NEATO CD LABELLING HELP

[Fozzee]

Hi
I have this kit.
I am having REAL BIG problems calibrating my printer with it.
Every copy seems to be in a different place!!

Any tips please guys.

Cheers

Fozzee

[ghoster]

i had that problem using neato and my lexmark printer. i gave up on trying to calibrate my printer. so i just cut a little strip off of the side of ther paper till i got the printer centered on the paper. then i just used that peice as a template.

[Fozzee]

Sorry I don't understand what you mean.
Please explain further.
My printer is a Lexmark. But I did briefly try another printer and it was the same.

Cheers

Fozzee

[ghoster]

i mean cut your paper instead of calibrating your printer. if its printing 1/4 inch off center then cut off 1/4 inch of paper on the side of the sheet the labels are on.

[Fozzee]

Well actually it's off top and bottom!!
And it seems to be by a differing amount each time.
I think I'm not going to bother and stick to just doing the cases.
Lots of people on this site seem to be advising not putting labels on CDs.
I do CDs for other people so I want to make sure they play properly in any player.

Cheers anyway

Fozzee

[vcd4me]

Ok Fozzee

I'll try to help

I am having REAL BIG problems calibrating my printer with it. Every copy seems to be in a different place!!

Can you explain what you mean by calabrate.

Well actually it's off top and bottom!!

Do you mean the image does not fit on the disc label ?
Is the image to small or to big?

Signed
VCD4ME

[Fozzee]

What I mean is the printing of the label is not lined up with the template. it is a little low and a little to the left.

With the NEATO MEDIAFACE software there is a calibration wizard.
It prints a test page which you can see how far out your printer is from the software.
I make the adjustments according to the print sheet.
Yet every print seems to come out different.
I keep making minor adjustments and finally I get a straight one.
Then the next one is off!!
It took 5 sheets of 2 labels to get ONE right!!!

Fozzee

[drewson99]

hey fozzee, do you have a scanner and photoshop (or a program like photoshop?)

what I do with the neato labels is I scanned the blank sheet, and used it as a layer in photoshop, so I know where to put my disc art exactly, then, when it looks the way I want it to I make the original guide layer transparent and I print straight from photoshop, with the printer settings set accordingly (matte photo paper or whatever they recommend) I have never had a mistake since doing it this way.

one thing: using the scanned image will make your photoshop document 8.5x11, so naturally it will warn you when printing that the edges will be cut off, just hit ok, because that is fine, of course, since you are not printing to the edge. if you try to adjust so you don't get this warning, it will mess this method up.

also a tip: scale the image so it is a few mm larger than the sticker (overlapping the outer AND inner ring), so if it is off by a little bit it is okay.

[Fozzee]

Hi
I do have a scanner and Photoshop.
Unfortunately I am a newbie to both.
But not to computers.
And although vaguely I understood your post further tuition would be gr8.
Are u on MSN or any other chat program?

Cheers

Fozzee

[mysticmel]

Hi Foozy ----- I hear ya', I've muscled with the same problem for months and litterally went through a dozen reems of paper trying to properly callibrate. Grrr those were the days! Now, here's what I do and it works out great everytime (well, at least 99% of the time anyway) ......

If using a full image for the background ... make sure that you size it down to 350 pixels. As if you take notice, 350 is the size of all the sample background images found on the Neato image directory. So yes, there's an underlined reason why the company suggests this particular size ... BECAUSE IT WORKS! Then be sure to keep your Horizontal and Vertical settings both at 0.00 and bleed the edge or edges [whatever you case may be] that are off centered just a little at a time. Don't bleed it/them too too drastically, just go little by little as needed.

HEY - IT MAY SOUND ODD, BUT IT WORKS FOR ME! :P


Hope this helps.

Regards,
Kay

[Fozzee]

Sorry if i'm being a bit thick but I am not following you at all.

Fozzee

[drewson99]

scan the entire blank page at whatever resolution your disc images are (or resize the disc images later to match the template you are making) scan the whole thing (8.5x11)

then, open it in photoshop, and then open the disc art files.

