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HP z2100 44"

 

Important things to know before you start
Supported programs
Microsoft PowerPoint Instructions (layout and printing)
Downloadable Microsoft PowerPoint Templates
The Fine Print

Important things to know before you start:

  1. THIS PROCESS TAKES TIME!

    • Do not expect to print a poster at the last minute

    • Appointments to print must be made at least one week in advance

    • Plan to print several days before your event to ensure adequate time to resolve any potential problems

  2. Appointments

    • Appointments MUST be made between 9 am and 4 pm Monday – Friday

    • Appointments are made only by e-mail at Michael.Peters@nau.edu

    • There is a $20 charge to make an appointment. The charge is forfeited if the appointment is missed. Otherwise, it will be applied to the cost of the poster.

    • Poster data files may be dropped off in room 220 of the Applied Research and Development building.

  3. Cost & Payment

    • Merriam-Powell has recently acquired a new poster plotter. Due to improved quality and higher costs of using this machine, printing rates have increased.

    • Poster printing costs $5 per square foot. This cost includes the final product, as well any wasted paper due to client errors.

    • A $40 per hour support fee will be incurred for poster set-up which requires more than 15 minutes of staff time. This charge does not include plotting time or technical difficulties associated with the machine, only formatting and editing assistance.  

    • Payment is collected online using an NAU account, credit card, or personal check. Visit: https://www4.nau.edu/mpcer/start.html.

    • Final charges MUST be discussed with plotter services before the payment is processed to ensure proper billing.

  4. The Printer

    • Printing services utilizes at HP z2100 44”

    • The machine uses HP heavyweight coated matte paper

    • Fine art printing will be available in late fall 2008. Check back for details.

  5. Poster Size

    • The maximum page height for this plotter is 44 inches.

    • Length is limited to 129 inches

    • Note: posters must include a ½ inch margin on all sides

Supported Programs:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint (see layout instructions, below)

  • Portable Document Format (PDF) (preferred method)

  • Documents may be composed using other design software, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign; however, files must be exported to a pdf to print. Remember to include a ½ inch margin on all sides.

Regardless of the design software that you decide to use, saving the file as a pdf is the best and easiest way to print your poster. We strongly recommend that you convert your file to a .pdf before attempting to print.

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Microsoft PowerPoint Instructions

Poster layout:

  1. The whole poster is a single slide. Make sure you do not have multiple slides in your Powerpoint file.

  2. The maximum page height for this plotter is 44 inches. Length is limited to 129 inches.

  3. In File:Page Setup, set the poster dimensions. The maximum page size in PowerPoint is 56 inches. If your poster length or width exceeds 56 inches (as they usually do), use page setup to set dimensions to half the final size. For example, if the final dimensions of the poster need to be 42"x80", set the height to 21 and the width to 40.

  4. Do not put any content within ½ inch of the slide margin. It is helpful to display Rulers to do this (View:Ruler; markers are in inches)

  5. Compose your poster

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Downloadable Microsoft PowerPoint Templates

Tips for using these templates:

Changing the color and size of fonts, images, backgounds is acceptable as long as you keep the following in mind:

  • Minimize the overlap of textboxes and images (ideally there should be no overlap, but this is not always achievable).
  • Remove orphaned objects (e.g. a text box without any text in it). Ctrl-A displays all objects.
  • Simplify the background - more importantly, do NOT use PowerPoint's transparency option, use a paint program instead.
  • Maintain the 1/2" border.
  • Remember that the plotter operator time is expensive - modifications and/or clean-up requiring more than 15 minutes tacks on an additional charge of $40.
36x21poster
Template #1 36"x21"
48x34poster
Template #2 48"x34"
56x36poster
Template #3 56"x36"
42x34poster
Template #4 42"x34"

 

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Fine Print

    MPCER is not responsible for technical difficulties during the printing process.

    Errors may take hours or sometimes days to solve. The poster owner should make every effort to print several days in advance to ensure that any problems can be resolved.

     The poster owner is responsible for additional charges incurred due to erroneous document set-up or formatting, including additional staff time or wasted materials

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last updated: 17 September 2008