Print dialog version PWP 7,018

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davidh
Posts: 835
Joined: June 9th, 2009, 2:16 am

Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by davidh »

After clicking OK, the print dialog does not rememeber the Orientation and some of the margin settings (top and left at least).
Also, when Horizontal Alignment is set to Right, there remains a tiny visible gap between the image and the right margin. No gaps are visible along the other margins when the image is aligned to them. When printed, no space seems do be added to the right margin, so it is just on the preview, still one might feel a bit uncertain especially when larger prints are about to be printed.

David
jsachs
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by jsachs »

The initial orientation is now determined automatically from the proportions of the image.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
davidh
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Joined: June 9th, 2009, 2:16 am

Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by davidh »

Unfortunately this is not what happens with my PC. When I try to print a small print crop e.g. 5,2 x 2,5 cm, the Print dialog sets the Orientation as rotated and displays it as Portrait instead of leaving it Landscape. Also it does not remember the last Margins settings, they are even always different as if trying to push the image to the upper left corner.
This way, as I print small crops one by one from left to right while I am tuning the Printer curves, instead of changing only the Left margin I always have to set the Orientation back to Normal and the Top margin to the previous value.

The previous solution was much better. Setting the orientation took just two clicks and stood it until one wanted to change it. The same paid for the other settings.

David
ksinkel
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by ksinkel »

In addition to the print dialog, Picture Window also has Print Album as an alternate print function.

For most printing, the two will produce identical results. So which you like better is a matter of taste.

Album print uses mouse movements rather than dimension boxes for positioning the image, cropping and panning. It also has built in standard sizes like 8 x10, 6 x 4, etc. It starts off positioning the image for the largest standard size that fits your paper. From there, you can pick a different size or reposition the image interactively with the mouse.

It also allows printing multiple images on the same page or additional pages.

On the other hand, Album print does not support one to one mode and it does not tile over multiple pages.

Kiril
Kiril Sinkel
Digital Light & Color
davidh
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Joined: June 9th, 2009, 2:16 am

Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by davidh »

OK, let us leave the orientation as it is. Still it does not explain how the margins are determined.

I made the following test with a crop 1.4 x 1.5 :

1. I placed the crop at: Left 3.3, Top 23.5, Right and Bottom were left to their defaults 0.3, then I printed.

2. I tuned the Print Curves, then opened the Print dialog, the Left margin had changed to 1.3 and the Top margin to 9.25.

3. I changed the Left margin to a new value - more to the right at 4.8, reset the Top margin back to the previous 23.5 and printed.

4. I reopened the Print dialog, the Left margin had changed to 1.89 and the Top margin remained at 9.25.

5. Next opening of the Print dialog after setting the Left to 6.3 and Top to 23.25 showed the Left margin at 2.48 and Top again at 9.25

etc.

Why does the Top Margin stay at 9.25 instead at 23.5 and why does the Left Margin change as it does? Is it because the logic behid the Print dialog is not made for printing fragments of images? If this is intended, then I switch to the Print Album for printing crops.


What is also interesting, if you repeatedly just open the Print dialog and close it without printing, the the crop moves with each opening more and more up and left until is finishes in the uper left corner.


David
jsachs
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by jsachs »

Thanks for the report - I will clean this up when I get a chance.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
jsachs
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by jsachs »

I am not sure I understand exactly what you are doing, but I am having trouble reproducing any of these problems. What it sounds like you are doing is printing a small sections of the same image repeatedly on the same sheet of paper, presumably to avoid wasting paper. Each time you print you are adjusting some settings and using the margins to move the image around on the page. Are you cropping the image from within Print or before you print? What settings are you using for Scale:?

Can you perhaps send me some more details including screen shots of the PWP Print dialog and some image and output sample images?

My email is jsachs@dl-c.com

Thanks
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
jsachs
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by jsachs »

I have added a new orientation setting: Auto so you can use a fixed orientation if you prefer or have it set automatically. Auto orientation simply matches the image orientation (portrait or landscape) to the page size (portrait or landscape). In most cases this will result in the largest printed image. If you use unsymmetrical margins, it might work better to set the orientation manually.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
jsachs
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Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by jsachs »

While it is certainly possible to position images on the page by adjusting margins, and it should be fixed if it doesn't work properly, there is another technique I use to do this that I find much easier.

First you create a blank layout matched to the page size with panels for each of the subimages you want to print on the same page. Then you can then leave all but one of the panels blank and place your successive images in different panels. The resulting images created by Layout will contain a lot of white space, but most printers skip over white space and just print the image on the part of the page corresponding to the panel. Printing successive images on the same page will then print the images next to each other arranged according to the layout. It is also useful if you have several versions of an image that you want to print side by side for comparison as you can fill in more than one panel at a time if you wish. You can save the layout for future use and eliminate all the margin calculations.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
davidh
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Joined: June 9th, 2009, 2:16 am

Re: Print dialog version PWP 7,018

Post by davidh »

I see I should have described what I mean by the "print crop". Perhaps the word crop is not a correct one in this context.

The print crops I use are not just one small section of the whole image displayed in the print dialog and cropped using the cropping rectangle. Each crop is made of several small patches of different colors from the image, composited or newly juxtaposed (very useful also for this purpose, thanks) into the final multicolored print or test crop which is then printed.

The dimensions of the final print crop differ depending on the number and kind of the important colors in the image. Sometimes they are as small as 2 x 4 cm other times they might be 5 x 10cm. So yes, I use them to save the paper. Instead of printing the whole image ten times, I print ten times the multicolored test crop, which serves only to hit the right colors. Once they are OK, I print the whole image.

And yes, I print them on the same paper next to each other, with some gaps in between, line by line until the paper is full. Then I take another and so on....

Until recently I only needed to set the Orientation, Top and Left margins once and change only the left margin after each print until I arrived at the Right margin. Then I started a new line of print crops: I set the Left margin to its minimum and increased the Top margin by the height of the print crop plus a small gap, and so on. Between the prints I tune the Print Curve and sometimes I also change the Rendering Intent. It was important, that the dialog remembered the orientation and margin settings between prints during the session.
Really a very fast and simple procedure, just increase the Left margin by the width of the crop plus 1-2 mm and print....

With the new version 0.18 the print dialog behaves differently, as I described previously - the Orientation and the Margins are not remembered.

When I print the whole image I either center it or calculate the visual center and use the Bottom margin value.

There is also that automatic movement of an image on the Paper of the Print dialog. Unless it is centered or at its minimal margin values it moves each time the Print dialog is reopened after it was closed without printing using the close button X. It always moves to the corner defined in the Allignmet settings, e.g. setting Top and Left causes the image to move to the upper left corner, etc.
If nobody else can confirm, I will provide print screens.

Sorry for this lenghty explanation. I hope it will help.

David
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