Luke,
I use the Neato Fellowes CD labels and the template that you can get from their website. Here’s the issue.
The template is 8.5 x 11". In photoshop, that’s not a page, that is an image that has to fit on a page. So photoshop knows that your printer can’t really print 8.5 x 11" because there are unprintable areas – for example, sometimes in MS Word, you get an error message that says "the page you are trying to print goes beyond the printable area of your printer, do you want to fix it?".
It’s the same basic message in Photoshop, without the "do you want to fix it". Since Photoshop is not a page layout program, it relies solely on the information provided from your printer driver to determine whether the image (not page) will fit, and will notify you if it won’t fit.
So the point is, what you are seeing is normal, because your image is 8.5 x 11.
So what can you do?
Two things; make the image smaller, or accept the "some clipping will occur".
I choose the latter. I know it’s going to clip off the edges a tiny bit and some from the bottom, but I don’t care, because that’s not the area I’m concerned with.
Rather, you place your text/design in the masked area of the label and you have to print a "proof" to see how far it is off. Then you have to nudge your text/image/layers with your arrow keys until they are correct.
I know it’s a pita, and there’s a more elegant way to do it but I use A LOT of labels and each lot of labels is "off" by a different amount. Meaning that sometimes I have to nudge twice, sometimes I have to nudge three times, etc., so the method I currently have works.
An alternative is to use your CD burning program to print out the CD labels. You can usually import images/text into those programs, and they usually have a "calibration" step that allows you to properly align the labels. These programs, like Word, ARE page layout programs in function, so the message about clipping isn’t an issue.
Hope that helps.
Peace,
Tony
Thanks for your reply Tony. I was using different CD labeling software (Neato, Easy CD creator, etc.) but I found these limited… So I decided to simply use PS since I was designing the artwork in PS and then exporting this to the software… So now you are saying I will be scrapping a lot of labels in order to get these CD printed correctly… Oh well…. Thanks for the input.
Luke
One more thing you can do, Jake.
Be your creative, unlimited self in PS and save your great art work as a file. Then Use Easy CD/DVD Creator (or whatever) and bring the art work in that way. In Label Creator just click Add > Picture, and select you art work there. It’s what I do.
And Tony’s right that each batch of labels is off a tad, and even some sheets can be off in a different direction and by a different amount than others in the same batch. To get around that, I have the art work exceed the diameter of the label, to be sure to get full coverage on the label.
Tom Ireland
