Printing to scale

[StanC]

I would like to print out some maps to a 1 inch scale. What programs do people use to do this, I hear some people talking about doing this.

Thanks
Stanc

[Gruuuu]

If you have Microsoft Office, this is fairly trivial in powerpoint, You just make sure the squares are sized to 1 inch and turn off "scale to fit"

If you don't, and must go with an open source method, Gimp will work just fine, but it will take a little bit of monkeying around with to get familiar with the options. You want to make sure of a few things here:

.

-Make sure that your map sections are not larger than the paper size's printable area! A safe bet is a half inch border on all sides (10.5 x 8 for 11x8.5).

-You probably want a minimum of 150 pixels per inch when you set up your file, I recommend 200 or 300.
--150x10.5x8=1575x1200 (image pixel dimensions)
--200x10.5x8=2100x1600 (image pixel dimensions)
--300x10.5x8=3150x2400 (image pixel dimensions)

(if you are adding grids)
-grids are achievable by painting a 'pattern' of two connected legs of a square. You should be able to google a tutorial for that.

I realize after finishing this post that I assumed you were drawing your own maps. If you've got a file already, such as a PDF or something, I'm not sure how the copyright rules apply, or how much of a hassle Office Max or Kinkos or the like would give you if you brought them in, but if you take them to a print center, they should know how to make sure the scale is set correctly.

[Archmage_Atrus]

Gruuuu wrote:

If you've got a file already, such as a PDF or something, I'm not sure how the copyright rules apply, or how much of a hassle Office Max or Kinkos or the like would give you if you brought them in, but if you take them to a print center, they should know how to make sure the scale is set correctly.

This is a serious issue with Kinkos and other print centers. Unless the file you wish to print specifically and explicitly lists "FREE TO COPY FOR PERSONAL USE" (or something similar), you are likely to get flat out refused.

[Andrew Betts]

I print them at home usually using Photoshop, sometimes it's a little trial and error for sizing but I just resize the map that I extract from the PDF and am good to go, it's a little blurry, but what do you expect when you increase 3-4x in size.

[Tarlane]

Archmage_Atrus wrote:

Gruuuu wrote:

If you've got a file already, such as a PDF or something, I'm not sure how the copyright rules apply, or how much of a hassle Office Max or Kinkos or the like would give you if you brought them in, but if you take them to a print center, they should know how to make sure the scale is set correctly.

This is a serious issue with Kinkos and other print centers. Unless the file you wish to print specifically and explicitly lists "FREE TO COPY FOR PERSONAL USE" (or something similar), you are likely to get flat out refused.

I've found that while this is standard policy, its enforcement tends to be hit or miss. I've printed out various things that either were just a big load for my printer(Pathfinder Alpha) or did something I couldn't reasonably do at home like weird sized prints and stuff at staples. One of them told me they couldn't do it while another printed them without problems. You might need to shop around, but hopefully you can find a place that does what you need.