Printing the wrong size in illustrator

[wainwright]

Hi there,
I am really frustrated that illustrator is printing the wrong size.
If i print a 10cm square box, the sides are about 10.3cm. This is pretty annoying as the graphics I am designing need to be precise.
I am not scaling the image or anything. I am a pretty advanced user of macs and illustrator and I have tried playing with a lot of print settings, but nothing works. A colleague told me that it might be something to do with usa measurements being different to uk?! The CS suite was bought in the US and the printer in the UK. Photoshop, from the same suite prints off the right size though. Any suggestions?
Please help!

It is the CS version (old, I know) on a macbook with Intel Core Duo, about 2 1/2 years old. Using OSX 10.5.6.
Printer is a HP Photosmart C4180 All-In-One

 

[Blue Velvet]

A colleague told me that it might be something to do with usa measurements being different to uk?! The CS suite was bought in the US and the printer in the UK. Photoshop, from the same suite prints off the right size though. Any suggestions?

1mm is 1mm in the US or the UK... or even on Saturn, for that matter. Given that Photoshop is printing OK, the first thing I'd triple-check is all the options in the print and page setup box; it sounds like perhaps there's some fitting to page or print area going on, perhaps to the paper size that the printer isn't set up for.

You're also printing to a non-postscript printer. As a test, make a PDF of your artwork and try running it out from Acrobat or Preview, and see how that comes out.

Some of the combos of printer options with print and page setup boxes can get a bit complex at times. Best to be methodical and crawl over every menu, button and field.

 

[snickelfritz]

I've noticed similar imprecision with borderless printing selcted.
Check File > Page Setup.

 

[Kwill]

I've noticed similar imprecision with borderless printing selcted.
Check File > Page Setup.

Borderless printing causes the image to enlarge ever so slightly to assure edge-to-edge coverage. I thought this was the case only when the image was close to the edge but, of course, I can't speak for all printers. It's a good setting to check though.

Interestingly, 10 cm = 3.9370079" and 10.3 cm = 4.0551181". Both could be very easily rounded to 4 inches. I don't know that desktop printers offer that level of precision. Paper stretching, ink absorption, image skew are all factors. For precision, cartographers rely on much more expensive GIS solutions. Us lowly graphic types include extra bleed and trim to fit.

 

[Hot Sauce]

Similar issue - Please Help

Hey All,

I have a similar challenge in that both Photoshop and Illustrator print significantly smaller when I specify inches. For example, if I open a new doc and specify 4in by 6in (so it can be printed to postcard) the dimensions on screen are much smaller (maybe 80% of the size I specify) and also print smaller.

It's like Adobe is using a different (smaller) measurement for what constitutes an inch. I am using CS3 Web Suite on OSX 10.4.11

I have been compensating by holding an actual 4in x 6in postcard up to my screen and then scaling the images.

Is this a setting in the programs that I can change? It happens the same in Photoshop and Illustrator.

I have been trying to find a solution to this via forums, etc. for weeks now and to no avail...soooo frustrating!

Anyways, I'd appreciate any input. Thx!

-Mike

 

[Designer Dale]

Hi.
The thread "Need Help Printing from Illustrator" covers this issue in US measure. Its something with the .ai format. Read the thread.

Dale