Marker Generator

Introduction

The marker generator tool can be used to create PDF files containing single markers or complete marker sets ready for print.

How to use the Marker Generator

The marker generator has two modes of operation:

1. Generating a new markerset
2. Generating the markerset currently used inside Unifeye Design

1. Generating a new markerset

The marker generator can be reached by clicking on the "Marker-Generator" menu entry inside the "Tools" menu:

The marker generator will be started in a separate window which should look like this:

The text box inside of the "Generate PDFs without existing markerset" area can be used to define any possible assortment of markers in the range of marker ID 1 to marker ID 512. Single markers can be separated by semicolons, marker ranges can be defined using the hyphen. As an example, to generate the markers "2" and "5" to "10", enter: "2;5-10" into the text box.

Below the text box is another input field where the size of the markers in millimeters can be defined. The smallest possible size is one by one centimeter (10 millimeters), the largest possible size is 2.5 by 2.5 meters (2500 millimeters). The maximum marker size that fits on a DinA4 page is 160 by 160 millimeters.

Click on the "OK" button to generate the PDF file. A file save dialoge will pop up in order to save the PDF on your hard drive. The saved PDF will then automatically be opened in your PDF reader for printing.

2. Generating the markerset currently used inside Unifeye Design

To generate a PDF of those markers that you have defined in the Marker Tracking Configuration tool within Unifeye Design, click on the PDF button in the lower left of the markerset section of that tool:

A file save dialogue will pop-up, asking you to save your current markerset to your hard drive. After you have done this, the Marker Generator will start and the main window will look like this:

Unless you uncheck the "use markerset currently loaded in Unifeye" check box, there remain only two options to choose from:

1. create PDFs for all marker sizes: Use this option to create PDFs containing all the markers that you have specified in the Marker Tracking Configuration tool of Unifeye Design. A select folder dialog will be opened for you to choose the directory in which to save the PDF files containing the markers. For each marker size a separate PDF file will be created named "Marker_<size>.pdf". Existing files with the same name will be overwritten. If you want to select the filenames yourself, choose option 2 described next.
2. create PDF with markers of size: Use this option to create one single PDF containing only those markers of the size selected in the drop down box. If markers of several sizes have been defined and you want to create PDFs for all of them, you have to create the PDF for one markersize first, then choose a different markersize and create the next PDF. This is not as fast as Option 1 but you can freely choose the filename for each PDF file.

If you uncheck the "use markerset currently loaded in Unifeye" check box the tool can be used as described in the Generating a new markerset section.

Adding inscriptions

Click on the "Inscriptions >" button on the lower left of the window to add inscriptions to your markers:

You have two options when using inscriptions:

1. Use same inscriptions for each marker
2. Use list of inscriptions correlating with chosen markers

Use same inscriptions for each marker

Using the first option is rather straight-forward: You can add images for the upper and/or the lower inscription. The selected images will be printed above and/or below each marker:

Here is an example of a marker with upper and lower inscriptions:

Use list of inscriptions correlating with chosen markers

Clicking on the "Add upper/lower inscription" button will open a dialogue that let's you select a folder which contains all inscriptions. Any image found within this folder will be used as an inscription, in ascending order, sorted by file name. E.g. the first ten images inside the folder will be used as inscriptions if you choose to print the markers with ID 1 to 10. If there is no eleventh image, marker ID 11 would not be given an inscription.

Printing

Be cautious about automatic resizing of PDFs while printing. Most printer dialogues offer the option to resize a PDF to a certain letter format. This is NOT recommended, because it will change the actual size of the printed markers. It is always wise to take a ruler and check if the printed markers have the specified size. Measure the distance from the leftmost black border to the rightmost black border. It should match the dimensions specified in the marker generator. If this is not the case, you can adjust the millimeter value for this marker in the markerset configuration using the Marker Tracking Configuration tool instead of reprinting the marker.

The default size of 140 mm is a good fit for standard A4 printer paper (for markers without or with small inscriptions). The maximum marker size (for markers without inscriptions) that fits on a DinA4 page is 160 by 160 millimeters.

-- SupportMetaio - 2010-02-25