N-Up printing allows multiple small pages in a colour file to be printed to the maximum substrate width on large format printers. It works by dividing any large colour file into multiple pages of chips across and down the printable width and height, thus reducing waste (which is obviously very important, particularly when using expensive substrates).
Using N-Up will permanently change the appearance and layout of your colour files. Therefore we recommend you save a copy (File Menu > Save As) of the colour file in the new N-Up layout, which will leave the original colour file in its original format.
Step 1: Defining the small page size
The first thing you need to do is establish the the size of each 'page.' This usually reflects the size of paper you print to, but does not have to be.
- Go to File Menu > Page Set Up and select the small page size required. Depending on which view setting is currently being used, the white background should change, reflecting the page size selected.
- Go to View Menu > View Settings and select Colourbook in the Chip Layout drop down menu.
- Amend all options such as size and chip type to suit your needs and click OK to view the result.
- Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until the chip layout fits snuggly on the chosen page size.
Don’t worry about being too close to the edge of the layout as the chip set up will reduce by one chip to give space between pages on the N-Up layout. An automatic number of pages will be created based on the chip layout.
Step 2: Changing the chip layout to Manual Mode
N-Up requires a colour file with a manual layout. Change your established smaller section colour book into a manual layout by doing the following:
- Go to File Menu > Page Set up and select a page setup representing the full substrate width and the required height for the number and size of sheet required for printing. The background white will change based on the new size entered, leaving a big gap to the left which will be filled with N-Up pages.
- Go to View Menu > View Settings and select Manual in the Chip Layout menu and reset the chip type if required. Click OK. The layout will look as if it has folded in on itself, this is normal.
- Go to Edit Menu > Select All. One chip in the colour file will appear to highlight, but all chips have been selected.
- Click on the Cross tool at the top right of the colour file window.
- Go to View Menu > Layout > Book Layout and enter the number of columns and rows (with one less than the number across and down in the original colour book layout). By doing this, a gap will be left between each N-Up page, allowing individual pages to be cut out after printing.
Step 3: Creating the N-Up layout
With your new manual layout colour file ready, do the following:
- Go to View Menu > Layout > N-Up. Enter the total number of layouts across and down to suit your substrate width and height, based approximately on your smaller layout size.
- If the layout is not quite right, go to Edit Menu > Undo to cancel the N-Up layout and return to the original manual layout.
- Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until the required layout is achieved.
The number of pages in the colour file is adjusted automatically to suit the new N-Up layout.
Note: Using N-Up will permanently change the appearance and layout of colour files. It is recommended that File Menu > Save As be used to safely make a copy of the file in the new N-Up manual layout so that you can always get back to the original files if you need them.