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Today it is impossible to imagine a modern PC user and software installed on it without using a printer, because nobody has yet canceled the use of paper documents and photos. Perhaps that is why it is worth figuring out which program for printing documents and photos is best suited for each specific case. At the same time it will be possible to deal with the basic features offered by the applications of such a direction.
To begin, we note that in the software today you can find a large number of a variety of utilities that help optimize the process of printing documents, images or photos. Naturally, you can find simple utilities for printing, say, a plain text document. And sometimes you need to use professional and semi-professional utilities to ensure print quality.
Thus, it becomes immediately clear that also a program for printing text documents, as a rule, should be limited to a standard primitive set of functions. Judge for yourself, because when you print text from Notepad using a conventional laser printer, in general, nothing supernatural is required from the application. It all comes down only to the correct display of text on paper, even with an inferior printer.
Another thing is when graphics are sent to print, for example, a high-resolution photo created using a modern digital camera. In this case, the program for printing photos should have advanced features. This concerns, by the way, not only improved color rendering, but also some additional features for editing and preprocessing an image.
Naturally, many may immediately exclaim that the most universal program is Adobe Photoshop. Let us disagree with this, since initially this software package is designed specifically for editing graphics, and certainly not for printing. In addition, among the software products designed specifically for printing, there are more powerful utilities that allow to optimize the process so much that they are actively used in digital printing electronic equipment in modern photo studios.
In addition, such applications are used to create and print large format posters, postcards or posters, which cannot be done with the simplest means.
Among the simplest programs, you can highlight the standard type of “Notepad” or the simplest office text editors such as WordPad.
Such applications, although they are not specialized utilities, nevertheless refer to the printer installed in the system directly, allowing you to receive, so to speak, a paper version of the electronic text document.
With office applications such as Microsoft Word, the situation is much more interesting. In addition to the Word program itself, which, as in the case of primitive text editors, allows you to instantly print documents, you can find quite a few specialized utilities for improving quality.
This is due to the fact that the word processor itself is capable of combining text and graphics in documents. That's when the graphics are present, third-party utilities show themselves much better than the standard Word application. Among other things, sometimes you may need utilities to print specific documents with non-standard formatting.
One of the most interesting is the WordPage program. It is very easy to use. The main purpose is to optimize the printing of books and brochures that were created in Word. The application allows you to print, for example, two A5 on one sheet of A6. In addition, the application has support for double-sided printers, which, of course, not only optimizes the process itself, but also reduces the time spent on it.
No less interesting is some kind of photo printing software for documents. As a vivid example, you can use Studio Pro, which allows you to prepare a photo for a document using a template in minutes.
In the application itself, you can adjust the image, adjust the brightness and contrast, make full control of the position of images on the sheet, etc. In addition, this utility can be used as a means of controlling modern cameras and even changing their basic settings programmatically.
The most interesting thing is that this package contains two more powerful utilities. These are StudioUEC to automate the process of shooting and programmatically input a universal signature on electronic bank cards, and StudioTW (the so-called Twain module), which is very often used to issue driving licenses by the relevant government services. As you can see, each program for printing photo documents (or rather paperwork with ready-made photos) is interesting and unique in its own way.
As for software packages for working with photos, they can be divided into two broad categories: home applications and professional or semi-professional utilities for working in studios. Among the simplest products for an ordinary user, there are programs like Studio 2.0.0, Pics Print, Photo Print Pilot, PrintStation, MultiPrint, etc.
Each utility of this type allows you to pre-edit and process photos, import them from a removable USB hard drive, etc. The same Studio 2.0.0 utility has the ability to place multiple photos on one sheet. Programs like Photo Print Pilot can add effects to selected images. For example, it can be a beautiful border, selected from the list of templates or created from another photo. Here, as they say, the user only needs a flight of fancy, well, and the means from the programs themselves are abound.
As for the most powerful applications, there certainly can be noted such software packages as ACD Photo Sale, ArcSoft PhotoPrinter, etc.
But, according to many professionals working in photo studios, the palm belongs to a unique software product called SILKYPIX Developer Studio Pro. Its capabilities are such that in some aspects relating to editing and preparing photos for printing, this application can seriously compete with the same Adobe Photoshop, and sometimes surpass it.
Not to mention the photo, we note also the fact that this program for printing photos is capable of even more. The fact is that with its help you can easily print even and this is already an impressive indicator. Naturally, this will require not some simple printer, but modern professional equipment.
