CEC

Making Posters

Sending Prints

 

Last revision October 11, 2013

Adobe Creative Suite applications were upgraded from version CS4 to version CS6 in November, 2014. Instructions for printing are being updated. Some instructions below still refer to CS4 screenshots. Windows and dialog boxes may be different for CS6. We appreciate your patience until all instructions are updated.

ONLY THE PROGRAMS AND OPERATING SYSTEM COMBINATIONS LISTED HERE HAVE BEEN TESTED.

Many problems occur from not getting your poster orientation correct. The default orientation for the printer is this: the roll is being fed in "portrait" mode, with a width up to 42 inches along the cut edge of the paper (width of the roll), and a height up to the total length of the roll (100 feet).

If your poster has a maximum dimension greater than 42 inches, you must specify the "width" value in your page setup as the shorter dimension (less than 42") and the "height" value as the longer dimension, even though you may think of the longer dimension as the horizontal or width dimension. The printer does not agree with you! You have to rotate your poster to print correctly in this case. The detailed instructions below for supported programs tell you how to do that.

Printing instructions are essentially the same for both printers. Directions and examples given for one printer apply to the other, unless specified.

  • Adobe Illustrator CS4 on Mac OS X or Windows. Works well from either Windows or Mac OS X. Make all settings from the Illustrator Print dialog box. Set a custom page size (can specify in inches and will be converted to points) and use the print preview option to verify that your print is scaled and oriented correctly to fit the paper size you specified.
    Click here for detailed instructions for Illustrator.

  • Adobe Acrobat CS6 (PDF files) on Mac OS X. Works well. Everything is done from the File->Print menu item dialog box. NEW! You can select color calibration for the Escher printer to get better color matching.
    Click here for detailed instructions for Acrobat CS6 on Mac OS X.

  • Adobe Acrobat CS4 (PDF files) on Windows. Works well, but more trouble to configure than Mac OS X. Open File->Print menu. Click on Properties button and use Advanced tab to set a custom page size. Check orientation and scaling in the preview window. Note that a bug in the Windows print driver may insert a "hold" instruction in the print which then requires that you "continue" your job from the front panel of the printer, once it has been released from the web form.
    Click here for detailed instructions for Acrobat on Windows

  • Adobe PhotoShop CS6 on Mac OS X. Works well. Everything is done from the File->Print menu item dialog box. NEW! You can select color calibration for the Escher printer to get better color matching.
    Click here for detailed instructions for Photoshop CS6 on Mac OS X.

  • Adobe PhotoShop CS4 on Windows. Works well, but more trouble to configure than Mac OS X. Use same settings as Acrobat on Windows.

  • PowerPoint. NOT TESTED. Recommend you convert final print to PDF, specifying the correct print size, and then print from Acrobat. You can also try exporting to a JPEG in the correct final print size and then printing from Photoshop.