Dunscombe 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2019 What's the best current method for professionally printing charts? Ed Dunscombe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobinL 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2019 I presume by charts you are referring to Charts created from TMG using Visual Charform. In Visual Chartform any export method that uses output to a grid based image format with loose quality as it is based on a screen capture process.. PDF is a vector method of representation. That is, it stores in the PDF file, location of objects as positions to 1/96 of an inch, it stores text characters as text characters. Depending on the PDF converter that you use, the way images are stored may be different. If possible, I would always save the as at 600 DPI or 720 DPI file if you are given the option. Make sure that you can print at that detail. A second more delicate issue is the choice of colors. I would create a small test chart using your selected colors for different objects and take the PDF to your preferred printer and get it printed by the printing device you will finally use. The color on your screen is likely to be brighter than any paper printing, so you may need to revise your color choices. I hope that helps. RobinL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dunscombe 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2019 Robin, i haven’t used the chart printing function in TMG in years. I believe one used to be able to order a chart through an automated process within TMG, but I’m guessing that’s no longer possible since TMG is no longer supported? I tried it yesterday and it went nowhere. Thanks, Ed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Byram 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2019 Like Robin said, you need to make a .PDF file of the chart and have it printed by a local business (such as Staples) or an online service. This topic explains how to make the chart PDF file. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dunscombe 0 Report post Posted February 10, 2019 I posted a few weeks ago about chart printing and I'm still having problems. I'm running TMG 9 on a Mac using Parallels. I've created a descendant box chart containing 104 people spanning seven generations. When I go to TOOLS>DIAGRAM>RESIZE I learn the chart is 92.35 inches wide and 11.81 inches tall. I have several options to save the chart as a pdf, but none of these options permit me to adjust the paper to these dimensions. 1. Print to PDF (Mac Desktop) lets me use the Postscript Custom Page Size option to adjust to a maximum of 17W by 36H 2. Microsoft Print to PDF does not let me access Postscript Custom Page Size 3. QPDF Creator lets me use the Postscript Custom Page Size to a maximum of 78.7x by 78.75 4. Wholly Genes PDF Writer v4 does not let me make any adjustments. I'd like to have it printed commercially in a large, single page format. I can save it as a bmp but I understand the finished product would look better if run from a pdf. I've left most of the default chart options as default. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, Ed Dunscombe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cliffhall 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) If you are running on a Windows Version later than XP, the printer driver was changed for the worse. See attached screen capture for properties of TMG 9 shortcut. Run in compatibility mode of Win XP SP3, also run as an administrator. This will give you a bunch of size options, may have to use a different PDF tool like PDFCreator. I use Adobe's and can create sizes larger than E size. Edit 2-15-2020 - Seems I was lucky with this working on my first try with WinXP SP3 compatibility mode. I don't fully understand all the issues yet so this is want I have and what seems to work. I am running Windows 10 build 1909 on a desktop PC I have a printer driver loaded for Epson Stylus Pro 11880 which is 64" wide and roll feed so it can go pretty long. I do not have that printer or ever had it, just wanted a driver for a device so I could set VCF Page Setup - page size to more values, back when I was running under XP. I also have an old version of Adobe Acrobat 8.0 loaded which supports a wide range of page sizes. I have now discovered that the large pages sizes in VCF Page Setup can come and go. I can get them back by exiting VCF then going to Control Panel - Printer Server Properties - clicking Change Form Setting and then OK, the starting VCF. Attached a 2nd screen capture of dialog boxes for printer. I think some other ways work for this to happen, but was not paying attention to how it happened to work those times. One time I did a print to Acrobat with VCF Page Setup set to Letter size changed page size in Acrobat property dialog to D Size and it printed letter size in a corner of D size, then when I went back to VCF Page Setup larger sizes were there. Have not done this enough to how or what works reliably. Seems like Windows 10 (using Win XP SP3 mode) has to be tickled just right for those large page sizes to show up, but it is possible and you may have play a little with things. Edited February 15, 2020 by cliffhall Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
