Which way to create tiled patterns?

[Mtl_Biker]

I really could use some guidance about the best way to do what I want...

I'm trying to make clothing patterns which would end up being larger than pages I can print.  So they have to be tiled.

What I've tried is to create artboards sized to the maximum printable size my printer supports (1/2" margins) and I've placed a rectangle around the edge of each artboard that should print, and also little triangles.  The rectangles would be used for cutting the pages and the triangles for aligning pages to each other.  Then I simply copy the artboard to create as many as needed for the full design.  Then my design (or a placed PDF) goes on top, spanning several artboards.

The problem I'm having is that if I place a PDF on top of an artboard, it ends up showing JUST on the artboard it was placed onto, when I really want it to show on top of as many artboards as needed to show fully.  So I select it, and drag it up to the top of the layers palette so that it shows as it should.  But if I then select it again and reposition it, the PDF ends up moving onto one of the artboards and again I've got to find find it, select it, and move it to the top again.  It's a PITA! 

Am I approaching this the wrong way?  Should I be doing it differently?

What I need is a template I can use over and over, sized to the max print size my printer can handle, with my rectangle and registration marks on each page.  In a way that I can drop designs on top and move them around with them showing on top of everything.

My way IS working but it's super annoying.  I'm hoping there's a more efficient way.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, Mtl_Biker said:

What I need is a template I can use over and over, sized to the max print size my printer can handle,...

I would use the paper size that is most commonly available instead of the Maximum size. Just my 2 cents worth.

19 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

The problem I'm having is that if I place a PDF on top of an artboard, it ends up showing JUST on the artboard it was placed onto, ...

The only real simple solution that I have found is to make a copy of the art for each artboard, so 4 artboards, four copies of the art.

[Mtl_Biker]

13 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I would use the paper size that is most commonly available instead of the Maximum size. Just my 2 cents worth.

The only real simple solution that I have found is to make a copy of the art for each artboard, so 4 artboards, four copies of the art.

My printer uses 11" x 17" paper but can only print to within 1/2" on each edge.  So I have been sizing the artboards to 10" x 16", putting my rectangle around them and placing my registration triangles.

Let's say I have a grid of my artboards, 2 x 2.  Is there any way to place a PDF in a way that it's on top of all of them?  And not just on one, that I then have to grab and move to the top?  No way I'm going to have 4 copies of the artwork!

 

[Old Bruce]

50 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

Then my design (or a placed PDF) goes on top, spanning several artboards.

 

5 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

No way I'm going to have 4 copies of the artwork!

Just make the artwork/open the PDF file. Now make some Slices (at 10x16 inches)  and export those as PDFs. Print the PDFs you have just exported.

[Alfred]

Check the available options for your printer driver. You may well find that there’s a tiling option built in.

[Mtl_Biker]

10 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

 

Just make the artwork/open the PDF file. Now make some Slices (at 10x16 inches)  and export those as PDFs. Print the PDFs you have just exported.

Slices?  Gotta look that up.  Thanks.

How about the registration marks (my little triangles) for aligning the pages after I print and cut them?

 

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

Slices?  Gotta look that up.  Thanks.

Export Persona.

[Dan C]

Hi @Mtl_Biker,

15 hours ago, Mtl_Biker said:

The problem I'm having is that if I place a PDF on top of an artboard, it ends up showing JUST on the artboard it was placed onto, when I really want it to show on top of as many artboards as needed to show fully.

I can confirm that this is By Design in regards to Artboards - as they are 'Container Objects' in Affinity, any layers placed on one artboard are confined to that artboard as they are not designed to support layers spanning across multiple Artboards.

15 hours ago, Mtl_Biker said:

What I've tried is to create artboards sized to the maximum printable size my printer supports (1/2" margins) and I've placed a rectangle around the edge of each artboard that should print, and also little triangles.  The rectangles would be used for cutting the pages and the triangles for aligning pages to each other.  Then I simply copy the artboard to create as many as needed for the full design.  Then my design (or a placed PDF) goes on top, spanning several artboards.

You could create a canvas the size of your printable area, then instead of using Artboards, simply use Rectangles with strokes applied to define each 'printed' section.

You can then place your PDF into the document, and move this to the bottom of the layers stack, such that it prints with each rectangle border still showing - 

Though I may have misunderstood what you were looking to achieve here, my apologies if this is the case!

[Mtl_Biker]

3 hours ago, Dan C said:

Hi @Mtl_Biker,

I can confirm that this is By Design in regards to Artboards - as they are 'Container Objects' in Affinity, any layers placed on one artboard are confined to that artboard as they are not designed to support layers spanning across multiple Artboards.

You could create a canvas the size of your printable area, then instead of using Artboards, simply use Rectangles with strokes applied to define each 'printed' section.

You can then place your PDF into the document, and move this to the bottom of the layers stack, such that it prints with each rectangle border still showing - 

Though I may have misunderstood what you were looking to achieve here, my apologies if this is the case!

With my multiple artboards, after I place a PDF on them, I can select it and move it up to the top and then it does show across artboards.  And properly prints also.  So maybe this is just the way I'll have to continue doing it.

