Calibrating object units to correspond to physical object

[Dixar]

I made a label with precise object measurements corresponding to the measurements of a physical object. However, when I printed the label out, it was way off.

So -- is there a convenient way to calibrate Xara so that the object dimension I use in Xara will be printed at the same physical size.

For example, if I want a 3cm wide label, I want to set the Xara X value to 3cm and have the printed size be 3cm.

There are probably a lot of ways to make this adjustment, but I am seeking the most convenient and elegant way.

[covoxer]

You may create custom units that represent precise millimeters of the printed material.
Simply:
- create object with length of 300000 millipoints (in the width box enter "300000mp") - this will be somwhere around 10cm;
- print it;
- measure it in millimeters;
- divide 300000 by the measured length;
- create new "mmx" unit and set its length in milipoints to be equal to the result of division.

Use this new unit instead of millimeters. You can also create "cmx=10*mmx" for centimeters, e.t.c.

Hope it helps.

[Soquili]

Hi Dixar,

Make sure you do not have any Scaling enable in your Options.

Utilities Menu > Options > Scaling tab.

Make your Units for the page Centimetres.

Using those settings I created a 3 cm by 1.5 cm rectangle on my drawing area. Printing to each of my printers they all measure exactly 3 cm by 1.5 cm.

If you get different results check your printer to ensure it isn't scaling the output.

Are you printing directly from Xtreme or are you exporting your drawing and printing the output through some other method?

[Dixar]

Thank you - it worked perfectly. I am also embarrassed to say I found that the printer was doing a custom fit.

[amoore]

Thank you - it worked perfectly. I am also embarrassed to say I found that the printer was doing a custom fit.

No need to be embarrassed. The printer was the one mucking up the job.

Several years ago, I had to fire my service bureau. They'd done excellent work for us for years. Sadly, the guy I dealt with forgot my prime rule. If there's a problem, let me know and I'll fix it immediately. Do not muck with the file without talking to me.

There are two benefits to having that rule:

1) The job is done the way I want it.

2) I can learn from my mistake so I won't waste either my time or the printer's doing it again.