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Printing

Standard Print

StudioLine offers several different printing functions. The quickest way to put your images on paper is the “Standard Print.” Select images to print, then click on the button “Print” of the Main Tool Bar. You can also follow the Menu Bar path: “File” → “Print” → “Standard Print”.

On the left you can select one of the predefined print layouts with different image sizes and numbers per page. Selecting a layout will update the page preview in the middle of the “Standard Print” pane.

Options

At the right of the window, you can choose one of the available printers and the number of prints per image.

The option “Crop Images Automatically” will proportionally scale images to the chosen width and height. If necessary, either the long or the high sides of the pictures are cropped to exactly fit the chosen format. If the option is de-selected, then StudioLine underfills the images – the images will be printed without cropping, but one side may be smaller than the chosen format.

When the option “Rotate Images Automatically” is checked, the images will be rotated to fit the chosen format best. Otherwise the image will be cropped or scaled down (according to the option “Crop Images Automatically”) to fit the chosen format.

Custom Print

Custom printing gives you complete control over all print options and offers a number of additional functions not available in regular printing.

Choose the following path from the Menu Bar path: “File” → “Print, Custom Print”.

The various images will appear listed in the “Print Spooler” panel the way they are lined up in queue to be printed. Alternately you can open the Print Spooler directly by selecting “Print Spooler” as the last choice in the above Menu Bar path. This way, drag images to be printed to the Print Spooler panel. To print images or change their print settings, right-click selected images in the Print Spooler. This will open a context menu with print and print settings functions.

The “Switch View” button on the top left in the panel toggles the image list between different display styles. Control the print process in detail with the buttons to the right for number, size, layout of images, and more.

Number of Prints per Image

This button opens a panel to choose the number of times an individual image is printed. This can be helpful, if various guests of an event ask for copies of different photos. Now that you have all desired pictures in the Print Spooler select one or multiple images in the print queue, or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+A” to select all images. Click the “Number of Prints per Image” button and enter the number of prints needed respectively. The advantage is that once you have defined the desired prints for each image, you can start the entire print process and attend to other matters.

Click the Print Settings button to change the cutout area, orientation, size, or resolution of an image.

The drop-down list below the viewing area will list all popular image sizes. The cropping handles in the image preview area will adjust automatically if the aspect ratio of the chosen picture format is different than that of the picture itself. Any excess area is filled with a background color, which can be chosen by clicking the “Background Color” button. If you do not want any excess area, crop the image to a smaller cut-out area by dragging the cropping handles. Two perpendicular cropping handles will always move proportionally to maintain the aspect ratio of the chosen picture format. To control the cutout area, click in the center between the cropping handles. The cursor will change to a hand. Drag the cutout in relation to the crop lines.

The option “Inverse Orientation” will swap height and width. This allows you to crop a portrait image to landscape format, or vice versa.

Enter custom sizes in the two input fields below the size drop-down list. The cropping handles will adjust to your input. Next to the size input fields you’ll find a drop-down list to change the unit of measure between centimeters and inches.

Changing the image size via unit of measure or cut-out area will affect the print resolution, which is displayed next to the unit of measurement. Print resolution is calculated as pixels per inch (ppi) simply by dividing the pixel count of the image by the chosen physical image size. Please note that small or severely cropped images could result in resolutions less than 100 pixels per inch, even if StudioLine is optimizing the print output. In that case it would be best to choose a smaller image size.

If setting a specific resolution is your primary concern, then you can set a fixed print resolution instead of choosing a size format. In the drop-down list for image sizes, choose the option “Fix Resolution (DPI)”. A different set of options will appear below the viewing area:

The drop-down list for “DPI” automatically offers to use the image's native resolution. You can also choose from a list of other common print resolutions or enter a custom DPI value.

Two input fields let you define the aspect ratio. The cropping handles will adjust to your input. If you drag a single cropping handle, the aspect ratio will change accordingly. Choose the option “Fix Ratio” to lock-in the current aspect ratio. Now, two perpendicular cropping handles will always move in unison preserving the integrity of your chosen ratio. The option “Inverse Orientation” will swap height and width. This allows you to crop a portrait image to landscape format, or vice versa. The resulting print size is displayed next to the aspect ratio. “Resulting Size” is calculated in centimeters or inches, simply by dividing the pixel count of the cropped image by the chosen DPI value.

Any print settings that you implement on an individual image can be applied to all of your selected images by pressing the copy button, this can save you valuable time. However, be sure to select the images first, and then make the adjustments to the print settings.

Submitting Your Job to Print

After having set your options for each image, proceed by clicking the “Print” button. This will include all images in the Print Spooler. To narrow down your print submission to specific images or groups of images for printing, select them in the Print Spooler window before clicking the “Print” button.

The “Print” panel opens. Choose the printer you want to use from the dropdown list. The “Settings” button will allow you to change options that are hardware-specific.

Two option buttons allow you to limit the print process either to specific images that were selected from the Print Spooler – or to disregard the selection and print all images. The “Copies per Page” option determines how often each page will be printed.

Use the helpful “Crop Marks” option if you intend to cut the printed images with the help of a ruler and cropping blade.

To print captions below each picture, use the “Print descriptors below images” option. The panel “Choose” opens. It operates like the “Descriptors” panel covered in the “Adding Descriptors” section, earlier in this manual.

Click the “Print Preview” button to view the effect of any options you have chosen.

“Images per Page” can be used to limit the number of images that are printed on the same page. This may be helpful when pages are intended for a photo album. The “Maximum Number” option will minimize the use of expensive photo paper.

To maximally economize the use of paper, “Optimize Utilization” will change the order and orientation of images across all pages, further keeping the number of printed pages to a minimum. This option should be combined with the “Maximum Number” option if you plan to cut the individual images from the printed page.

Use “Center on Page” to center the page content on the paper. It is useful for album pages since this will produce the most aesthetically pleasing look and leave room for writing any notes around the edges.

“Optimize Quality” will determine the exact resolution of the printer. If necessary, images are printed slightly larger to best match the printer resolution. The results are higher-quality prints. However, the printing process may be slowed down significantly. It may require some experimentation to determine whether or not the slight improvements in quality warrant the increased time in printing.

Message "Image too Large"

Reason: The size of the image exceeds the size of the paper on which the image will be printed.

  • Click on “Scale the image automatically” to match the image size to the paper size.
  • Click on “Skip this image” to prevent the image from being printed.

Whichever solution you choose, you can apply it to all of your images that are too large to be printed by clicking the box Apply to All Images.

pro/print_image.txt · Last modified: 2013/08/26 12:28 by henning_stummer