Computing instrument TAMUBIO BESS

POSTER TIPS

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Poster Printer

  1. A Poster Request Form must be turned in before your poster is printed. Forms can be found outside the Computing Office, 425 BSBW, or one can be downloaded HERE.


  2. Posters are printed on a first come, first served basis. We do not reserve timeslots. If a large number of posters are in line, priority will be given to Biology print jobs over non-Biology print jobs. Our hours are 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Monday thru Friday. We are not able to stay late to print posters, so any posters to be printed need to be submitted before 5:30 PM each day (we'll start a poster before we leave, which can be picked up the next morning).


  3. A properly formatted poster will usually print quickly. It takes about 30 minutes to print a poster if everything goes right. This means that the poster is properly formatted, there are no paper jams, outages, server problems, etc. As we get closer to the time that people want to depart for a conference, the line will get longer, so get your poster in early .


  4. Posters with formatting problems will go to the back of the line when they are brought back in corrected form. If a poster has to be reprinted because of an error that the maker should have known about, it will cost more.

    5. The poster printer will print posters up to 50"x72" on a 54"x76" sheet without major problems, but there are some caveats...

    1. Adobe Acrobat (pdf) is the preferred format for printouts, though we can also handle files in other formats, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Visio or Powerpoint 2003. Anything else will require special arrangements (in other words, we don't have the software installed and may not even have it) and will, most likely result in delays.

    2. Graphics in the poster should be in a compressed format (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.) and not in TIFF format. Posters made with TIFFs will not print and will result in delays and waste of materials (which means that the poster will cost more). This is especially a problem with PowerPoint.

    3. The poster printer, like most inkjet style printers, prints images darker then they may appear on your computer screen, let us know if you have dark images so that we can help you bring out the details you wish to highlight.

    4. Posters should use fonts that are readily available. If you are using a font that in not installed on the system we print from, your printout will not look the way you expect it to. If are using a font you think we may not have, include it on the disk that has your poster. This is not a problem with Acrobat (pdf) files.

    5. If you are making the poster on both a Mac and a PC, double-check the formatting on the system you want the poster to be printed from – Macs and PCs do not have identical fonts and some unusual errors have resulted from this (usually in bullets). Also, some errors have been introduced into posters by using an image that is in the Macintosh pict format in a poster that has also been edited on a PC.

    6. Proof read your poster before printing. If an additional printout is required, it will cost more.

    7. When creating your poster, make sure that you have sized things for the printer – most programs have a default size of 8½”x11", which is not going to work well for a poster.

    8. If you are using PowerPoint, be aware of some issues that can cause problems:

      1. Posters that have a dimension larger than 50" will not work in PowerPoint. If you need a poster that is larger than 50" on one side, you will need to either create it in another program or save the file in a different format (Acrobat (pdf) is an excellent choice).

      2. Make sure that the poster you want to be printed is the only slide in the file that you bring for printing.

      3. Keep your design simple – special effects, gradients and photos or colorful backgrounds are almost always not going to look as good printed out as they do on the monitor.

      4. The formatting between Microsoft PowerPoint on an Apple and Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows may be different. Please let us know if your poster was created on a MAC.

  5. There is a cost for using the poster printer, to cover the cost of departmental personnel operating it, supplies, maintenance costs, etc. At this time, the cost is $10 per linear foot of poster printed. This means that a 48"x48" poster will cost $40.00 unless reprinting is required. Posters will not be printed until an account has been given for charging the poster printing against. A Purchase Order is not needed to print, just an account number. If your poster fails to print, we will inform you and give the file back to you for repairs. If you need us to repair the file, we will have to charge for our time at the normal hourly rate.


  6. Files for printing can be brought by the Biology Computing Services office (425 BSBW) on floppy (if your file is really small), Zip100, Zip250, USB memory key, DVD or CD. Also, if the file is very small (could fit on a floppy), it can be emailed to help@mail.bio.tamu.edu. You can also place the file in your user or lab shared folder on the server, and send an email to the same address with the following information:

    1. where the file is located
    2. what the file is called
    3. the format of the file (OS and program)
    4. the dimensions of the poster
    5. the account to be billed for the poster
    6. your name and phone number
    7. your PI's name, if you are a graduate student, postdoc or research staff person
    8. Posters that are delivered should also have this information attached. We have a form that details all of this information. It can be found outside of the Biology Equipment Support Services – Computing offices (in the Graduate Computing Lab). If you bring a file by and no one is in the office, you can leave it (and the completed form) in the plexiglass holder outside of the office.

  7. Posters can be picked up in our offices during office hours (8:00 am - 5:30 pm). Remember that we do other things besides print posters, so calling before you come by is a wise idea.


  8. Do you have more questions? Please contact us early, and we will try to answer them as quickly as possible. Please plan ahead and get your posters in early!


This page is for the use of Faculty, Staff, and Students of the Department of Biology, Texas A&M University. It was created by Biology Computing Services and any questions, complaints or suggestions should be directed to them.

last updated: 18 October 2007