Unusually easy to using the two templates I tried, had fun making a wanted poster with my sons pic and a magazine cover with a my daughter on it.

#28 Mike - No matter what program you buy, then wouldn´t it make any difference if the hardware can´t deliver the final result itself. Ex.:

To make a poster then do you need a printer there´s able to print all the way to the outer edge of the paper. Else would you have to cut the edge of the paper, yourself or buy a hardware there´s able to do so...

The conclusion:
If you don´t have a printer there´s able to print all the way to the outer edge of the paper then would any poster program like today´s program not make any sense at all and you´re back where you began, with your old programs there only is able to print one page at the time and you have to cut the edge of the paper too.

I´m clearly (according to your stats) among those who have the right printer there´s able to use this kind of software. I have to say that it doesn´t make me any difference, because there is the excact same option in the programs that came with the printer, which is a Canon PIXMA iP3600.

Ok, there defiantly seems to be alot of misunderstandings about what they've included in this program. Yes, you CAN do a multiple page banner or poster, when you click on the printer properties you only need to clear out the "Disable" box for multiple page output. you DO NOT need the Poster printer software to do so.

Do like the wanted template (main motivation for downloading this one; didn't have a decent one; lol). Very simplistic but effect little program. Cool that you are able to export your design as jpeg but it would have been better to have added this as a save as instead to reduce confusion. PNG format would have been better too. Thanks RonyaSoft and thanks again GAOTD for continueing to offer these Christmas gifts each day. :)

Without the "Poster Printer" software, an extra $20, the Poster Designer is nothing more than a nice graphics generating program. There are plenty of those on my machine and another is just superfluous. It is outta here.

Useless without being able to print posters. Maybe you can just staple your laptop to a bulletin board. Got to do better than this, most of the time you do.

good

First and foremost, a big thank you to Giveaway of the Day for allowing us a chance to try finished software (not time-limited or otherwise hampered) for free on a daily basis. I also want to thank the contributers of the daily comments, I have learned a lot from you folks as well.

Now the business. I don't get this one, a $50 package to create and print posters? The PrintShop (latest version) is $15.00 on Amazon and does this and a lot more. Many of us already have MS Publisher (if you own Office) and again, posters are but a small part of what the program will do. I know there are also free publishing programs (Serif and Scribus come to mind), although I am honestly not sure if they will print outsized posters. There are also countless others available for just a few dollars (check the 9.99 and 19.99 rack at Office Depot for example).

Even the free version of Poster Forge came with the printing capability built in (the freeware version is still out there if you google it, much more limited than the current offering, but kind of cute). Granted, this is a nice little program for making posters, installed and works fine on my Win 7 64 bit setup.

I suppose for free, if you have nothing else to use, its good to have, but I can't see the commercial viability of a program to create posters costing $30, and another $20 for the capability of printing larger posters.

Maybe I'm missing the obvious, but commercially I don't see this as a good choice, even for the casual user.

I been using old stand by print shop the new one and it does banners coloring books, and all with your own graphics plus couple thousand of thiers it works on all machines i have vista win 7 ultimate, win 7 home.

@24: Ah Yes, I found a poster printing option for my printer in the printer properties. I have not tried it yet but this could be the solution for printing multipages. Never knew I had this option. Thanks for the suggestion.

re: #23, I am taking a guess regarding your question and assuming that you are looking for the RonyaSoft folder located in the Public Documents folder. The Poster Designer sub-folder contains the clipart, templates, and fonts folders.

I guess seeing the poster printer software has some complaining about the lack of its inclusion in a single product. I don't know if it's standard to get both together as I have not seen much in the way of software exclusively for posters. I've seen DTP software that includes poster design. I did see a Serif poster printer software that was meant to be used with a large format picture printer by HP.

I agree with those who have said that it's best to get posters printed at a printing facility. Unless you're printing a puzzle picture, piecing together pictures doesn't look that great if it's not seamless.

@SamF #19 Run Activate.exe with Poster Designer closed, then open it and check registration.

@4 To answer your (unasked) question, Irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/
will convert images to .EMF --
and, best of all, it's free!

Many Thanks Mike (mike),#25 - for Your Tutorial on Today's Software and for directing me (question posted earlier at #23) to Shared Documents where RonyaSoft stores it's Data/Content Folders, I simply missed that place altogether.

I can see here that clip pics have emf/wmf extensions, I'm perhaps more used to pngs, but it wouldn't be a problem to create what's necessary if I wanted to "play around" (which ever way) with Libraries, so cool:)

BTW - cliparts can be easily converted to Corel's "tubes" by adding Raster layer and merging visibly, exporting to Tubes, naming a.s.o (not forgetting to leave original "source" un-changed!)

Cute little program, runs well on Win 7 64. Pity about the childish graphics supplied with the program, although accessing & using any jpg or photo stored on my computer is simple. Fonts are also only limited by what you have installed in your normal Font Folder. Haven't tried printing yet but, as I would rarely print out more than 1 or 2 copies, bulk printing is not a problem for me. All up, a keeper & I'm about to go & install it on my other system. Thanks GAOTD & Ronyasoft.