The only thing that upsets is that, alas, almost all applications of this type are paid and cost about 30-60 US dollars.
Now a few words about universal PDF documents. If anyone does not know how a program for printing PDF documents can use the universal software package for scanners ABBYY Fine Reader, capable of converting scanned paper Talmuds into documents of this format, which is called, on the fly, and then print them, while maintaining original formatting, color reproduction, etc., then there are quite a few possibilities. It is interesting.
Another interesting program for printing PDF documents (and not only) is the FinePrint application, which is a universal driver for a printer. The program can not only create PDF documents, but also manage absolutely all print options, including printing multiple pages on one sheet, creating letterheads and forms, setting indents for binding, scaling large pages and images into standard paper formats, combining several print jobs in a single document, printing booklets and postcards, applying watermarks and footers in printing with time or date, changing the color image to black and white and much more. Just do not list.
Here it is worth noting another feature. Not to mention the possibility of using double-sided printing to save paper, you can include a special system of saving ink cartridges.
Separately, it should be said that this is a program for creating stamps of standard samples, which will then be manufactured using the production method. One of the most simple and accessible to the ordinary user is the utility Stamp 1.3 with the Russified interface.
Although the application itself has only its own templates, which is no secret, many users based on them successfully fake official stamps and seals. If you dig a little bit in the templates and perform some simple actions, you can achieve just amazing results. The application even has a blur function that allows you to look or stamp more realistic. In addition, this program for creating seals and stamps is available in a portable version (Portable), which eliminates the need to install it on the hard drive. In other words, you can run it from a regular flash drive anytime, anywhere.
In principle, you can use the so-called "cloud" programs, the essence of which boils down to the fact that the user needs to go to a certain site and, following the instructions step by step, create a print layout online. But this method has not received much distribution.
Here, in fact, a brief overview of applications that may be needed to optimize printing. Which program for printing documents or photos will be used depends on the specific case and on what result you want to get.
Along the way, it is worth recalling that the printer plays an important role here. So you have to pay attention to him. It is clear after all that the simplest laser "old man" is suitable only for text documents. Even inkjet printers for printing photos are not always suitable. For high-quality photos, you need a good photo printer, not to mention the professional equipment that is used in photo studios.
You can print photos using most common image viewers. But, such applications are not flexible, they can not configure all the print settings that you want to specify the user. And the image itself, which prints the printer using such programs, is far from always of high quality. Fortunately, there are special applications for high-quality printing of photos, which have advanced settings, adjustable for every taste.
One of the best programs for printing photos is the Qimage application. It allows you not only to print photos in the perspective in which it is convenient for the user (including several photos on one sheet), but also has a powerful tool for editing images. In addition, the application is able to print high quality images. It works with almost all raster graphic formats. Thus, Qimage is close to the universal programs for image processing, and is one of the best programs in its segment.
The main disadvantage for the domestic user of this, in general, a wonderful program is the absence of the Russian-language interface.
Significantly inferior in functionality to the previous program features Photo Print Pilot. It is much less universal. At the same time, it is a very convenient product for printing a large number of photos, with the possibility of determining their location on a sheet of paper, including several pieces. This saves consumables. In addition, the program Photo Print Pilot, unlike Qimage, has a Russian-language interface.
But, unfortunately, the application does not support the work with the less common file formats, and also has almost no photo editing tools.
The ACD FotoSlate application is a shareware program for printing photos on documents, for creating albums, calendars, cards, etc. Such a wide variation of the diverse design of images, and their structural organization, was obtained thanks to the presence of special Print Masters. Conveniently configured to print a large number of photos. This program is suitable not only for home use, but also for the needs of professional photographers.
True, printing single photos in the ACD FotoSlate application is inconvenient. In addition, there is no Russian interface. Virtually no image editing.
The Pics Print application is very similar in its capabilities to ACD FotoSlate. It also uses in its work special Masters who form albums, calendars, posters, postcards, business cards and so on. But, unlike the previous program, Pix Print has quite extensive options for editing images, using effects, color management, contrast, etc.
The main drawback of the program, like that of ACD FotoSlate, is the lack of Russification of Pics Print.
The main feature of the program priPrinter Professional is the ability to print photos on a virtual printer. Thus, the user can see what the picture will turn out before printing it on a physical printer. Also, the program has ample opportunities for image editing.
This application is shareware, so when used for a long period, you need to buy it. However, this also applies to all other programs described here.
