PUBLICATION CENTER

A:ONYX makes tiling simple using either the Preflight or PrepEdge modules. Here’s how to use these tools for trouble-free, seamless tiling.

By John Rusanchin

It doesn’t matter how big your printer is. Eventually, you get a job that’s too wide to fit on a given roll of media. That’s where tiling comes in. Tiling is basically taking a job and printing it in smaller pieces, usually in strips. Of course, printer width isn’t the only reason to turn to tiling.

Actually, media width and the limitations of that width, is probably the most common reason to tile, but there are several other reasons to tile jobs… Perhaps the job needs to fit into store-front window frames, or you’re wrapping a vehicle, or maybe you want to use tiling just to keep the installation manageable.

No Trowels Needed

ONYX makes tiling simple. It can be setup as an automated process by using Quick Sets (as we discussed last month), or you can have more control over tiling using Preflight. For example, if you’re printing on a 36 in.-wide roll, but the image is 120 inches wide, the image will obviously not fit the media. So, the first thing you need to do is turn on Tiling.

Then, back under the Preview and Size tab, you can specify the correct width (120 inches), and the tiles are automatically added, based on the width of the media.

Now, perhaps you would like to customize the tiles to better accommodate the design. You can easily move the edges of the tiles, or resize the tiles to fit specific elements of the layout. New tiles are automatically added as necessary.

To make it easy on the installer, you can add a tile overlap. You can also submit the tiles as separate jobs to increase production speed. So, instead of waiting for all of the tiles to process before printing, as soon as the first tile is processed it begins to print, while the next tile begins to RIP.

Did somebody say “Mosaic”?

Occasionally, there may be times when you need to tile not only vertically, but horizontally as well. No problem! Simply specify a default tile height, and drag a tile up from the bottom. However, if you need to go beyond the grid pattern of columns and rows, then use ONYX PrepEdge.

ONYX PrepEdge is a file preparation tool designed specifically for large-format printing and compatible with both Mac and PC platforms. With PrepEdge, one of the many things you can do is advanced custom tiling using the SuperTile tool.

Here, you can see that tiling is no longer restricted to columns and rows. You can even specify a different overlap for each edge of each tile, as illustrated by the different thicknesses in the red lines.

Another cool feature is the ability to turn off any tile so that it does not print. This is handy when you want a portion of the art to print on a different media, like perforated vinyl, or when you simply do not want to print where there would be dead space, like a vehicle wrap, as illustrated here in the grayed out areas (darker tiles). This helps save a lot of media.

PrepEdge also allows you to print out a job ticket, which includes a map of the tiles, along with thumbnails and a description of each tile, again, making things easier on the installer

If you’re doing the same type of vehicle regularly, or even the same tiling layout on a regular basis, PrepEdge allows you to save a tiling template (either with or without the vehicle template). So, next time you get the same job or a similar one in the shop, all you need to do is import the new graphic and things are ready to print.

The Right Tools

With the right tools, tiling is easy, and can save time and materials, which, of course, saves money! For your basic tiling needs, Preflight is the way to go; however, as your shop grows, and your tiling needs become more complex, the solution is PrepEdge, unless of course you’re tiling your bathroom; that’s another set of tools altogether!

John Rusanchin is the Director of Business Development at Onyx Graphics. He has 15 years of industry experience ranging from graphic design and prepress to tech support, from image setters to inkjet and all things large format; he has been on the end-user side, the dealer side, and now on the vendor side of things, so he has seen every angle. He is a graduate of the Center for Creative Studies.