I don't quite understand your further suggestion (sorry, newbie here).  By "printable area" do you mean my paper size (11" x 17") or the 10" x 16" (allowing for 1/2" margins) that I can actually print?  Or are you talking about the actual full size of the design, which may be something like 30" x 36"?  I don't see how I could print this if I made my canvas 30" x 36"... or how to get my rectangles with registration marks to print on each paper page as needed.  I'm probably dense about this.  I appreciate your helpful advice.

If I do size my artboard(s) to 10" x 16" and place a rectangle around them and add my registration triangles, each page does print properly and I can easily trim around the rectangles and use the triangles to perfectly align the pages to each other.  The only hassle with this is placing my PDFs on this... I always have to grab them and move them up to the top so that they show (and print) across artboards.  But in spite of that, it may be the most easily workable solution.

[Dan C]

My apologies, I believe I misunderstood your document setup with my suggestion!

If this is working as expected for you when exporting your Artboards document then you are welcome to keep using this method, I simply wanted to explain that the layer 'jumping' to different Artboards is expected behaviour as they're designed as separate 'containers' for all layers encompassed by the container

Equally, as mentioned above I'd certainly recommend checking out the Export Persona, as this may help to streamline the process for you. I've included some tutorial links below regarding the Export Persona:

Slice Tool

Export Persona - Slices Panel

Export Persona - Layers Panel

Export Persona - Export Options Panel

[Mtl_Biker]

57 minutes ago, Dan C said:

My apologies, I believe I misunderstood your document setup with my suggestion!

If this is working as expected for you when exporting your Artboards document then you are welcome to keep using this method, I simply wanted to explain that the layer 'jumping' to different Artboards is expected behaviour as they're designed as separate 'containers' for all layers encompassed by the container

Equally, as mentioned above I'd certainly recommend checking out the Export Persona, as this may help to streamline the process for you. I've included some tutorial links below regarding the Export Persona:

Slice Tool

Export Persona - Slices Panel

Export Persona - Layers Panel

Export Persona - Export Options Panel

No apology needed!  I appreciate your help!  I lack the experience to know how best to handle this.  I looked at the slice links you kindly provided and I'm not convinced they are the answer to my needs.

Maybe I should approach it from another direction... Say I have a large PDF... (I just bought a PDF pattern.)  The size is 35" x 89" (it's meant to be printed on a large format roll plotter).  I don't have such a printer.  My printer uses 11" x 17" paper, but needs half an inch of border so the actual printable size is 10" x 16".

How would you go about printing this beast?  In such a way that the pages could be trimmed and then accurately joined/taped together.

Thanks for any additional help and suggestions.

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, Mtl_Biker said:

Maybe I should approach it from another direction... Say I have a large PDF... (I just bought a PDF pattern.)  The size is 35" x 89" (it's meant to be printed on a large format roll plotter).  I don't have such a printer.  My printer uses 11" x 17" paper, but needs half an inch of border so the actual printable size is 10" x 16".

This is how I would do it. I realize that you don't want to make four copies of the pdf let alone the 24 here but it is the easiest and quickest way to do this. Just have the Printer's marks set when you export so the artboards will have the cut lines on the corners. 

pdf and designer.zip

The tedious part is placing the copies into the Artboards.

 

[Mtl_Biker]

31 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

This is how I would do it. I realize that you don't want to make four copies of the pdf let alone the 24 here but it is the easiest and quickest way to do this. Just have the Printer's marks set when you export so the artboards will have the cut lines on the corners. 

pdf and designer.zip 1.12 MB · 1 download

The tedious part is placing the copies into the Artboards.

 

Wow!  Thanks again for your kind help. 

By "printer's marks" you mean the ones I create, right?  The rectangle around each artboard plus the registration triangles?  Or are you talking about something else?  (Sorry for being such a newbie.)

How do you go about placing the PDF onto each artboard, in exactly the right position?  If I do all the placing at the top left (of the first artboard) then all the placings would be on that first artboard and again I'd have to select it and move it to the next artboard, etc.  Which seems pretty much to be what I'm doing.  Am I not seeing an easy solution?

And given that I have that bought PDF that's very large, I guess you're suggesting I copy it and paste it onto a new document?  Instead of somehow modifying the bought PDF.

 

[Old Bruce]

17 hours ago, Mtl_Biker said:

By "printer's marks" you mean the ones I create, right?  The rectangle around each artboard plus the registration triangles?  Or are you talking about something else?  (Sorry for being such a newbie.)

The application will make the trim marks for you. Choose the PDF export Preset you want and then hit the More button. There is a checkbox called Include Printers Marks.

You may have to make the overall size smaller than 10 x 16, say 9 x 15 but the idea holds. Or you can use the ones you make.

17 hours ago, Mtl_Biker said:

How do you go about placing the PDF onto each artboard, in exactly the right position?  If I do all the placing at the top left (of the first artboard) then all the placings would be on that first artboard and again I'd have to select it and move it to the next artboard, etc.  Which seems pretty much to be what I'm doing.  Am I not seeing an easy solution?

I make the requisite number of copies (above/outside not on any artboards) by first placing the first one and then just Copy and Paste, Paste, Paste, etc. Then I use the Layers panel to drag the copies into the individual Premade Prelocated artboards. this way all the copies are in the same overall x, y location.

17 hours ago, Mtl_Biker said:

And given that I have that bought PDF that's very large, I guess you're suggesting I copy it and paste it onto a new document?  Instead of somehow modifying the bought PDF.

Yes, Always a good idea to work with a copy.