This application is ideal for those users who prefer simplicity and convenience. Photo Printer is not burdened by cumbersome functionality, so its capabilities are limited only by printing photos. True, this function is implemented very well. Working with this program makes the printing process really simple and convenient. The application provides the ability to mass print photos on paper of various formats, including with the ability to place multiple images on one sheet.
But, Photo Printer is definitely not suitable for those users who need a multifunctional program with the ability to edit images. In addition, the application is completely in English.
No different functionality and the application Ace Poster. His only task is to create posters. But, to perform this process in this program is probably simple and convenient, as in no other. Ace Poster will be able to make a big poster even with a regular printer, breaking the image into several A4 pages. In addition, the program can catch pictures directly from the scanner, without saving scans on the hard disk of the computer.
But, unfortunately, Ace Poster cannot solve any other problems.
The program Home Photography Studio is a real combine for working with photos. With it you can not only print photos, placing them on a sheet of paper, as you like, but also edit images, organize them into groups, draw, make photomontage, create collages, postcards, calendars and much more. Available batch processing of photos. Also, the program can be used for simple viewing of images.
But, unfortunately, although Home Photo Studio has a fairly wide range of functions, many of them are not fully implemented, or need to be improved. Access to some features is inconvenient. So the impression was that the developers, chasing after several hares, did not catch a single one. The program looks pretty damp.
As you can see, there is a wide list of popular programs for printing photos. Some of them are designed specifically to perform this function, other applications can be called universal. But, any user has the opportunity to choose the application for printing images, which he considers more suitable for himself and for solving specific tasks.
The presence in the arsenal of home appliances, along with a computer, is also becoming the norm for today. For the most part, only ordinary word documents are printed on home printers, and directly from Microsoft Word and in their "natural" form - that is, the pages are displayed sequentially one after the other and exactly one page is placed on each sheet. However, with no less success, a home printer can be used to print ordinary documents in a more complex presentation (for example, in the form of brochures or booklets), as well as for printing large-format documents and photographs or printed projects based on them, such as calendars and postcards. It is easy to do this, though you will have to get a specialized application that would allow you to quickly and efficiently get high-quality prints. How? It depends on the tasks facing the user, in terms of which we will consider software solutions.
When using this option, click on the "Start a project wizard" button and answer the wizard's questions in good faith. Here you first need to select the desired type of project (photo album, postcard, calendar, etc.), and then specify the page orientation and design style.
Then they load the necessary images into the template of interest, manually placing them in the designated areas. At the same time images in the project can be added from folders of a hard disk, scanners and digital cameras. Inserted images into a template are easy to rotate, mirror, crop and enhance by color correction, sharpening or vice versa blur. It is possible to superimpose the effects of sepia on the pictures and conduct color coloration, as well as adding a border and / or frame, and the borders and frames can be added immediately to all images of the project, which significantly speeds up its preparation.
Well, if the type of the template is not entirely satisfactory, then it is not a problem to correct it - just select the "Adjust Page" command from the context menu and make the necessary changes in the template editor that opens. For example, move existing areas, resize them, delete some of them, or, on the contrary, add new areas of the desired shape, as well as introduce text and / or calendar objects.
A few more options when creating a project based on the included editable templates (as many as 450!). In this case, when the program starts, click on the button "Create a new project wizard" or create a new project with the command File\u003e New\u003e "Create custom project". In both cases, a window will open to select the page style, where you will need to select the appropriate option. Further technology here will be completely identical to the above - that is, you will need to add images to the project and place them in the designated areas, correcting them if necessary.
If none of the existing templates suits you in principle, then you can create a template from scratch through the Page Designer module (Designer button) - it will be a little longer, but you can completely independently determine the external structure of the template and the design of all project pages. There are no tricks here - choose the command Designer\u003e "Create Page", in the opened window press the New button, set the page parameters, and then embed areas on it for images of the desired shape and size and place them on the page to your liking. At the end of the work, the template is saved in the template library, and in the future it can be used in the preparation of printed projects.
You can create projects in the Paper Saver paper saving mode, providing automatic layout on each sheet of the maximum possible number of images, which reduces the cost of expensive photo paper. At the end of the project preparation, it is printed (the Print button), but the projects can also be saved in their own program format for further work, exported to BMP, JPG or TIFF graphic formats or saved in PDF format.
Then, on the "Preview & Print" tab, the desired template is selected, as well as the printer and photo paper brand, with the result that the images are automatically placed. If necessary, pictures can be swapped, but the change in their size and position on the sheet in this method is not provided.
