Printing Large Format Posters

Points to Keep in Mind When Designing Posters

• There is a minimum of 0.25" border of laminate on each side of the poster. If your poster must fit in specific dimensions for mounting or other purposes, please keep this in mind as trimming the laminate close to the poster can lead to peeling and other undesirable results.
  
• If a file has any images/content beyond a width of 35", the file will be printed without the content which extends beyond the width of 35".
  
• Any poster over 54" in length cannot be cut using the large paper cutter. If the poster is to be laminated as well, the length of the original file must be less than 52" in length in order to be cut using the paper cutter. Any poster greater than 54" will need to be cut manually with scissors by the user.
• PowerPoint cannot handle slides greater than 56" in dimension.
• Large files can take up to several hours for the plotter to process. Please allow enough time for plotting. Otherwise, you may not be able to pick up your plot until the following work day.
• Plot jobs will only be accepted up to thirty minutes prior to closing. Due to the time required to setup and send a print job to the plotter, we are unable to process jobs that are sent within thirty minutes of closing.

Engineering users can use print quotas toward plotting. The rate for plotting is 150 pages per plot. Or a plot can be purchased with a check or cash in the amount of $7.50.

Sending a File to the Plotter

The plotters print queue name from a DECS lab machine is eb1325-plotter.

When you are designing your poster, do not select a paper size wider than 35" as the plotter does add a margin for both the width and length. If the poster is wider than 35", the edges may be cut off when printed.

As the plotter does take 150 pages of print quota, to prevent any errors most users prefer to bring the file directly to DECS (EB 1325). Our Support Office staff will send the poster to the plotter for you. We will charge for the reprinting of any job sent by a user. Due to the amount of time required to setup and send a print job to the plotter, we are unable to process jobs that are sent within thirty minutes of the DECS Office closing.

Sending a PowerPoint Slide to the Plotter

To setup a page for a poster in PowerPoint, select "File" > "Page Setup" > Slides sized for (select "Custom") and input your poster size. (Image)

If you are sending a PowerPoint file, make sure the following options are selected after setting the printer to eb1325-plotter and selecting the Properties box:

• Layout tab
  • Orientation
    Set this so that it is relevant to your poster size and layout. If your poster is a Landscape poster wider than 36", select "Rotated Landscape". (Image)
    
  
  
  • Select the proper paper size for your print job:
    1. Click on the "Advanced" button.
    2. Set "Paper Size" to "Postscript Custom Page Size"
    3. Set "Width" and "Length" to the desired sizes. If the page is setup for "Rotated Landscape", set "Width" to the desired Length, and "Length" to the desired Width. (Image)
       

The longest page MS PowerPoint will let you setup is 54" long. If you need a longer poster, do the following:

• Set your width and length to half of the desired amounts; when sending the job, go to "Properties" then "Advanced" and set the postscript custom paper size to be half the desired size, click 'ok'.
• Go to the "Page Layout" tab and check the box that says "Enable Scaling".
• Go to "Scaling options" and set the width and height to the desired sizes, remembering to swap these if using 'rotated landscape'. It will now fit the page.

Sending an Acrobat File (PDF) to the Plotter

If you are printing a PDF file, there are a few additional options to select to ensure that your poster prints as desired. Before selecting the Properties box, in the Print Menu, check the box next to "Print as Image". Make sure the following options are selected after setting the printer to eb1325-plotter and selecting the Properties box:

• Layout tab
  • Orientation
    Set this, relevant to your poster. If your poster is a Landscape poster wider than 36", select "Rotated Landscape".
  • Select the proper paper size for your print job:
    1. Click on the "Advanced" button.
    2. Set "Paper Size" to "Postscript Custom Page Size"
    3. Set "Width" and "Length" to the desired sizes. If the page is setup for "Rotated Landscape", set "Width" to the desired Length, and "Length" to the desired Width.