Hi folks,
I could use some advice on what PC software to use for editing printing prior to printing it on my color inkjet printer. I've encountered some unexpected challenges on what I thought was going to be a simple job.
I have a PDF scan at acceptable resolution of my Vagabond decals. I'm doing a downscale to BT-55 (replacing a recently lost rocket), which means printing out the decals at about 81%. I can do this easily using a free package called Autodesk Design Review (I have the 2013 version; works fine, gives a % scale during printing that works great).
However, what I really want to do is take in my PDF of the decals at full scale, mark and select the decals individually, and then scale them individually down to BT55 size (and probably make a set at BT50 size in case I decide to make another lower scale), with more decals on the page than the original scanned in sheet had. I've got Hypersnap 8, Inkscape, and a couple other programs all of which can work with bitmaps, but I've been stymied that Inkscape is hard (for me) to figure out the relevant bits of, and Hypersnap for all I've used it for more than a decade isn't really suited to this task. I need to be able to identify a region of the original bitmap, copy/paste, then scale the pasted portion to a specific percent, which is the part I have found to be tough. Most of the programs allow freehand scaling of the image bigger/smaller but I haven't been able to select a size property and enter say 81%. I have powerpoint, but I encounter issues when copying/pasting in the bitmap; I loose the original size info.
I'm willing to buy software as long as it is relatively low cost; I'm not willing to invest in say Photoshop or InDesign for my low-end needs.
I really miss Gordy's ALPS printing at Excelsior Rocketry!
Anyway, what software do you guys use for this kind of thing? Quite possibly the tools I already have are sufficient; I may just need to learn them better.
Marc
I could use some advice on what PC software to use for editing printing prior to printing it on my color inkjet printer. I've encountered some unexpected challenges on what I thought was going to be a simple job.
I have a PDF scan at acceptable resolution of my Vagabond decals. I'm doing a downscale to BT-55 (replacing a recently lost rocket), which means printing out the decals at about 81%. I can do this easily using a free package called Autodesk Design Review (I have the 2013 version; works fine, gives a % scale during printing that works great).
However, what I really want to do is take in my PDF of the decals at full scale, mark and select the decals individually, and then scale them individually down to BT55 size (and probably make a set at BT50 size in case I decide to make another lower scale), with more decals on the page than the original scanned in sheet had. I've got Hypersnap 8, Inkscape, and a couple other programs all of which can work with bitmaps, but I've been stymied that Inkscape is hard (for me) to figure out the relevant bits of, and Hypersnap for all I've used it for more than a decade isn't really suited to this task. I need to be able to identify a region of the original bitmap, copy/paste, then scale the pasted portion to a specific percent, which is the part I have found to be tough. Most of the programs allow freehand scaling of the image bigger/smaller but I haven't been able to select a size property and enter say 81%. I have powerpoint, but I encounter issues when copying/pasting in the bitmap; I loose the original size info.
I'm willing to buy software as long as it is relatively low cost; I'm not willing to invest in say Photoshop or InDesign for my low-end needs.
I really miss Gordy's ALPS printing at Excelsior Rocketry!
Anyway, what software do you guys use for this kind of thing? Quite possibly the tools I already have are sufficient; I may just need to learn them better.
Marc