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<title>ploticus: making poster-sized output</title>
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  <td><br><h2>making poster-sized output</h2></td>
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  <a href="Welcome.html"><img src="ploticus.gif" border=0></a><br>
  <a href="Welcome.html">Welcome</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
  <a href="../gallery/index.html">Gallery</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;
  <a href="Contents.html">Handbook</a> 
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.TH making_poster-sized_output PL "18-JUN-2001   PL www.sgpr.net"

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<center>
<img src="../gallery/posternw.gif">
<img src="../gallery/posterne.gif"><br>
<img src="../gallery/postersw.gif">
<img src="../gallery/posterse.gif"><br>
(a small browser window may not lay these out correctly)
</center>
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.SH DESCRIPTION
Ploticus may be used to produce large-size posters.  
This involves scaling everything up, and often, rendering on multiple 
sheets of paper that the user then lays together.

.SH LARGE-SIZE POSTERS
Large-size paper results suitable for use with posters and presentations 
can be produced using standard printers and standard sized paper.
The result can span any number of sheets of paper.
To do this, \fBpl\fR or \fBpltab\fR is run multiple times, each time
using a different \fC-posteroffset\fR option value.  
Paginated postscript mode should be used (\fC-ps\fR), and usually the
\fC-scale\fR option is used to enlarge the image.
After printing, the sheets of paper must be trimmed and then assembled 
next to one another, using care to trim off any overlap.

.SH SUPPORTED PRINTER LANGUAGES
Paginated PostScript.
Use the \fC-ps\fR command line option to produce paginated postscript,
which may be sent directly to a PostScript printer.

.SH EXAMPLE
Example: suppose you want to produce large output for a poster
using the gallery example propbars1 (shown).
You want to enlarge it to fill 4 sheets of paper (2 x 2).
In order to do this, invoke \fBpl\fR four times, once for each sheet.  
.LP
The following shell script should do the trick..
.IP
.nf
.ft C
# Do the lower-left page..
pl -ps propbars1.htm -scale 4 -posteroffset 0,0 | lp

# Do the upper-left..
pl -ps propbars1.htm -scale 4 -posteroffset 0,7.5 | lp

# Do the upper-right..
pl -ps propbars1.htm -scale 4 -posteroffset 10,7.5 | lp

# Do the lower-right..
pl -ps propbars1.htm -scale 4 -posteroffset 10,0 | lp
.fi
.ft C
.LP
The last step in the process is to trim each page with a paper cutter 
and join the sheets together.  


.SH NOTES
In the above example, poster offsets of
7.5 x 10 are used instead of 8.5 x 11 (inches) in order to leave sufficient margin,
since most printers cannot print to the full 8.5 x 11 area.
.LP
The -landscape or -poster command line options may be useful when
enlarging.
.LP
This example shows the Postscript output being piped to the Solaris 
\fBlp\fR print spooler; use the print spooler for your system.
.LP
The \fC-scale\fR option will increase or decrease the location of drawn lines,
as well as the thickness of lines and the size of text.  Text size often does not
scale up as desired; that is why it may be overridden on the command
line as in the above example.
.LP
Previewing the Postscript that is produced when using \fC-posteroffset\fR
may be confusing, since the postscript is not clipped.  Clipping is done
by the printer.

.ig >>
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<a href="Copyright.html">Copyright Steve Grubb</a>
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