Poster Printer
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Example:  Printing A Poster For A Child's Room


  1. I decided on a "dolphins in space" theme for the poster.
  2. I used "Image Search" ( http://www.google.com/imghp )  and entered the two words "dolphins space", without the quotes, in the search text box.  I also selected "Large images" from the "Images Showing" combo box at the upper left.
  1. dolphins in space image selected in netscapeI decided to use the first image that came up in my search, two dolphins in space orbiting a globe.  The image at the time was on the web page at URL:   http://g-e-r-a-r-d-o.spaces.msn.com/PersonalSpace.aspx

    Note: I was using Netscape 8.0.4 and I had to use a small combo box at the lower left corner to choose "Display like Firefox" to get the images on the page to appear.

  1. I scrolled down the page until I got to the dolphins image.
  2. I held the left mouse button down and moved the mouse to select the dolphins image.  This allowed me to print only the dolphins image and not the rest of the web page. If I had printed the entire page, it is possible the dolphins image would have fallen at a page break, and Netscape would have printed the image on two separate pages, in which case I wouldn't have been able to make my poster.


netscape print dialog with poster printer selected, print selection selected
  1. I selected "Print ..." from the "File" menu, and in the "Printer Name" combo box selected my poster printer (here shown with the name installed by default).
  2. I chose "Selection" in "Print range".
  3. I clicked the "Properties..." button at the top right.


  1. poster printer propters, cannon printer selected as output printerIn the combo box labeled "Printer on which output will be printed" I selected a Cannon iP 4200 printer, which happened to be connected to my machine across a LAN.
  1. I clicked the "Configure" button and:

  1. I clicked "OK", and then clicked "OK" again in the print dialog.
poster utility dialog initially after print
  1. The Poster utility came up initially as shown on the left (after I clicked on the page in the window -- that selected the page and caused the rulers to be drawn).

  1. I clicked on the "Original" tab towards the top left.



preview utility original tab with dolphins image centered in window
  1. In the original tab window I performed a series of steps, using the selection tool (the four-cornered box at the middle right), to select a rectange that had just the dolphins image, and none of the white space from the surrounding page, for my poster image


preview utility original tab with dolphins image zoomed before selection




 
poster utility original tab, dolphins image zoomed with initial selection







poster utility poster tab poster image after dolphins image is selected
  1. I clicked on the poster tab at the upper left.
    After step 14, the poster image was now be an enlargement of ONLY the dolphins image, without also enlarging part of the white space around it.

  1. I decided I wanted to make a poster about three feet wide (or high), and so I clicked on the small "up" arrow next to the poster zoom tool at the middle left.
  1. I chose a size such that the text at the lower right told me the the width or height of the poster image was at least three feet, and such that the dolphins image nicely filled the output pages, without a lot of white space at the edges.

  1. poster utility dolphins poster image after final size is chosenAfter choosing the final size for my poster, it appeared in the poster utility as on the right..  It used 16 pages, 4 wide and 4 high, in landscape orientation.

    At the lower right I could see the poster image width would be 3.39 feet wide and 30.49 inches high, for a total magnification factor of 692 percent of the original dolphins image.


poster utility print options dialog
  1. To print the poster I clicked on the "Print ..." button at the bottom left, which brought up the "Print Options" dialog shown at the left.  I then pushed the top button, "Poster:  All" to print the entire poster out.


poster utility poster tab cut guides on dolphin poster image
  1. After printing the pages of the poster out I cut off some of the edges, as directed by guidelines as shown at the left.
On this guide, the text "Mosaic column 2 row 1" told me where this pages should be placed when I lay out the pages for the poster in columns and rows. 

 I used transparent tape to assemble the completed poster.




  1. poster utility save poster dialogThe Cannon iP 4200 printer was connected across a network and wasn't available immediately after I had finished preparing my poster, so I chose "Save Poster As ..." from the "File" menu, which brought up the dialog shown to the right.


  1. In the dialog, from the "Original Page" box at the bottom I chose "Save Selection Only", to just save the dolphins image on the original page.  I named the poster "dolphins_in_space" and then pressed "Save".

NOTE:  I could also have sent this poster to others, via email for example, if they also had the "Poster Printer" software installed on their system (assuming this was OK with the copyright holder for the image, of course.)

poster utility open poster dialog
  1. Later when the Cannon iP 4200 printer was available, I went to the Windows "Start" menu, then to Programs -> Poster Printer, and selected "Poster Utility".

I chose "Open Poster..." from the file menu, which brought up the dialog shown at the left.  I  selected my "dolphins_in_space" poster, and printed as described in step 19 above