Installed on Win 7 64 bit works fine. Can't print a poster, Think it is the whole point of the program "RonyaSoft Poster Designer (Poster Forge)".
Having more templates would be nice.
AS IS I would not give $29.95 for it to many free version.
but thanks to GOTD this one is free today so I will keep it around and do more testing.

#9: "Nice program, unfortunately what can you do with it when you can’t install the multipage poster printer with the same license. It means: making a great poster design and not be able to print it in full"

Well, most people can only print letter or maybe legal size themselves, which it handles fine. FWIW, personally I'm not a fan of trying to glue or tape a bunch of pages together anyway, not when I have to pay for the ink, & not when I want it to look good.

That said, if you want to create a project that can print to whatever large size somewhere else like the local print service at the neighborhood office supply store, you may be better off to create it elsewhere since all you can get out of Poster Designer are rasterized images [e.g. .jpg], & you might lose some quality in the process. You can print to PDF Creator to a much larger page size [giving you a file you can hand-off or upload], going into the printer settings [File menu -> Printer Setup], clicking advanced, then selecting from the page sizes offered -- click PostScript Custom, then click Edit Custom Page Size & you can go up to 200". Another way you can do it is once you've got everything set, go to the Edit menu -> Document Size Setup -- once you enlarge the page you want to select everything [click drag the selection box over everything or go to the Edit menu - Select All], then go to the lower left & click the Group objects button, then drag the now single object to fill the page. Bear in mind that any images used need to be of sufficient rez to print at the larger size in decent/good quality.

* * *


#11: "Is it possible to print the poster after it has been designed with this version from GOTD?"

Yes. Go to the File menu -> Printer Setup... -> Paper -> Size to choose from the options included, e.g. letter, legal, tabloid etc., then either print to file [e.g. pdf, xps etc.] or to your connected printer.

Can't print posters full size without buying add on.
Makes the whole "poster banner" free gaotd kinda cheesy.

Worthless without Ronyasoft Poster Printer, I can`t use it to print multipage banners. Hate it!!!!

RonyaSoft's Poster Designer is a nice, intro-level vector graphics program, reminding me of themed apps somewhat popular back in the mid 90s, usually centered around vector clip art collections of different cartoon characters or dinosaurs & such. Vector graphics are instructions telling printers &/or software how to draw something, rather than an actual picture or image -- as such they're resolution independent [the same graphic should work well on a postage stamp or the side of a bus], and the files themselves can be much smaller than the same graphics rendered as an image [i.e. Rasterized to .bmp for example], which was very important before broadband & large hard drives. Fonts are vector graphics. Poster Designer lets you import vector graphics [e.g. the included .emf clipart] & images like jpeg & .png, add shapes, lines, & text, plus you can draw freehand [like the pencil tool in an image editor]. Several templates are included, & since everything is made up of these *components* you can move around & text you can edit, you've got a fair amount of creative freedom.

One potential negative is that if you're going to distribute something you created, you often should check on the rights or license for anything you used, be it a font or clipart etc. -- RonyaSoft is up front saying they don't own, can't give you license to use anything included with Poster Designer [ronyasoft.com/credits.html], & while it doesn't look like there's any problem from a quick glance at that page &/or tracking a few fonts to their owners, if I was spending $ to have something printed, personally I'd want to check further & document the license rights for anything I used. Many competing apps give you an artwork collection that comes with a license. Another potential con is that while Poster Designer imports/uses well known, common file formats like their .emf clipart, you don't have a lot of output options -- you can print, you can save your project in the apparently proprietary .rpd format, or you can save as a .jpg image... You can't rely on someone else having RonyaSoft apps installed, .jpg is not ideal for printing, & so you're left with printing to some sort of file [e.g. PDF, XPS etc.] if you want to hand off your work -- it's preferred to give a printer a file they can open, with text as text & vector graphics as-is rather than what amounts to a screenshot (albeit a higher rez screenshot). If you're using your own printer of course that isn't a big deal, but if say you wanted to use the printing services at your local OfficeMax because you wanted something bigger than 8 1/2 x 11 [or because that was cheaper than buying ink cartridges], you're better off doing the same project in Word or Publisher [both on their preferred file type list].

If you haven't heard of vector graphics it might be because they're harder to work with [how much harder varies from person to person], using points with curved or straight lines between them for filled or un-filled outlines, & each curve-type point has 2 *handles* that you drag to control the shapes of the 2 curves [the curve to that point & the curve leaving that point]. Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw!, I think most Serif apps, & the free Inkscape [inkscape.org, but also available at portableapps.com], are all examples of full-fledged vector graphics software. The difference between one of those apps & Poster Designer, is that with RonyaSoft's app you can only use vector clipart as is -- you can stretch or size or flip etc., but you can't edit the graphic itself, so in that respect it's much more like using the same clipart in your favorite word processing app rather than graphics software. Libre [Open] Office is a good, free alternative in that respect, & while it's undoubtedly bigger, portableapps.com has a version for download.

