How to print image at actual size?

James White

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Nov 9, 2005, 11:38:19 PM11/9/05

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Debian 3.1
KDE
Gimp 2.2.4

First, I am not a graphics artist - not even an amateur one so take my
questions in that context.

I am trying to use gimp to convert a postscript image made with Linux PCB
to be used in making a printed circuit card. It is very simple in that
all I want to do is print the full sized image with the B/W colors
inverted.

First I load the postscript image.
For whatever reason, the layers/colors/invert doesn't work on the loaded
image, so I bound it with a rectangular box, copy it and open a new IMAGE.
Interestingly, GIMP always defaults the new image size to the exact size
of the copied area. I then paste it and invert it. Works great, looks
great, prints great.

But, this is a hobby and transparencies are fairly expensive, and I need
to stack two identical images so as to get the density to prevent
ultraviolet light from penetrating the black section. So I want to print
two images on the same foil which I then cut apart and stack.

Now if I want to paste two images to a single sheet, I have to open a NEW
blank image, override the automatic sizing and give it a size big enough
to hold both pictures. But when I print this composite image, it always
prints smaller than the original which makes it useless. Using different
templates gives totally different sizes. It appears that the bigger
template I use, the smaller the printed image. On the print menu, nothing
I have tried affects this, including "use original image size".

How do I tell GIMP to not resize a copied and pasted image? Or am I not
seeing the forest for the trees?

I know this is not a bug in Gimp, just a matter of my not knowing what
this gigantic program is doing as I copy and paste.

Insights anyone?

Thanks
James White

Roel Schroeven

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Nov 10, 2005, 5:23:02 AM11/10/05

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James White wrote:
> Now if I want to paste two images to a single sheet, I have to open a NEW
> blank image, override the automatic sizing and give it a size big enough
> to hold both pictures.

There's another way: paste the first image as you did before, then use
Image->Canvas size to enlarge the canvas to the desired size, then paste
the second image. Possibly the print size will be correct then.

> But when I print this composite image, it always
> prints smaller than the original which makes it useless. Using different
> templates gives totally different sizes. It appears that the bigger
> template I use, the smaller the printed image. On the print menu, nothing
> I have tried affects this, including "use original image size".
>
> How do I tell GIMP to not resize a copied and pasted image? Or am I not
> seeing the forest for the trees?

I think you need to adjust the DPI-settings of your image. The appproach
above may use the correct value, otherwise go to Image->Print size and
adjust either width/height or X/Y resolutions to get the desired size.
Changing these values doesn't scale the image itself or change the image
data in any way, it just tells Gimp at what size it image should be printed.

--
If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood
on the shoulders of giants. -- Isaac Newton

Roel Schroeven

James White

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Nov 10, 2005, 9:34:08 PM11/10/05

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>
> There's another way: paste the first image as you did before, then use
> Image->Canvas size to enlarge the canvas to the desired size, then paste
> the second image. Possibly the print size will be correct then.
>

Thanks a bunch. I didn't realise till your post that "canvas" is the
blank page that images sit on. Kept looking for some way to resize the
nonexistant "page". By resizing the canvas I can now paste a second
image. But it still printed smaller until I realised that the resize
parameters for vertical and horizontal are locked together so when I made
the canvas tall enough for two images it "leaked" off the sides of the
page and the print routine shrunk it to make it fit. Unlocked it and it
worked great.

I was under the impression that Gimp was just a KPaint on steriods, but
now it appears to me to be even a larger and more capable program than
Adobe on that other OS (I forget its name). Got to find a book for Gimp
somewhere cause I may need it for something real someday.

Thanks again.

JW

Dave Kelly

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Nov 10, 2005, 9:56:51 PM11/10/05

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James White wrote:
Got to find a book for Gimp
> somewhere cause I may need it for something real someday.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> JW

The paper books I've found for Gimp leave some things to be desired.
Let me give you a starting list of online help files, HOWTOs, and documents.

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Smart_Sharpening/
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Sketch_Effect/
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Web/Graphics/
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Web/Graphics/
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~hodsond/dbp.html
http://registry.gimp.org/index.jsp
http://www.shallowsky.com/limaging.html
file:///usr/share/grokking-the-gimp/node3.html
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-graf/?ca=dnt-428
http://www.philisoft.com/graphics/index.php
http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/
http://gimpguru.org/Tutorials/RedEye2/
http://www.bemboszoo.com/
http://gimp.org/tutorials/Photo_To_Sketch/
http://authors.phptr.com/essential/gimp/
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
http://www.gimp.org/

James White

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Nov 11, 2005, 10:05:48 PM11/11/05

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Thanks. I have saved your post for reference.

I have found one book (Grokking the Gimp) and it is pretty good but
is for an older release so it doesn't exactly match my current version.
Of course, I am still well inside of the "Hello World" learning stage at
the moment so the finer points don't really matter yet.

JW

Doug Laidlaw

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Nov 19, 2005, 6:50:37 AM11/19/05

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James White wrote:

I am another electronics enthusiast and I know exactly what you are going
through.

I usually photocopy the final result at a percentage enlarge or reduce that
gets the scale exact.

Doug.
--
Registered Linux User No. 277548. My true email address has hotkey for
myaccess.
Remember that happiness is a way of travel - not a destination.
- Roy M. Goodman.

Allodoxaphobia

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Nov 19, 2005, 5:10:55 PM11/19/05

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On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 02:56:51 GMT, Dave Kelly wrote:
>
> The paper books I've found for Gimp leave some things to be desired.
> Let me give you a starting list of online help files, HOWTOs, and documents.
>
> http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Smart_Sharpening/
> http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Sketch_Effect/
> http://www.linuxlinks.com/Web/Graphics/
> http://www.linuxlinks.com/Web/Graphics/
> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~hodsond/dbp.html
> http://registry.gimp.org/index.jsp
> http://www.shallowsky.com/limaging.html
> file:///usr/share/grokking-the-gimp/node3.html
> http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-graf/?ca=dnt-428
> http://www.philisoft.com/graphics/index.php
> http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/
> http://gimpguru.org/Tutorials/RedEye2/
> http://www.bemboszoo.com/
> http://gimp.org/tutorials/Photo_To_Sketch/
> http://authors.phptr.com/essential/gimp/
> http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
> http://www.gimp.org/