Printing Templates?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2022-10-09 13:56:03

OK, so I'm in need of a printing template.

And what I mean by that is... is there a template where you can drop photos into areas on the template that would then allow me to resize those areas to the image size that I would need to print?

I would be printing on 13 x 19 paper and I would like to be able to reposition the images so that I can get the most prints on that size paper. This way I won't have a lot of waste.

This type of template would also be helpful for when I only need to print a few photos on 13 x 19, and then I would have bit of extra paper left over to use at another time for some other printing needs.

And finally if no template like this exists, how can I go about creating something like this?
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2022-10-18 14:24:42

Hey there Sensored Lens, could you elaborate a bit more on what kind of template you're looking for? How would this be any different from a blank 13 x 19 inch template?:
Image
And finally if no template like this exists, how can I go about creating something like this?
If you're looking to add a custom blank template / size preset, you can do that via the plus icon within the Preset browser for the "Default" template. As for saving project files as separate Brand Templates to the Templates browser, we're planning to add this feature in a future Pixelmator Pro update.
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2022-10-19 18:10:49

Ok so, if you physically took a 4x5 or 5x7 sheet of paper and placed it on 13x19 sheet of paper, the smaller size paper would not take up almost 90% of the 13x19 sheet.

Here is what I've done:

- I have cropped an image within pixelmator down from 4000x5000 pixels to the preset aspect ratios of 4x5 or 5x7 or square or any size really.
- I then exported that as a jpg to a location on my computer.
- Then, I dragged that image into the 13x19 project in Pixelmator. The result is the 4x5 (or any size I exported) will take up 90% of the 13x19. Which isn't realistic if both where physical objects.
- It makes trying to print multiple images on one sheet of 13x19 very difficult to figure out since dragging an image into the project, doesn't snap to what it should actually be in reality.
- And dragging the handles on the 4x5 image to make it smaller doesn't help since I don't know what the true 4x5 size will be within the 13x19 sheet.

It would be extremely helpful to see guides within the 13x19 printable area that show where 4x5, 5x7 or any sizes are at. This way you could easily drag handles of an image to fit those areas. Or even better yet, have an image immediately snap to the size defined on the printable area. Then all you would have to do is drag the image around until you're happy with the placement of it.

Hopefully this isn't too confusing.
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2022-10-20 14:38:27

I see. Your suggestion about templates that include guides indicating areas of a certain size sounds like something we can consider for the future. At the moment, though, you can actually already set this kind of a template up manually by using Rulers and Alignment Guides:

1. Create a blank new Pixelmator Pro project, 13 x 19 inches.
2. Enable View > Show Rulers.
3. Control-click the rulers and change their measurement units from pixels to inches.
4. Click any point within the ruler and drag your pointer onto the canvas to create an alignment guide at whatever inch mark you chose.
5. Create two vertical and two horizontal alignment guides spaced (for example) 5 inches apart in width and 7 inches apart in height in order to accommodate a 5x7" image.
6. Save the project file on your Mac. Whenever you'd like to use this project as a print template, duplicate it and work within the duplicate file so that the original is always available for reuse.

An alternate, faster way of doing this would be to utilize the Rectangle shape. Select the Shapes tool , Choose the Rectangle shape and click on your canvas to add a rectangle. Then, open the Arrange tool and in the Width and Height fields, enter "5 in" and "7 in", respectively. This will end up creating a 5x7 inch rectangle within your project, which you can use as a size reference for your photos.

Lastly and most importantly - in the beginning of your response, you mentioned you use the Crop tool to edit aspect ratios. Aspect ratios are not the same as image dimensions - both a 625 x 875 and a 1500 x 2100 pixel image is a 5:7 image, but one is larger than the other. Instead, try using Image > Image Size... to resize your image to 5x7 inches. This way, when you import the image into a 13x19 inch document, the image will accurately reflect its dimensions right away without any need for alignment guides (provided the image size isn't being altered further during export). Hope this makes sense.