worried that the scale is skewed or dimesions are off when taking them to a designated printing place.

When viewd at 100% the vertical wood sizes seem OK but horizontal dimesions seem stretched,maybe it the computer screen...? Cant have it print out like that.

Looking to print a plan from outerzone

Thanks for any tips

Would help to know which plan, and what format is typical for the place you live.

If you have it printed at a good shop (blueprint shop, Staples, Kinkos, etc.) they can adjust the aspect ratio to make it correct.

Andy

Originally Posted by nitrowing

worried that the scale is skewed or dimesions are off when taking them to a designated printing place.

When viewd at 100% the vertical wood sizes seem OK but horizontal dimesions seem stretched,maybe it the computer screen...? Cant have it print out like that.

Looking to print a plan from outerzone

Thanks for any tips

I ran into this with the Jumbo Rubber Mr Mulligan on Outerzone, it was way off scale in one direction.

The best solution is to open the file in Gimpshop or Photoshop and check the dimensions and re scale as required.

Gimpshop is free, just a bit of a learning curve to use it.

Here are the two files so you can see what I mean.

(Of course if you wanted this drawing, your work is done )

Don't confuse the aspect ratio of your screen display with the aspect ratio of the plans, particularly with modern LCD or LED displays.

If you have the free Adobe Reader, print your plan tiled at 100% but print only one of the tiled pages and measure it with a ruler. I'll bet your apparent distortion is from your computer display, not the plans.

If you want, I can measure a PDF plan for you. Send me a PM.

Modern LCD screens operated in native resolution should have correct aspect ratio.
If you suspect this is an issue then rotate the drawing by 90 degrees and see if the error is screen based or file based.

I agree, print it out either tiled or just a portion to check the scaling. Assuming of course your printer is correct


A link to the file on outerzone would be good.

its the pica waco, 72 inch, last page on outerzone, measurement are wacky on my screen
Thanks

opening in photoshop seems to be better, measurements are very close

I asume the printshop could recheck and measure the files before printing?

Originally Posted by nitrowing

I asume the printshop could recheck and measure the files before printing?

Don't assume they'd do that. Be sure to specify that and be prepared to pay for it.

If you'll post a direct link to that Outerzone plan page I can measure the PDF with Acrobat.

http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=3269
It would be quite difficult to get accurate printings from this PDF
This is not a critique on Steve's efforts.

Measurements are in inches
Page--inches
01------77.01 x 26.14
02------77.29 x 26.85
03------38.01 x 25.01
04-22--08.50 x 11.69
23------08.27 x 11.49
24------08.27 x 11.56
25-31--08.50 x 11.69
32-47--08.50 x 11.00

Not to be argumentative and with all due respect, those are the sizes of the image boundaries, not of locations on the images themselves. The first three pages appear to be distorted in the sense that lines that should be vertical are not, but it doesn't appear that the horizontal and vertical scales are different. Many of the pages showing tracings of the parts have some reference marks such as 3" and 6" and those measure to within + or - .05 in both the horizontal and vertical axes in many cases. So, we have a mixed bag: layout sheets that are distorted but part tracings that are pretty accurate.

Originally Posted by potshot

Don't assume they'd do that. Be sure to specify that and be prepared to pay for it.

If you'll post a direct link to that Outerzone plan page I can measure the PDF with Acrobat.

not asuming in that sense, I would seriously sit down and ask them to scale it proper, before printing obviously. I would check plans with ruler and tape in critical areas, before paying for them. I know what to look for and will check on site. As long as the plans are usable and able to rescale if needed, I will take them to the printers. Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

All the more reason not to use tiled plans.

Andy

Originally Posted by potshot

Not to be argumentative and with all due respect, those are the sizes of the image boundaries, not of locations on the images themselves. The first three pages appear to be distorted in the sense that lines that should be vertical are not, but it doesn't appear that the horizontal and vertical scales are different. Many of the pages showing tracings of the parts have some reference marks such as 3" and 6" and those measure to within + or - .05 in both the horizontal and vertical axes in many cases. So, we have a mixed bag: layout sheets that are distorted but part tracings that are pretty accurate.

I agree. I measured several spots on the original plans and the parts seemed to be scaled ok with regards to the X and Y axis being 100%. The parts pages also seem to be scaled ok.

Given the nature of the beast I would have the main plans printed and I would double check the parts before going hog wild cutting wood. You could also let Acrobat tile the plan and only print a couple of pages that have something measurable on them and check the dimensions before heading to Fedex to have them printed.