A Flash Developer Resource Site

Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: document size and printable area in illustrator

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    45

    document size and printable area in illustrator

    hi,

    im am currently designing a business card in illustrator, i have set my document up to 9 x 5.5 cm, however illustrtor has a printable area which sits inside my document size of 9 x 5.5 so when i print, i lose part of my business card, whats up with this sh*t?

    can someone shead some light on this problem

  2. #2
    Senior Member Black_phoenix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Leeds, UK
    Posts
    2,194
    ok on the tools palatte the bottom left one is a hand ?

    or its a ruler or its a dotty looking rectangle

    (hold the mouse down on it to expand options

    u want to select the dotty looking one, this moves the printable area in illustrator, just make sure the business card in right in the middle of the dotty selection (if the dots go through the card that bit wont print)

    bp

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Posts
    186
    <>
    Last edited by stone.cold.steve.austin; 02-14-2003 at 09:24 AM.
    my way or the high way

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    45
    ok thats pretty straight forward, except that the printable region is a bit smaller then the A4 canvas, which i cant understand why that would be? can i manually adjust the size of my printable region?

  5. #5
    Senior Member Black_phoenix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Leeds, UK
    Posts
    2,194
    Hi a normal household printer will not print up to the full size of A4 it has a safe zone round the edges

    have u tried printing it landscape ?

    the reason why it wont print to the edge is that if the paper does not pull in exactly straight the printing heads will dump ink all over the rollers, then every bit of paper u feed into it will get ink on it, that is why there is a safe zone

    bp

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    45
    ok cool, that explains alot, because i couldnt understand why freehand did a similar thing but now i do. thanks for that

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    45
    ok im back and i have another question, ive seen a few letterheads that have print all the way to the edge of an A4 page, if i design letterheads for clients, will it be ok to design from edge to edge of the paper providing i get a professional company to do all the printng, or is it something i should avoid?

  8. #8
    Senior Member Black_phoenix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Leeds, UK
    Posts
    2,194
    Originally posted by fullyloaded
    ok im back and i have another question, ive seen a few letterheads that have print all the way to the edge of an A4 page, if i design letterheads for clients, will it be ok to design from edge to edge of the paper providing i get a professional company to do all the printng, or is it something i should avoid?
    no that is fine, i would talk to the printer before hand regarding how much bleed is required just to be safe

    bp

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    45
    hey im back again,

    theres one thing i need clarification on, does the printable region change depending on the printer i have plugged in, so like if i plug another printer in, will the printable area of my canvas change?

    oh and also, i was thinking, if i just design across the whole A4 canvas, then cant i just put the bleed value up really high which will force my printer to print to the edge?

  10. #10
    Senior Member Black_phoenix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    Leeds, UK
    Posts
    2,194
    Originally posted by fullyloaded
    hey im back again,

    theres one thing i need clarification on, does the printable region change depending on the printer i have plugged in, so like if i plug another printer in, will the printable area of my canvas change?
    yes from what i have found all printers eg epson, HP, have slightly different settings, u can go into the properties and optimise the settings but they all have safe zones as default

    Originally posted by fullyloaded
    hey im back again,

    oh and also, i was thinking, if i just design across the whole A4 canvas, then cant i just put the bleed value up really high which will force my printer to print to the edge?
    i cant see it working, and even if it did one badly fed piece of paper and u will have ink everywhere, by all means feel free to try it but i cant see the big printer guys having set it so u can, i bet u can only do a max of a few mill bleed

    let me know what happens if u do try it

    bp

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  




Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width

HTML5 Development Center