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Large Format Printing

HP Design Jet T1100ps

The HP Design Jet T1100ps printer, located in the Computer Lab, (Room LL22 in the Olin Center) is capable of producing high-resolution prints up to 40“ wide, and of limitless length. Currently there is basic HP matt poster paper (42” wide) in the computer lab. Semi gloss paper is available by request from the helpdesk. The following printing instructions were created using Adobe Photoshop; the process is very similar with other applications, you may need to refer to documentation of the application to find out how to size your document appropriately.

Prepare the Document

The first thing you’ll need to do is size and crop your document to proper dimensions for the printer. Keep in mind that in your final image, only one dimension can be larger than 40“. Although the printer works on a 42” roll, it cannot print edge-to-edge. It’s best to leave at least 1“ margins between the size you tell Photoshop to scale the image to, and the size of the paper you tell the printer you want. To print at the largest possible size, enlarge the document so that the smaller of your two dimensions is exactly 40”.

In Photoshop

  1. On the menubar click Image → Image Size.
  2. Make sure Constrain Proportions is checked at the bottom of the window.
  3. In the Document Size box, change the smaller of the two values for Width and Height to 40 Inches.
  4. Set Resolution to 150 pixels/inch.
  5. Click OK.

Set Up Printer

If you haven’t already added the printer to your computer, do so. Click Start→Run(Windows Key + R), and enter the following:
\\printvs02\MHL22H01
Hit enter and click Yes when it asks if you’d like to install the printer. You only need to do this once.

Page Setup

Now we’ll tell Photoshop and the printer what size paper you want to print on. In Photoshop:

  1. On the menubar, click File → Print….
  2. Select \\PRINTVS02\MHL22H01 from the drop down menu.
  3. Click Print Settings…
  4. Select the Paper/Quality tab
  5. In the Paper Source box, make sure Roll is selected.
  6. Click the drop-down box under Document Size and select the size paper you would like to print on. You may need to select More… if your desired size is not immediately shown under the drop-down menu.
    1. For the large (42“) poster printer (MHL22H01) we recommend using paper size F (28” width by 40“ height) for poster printing.
    2. For the small (24”) poster printer (MHL22H02) we recommend using paper size C (17“ width by 22” height) or D (22“ width by 34” height) for poster printing. The rest of this guide assumes that you are using the larger T1100 poster printer, however the steps will be the same for the 24“ poster printer with reduced sizes.
  7. If you would like to print a custom size poster
    1. Click on the Advanced tab
    2. Under the Paper Size drop down box select PostScript Custom Page Size
      1. You are now defining a custom paper size to be printed off the roll of paper. Make sure that in the Units box, English (in.) is checked.
    3. Enter your paper size in the boxes under Custom Page Size Dimensions. Make your dimensions at least 2 inches larger than the image size you specified earlier (this will give you 1” margins, if you want wider margins make these dimensions larger, but remember only one of them can be larger than 42“.)
    4. Click OK
    5. Click OK again if you get the Feature tip regarding any conflicts with margin size
    6. You should now have an option that says PostScript Custom Page Size in the box next to size showing dimensions a x b, where a and b are the dimensions you entered in Step 7c.
  8. You now need to specify the orientation of your image on the page you have defined. You’ll want to use the settings in Orientation (found under the Paper/Quality tab) to do this. You’ll need different settings depending on which dimension in your image is closer to 42” and which dimension is larger.

  9. If Your image is a portrait, select Portrait.
    1. Then, check the image to the left, and compare it to yours. If both your x and y are less than 42, check the rotate by 90 degrees checkbox.
    2. If only your y is larger than 42, leave the box unchecked.
    3. If x is larger than y, you have a landscape image, skip down a bit.
    4. If both are larger than 42, your image and/or paper size is too large to print on this printer.

  10. If your image is a landscape, select Landscape
    1. Then check the image to the left. If both x and y are less than 42, leave the Rotate by 90 degrees checkbox unchecked.
    2. If just x is larger than 42, check the box.
    3. If y is larger than x, you have a portrait, skip back a bit.
    4. If both x and y are larger than 42, your image and/or paper size is too large to print on this printer.
  11. When you are satisfied, click OK.
  12. Click OK again.
  13. Click OK again.
  14. On the menubar, click File → Print with Preview.
  15. Verify that everything looks to be in good shape. In the preview screen you should see your image with a nicely sized border around it. Make sure Center Image is checked and Scale to Fit Media is unchecked.
    1. If everything checks out, click Print