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The Print dialog's Media list only had Letter/Legal/Tabloid and the ISO A
and B papers, so Japanese papers had to be entered as a custom size, and
"B4"/"B5" were ISO 216 (250 × 353 and 176 × 250 mm) although Japanese
printing uses the JIS sizes (257 × 364 and 182 × 257 mm, JIS X 6310).
Media gains JIS B4, B5 and B6 next to the ISO ones, and はがき
(japanese postcard, 100 × 148 mm), 往復はがき (japanese double postcard,
148 × 200 mm), 封筒 長形3号/長形4号 (japanese envelope #3/#4, 120 × 235
and 90 × 225 mm), 角形2号/角形3号 (kaku #2/#3, 240 × 332 and 216 × 277 mm),
四六判 (yonroku-ban, 127 × 188 mm) and A6, all in millimetres at 72/25.4.
b4 and b5 keep their ISO 216 dimensions so print settings and presets
saved before the Japanese papers existed keep their paper; the dialog
labels say "B4 (ISO)"/"B5 (ISO)" beside "B4 (JIS)"/"B5 (JIS)".
A paper is named by its JSON id or by its dialog label, any case and
spacing ("b5 (jis)", "B5 (JIS)" and "b5jis" all mean the JIS B5), so
agents and the control channel need not know the id spelling; an unknown
name is still refused. Media is written out instead of through the
choice! macro to carry that lookup.
The print.setup/file.print parameter docs and docs/mcp.md list the new
papers; the Print dialog picks them up from Choice::ALL with no UI code
change, and the Japanese labels are translated in ja.tsv (はがき,
往復はがき, 長形3号, 長形4号, 角形2号, 角形3号, 四六判).
Tests: japanese_paper_sizes checks every added size in points, that the
ISO B4/B5 values did not change, name resolution and id/label round
trips, and that each paper prints a PDF page with its own MediaBox size.
Validation: cargo fmt --all -- --check clean; cargo clippy
-p vectorcraft-pdf --all-targets -- -D warnings clean; cargo test
-p vectorcraft-pdf -> 330 passed, 0 failed (328 lib + 2 integration).
126 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
126 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
# Print a large poster across multiple pages
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## Overview
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Use tiled printing to spread a large poster, sign or sewing pattern across several sheets of A4,
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Letter or other paper. VectorCraft divides the drawing into numbered tiles at the scale you choose.
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Overlap repeats part of the drawing on adjacent sheets to help you align them after printing.
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## Print a poster on multiple sheets
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1. Open your drawing in VectorCraft. For a full-size pattern, check that the drawing has the intended
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dimensions before printing.
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2. Choose **File → Print…** to open VectorCraft's **Print** dialog. In **Printer**, select your printer
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or **PDF File** to save the tiled job as a PDF.
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3. In **General**, under **Artboards**, choose **All** or **Range:** to select the artboards to print.
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For example, use **Range:** `1` for the first artboard. Choose **Ignore Artboards (all the art as
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one page)** only if you want to tile the bounds of all the artwork instead of individual artboards.
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4. Under **Media**, set **Size** to the paper loaded in the printer, such as **A4**, **Letter** or a Japanese paper (**B5 (JIS)**, **Japanese Postcard**, **Japanese Envelope #3**).
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Choose **Custom** to enter **Width** and **Height**. **Auto-Rotate (turn the paper to each artboard)**
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is on by default; turn it off to choose a fixed **Orientation**, such as **Portrait** or **Landscape**.
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5. In **Advanced**, set **Unprintable margin** to allow for the edges your printer cannot print.
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VectorCraft uses one value for all four edges; use a value that covers the printer's largest
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required margin. The default is zero, and VectorCraft does not read this value from the printer.
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6. Return to **General**. Under **Options**, set **Scaling** to **Tile Imageable Areas** or
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**Tile Full Pages** (see [Choose a tiling mode](#choose-a-tiling-mode)). Set **Scale**, both **W**
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and **H**, to `100%` to keep the drawing's size. Use the same percentage in both fields to keep
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its proportions; larger percentages enlarge the drawing and can require more sheets.
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7. Set **Overlap** to repeat a strip along adjoining tiles. For example, `10 mm` gives room for
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alignment. Length fields accept units such as `mm` and `in`. Overlap must be less than half
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the smaller tile dimension; increasing it can increase the sheet count.
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8. Leave **Tile Range** empty initially. Use the **Previous page** and **Next page** arrows beneath
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the preview to inspect each sheet. The label identifies its artboard and tile; the preview also
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shows the paper size and scale. Check **Summary** for warnings or invalid settings.
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9. Keep **Tile Range** empty to print every tile, or enter a range such as `1-3, 5` to print a subset.
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Check the preview again after changing the range.
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10. Click **Print**. With a printer selected, VectorCraft sends the laid-out job to the system's print
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service. With **PDF File** selected, it asks where to save the PDF, with one page per printed
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tile for each copy in composite output. **Done** keeps the print settings with the document
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without printing; save the document to retain them for next time.
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The tiling controls belong to VectorCraft's **Print** dialog on Windows, macOS and Linux.
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**Setup…**, beside **Printer**, opens the system's printer settings, whose interface varies by
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platform. Set tiling in VectorCraft's **Scaling** list. Keep the printer's paper settings consistent
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with **Media**. In the web app, printing goes through the browser's print dialog; **PDF File**
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downloads the PDF.
