What do you guys do for case-inserts that are larger than your paper?

[TheSlyder]

I was planning on getting mine printed off at the local Office Depot, but the cover I'm designing stretches beyond the range of a normal sheet of paper. (It's for a one-inch-thick DVD case.)

Do they have longer pieces of glossy paper for stuff like this? Will their printers be able to seamlessly print the whole thing? This is a pretty big wall in my little project here.

[Arseen]

I was planning on getting mine printed off at the local Office Depot, but the cover I'm designing stretches beyond the range of a normal sheet of paper. (It's for a one-inch-thick DVD case.)

Do they have longer pieces of glossy paper for stuff like this? Will their printers be able to seamlessly print the whole thing? This is a pretty big wall in my little project here.

The answer is:
A4 in Europe
Legal is US

[TheSlyder]

I was planning on getting mine printed off at the local Office Depot, but the cover I'm designing stretches beyond the range of a normal sheet of paper. (It's for a one-inch-thick DVD case.)

Do they have longer pieces of glossy paper for stuff like this? Will their printers be able to seamlessly print the whole thing? This is a pretty big wall in my little project here.

The answer is:
A4 in Europe
Legal is US

Wow, I didn't even think about that. Thanks! (Hopefully they'll have glossy Legal paper available. This place is the only place I know of where I can do this kind of stuff.)

[CadmiumRED]

I work at an OfficeMax, and we have what's called 80# glossy text, which is the kind of paper that's used in game manuals and magazines.  Surely Office Depot should have it since OfficeMax has it, and it comes in Letter (8.5" x 11"), Legal (8.5" x 14"), and A3 (12" x 18") sizes.  I think it also comes in 11" x 17" too.  If you're working with a cover that has a marginal bleed, it's best to print on something really big to ensure that you're getting everything.

[TheSlyder]

I work at an OfficeMax, and we have what's called 80# glossy text, which is the kind of paper that's used in game manuals and magazines.  Surely Office Depot should have it since OfficeMax has it, and it comes in Letter (8.5" x 11"), Legal (8.5" x 14"), and A3 (12" x 18") sizes.  I think it also comes in 11" x 17" too.  If you're working with a cover that has a marginal bleed, it's best to print on something really big to ensure that you're getting everything.

Wow, awesome. I'll jot that down to make sure I don't forget it. Very helpful to have a guy on the "inside."

[CadmiumRED]

Heh no prob man.  Ever since I started collecting retro games again, I remembered I had a way to get everything I needed since I work in the printing department at the store.  But yeah, 80# glossy text paper is your ticket.  The way I print mine is I save what it is I'm working with as either a PNG or a PDF, then I open the file under Adobe Acrobat Pro or 9 or whatever it is I work with, then I print from there with the giant powerhouse laserjet printer we have.  Covers for games, to me, always look best if printed with toner instead of ink.  Ink always bleeds through the paper and has to take time to dry, and it's kinda wrinkly in comparison.

[TheSlyder]

Heh no prob man.  Ever since I started collecting retro games again, I remembered I had a way to get everything I needed since I work in the printing department at the store.  But yeah, 80# glossy text paper is your ticket.  The way I print mine is I save what it is I'm working with as either a PNG or a PDF, then I open the file under Adobe Acrobat Pro or 9 or whatever it is I work with, then I print from there with the giant powerhouse laserjet printer we have.  Covers for games, to me, always look best if printed with toner instead of ink.  Ink always bleeds through the paper and has to take time to dry, and it's kinda wrinkly in comparison.

Is there any difference in color or quality for toner vs ink?

[CadmiumRED]

Personally, I think toner proves as a closer match to the source material than ink because ink gets slightly discolored, depending on what kind of paper you're using.  Being that all the printers I use are toner-based, I've had no problem with any of them thus far.  What you should be wary of is what color profile your print file is working in, CMYK or RGB.  If you have an RGB-based toner/ink printer, your file needs to be RGB.  If CMYK, CMYK.  You can change color profiles in Adobe Photoshop easily, that's if and only if you're extremely nitpicky with colors.  For me, I'm not worried about that.