Plan enlarging software

[Geri Atric]

I've been searching for some time for PC (Windows) software to enlarge a plan from a single A4 sheet to about 60" span printed onto multiple A4 sheets. Some time ago Julian Beckett mentioned such a thing in a review but left no other clues. I've tried Google's Picasa but it only allows fixed ratios and is not really suitable. Page 99 April issue shows just the thing! Any and all advice most welcome.

[kc]

If  you look at   http://my.pclink.com/~dfritzke/    you will find a link to a tile program plus many plans in tiled format.

[Ernie]

Hi Gerry,

It's very easy for an architects print shop to enlarge images for you. They will make a monochrome print.  The main problem is that the line thickness will also increase, so a little interpretation might be needed

 

It will cost very little, about £5 here in France for A2

 

ernie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Martin Harris - Moderator]

My local office printer will do A0 width x any length for the equivalent of @£2-50 per A0 sheet.  They also go a bit wider than A0 on better quality paper but it cost me @£8 each for 1 3/4 M length prints.

 

I just took a plan in and they scanned it into PDF format for a couple of squids.  I took it away, made some changes and enlarged the plan using Photoshop Elements (bundled free with a lot of printers) and went back with it on a memory stick for them to print.

 

For the price, I reckon it beats messing about with A4 sheets and sticky tape!

Edited By Martin Harris on 02/04/2010 20:34:18

[Geri Atric]

Found a Prontaprint shop less than 10 miles from home ! (Why didn't I think of that?)

Can make several pages to any size for about £6 - £8 (less than the cost of printer ink) so the job's a good 'un.

Many thanks for the pointers.

[IanN]

Whilst I agree that there are many printers out there who can do a good job, don't dismiss the tile print solution out of hand.

 

I looked at KC's recommendation and I rather like it. Sure, you've got to sellotape a few A4s together but

 

(a) its deadly accurate. Just to try it out I specified a wingspan of 48.54" and that's exactly what I got

 

(b) you can specify which tiles you want to print, so its a good tool for checking any "what if" questions that you may have when contemplating a particular part of a build. E.g. just print a particular key area, to get a feel for your planned build. Seeing the nose of my project at full size certainly changed my ideas re how I'll approach the cowl.

 

(c) it ain't that tough to stick a few sheets of paper together in a straight line. 

 

People will make their own time v money choices. There are occasions when I'll need the print shop solution, but I find this tile printer is a very useful addition to my pc

[Ralph Yeates]

I have built 2 of these The Pizazz they are the fore runner to the hanger9 twist. The plans are accurate free and easy/medium to build. The flying of the plan is great full 3D but not as precise as the twist but cheaper and a good throw about model.

[Doug Ireland]

I just had a look at the settings of my home printer (Epson Stylus 8400) and it supports "Tile Printing". It will even print alignment marks on the pages.

[Terence Lynock]

Be careful when using a HP printer as it can go into 'borderless' mode and this causes the image to be stretched to fill the page, I made this mistake shortly after buying a Photosmart Plus 209 a-m.

It is very versatile and you can set up specific specs for the print job but it also has one or two little habits that are not wanted so best to experiment and compare prints to original plan for stretch etc.

[Rick Devonshire]

Yes Geri Atric I seem to remember a mention of such sofware for tile printing plans. I am sure it was free.

But was it on this web site or was it in a mag? Anyone saved more information?