Printing Multiple Images

Hi!

Am Donnerstag, den 18.02.2010, 10:38 +0200 schrieb Gareth:

Is there any way that I can print multiple images onto the film without

having to put the one film through the printer multiple times (which

doesn't work on my old HP 4L)? At the moment all I can do is to print one

image on one film which is wasteful and expensive.

I use the CAM processor to export to EPS files (which is a vector

graphics format) and then write a small LaTeX file which has multiple

\includegraphics[scale=1.0] to put multiple files on one

sheet. This way I can add descriptive text, side lables, drill diameter

legend, title, my phone number, ... on the sheet before I bring it to

the guy who etches them for me.

Alternatively you could use OpenOffice.org and insert the EPS files

(which is extremely slow because it uses GhostScript in the background

to display the EPS files, and does some senseless stuff). But be

careful, the most important part is that the scale has to be exactly

1.0, otherwise your PCB is scaled and no components will fit its

footprints.

Note that with Eagle 5.7 you have to set the paper size of the EPS file

in the CAM processor to 100x100 inch, then the exported file has its

bounding box exactly the size of the used area.

I discourage you from using PNG (or any other pixel graphics format like

GIF, BMP or even JPG) because this has a discrete resolution and will

introduce "stair" effects for non-ortogonal lines. Increasing its

resolution to some idiotically high value will not improve your case,

because the printer will print gray shaded pixels which have

unpredictable results with the photo resist. So, please stay in pure

vector graphics all the time and let the rastering do the printer

itself.

Bye

  Hansi

Hi!

Am Donnerstag, den 18.02.2010, 10:38 +0200 schrieb Gareth:

Is there any way that I can print multiple images onto the film without

having to put the one film through the printer multiple times (which

doesn't work on my old HP 4L)? At the moment all I can do is to print one

image on one film which is wasteful and expensive.

I use the CAM processor to export to EPS files (which is a vector

graphics format) and then write a small LaTeX file which has multiple

\includegraphics[scale=1.0] to put multiple files on one

sheet. This way I can add descriptive text, side lables, drill diameter

legend, title, my phone number, ... on the sheet before I bring it to

the guy who etches them for me.

Alternatively you could use OpenOffice.org and insert the EPS files

(which is extremely slow because it uses GhostScript in the background

to display the EPS files, and does some senseless stuff). But be

careful, the most important part is that the scale has to be exactly

1.0, otherwise your PCB is scaled and no components will fit its

footprints.

Note that with Eagle 5.7 you have to set the paper size of the EPS file

in the CAM processor to 100x100 inch, then the exported file has its

bounding box exactly the size of the used area.

I discourage you from using PNG (or any other pixel graphics format like

GIF, BMP or even JPG) because this has a discrete resolution and will

introduce "stair" effects for non-ortogonal lines. Increasing its

resolution to some idiotically high value will not improve your case,

because the printer will print gray shaded pixels which have

unpredictable results with the photo resist. So, please stay in pure

vector graphics all the time and let the rastering do the printer

itself.

Bye

  Hansi