Problems with Printing My Maps

[Coriolis]

Last year, I went to a local FedEx to print out some samples for my art portfolio. There were some dimension issues that caused a small cutoff at the top and bottom of each map at 8.5x11 inches because my images weren't perfectly 8.5x11, but he sorted that out after the first round, and I walked out with a couple dozen high-quality prints. Tonight, I went back to the same FedEx, and ran into some problems.

The visible parts of the prints look fantastic. The quality of the paper and the resolution of the printer is just what I'm looking for. The problem is that I kept getting prints that leave out outer strips on 2 or 4 sides. When I asked the lady what the pixel dimensions needed to be for the printer and print size, she told me she didn't know what pixel dimensions were. It quickly became apparent that terms like bitmap and dpi were unfamiliar to her as well. She knew enough to size a picture to a frame in Photoshop, a service for which FedEx now charges $5 per image, but even then she couldn't make my maps totally fit. When she stated that the printer is cutting a quarter inch from all sides, I adjusted my maps to fit 8x10.5 inches, but that just made the prints cut off on four sides instead of two. I walked out with a handful of botched prints. I also intended to try printing a couple of 11x17 inch map prints, but we didn't even get to the point to try them.

Does anyone have some useful insight here? What pixel dimensions should I be shooting for?

Here's a link to my DA gallery if you're curious about the maps themselves.

[Redrobes]

I know that Gamerprinter knows what he is talking about but I would say that my experience with every commercial printer I have used shows that they know NOTHING about the process of printing stuff. They usually take a file from a USB stick, push the set of buttons on their app they always have done and you get what it gives. Theres no understanding about anything. My local printer has no idea what DPI is. Its shocking. The big commercial printer I used to do a several thousand colour print run had no idea of ICC colour calibration files or the sRGB profile or anything since adobe products hide all that away. At least they knew what CMYK was and DPI tho which was something.

The last shop photo printer I used I had a similar experience as you have done. I got into a bit of angry spat with them after it came out wrong several times and I had to lean over the operator and press the interface buttons and enter in the values into their app myself before it came out right ! I just couldnt explain it to them as they had no understanding about what I was referring to or why it needed these values entered.

Unfortunately, its hard to be specific about it without knowing their application, what printer they have etc.

My advice is to give Gamerprinter a PM.

[johnvanvliet]

i run into that issue but with photos
-- over 10 years in photographic darkrooms
i know more than the person that had 3 weeks of book training on ONE program

do to different proportions a 8x10 or 8.5x11 ( 35 mm neg. is about 8x12 )
there WILL be some cropping or borders for anything not in the same proportions

paper printing at least uses A1,A2,... sizes that are proportional

so you might want to make the map a 8.5x11 proportion
changing the canvas size in gimp or Ps to a 8.5x11 and centering it will do

[Gamerprinter]

All prints have a deletion area on the outer edge of prints sometimes on 3 or all 4 edges, this applies to both letter size prints, as well as large format prints. Often cartographers create a 24 x 36 large format print for example. However, except for commercial printing which allows for full bleed prints all the way to the edge, technically the paper comprises a larger area than the printed area, and the extra paper is cut off down to proper dimensions. For all other prints whether printing at home or at fast print/copy center the rubber wheels inside the printer which pull the paper through cannot have ink (or toner) where the wheels touch the paper, this is why there is a deletion area on the edge. In all maps I create whether at letter size or large format, I deliberately create within the paper size by roughly (at least) a quarter inch on every side having nothing printable there. The problem occurs at map creation, and not accommodating for the deletion area. You could shrink the document to fit, however the scale is slightly reduced smaller than the intended scale if you do that.

[Coriolis]

Thanks, Gamerprinter. My issue right now is that I can't even get a good set of pixel dimensions that will match what they can print exactly, even when I scaled the image to cut a quarter inch off each side. The lady behind the counter knows how to push a few buttons on their software's GUI, a service for which FedEx charges $5 per image, but even that "service" didn't fix the cropping problem. If toner didn't cost as much as Dragon blood, I'd just buy some photo paper and print them at home.

[Gamerprinter]

Most color copiers and large format inkjet printers are 300 dpi, there are higher res printers, but most emulate higher res, but are still really only 300 dpi. Commercial printers are a different story, but professional printing is a subject outside of this conversation, not applying to average gamers. I use to use a 1440 dpi large format printer with 12 colors - each inkjet cartridge of 200 ml was $270 (gold dragon's blood).