Please Help!
I'm trying to print a very intricate design from Illustrator 9 to an Epsom Stylus Printer, all I'm getting is the background colour but there is only 1 layer to my design. I'm very new to this so I'm sure there is an obvious answer! Also when I save to a PDF I get nothing but background aswell.
Please help, I'm going mad!
Alex

Alex,

all I'm getting is the background colour but there is only 1 layer to
my design.




Please elaborate on your document/layer structure.

Jacob,

My design is very complex, it's a traditional rug design and I've worked in actual size( 4000mm x 5000mm). All the artwork is on one layer and when I try and save or print I just get the white colour of the page and no details. I'm very new to this and I'm now wondering if it's because of the file size, if I change print set up to A4, I can print an A4 section of the design but not the whole thing. Hope you can help!
Alex

Alex,

The largest Epson Stylus paper width is 13" or 330 mm, less than 1/10 the artwork.

when I try and save or print I just get the white colour of the page and
no details




Save how?

The file size depends entirely on the artwork, especially the possible amount of raster.

Jacob,

I'm not really being very clear am I, sorry! I'm trying to print on A4 paper but I want to print the whole design( a scaled version of the entire rug), NOT just an A4 sized section of the design(eg. the flower in the middle of the rug). I've done other actual size designs for rugs and have been able to print those successfully on A4 but they have not been such complex designs.
I'm trying to save in a PDF format which just comes up blank, however if I save to a Tiff it works fine but the image loses some quality.
I hope that makes sense!

Alex,

If you changed your Artboard size or orientation at any point after creating the file, your ruler origin and/or page tile may not be aligned to the artboard, causing the printer to "print" an empty region of the file.

I recommend you always work in Illustrator with the page rulers displayed. DoubleClick the white square at the upper left of the document window, where the horizontal and vertical rulers meet. That will set the ruler origin (zero-point) to the lower left of the artboard.

DoubleClick the PageTool (it's hidden under the Hand tool in the main toolbox) to auto center the print tile to the artboard. After doing so, be sure to re-hide the PageTool in the tool (bring the Hand tool back in front), because when it is displayed, it is far too easy to accidently goof up the page tile location. (One of the most poorly designed features in Illustrator.)

When printing, be sure to select the Scale to Fit option in the print dialog.

JET

Thank you for answering this, James.

I have had to get new harddisks so I am rebuilding. I have not even given Illy the kiss of life yet. And I just had to Login.