The Art of getting Decals to Print the right size?

[MatthewD]

So it's probably not an art form but after weeks of learning Inkscape (steep learning curve for me) I now have my decal saved as a .png.

All I need to do is get it ready for sending to my local print shop to print on my vinyl decal paper.

But I wan't to make the most use of the sheet of paper so I would like to put two copies of my image on the same page. Now it seems adobe acrobat (the version I have) doesn't do this.

So I tried copying and pasting it in MS Paint, when I re load it into acrobat it comes out a completely different size.

So does anyone know how to open a png, copy and paste the image next to the original, without changing the size it will print to?

[anotherjim]

Is it coming out too small?
Printers have invisible borders it can't print in. The printer driver and "print preview" should know where those borders are (your image editors won't). This is a major failing I think that after all these years of DTP, there is no exchange of capability info between printer and editor. So you can't have WYSIWYG view of the printout in the editor.
Your print driver manager "properties" should have options for "resize to fit" (often the default) that you don't want in this case or "print actual size" which you do want. Print Preview should show if any of image is then being clipped by the borders - but I wouldn't bet on that (might be a "show borders in preview" option if you can find it).

[kraal]

So does anyone know how to open a png, copy and paste the image next to the original, without changing the size it will print to?

Why not doing it directly in Inkscape (duplicate your design, then generate a png with the duplicated design) ?

[MatthewD]

Forgive me I am new to "graphics" software... excepting 25 years experience with MS Paint. So I will do my best to explain.

So when I have compiled three of my images together they are coming out massively bigger than the original. I have definitely been selecting to print actual size.

Kraal... Your question is a good one and it brings out things that I can't understand in Inkscape. In MS Paint you can simply drag a rectangle around something and copy paste.

Because my selected image is only part of a larger image I can't figure out how to even select my part of the image... let alone copy it. When I try to select it it only selects the smaller layers I have added on top. So if you can explain how to perform the simple copy and paste function where it selects the area you have selected then I would love to know. Or is there another way I don't know about.

I have even tried creating a border around the image and resizing the print area around what I want hoping that would allow me to select everything in that area, but even that doesn't work.

I have also tried your idea about using the duplicate function, but the problem I am having with copy paste seems to also apply to this, I physically can't select my whole image. I have tried it by zooming right out and selecting the stuff I don't want to duplicate as well, but if I do then it still looks like not everything I want gets copied. If I group the layers together then I can't select anything at all. This probably sounds complicated to anyone reading it and believe me I feel the same way. It shouldn't be that difficult.

In case any other beginners are reading this I have a piece of advice regarding Inkscape... I tried opening my project every day after work for a week, every time I opened it the saved layers had disappeared. It turns out if you drag a file into Inkscape it opens it as one layer... if you open it via the file menu it opens it with layers. Why anyone would design it like that is beyond me?

[deadastronaut]

duplicate in inkscape, then in inkscape save as ''pdf'' at 300dpi.

should be fine...


you can drag a rectangle around everything and then ''group'' in inkscape...no problem.

[amz-fx]

You should be able to print with ms-paint with no problems.

The issue is probably that Inkscape is saving the png at the default resolution of 96dpi.

You should try saving the image from Inscape to a jpg at 300 dpi. You can open a new canvas in ms-paint and paste two copies into it. Print setup at 100% and you should be good to go.

regards, Jack

[merlinb]

Put all the decals on one page in Inkscape and save as PDF, and tell your print shop to print at 100% scale, no border.
Include a scale bar on the page! This makes it easy for your print shop to check they've done it right.

[Marcos - Munky]

When I print layouts for tone transfer, I save them in pdf using no scaling. Then I create a new blank page on LibreOffice Draw (freeware). Yet on LibreOffice Draw, I open each pdf, copy each layout and paste on the blank page. After I copy-paste all of them, then I arrange them on the (used to be)blank page, moving them and duplicating them as needed. Then I export the file as pdf with no scaling, open using a pdf viewer and print with no scaling.

[anotherjim]

Then when you've done all that, bow 3 times to Mecca, throw salt over your shoulder, turn around thrice, sprinkle the blood of a freshly slain Kockerel over an ancestors grave and press print.
Then clear the paper jam and try again.
Then await the out of ink/toner fault light half way through the printout.

[MatthewD]

Thanks for all the tips and advice, I ended up downloading LibreOffice Draw, which has been very easy to use so its all sorted now.

I am not giving up on Inkscape though... I will have another go in a few weeks on another pedal project.

[ElectricDruid]

I am not giving up on Inkscape though... I will have another go in a few weeks on another pedal project.

Inkscape is good, in my view, but it's a vector-based package, so it tends to be better for things that require a vector-based result. The SVG files it produces are beautiful, for example. And you can do a lot of stuff for CAD/CAM using Inkscape, since you can convert the vectors into paths for CNC routers or similar.
Dealing with bitmap output always boils down to resolution - how many pixels have you got? How many pixels do you need? How many pixels-per-inch is the final output? etc etc. Inkscape is agnostic on many of those points until you get to the final output stage.

It's definitely worth sticking with it though. Great software for the money