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Step by step disc printing guide
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 15:40 |
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Here's a guide for people that want to print disc art straight on to printable discs. I'm using Acoustica CD/DVD Label Maker for this because it works great and it has pre-set templates for various printers. It's not free, but there's a free trial and there's other free software that you could use if you don't want to pay.
Before you start, you'll need to place your disc art into a folder. If you need a good resource for quality disc art, go HERE.
Setup - Select your printer.
Fire up Acoustica CD/DVD Label Maker and click on the Disc tab. You'll see a drop-down list at the bottom of the window. Select your printer from the list: -
Setup - Edit the template.
Click Edit - Edit Paper/Printer Templates... and you'll see the following screen: -
I use the following settings for Verbatim printable discs (the only ones I would recommend for 360 games): -
Verbatim MKM-001 (2.4X rated discs) - 119/35
Verbatim MKM-003 (8X rated discs) - 119/19
The larger number is the diameter of the printable area of the disc and the smaller number is the diameter of the inner hole. These settings work fine for me, but you can always use a ruler to measure up the settings for your discs and adjust them where necessary. The same settings screen also allows you to shift the print up, down, left or right if it's printing slightly off-centre. Once you've made the necessary adjustments, click OK.
Select your disc art folder.
Click on the Art Browse tab (upper left) and browse to the folder that contains your disc art. Each piece of disc art will be shown in the window below. To select a piece of art for printing, just double-click it and it'll appear on the disc template in the right hand window: -
Printing - Step 1.
You're ready to print so hit the print icon in the toolbar. You'll see a window like this: -
Make sure that your settings look something like mine. Hit the Properties button to bring up the next window......
Printing - Step 2.
Hitting the Properties button will open your printer's printing properties: -
Set the print quality to high for the best results. All of your other settings should look similar to mine (the minor details might vary from printer to printer). When you're done, hit OK to go back to the preview screen and hit the Print button to start printing.
Finished results.
If all has gone to plan, you should end up with a disc that looks like this: -
I printed this disc before the game is released, but it's better to wait until you've burned the disc before printing an image on to it. If you print first and then the burn fails, you've wasted ink.
Anyway, hope that helps someone!
Printing DVD covers.
I thought I'd add this in case someone wants to print covers as well as discs. I don't bother, because you have to buy disc cases and glossy photo paper (for the best results) and printing them in high quality eats up a lot of ink. If you want to do it though, I would recommend a piece of software called coverXP Pro.
Fire up coverXP Pro and in the "left cover" section, click on "cover templates" and choose "dvd.keepcase.single.file". Now drag and drop your cover image to the program window and you're ready to print. Use glossy photo paper and set the print quality to high for best results. If you're going to be printing a lot of covers, buy a cheap paper guillotine/cutter so you can get a nice clean and quick cut when you're cutting them down to size to fit into DVD cases. You can also edit the template if you find it's a couple of mm too big/small, but I found that the standard template worked just fine when I used it.
NOTE: - The printer that I'm using does not allow you to print to discs if you buy the US model. That feature has been disabled for the American market. There are other printers available in the US that do work fine, just don't waste your money on buying one the same as mine if you live in America!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. October 2009 @ 16:55
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AfterDawn Addict
3 product reviews
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28. October 2009 @ 16:05 |
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sweet, good guide!
To get instant assistance with Flashing / JTAG / Homebrew from experts for free! click me (Im not one of the said experts BTW)
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Ohyu
Junior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:07 |
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Thank you very much for this. It is exactly what I am looking for!!
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:08 |
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Originally posted by Ohyu:
Thank you very much for this. It is exactly what I am looking for!!
Haha, cool. It was your earlier thread that inspired me to write this.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 16:09 |
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Step one... get a sharpie
Step two... write the game
Finished!
Ha
If you can, post a picture of a game that you actually have printed yourself. I'm interested in seeing how it turned out quality wise.
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:10 |
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Originally posted by guessswho:
If you can, post a picture of a game that you actually have printed yourself. I'm interested in seeing how it turned out quality wise.
That's what the last pic is mate!
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 16:15 |
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Originally posted by funksoulb:
Originally posted by guessswho:
If you can, post a picture of a game that you actually have printed yourself. I'm interested in seeing how it turned out quality wise.
That's what the last pic is mate!
You said in your original post that that wasn't one you did
Originally posted by funksoulb:
I haven't done it here obviously as this game hasn't been released yet, but it's better to burn the disc before printing to it, because if you print first and the burn fails, you've wasted ink.
That's why I want to see how one looks that you did yourself.
