Revision as of 11:03, 7 March 2006

Printing to BLUEWHALE

Location and Access

BLUEWHALE is located in the Monteith Engineering Research Center (MRC), just outside room 415. Currently the printer is restricted to faculty and staff. If you need access or assistance with printing, or if the printer is out of paper or ink, email us at ecehelp@ncsu.edu.

Located near BLUEWHALE is a computer station that you may use to print to the printer. We encourage users to use this station when printing so that you can view your document as it prints and cancel it should there be any errors, saving paper and ink.

Printing a Document

The two best options for printing to BLUEWHALE are through Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe Reader/Acrobat. At this time, these are the only programs that have been used to print. If you need to print through a different program, please email us for assistance. Also note that the directions in this document are for MS PowerPoint 2003 and Adobe Reader/Acrobat 7. If you are having difficulties with previous or future versions, again, please let us know.

The first part to printing to BLUEWHALE is telling the printer what size poster you wish to print, and in what orientation. These steps are the same for both PowerPoint and Reader/Acrobat.

1) Setting Paper Size

Open the Print screen. Choose BLUEWHALE as your printer, and click on "Properties".

See Figure 1 below. Click on "Custom Paper Size" and set it to the dimensions of your poster. The first box is the width, the second box is the height. Remember that at least one of these dimensions must be 36 in. or less.

2) Setting Poster Orientation

Click on the "Finishing" tab. For portrait orientation, click the "Portrait" button.

For landscape, click the "Landscape" button, and also check the "Rotate by 90 degrees" box. See Figure 2 below.

3) Setting Program-specific Options

After setting the paper size and orientation, click OK to return to the Print screen. The final change you must make depends on what program you are using to print.

For Microsoft PowerPoint, click the "Scale to fit paper" option. See Figure 3 below.

For Adobe Reader/Acrobat, set the Page Scaling option to "Fit to Printer Margins". See Figure 4 below.

Fig 1 - Setting Paper Size
Fig 2 - Choosing Landscape Orientation
Fig 3 - PowerPoint Print Options
Fig 4 - Adobe Print Options

IMPORTANT NOTES

A roll of paper on BLUEWHALE is 36 in. wide. This means that AT LEAST ONE of the dimensions of your poster must be 36 in. or less.

Create your poster in the size that you intend to print it. PowerPoint allows you to set a page size under File -> Page Setup and any image program allows you to set the size of the picture/document you are creating before you start on it.

Posters can be printed in Portrait or Landscape.

Print in "Normal" quality only. There is little to no discernible difference between "Normal" and "Best" qualities.

We strongly encourage you to use a white background for your poster. If you absolutely must have a colored background, use a single color that is not heavy or dark. Nearly all programs allow you to reduce the intensity or percentage of a color before you use it. Do NOT use patterns or your poster will print very slowly.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The first part to printing to BLUEWHALE is telling the printer what size poster you wish to print, and in what orientation.  These steps are the same for both PowerPoint and Reader/Acrobat.
-===IMPORTANT NOTES===
+===1) Setting Paper Size===
-* A roll of paper on BLUEWHALE is 36 in. wide.  This means that AT LEAST ONE of the dimensions of your poster must be 36 in. or less.
+* Open the Print screen.  Choose BLUEWHALE as your printer, and click on "Properties".
+* See Figure 1 below.  Click on "Custom Paper Size" and set it to the dimensions of your poster.  The first box is the width, the second box is the height.  '''Remember''' that at least one of these dimensions must be 36 in. or less.
-* Create your poster in the size that you intend to print it.  PowerPoint allows you to set a page size under File -> Page Setup and any image program allows you to set the size of the picture/document you are creating before you start on it.
+===2) Setting Poster Orientation===
-* Posters can be printed in Portrait or Landscape.
+* Click on the "Finishing" tab.  '''For portrait orientation''', click the "Portrait" button.
-* Print in "Normal" quality only.  There is little to no discernible difference between "Normal" and "Best" qualities.
+* '''For landscape''', click the "Landscape" button, and also check the "Rotate by 90 degrees" box.  See Figure 2 below.
-* We '''strongly''' encourage you to use a white background for your poster.  If you absolutely must have a colored background, use a single color that is not heavy or dark.  Nearly all programs allow you to reduce the intensity or percentage of a color before you use it.  Do NOT use patterns or your poster will print very slowly.
+===3) Setting Program-specific Options===
+* After setting the paper size and orientation, click OK to return to the Print screen.  The final change you must make depends on what program you are using to print.
-===1) Setting Paper Size===
+* '''For Microsoft PowerPoint''', click the "Scale to fit paper" option.  See Figure 3 below.
-* Open the Print screen.  Choose BLUEWHALE as your printer, and click on "Properties".
+* '''For Adobe Reader/Acrobat''', set the Page Scaling option to "Fit to Printer Margins".  See Figure 4 below.
-* See Figure 1 below.  Click on "Custom Paper Size" and set it to the dimensions of your poster.  The first box is the width, the second box is the height.  '''Remember''' that at least one of these dimensions must be 36 in. or less.
-<center>[[Image:BW-properties1.jpg|thumb|none|Fig 1 - Setting Paper Size]]</center>
+<gallery>
+Image:BW-properties1.jpg|Fig 1 - Setting Paper Size
+Image:BW-properties2.jpg|Fig 2 - Choosing Landscape Orientation
+Image:BW-powerpoint.jpg|Fig 3 - PowerPoint Print Options
+Image:BW-adobe.jpg|Fig 4 - Adobe Print Options
+</gallery>
-===2) Setting Poster Orientation===
+==IMPORTANT NOTES==
-*If this is a landscape poster, change Orientation to Landscape and check the "rotate by 90 degrees" box (orientation option should be under the "finishing" tab)
+* A roll of paper on BLUEWHALE is 36 in. wide.  This means that AT LEAST ONE of the dimensions of your poster must be 36 in. or less.
-*Click OK to go back to the Print screen.
+* Create your poster in the size that you intend to print it.  PowerPoint allows you to set a page size under File -> Page Setup and any image program allows you to set the size of the picture/document you are creating before you start on it.
-*Check the "Scale to fit paper" box.
+* Posters can be printed in Portrait or Landscape.
-*Then just click Print.
+* Print in "Normal" quality only.  There is little to no discernible difference between "Normal" and "Best" qualities.
-If you're trying to print a PDF instead, try [[User:Bpcarty/Printing_PDF_to_BLUEWHALE| this]] instead. It's slightly different.
+* We '''strongly''' encourage you to use a white background for your poster.  If you absolutely must have a colored background, use a single color that is not heavy or dark.  Nearly all programs allow you to reduce the intensity or percentage of a color before you use it.  Do NOT use patterns or your poster will print very slowly.

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