Visio - printing at 1:1 size (as a photo) for front panel prototyping

[DTJ]

I'm working on a front panel layout thats 156mm x 70mm (6.15" x 2.75").

I want to test it out and want to print a colour photo down at Officeworks or similar.

How do I do this so I can take a JPG down to the shop on a USB and print it out as say a 6"x4" photo?

Would this work?
Put markers on the visio drawing at 6" and 4"
Dump it as a JPG
Crop it to the 6x4 marks
Print it as a 6x4 photo.

Would this work?

As you can guess I don't know much about this sort of thing!

[tszaboo]

I regularly printed stuff designed in Altium on regular printers. Make the drawing, print to PDF, or print it with 1:1 scale. Works every time.  Just calibrate the printer, unless say 1% accuracy is not enough.
But I would use PDF, not JPEG. Less chance of re sizing.
I'm not sure why you want it on photo paper, maybe there is a reason. Just regular laser printer is fine.

[nctnico]

I second the suggestion for using PDF. BTW Visio can also print large drawings over multiple pages at a 1:1 scale which then can be stuck together.
I use Visio regulary for making 1:1 drilling templates.

[DTJ]

If I was printing locally it would be OK  - I've done that for protel & visio without issue.

The problem is I want colour printing done down at the photo print shop where I need to take a jpg on my thumb drive.

[tszaboo]

But visio, really? Istn it a program to make flowcharts for program documentation?
I mean it lacks basic tools like measurement or placement via coordinates. How is your workflow even look like?

[ade]

Would this work?

Probably not, as described.

JPEG has no idea about physical size, only pixels.  So you have to define a conversion factor from pixels to physical sizes, typically by setting a PPI (pixels per inch) metadata in the JPEG.  E.g., a typical PPI value is 300 pixels per inch, so for a 6x4 you need to make sure your JPG image is 1800x1200 and that you set 300 PPI in the metadata.

At the printer, they will need to honor this PPI value.  Each printer has a set "dots per inch" (DPI) it will print at.  Sometimes that's 300 DPI, but often it's 150 DPI, 360 DPI or even something like 2880 DPI.   You'll need to tell your print shop to make the proper conversion.  Some printer drivers will make the conversion automatically, but more typically it will just scale up/down to image to the paper size minus the border size.

[DTJ]

Cheers ade.

What you said makes sense.

I put an outline around the drawn label in Visio to define a 5x7" area and saved it as a jpg.
When I looked at the jpg information it had the number of pixels per inch and the number of pixels in both axes (which as you said defines the size).

I took the jpg to Officeworks today and printed it out. It came out pretty much perfect. It was slightly stretched in the x axis, maybe 1mm over in 150mm.

I trimmed it up and laminated it. It gives me a good idea on what the finished label might look like.

[nctnico]

But visio, really? Istn it a program to make flowcharts for program documentation?
I mean it lacks basic tools like measurement or placement via coordinates. How is your workflow even look like?

It doesn't lack those tools at all but you have to know how to use it. The easies way is to setup horizontal and vertical rulers so whatever you want to place will 'stick' to the ruler. You can go sub-mm resolution if you want.

[Tomorokoshi]

I used GIMP for something similar. I separated the base graphics from the button and switch positions using different layers. Each hole to be drilled had a center. Then I printed it to regular color paper, and I had that laminated with adhesive on one side. That was then stuck to the box, and the overlay and box were drilled through at the same time.