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For a paper proof, select **PDF File** and click **Print**, then open the saved PDF to inspect its
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pages before sending it to a printer. When printing that PDF, keep its page size and scale rather
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than applying another fit-to-page reduction. For a sewing pattern, measure a known length on a
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printed sheet before printing the full job.
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## Choose a tiling mode
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| Scaling | How it divides the drawing | When to use it |
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| **Tile Full Pages** | Each tile uses the full paper width and height. Adjacent tiles advance by that size minus **Overlap**. | Use when you need a grid based on whole sheets, such as with a printer that supports the required borderless paper setting. On a printer with unprintable edges, artwork near tile edges can be lost unless sufficient overlap covers those gaps. |
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| **Tile Imageable Areas** | Each tile uses the paper area inside **Unprintable margin**. Adjacent tiles advance by that smaller size minus **Overlap**. | Use for printers with unprintable edges. Set the margin in **Advanced** so the tiles account for those edges; this can require more sheets than full-page tiling. |
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With **Unprintable margin** set to zero, the two modes use the same tile dimensions. Neither mode
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makes a printer capable of borderless printing. **Fit to Page** scales an artboard onto a single
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sheet; choose a tile mode to keep a large drawing spread across sheets.
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## Check the layout on the canvas
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1. Set up tiling in **File → Print…**, then click **Done** to keep the settings.
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2. Choose **View → Show Print Tiling**. The canvas shows each sheet's paper edge and a dashed,
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numbered imageable area. Tiles excluded by **Tile Range** appear dimmer. The overlay uses the
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saved print settings; it does not print anything.
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3. Select the **Print Tiling Tool**. In the default toolbar, press and hold the **Hand Tool** button
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in the **Navigate** group to open its tool list, then choose **Print Tiling Tool**. The tool also
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shows the overlay while it is active.
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4. Drag on the canvas to position the grid. The pointer places the top-left corner of a page's
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imageable area and snaps near artboard edges. Tiles extend left and up as needed to cover the
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drawing, so that page may not be tile 1 after the move. Reopen **File → Print…** to check the
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resulting pages and tile numbers. Dragging the dialog's preview does not reposition tiled pages.
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To restore the default grid position, double-click on the canvas with **Print Tiling Tool** active,
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or double-click the tool's toolbar button. Alternatively, reopen **File → Print…** and click
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**Reset** beneath **Placement** when the dialog says **The Print Tiling tool placed the pages.**
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Click **Done** to keep that change. **View → Hide Print Tiling** hides the overlay after switching
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to another tool.
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## Print only selected tiles
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**Tile Range** uses numbers starting at 1, across each row from left to right, then down.
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For a grid with three columns and two rows, the first row is `1, 2, 3` and the second is `4, 5, 6`.
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Enter `2, 5` to print the middle column, or `1-3, 5` to print the first row and tile 5.
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Leave the field empty to print all tiles.
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**Range:** under **Artboards** selects drawings; **Tile Range** selects sheets within each chosen
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drawing. Tile numbering restarts for each artboard, and the same tile range applies to each one.
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To reprint one damaged sheet of one artboard, select that artboard with **Range:** and its tile
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with **Tile Range**. A tile number must exist on every selected artboard. Changing paper, scale,
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margin, overlap or grid position can change the grid and its numbering; check again before reprinting.
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## Assemble the printed sheets
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Lay out the sheets in tile order. Align repeated artwork in the overlap, trim unprinted edges as
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needed, and tape or glue the sheets together. Print a pair of adjacent tiles first to check the
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scale, margins and overlap before committing to a large job.
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## Troubleshooting
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- **The preview shows only one page.** It displays one sheet at a time. Use the arrows and check
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the count beneath it. If the count is one, check **Tile Range**, the chosen artboards, paper size
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and scale: the drawing may fit on one tile.
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- **The image shrinks to one sheet.** Change **Scaling** from **Fit to Page** to a tile mode and
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check both scale percentages. Also check for another fit-to-page setting when printing a saved PDF.
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- **Artwork is missing along sheet edges.** Check the printer's unprintable margins. Use
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**Tile Imageable Areas** with a suitable **Advanced → Unprintable margin**, or allow enough
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overlap in full-page tiling to cover the missing edges. Check that the physical paper matches
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**Media**; a zero margin does not remove a printer's hardware limits.
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- **No tiling boundaries appear on the canvas.** Keep the settings with **Done**, then enable
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**View → Show Print Tiling** or select **Print Tiling Tool**. If the settings are invalid, the
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overlay has no pages to draw; reopen **Print** and check **Summary**.
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- **The job has the wrong number of pages.** Check **Artboards**, **Tile Range**, **Copies** and
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**Skip Blank Artboards**. Paper size, orientation, scale, margins and overlap affect the grid.
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Under **Output**, **Mode → Separations** produces a page per enabled ink; use **Composite** for
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an ordinary poster. The dialog preview shows one copy; the saved PDF includes all copies.
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## Related documentation
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- [Printing and PDF file output](mcp.md#printing) — command reference.
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- [Print tiling](mcp.md#print-tiling) — overlay and positioning command reference.
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- [Print settings](mcp.md#print) — paper, scaling and output settings reference.
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