Using the built-in editing tools, it is easy to implement simple images with respect to the images involved in the project, which include cropping, rotation, mirroring, scaling, automatic color correction and red-eye removal. There are also plans to add borders to photos (although the list of borders is small), color-coding and introduction of arbitrary text fragments into the projects.
It is also possible to develop projects from scratch (project type "Photo Collage"), when the number of shots per sheet of paper, their size and position are determined by the user. However, no really interesting collages can be created here due to the limited list of borders and the lack of masks, which is usually necessary to combine a series of images into collages. In other words, the only advantage of this method of project preparation is the installation of atypical sizes of photos. Project preparation in paper saving mode is also provided.
Print projects are usually printed immediately, but if necessary, they can be saved in their own program format or exported to popular graphic formats (BMP, JPG, TIFF, GIF, PCX, etc.).
The resulting project can be edited. In terms of editing images (the Items\u003e Edit command), they can be rotated, aligned (relative to each other or page) and cropped, it is also possible to get rid of the red-eye effect, conduct color correction and enhance sharpness.
Images can be added with borders - the number of built-in framing options is small, but can be extended with custom borders. For a page (Page menu) it is allowed to change the orientation, format, size of fields, etc. The introduction of text and calendar objects into pages is also allowed.
Another way to create a project is by template. Then, after starting the project preparation process (File\u003e "New Document" command), you need to select the Templates option and specify the project type.
And then perform the same operations that were described above, so we didn’t see any fundamental difference between these two ways of creating print projects, and it’s not clear why there was not one, but two ways of preparation.
It is also possible to create projects from scratch (File\u003e "New Document" command, "Blank Layout" button). In this case, all the necessary images are added to the project sequentially, and their size and position are manually adjusted, which is not allowed with other ways of creating the project. Finished print projects can be immediately printed, saved as templates, exported to images in popular graphic formats or in PDF format.
After choosing the layout method, the necessary images are embedded in the project (they can be loaded from a hard disk, scanner or digital camera), which is done by dragging and dropping images from the built-in viewer window. To get to the viewer, you need to press the F10 key.
Images loaded into the project are easy to correct (for example, through the context menu) - they are allowed to rotate, mirror, add with frames, borders and signatures. In addition, there is a built-in editor, access to which is opened when you select an image and select the "Edit Image" command from the context menu. In the editor, it is permissible to carry out framing and color correction, as well as improving the image by blurring, sharpening, eliminating red-eye and colorization. When creating a project in Munual mode, it is additionally allowed to randomly move images, resize them, as well as the order of superimposing images on each other.
The finished project is printed (the Print button) or saved in the program’s own format.
At the next stage, you will need to create a print project (the Place on Layout button) —that is, if you need to change the printer and paper size, select the layout template and click on the Create button. As a result, the photos will be placed in accordance with the specified template.
Then the pictures on the layout can be swapped by dragging them with the mouse (adjusting the position of the pictures in the selected template is not allowed), rotate and frame them. You can also customize the addition when printing (on all or only selected sheets) dates. But to somehow improve the appearance of the pictures (for example, add a frame, carry out color correction, eliminate the red-eye effect, etc.) in this decision will not succeed, therefore, you will have to carry out similar operations in advance in some other suitable program.
Upon completion of the preparation of the project will just click "Print". It is impossible to save a print project for further use in this program.
Then you need to click on the "Create Layout" button and specify the number of columns and columns, as well as the distance between images or enter the required image sizes - in principle, this can be done, but use one of the six built-in templates. As a result, the program independently scales images and arranges them on the page in an optimal way. Embedded images in a project can be framed and added to them a shadow and arbitrary text (at the top or bottom of the page, as well as above and below each of the photos). You can set a colored background. However, there is no framing or any other transformations in the program, so all such operations must be carried out in other decisions.
Created projects are printed out, or exported to popular graphic formats or PDF format, unfortunately, problems with Cyrillic are not excluded in the generated PDF documents. It is possible to save projects in their own program format.
Fineprint - multifunctional driver for printers, greatly expanding the possibilities of any printers when printing documents: preview, printing several pages on one sheet, printing brochures, auto-insertion of the heading and "basement", creating letterheads, substrates, frames and much more.
FinePrint works with all models of printers, being, in fact, a multifunctional universal printer driver with a convenient graphical shell to manage it. Another useful feature is the permissibility of using several pre-configured virtual printers. For example, one will automatically print brochures, and the other will print text on letterhead. Using FinePrint significantly reduces printing costs, while at the same time, overall printer operation is enhanced.
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