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:21 |
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Originally posted by guessswho:
Originally posted by funksoulb:
Originally posted by guessswho:
If you can, post a picture of a game that you actually have printed yourself. I'm interested in seeing how it turned out quality wise.
That's what the last pic is mate!
You said in your original post that that wasn't one you did
Originally posted by funksoulb:
I haven't done it here obviously as this game hasn't been released yet, but it's better to burn the disc before printing to it, because if you print first and the burn fails, you've wasted ink.
That's why I want to see how one looks that you did yourself.
What I meant by that is, in this case I didn't wait to burn the disc before printing it as the game isn't out yet. Perhaps I need to rephrase that part, but that is a pic of disc that I literally just printed before writing this guide. Sorry for the confusion. (EDIT - I've rephrased that bit now.)
The print quality is superb BTW. That pic is a touch out of focus and the flash has caused it to look like the image is very slightly off centre because of the way that the light reflects off the silver edge of the disc, so it doesn't really do it justice.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. October 2009 @ 16:23
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 16:24 |
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ok, I see what you mean, and wow, that really does look absolutely like great quality.
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John_Donn
Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:30 |
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how much was your printer and suggest any under $100?
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rgarrido
Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:33 |
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WOW! very nice man I like that A lot, A+++ lol for you.
Im going to save that info very helpful.
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 16:40 |
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Originally posted by John_Donn:
how much was your printer and suggest any under $100?
The one I use, a Canon Pixma iP4600, costs about £75 here in the UK, but you can get it for $60 from NewEgg.com on special offer (reduced from 100 bucks), however the US version cannot print to discs. The fold-down slot in the front of the printer is there, but you don't get the disc tray and disc printing is locked out in the EPROM. Why they have done this for the US market, I don't know. It's probably better if someone in the US recommends a printer to you, just in case I recommend another one that also has different features in America.
EDIT - Added a section on printing covers to the first post.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. October 2009 @ 16:47
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 17:32 |
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Good work Funksoulb. :)
Props for making a tutorial on it too.
I can't believe how great the finished label actually looks.
Just one question though, where did you find all the disc art?
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 17:41 |
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Originally posted by leerage:
Good work Funksoulb. :)
Props for making a tutorial on it too.
I can't believe how great the finished label actually looks.
Just one question though, where did you find all the disc art?
Here mate: -
http://www.console-covers.com/
It is linked in the tutorial, but you must have missed it. They only do covers and disc images for 360, Wii and PS3 games and submissions are moderated and must be at least 300 DPI, so the standards are kept high and there's plenty of choice.
You can download up to 10 disc images/covers per day with a free account, or if you need to download more than that you can pay for a premium account that costs $20 a year and gives you unlimited downloads. 10 downloads a day is plenty for most people though.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 17:45 |
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Originally posted by funksoulb:
Originally posted by leerage:
Good work Funksoulb. :)
Props for making a tutorial on it too.
I can't believe how great the finished label actually looks.
Just one question though, where did you find all the disc art?
Here mate: -
http://www.console-covers.com/
It is linked in the tutorial, but you must have missed it. They only do covers and disc images for 360, Wii and PS3 games and submissions are moderated and must be at least 300 DPI, so the standards are kept high and there's plenty of choice.
You can download up to 10 disc images/covers per day with a free account, or if you need to download more than that you can pay for a premium account that costs $20 a year and gives you unlimited downloads. 10 downloads a day is plenty for most people though.
Whoops, yeah I missed it. I see where you have it now. Got side tracked with the pictures haha.
Thanks for the info. :)
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2009 @ 17:51 |
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very nice guide man.
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manu07
Member
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28. October 2009 @ 18:27 |
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yes very nice indeed few questions though
1.what printer do you feel would work best for this?
2. Where do you get the printable verbs and how much do they cost?
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Senior Member
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28. October 2009 @ 19:33 |
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Originally posted by manu07:
yes very nice indeed few questions though
1.what printer do you feel would work best for this?
2. Where do you get the printable verbs and how much do they cost?
I've only ever used the iP4300 (discontinued) and the iP4600 that I currently own, but as I said, the US version of the iP4600 doesn't have the disc printing feature. I'm not in a position to recommend anything else, cos I've never used anything else. Sorry.
I buy my discs from Play.com in the UK. Printable ones cost maybe £1 more per spindle of 25 compared to the normal ones. I had a look on Newegg though and they don't sell any of the ones that we get here. It's like they're trying to stop you from printing your own discs in the US or something. lol. They do have a spindle of 20 2.4X printable Verbs on Newegg for $38.99 but they come in a plain tub with a white sticker on it which I've not seen in UK stores. All of the ones I buy are in the regular blue/purple packaging, so I can't comment on the ones on Newegg.
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