the Single Image/Contact Sheet Layout Style.
 

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
...
... so I will see if I can export the ready to print file as a PDF.
...
Thanks again everyone!

I don't see why not. I see you are also thinking about a JPEG solution. If there are no cut marks in Lr, you could just make the gutter between the photos 2 or 3 pixels wide. Then you should get very thin white lines to cut on. If you don't mind borderless prints.
 

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
I don't see why not. I see you are also thinking about a JPEG solution. If there are no cut marks in Lr, you could just make the gutter between the photos 2 or 3 pixels wide. Then you should get very thin white lines to cut on. If you don't mind borderless prints.

Another great idea! Thanks for sharing. I won't be printing till next friday but I look forward to posting a picture showing my success thanks to the help from here!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.