Problems designing CP using Project Arcade Templates

[pboreham]

Now I've got all my CP bits, I've started to lay out the design.

I'm using the templates of CP parts supplied with the Project Arcade book CD and laying the design in Fireworks.

Trouble is, I am not convinced it is to scale! For example the 3" Trackball template lines up exactly with my trackball plate at 100% when I preview it in Windows Preview, but when I import the image into Fireworks at 100% scale (placing it onto the supplied CP layout), it is huge.

So I tried to print out just the trackball template at 100% from fireworks and it printed out huge - 2 pages.

I then tried printing from Windows Preview, but that prints to the edges of 1 page and I couldnt change it to print to scale.

Closest I've got is printing from Windows Paint (!), which whilst on the screen lines up 100% with my template, when it prints, it is 'slightly' larger than the template - which is odd.

I dont want to lay out all the CP and then to print it and find out its all the wrong size!

Hope all this makes sense?! Looking for a little bit of advice please!

Thanks, Paul.

[f4phantomii]

Don't know if I can help with the printer settings to get your scale correct, but.....

Most printers, even expensive commercial ones don't print perfectly to scale.

When I made the templates for my CP, I laid it out in a CAD program, did some post-processing adjustments, and then printed on 11X17 paper to our laser printer.

I ended up taking the line drawing of the CP from the CAD program and rasterizing the image in Photoshop.  I had to put a couple of reference marks on the template drawing in the CAD program a known distance apart.

Then I'd send it to the printer from Photoshop.  I'd measure the distance between the reference marks on the printout to see if I got a true 1-to-1 plot.  I knew I wouldn't, which was why I went through this process.  I then adjusted the height and/or width slightly in Photoshop to adjust the size of the printout just right.

It took me a couple of iterations, but that's how I did it.

[pboreham]

Thanks - thats a good idea.

I may end up just printing out the layouts I need now, rather than printing the whole panel.

i.e. Trackball, Spinner, Button layout - that way it would only be 4 or 5 seperate A4 bits...

(probably how everyone does it!  )