PSP X3 - Problems printing complex .pspimage files

[apbrooks]

I have been creating files with PSP X3 (the latest and patched version 13.2.1.20) that consist of approximately 50 plus layers, including Raster, Vector and a few others too. My typical file size is between 7MB and 15MB, which is just fine. My systems handle it without any issue.

Our current systems consist of the following: Windows 7, Quad Core, High Speed, 4GB RAM, huge hard drives and awesome graphics cards.

My students are needing to print proofs so we've been trying to send them to our printers. I have both black and white laser and color laser printers (Okidata if you're curious) and here's what happens.

Imagine that on the student screen we see their entire project, all visible layers are showing, no special "exclude from printing" types of settings and things look perfect. We send the image to the printer and basically 5 of the 50 layers print. It's not just graphics, or rasters or text -- this issue is simply that most of the image doesn't print. The size of the image is correct, but most of the information is simply not there.

I tried printing from another computer and to another printer and had the same results.

I tried printing from my computer directly to my color printer and had the same results.

My only successful print was done after having converted the image to a jpg image and then printed, but I lose some resolution that way.

We did not have problems before and I and wondering if this is a Windows 7 issue, a current PSP issue or if anyone else has seen something like this.

Thanks

[LeviFiction]

You shouldn't have to convert to a JPEG.

Printing problems in X3 have been identified before, mostly with text though. But then again I don't follow too closely and no body tells me if they are using that many layers.

It's possible it's a PSP problem, or a problem with PSP on WIndows 7. A few such things have popped up before. Since I haven't heard of this I can't say which it is. My money is on PSP though.

But Do a quick "Merge All" and try printing that. You can then undo the merge and there shouldn't be a problem. Since, as you know, Merge All essentially takes the current completed composition and turns it into a flat image there should no more problems dealing with layers. And since you aren't saving in a lossy format you won't lose quality.

Or have you already tried that and it didn't work?

If that didn't work then might I suggest one of the other formats, like TIFF or PNG to prevent loss of quality.

[apbrooks]

Thank you all for your replies.

Here's the status:

1. I did try to update drivers, printer drivers, video card drivers and that made no difference...but I was not too shocked.
2. I did take the image to another site, with Windows XP Pro and a different type of printer (HP color inkjet) and when I printed the image just like at my school, I had the exact same results with graphics and fonts missing.
3. I then tried your suggestion of doing a Merge All (Flatten) and then printing from there, and voila! It printed correctly.

So, my determination from here is that there is definitely something in PSP and it's most likely not related to Windows 7. I did have issues like this before and my only workaround was to save as a single layered Raster image and then ship it to my printer.

Allen

[apbrooks]

To Simon (@ Corel)

I received your private response, but I am unable to reply directly to you. You ask for my PIN, and I have no idea as to what my PIN is. I could contact my contact at Corel. Or I could tell you that my school's information is as follows:

San Elijo Middle School
1600 Schoolhouse Way
San Marcos, CA 92078

If this now means that the world can see my address and I will start receiving postcards from strangers, then so be it.

I will gladly provide you with any other information that you could use to help with this too.

Thanks,

Allen

[Simone Corel UK]

Hi apbrooks

If you are registered with Corel, then you have a PIN (Personal Identification Number). After logging in into your account, it is under "Support".

Nevertheless, I'm going to test this issue on our Win7 64 bit machine

Simone