Adding crop marks for professional printing

Chat about the original Pixelmator.
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2019-02-07 09:49:37

Hello. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to add a set of crop marks to artwork for professional printing please.
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2019-02-07 15:58:15

Hey there, there isn't a way to add crop marks automatically, but this is something you could do manually. Here are the steps that I'd use:

I'm assuming your document already has bleed set up, and the standard is generally around 1/8th of an inch. So, if you're preparing a document that should be printed on, as an example, 6x4 inch paper, the actual document size should be 6.25 in x 4.25 in.

You can start by placing vertical guides at 0.125" and 6.125" and horizontal guides at 0.125" and 4.125". For more information on adding guides, you can check out this Pixelmator help page:

http://help.pixelmator.com/mac/3.6/#430

It may be a good idea to click View > Show Rulers and double-click a ruler to make this easier as you can enter specific values.

After having added your guides, add the Column and Row Marquee Tools to your Tools palette. A tutorial on customizing your Tools palette can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgHwg9P4lu0

Then, click to select the Column Marquee Tool and click anywhere on one of your guides (zoom in to make this easier). A vertical, 1-pixel wide selection will be made along the guide. Add a new, empty, transparent layer, then click Edit > Fill and fill the selection with solid black. Click OK.

Do the same for the other vertical guide, then select the Row Marquee Tool and do the same for the two horizontal guides.

At this point, you can hide the guides (View > Guides > Hide Guides).

Then, choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection a little larger than the square you've just made using the marquee tools and click Edit > Clear. You should have an image that looks a little something like this:

Image

Hope that helps!
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2019-02-07 15:59:06

P.S. You could also make the crop marks a little thicker by using a 2- or even 3-pixel selection. :wink:
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2019-02-07 16:01:04

Thanks for the info Andrius. I’ll give that a go.
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2019-02-11 08:24:21

Sweet, let me know how you get on!