Stickers and posters quickstart
The Basics:
There are several ways to format a sticker for printing. This guide covers how to make a sticker or poster only using Versaworks, the printer's software. You do not need Adobe Illustrator for this tutorial.
For stickers, we'll turn an image into a PDF, then set the printer to cut the edges of the PDF image.
This guide also covers all general printer setting instructions.
If you'd like more control over your sticker's edges, you should look at one of the Illustrator guides. We recommend starting with the Basic Shape Cut (covering geometric shapes and the Pen tool), then moving on to the Custom Outline tutorial, which teaches you how to create a border that wraps automatically around an image.
This Tutorial
Square or Rectangular stickers, no illustrator required.
Find a file
Find an image or pdf of whatever you'd like and download it.
White backgrounds work best.
Convert to a PDF
If you have an image file, you will need to convert it.
Convert your image to a PDF using an online converter (Or any program you're comfortable with)
Save it to a flashdrive and bring it to the Printer's computer (Flashdrives can be borrowed from the front table)
Your image MUST be a PDF to upload to Versaworks, the printing program.
Printing your sticker
Upload your file
Open the VersaWorks app.
Click File, Add job to queue, and place into Queue A.
You can upload multiple different PDFs, but you only need to upload one of each. The actual print amount is changed in the settings.
Your print's name will appear in queue and show a preview (preview quality does not reflect final product)
NESTING (Multiple IMages)
If you have multiple files you want to print, you can print them in the same job.
Ctrl + click to select all of your files
Right click and select Nest.
Double check your settings! Nesting can sometimes obliterate your settings if already done, and they need to be reset.
This will let the software print different PDFs on the same line, but it will unify all of your settings except for spacing and size. You won't be able to, for instance, set different amount of cut passes (although there's no reason to do this anyway)
EDIT the Settings
Double click on your file name or image to edit its print settings.
Crop your pdf
If you need to crop your pdf, please do that first.
Go to Clip and Tile ( small box inside bigger box icon)
Drag the Red Line Controllers until your image has desired boundaries.
Do NOT drag blue lines. (This creates multiple sticker sections, which you probably don't want) If this happens, simply toggle "Number of Tiles" back to 1.
If you have multiple artboards or nested files, use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to edit each individually.
You'll end up with something like this!
MEDIA Settings (sizing)
The first menu to show up is the Media Settings tab. In here you can change scale, rotation, number of copies, etc.
Always click Get Media Width after the paper is loaded. This checks with the printer how wide the loaded paper is, ensuring you're within the printable bound of the paper.
Adjust the size of your sticker under the Scaling section by changing either the W or H boxes. That will change the size of the blue box for the sticker you've selected. You can size the two stickers individually.
4. To adjust the number of copies, use the Copy box under the Print Properties section.
It is recommended to fill up a whole row on the paper because the machine will cut off along the width of the roll after the print so any blank space to the right of your print will be wasted.
Quality (paper type)
All sticker materials have DCI presets, located at the bottom of the scroll.
For stickers' Media Type we use "Glossy / Matte Vinyl - DCI". The Holographic, Static Cling, and Heat Transfer (HeatSoft) materials have their own presets. For posters we either use Generic Vinyl 1 or Generic Paper (if the material is paper). Ensure the correct material is loaded in the printer!
Choose the quality of the print and, if you'd like, you can change the details and printing specifics.
General (Reduce margins)
Typically, the other sections do not matter until here.
Go to the General settings tab (wrench)
Check Cut Sheet after Output to have the machine section off your print for you. This can also be achieved with a manual sheet Cut operation, but this saves time.
IMPORTANT/REQUIRED: change Page Space [at top] to 0. This will help minimize wasted material. This setting reserves space after the printing area.
⬇ the 'cut image boundaries' step can be used to quickly turn an unformatted pdf into a sticker
CUT Settings
The cut settings are for STICKERS ONLY, do not use these on posters!
Go to Cutting options (Scissors icon)
If you don't already have cut lines, turn ON "Cut Image boundaries"
This will set your file so the printer cuts the edges of your image -- the literal borders of the PDF.
This is why we used the crop option!
You can increase the number of cut passes if your first print has issues cutting all the way through.
!! Careful !! Do NOT use "Cut Image Boundaries" if your image already has the special pink cut line! It is redundant!
last checks!
Ensure that you see this dancing dotted line around your stickers. This indicates that the paper will be cut on that line. If you don't see the line, then your stickers will not cut out and you need to go back into your illustrator file to correctly select the cut contour.
2. Double check that the paper loaded in the machine is correct! You don't want to print stickers on poster paper or vice versa. You can verify by checking the label on the top of the printer and by asking a staff member.
Time to print
To start the print, select the printer icon at the bottom of the screen under the queue.
Under the Job Properties section you can see the print area is 686.1 X 312.2 mm.
The first dimension (686mm) is the width of the paper. This may change depending on the roll.
The second dimension (312mm) is the length, or how much paper you are using, and thus the dimension you are charged for. Remember the Free limit for a single sticker print job is 60mm per day. ((This print would be charged because it is over the limit))
Congrats, you have made your first sticker!