"select all" the disc art, then copy, then select the scanned blank 8.5x11 document and paste the disc art so it covers the stickers. resize with "free transform" if needed.

when it is ready and the disc art is perfectly obscuring the sticker areas, select the original 8.5x11 background layer in the layers palette, and turn the opacity down to 0% so it doesn't print the stuff which is already on the sticker sheet (neato logo, etc) just to save ink.

to save further ink, you could use the eraser tool to erase as much of the disc art as possible OUTSIDE of the sticker area, don't go too close to the sticker edge though!

in printer settings, go to photo quality inkjet paper, and print, ignoring the "printable area is less than size of document" warning (hit proceed)

if it is off at all, go bak to the document, and in the layers palette, "flatten all layers" then select the art (both stickers) with the rectangular marquee and use the move tool (black arrow) to drag it a couple mm in whatever direction you need.

print again until it works perfectly.

WHEN IT DOES PRINT PERFECTLY, save it as is, with the art and everything, and next time you need to print labels, open it up and paste over the existing art, and when you have pasted your two new disc arts select the old art layer and set the opacity to 0% (don't delete it in case you messed up a little, you want to keep that layer to try again if you need)

now you have a template you can use whenever you want to.

I know it sounds complex, but once you have the working template, it takes just a minute to print them from now on. it has made my life easier to say the least.

ask me if you have any questions.

Andy

[vcd4me]

ok fozee

I am back all you have to do with neato is

1. select template - I usually pick "US labels 2 up" (this means the 2 disc covers 1 for disc1 and 1 for disc 2

2. then hit ok

3. Now left click and insert(select) your image.

4. Last and look to the left of the screen and either enlarge or shrink the image to size. the 7th image down is for enlarge and the 8th down is to shrink.

NOTE: you may want to move the image left or right to get it so an object is not cut out of the picture


Hope this helps
VCD4ME

[Fozzee]

ok fozee

I am back all you have to do with neato is

1. select template - I usually pick "US labels 2 up" (this means the 2 disc covers 1 for disc1 and 1 for disc 2

2. then hit ok

3. Now left click and insert(select) your image.

4. Last and look to the left of the screen and either enlarge or shrink the image to size. the 7th image down is for enlarge and the 8th down is to shrink.

NOTE: you may want to move the image left or right to get it so an object is not cut out of the picture


Hope this helps
VCD4ME

Hi
What software are you talking about??
I am using Mediaface 4. And an A4 printer.
The instructions you give don't follow with the software.

Sorry

Fozzee

[vcd4me]

fozee,

sorry i didn'tknow there was more than one version of neato out there.I have media face2. I will see if I can upgrade and then I'll try to help again.

Signed
VCD4me

ps did you go to there website to see if they could help you.

[Fozzee]

Am using Nero Cover Designer now.
After a little tweaking it is doing a better job than anything else I've tried.
It has templates for a lot of different manufacturers of labels.
Including Neato.
I mainly use pre-made images so I don't need advanced features.

Fozzee

[JAXBOSS]

This is such an easy fix. Just move your picture over and to the right or left/ up or down as nessessary. Once u adjust it, save it. Piece of cake. My covers were being printed but the lower right (5oclock position) was being missed, so i just brought the pic down and to the right about as much as what was being missed on the print. After a few tries u have it down pat.

[Fozzee]

This is such an easy fix. Just move your picture over and to the right or left/ up or down as nessessary. Once u adjust it, save it. Piece of cake. My covers were being printed but the lower right (5oclock position) was being missed, so i just brought the pic down and to the right about as much as what was being missed on the print. After a few tries u have it down pat.

With what sofware??


Fozzee

[gary6431]

this might sound silly but i use the lexmark X75 use neato labels but i use EXPRESSIT LITE without any problems hope that was of help

[Fozzee]

What is Expressit lite.
Because I have the same printer.

Fozzee

[Fozzee]

I have just downloaded it!!
The templates are completely different than my NEATO labels.

Fozzee