Installation adds the RonyaSoft program folder with 36 files, 5 folders, taking up ~8 MB -- clipart & templates are stored in a RonyaSoft folder under All Users Shared Documents, & it holds 617 files, 53 folders, taking up ~26 MB. That 2nd folder includes the 24 new fonts that are also installed in Windows. I monitored 148 new registry entries, with 1 new key for the app, 1 for uninstall, & several for the new fonts that are added.

Free block poster printing options:

http://www.blockposters.com/

Easy Poster Printer: http://www.redferret.net/?p=21915

Posteriza: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Authoring-tools/Authoring-Related/Posteriza.shtml

Check the advanced options on your printer -- many color printers have poster printing built in.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2007398_print-poster-inkjet.html

Bear in mind that if you're printing many posters, it may be cheaper to have them done at a shop than pay for the all the ink.

Really cool Program! - just few questions from an.. inquisitive animal, such as myself:)

Any graphically orientated person will examine newly installed Software of this nature to see the Templates, Libraries of Cliparts etc, to see their formats, extensions, to see if perhaps anything similar from our vast bank of Libraries can be "thrown in" to be combined and expanded.

In Today's Offering - somewhere in Help pages I briefly came across the notion that one's own Library can be build, if so - which Folder and where does/will it exist on my PC? - I was unable to find it in places I normally look in.

I have noticed that Cliparts for instance come generally from "Meta file"?
If Anyone could shed some light on it I would be very grateful - additionally:), because I'm keeping Poster Designer anyway. It's neat, light, fast. Perhaps that "explains" lack of "bulky" Folders?

Thanks GAOTD and RonyaSoft. Good one!

Easy installation. Opens a bit slow though. Runs great on my HP Netbook and I have already made a few posters rather easily. Learning curve is nominal and they do have a good help page available. If you are into doing some graphics then this is a decent program to use. THANKS GAOTD!!!!!

Great Program, Good Templates, Installed Fine on Vista Home, Can Be used in many Different Project aspects. Thank you GOTD and Roynasoft.

Yea, easy to use but a bit childish graphics-wise. BUT, you have to buy the print program to do anything useful - like print the poster! Seems silly to have two programs when one would be more convenient. Not in usual spirit of GOTD ?

Download, setup, activate=trial version. I didn't see anything about registering. And I didn't see anyone in the above comments say anything about registering. Does anyone have any idea why it is saying I need to register?
I give a big THANKS to GOAD and the companies who provide products for us at no cost.
Any help with my problem would be greatly appreciated.

Great programme, very impressive, thanks GOTD.

Once the programme is installed and open, you must run the activation software to register. This will turn the demo into a full version subsquently allowing you to print without restrictions i.e. no watermark.

You do not have to have a seperate program to print it will print a standard A4 poster but if you want a very very large poster then you will need the other programme [poster printer ]

Great little program - Thank you GAOTD for another great program, installed on Win7 64 bit without a hitch, will be easy to make
yard sale signs, etc.

great program but as for suggestions allow easy import of graphics and enable to print directly from the software without having to by an additional program

carolyn h

The program is useful.BUT the beep noise when selecting templates is annoying.
using vista home.

If you click on the "awards" link on their site and click on some of their award's links, it looks like this is always free and one of those sites even says it comes with a printer installation. Anyone know anything different?

Is it possible to print the poster after it has been designed with this version from GOTD?

This is a very nice software package. You can create professional projects. You can also have a lot of fun with it too. Very easy to use and the templates are great to get you started, they are easy to pull apart and add to.

Nice program, unfortunately what can you do with it when you can't install the multipage poster printer with the same license. It means: making a great poster design and not be able to print it in full.
Missing chance for me!

Am I mistaken or is there no real way to print the posters you make without also then purchasing the separate program that does the printing? It seems that's not really any different than offering a program as a demo but requiring a fee to unlock the full features. As it is this appears to only be half of what you need to create something useful.

Yes, it is nice LITTLE program. Wish I can make it larger when export to JPG. Thank you.

Very nice program. Easy to use , clean interface with a wide choice of skins to customize it. I did notice that the only choice of format output is JPG, No big issue ,but would be better if you had a wider choice such as BMP, PNG, PDF and so forth.
The templates are interesting and will prove to be useable(unlike other programs of this type). The clip art is a little bold and childish but can be worked with to a certain degree.

The help file is extensive and informative.
This is a easy program to use if you are a novice or a pro.
As for the price of $29.95, that seems fair compared to other programs of this nature costing $50.00 & upward.
This is a keeper.
Thanks GOTD and RonyaSoft

Nice little program. Clean and efficient. Downloaded and runs on Vista64 bit without a glitch. Simple to use even for the novice users.
Thanks GOTD ....

Great stuff! - especially for kids' posters, etc.

I doubt it's intended for professional use (though that might depend on how you see the 'motivational' templates...), but it would be useful for infant/junior schools wanting their pupils to design posters for fetes, etc.

The clip-art is nice, bright and cheery, and it may be possible to add more, by importing it into the appropriate folder(s) or re-directing the program to your clip-art folder(s) (maybe even using a combination of the two). Your clip-art may need to be in *.emf or *.wmf formats (MetaFile vector graphics), so you'd need to find something that can export those - preferably something to import jpegs, gifs, bmp's etc. and convert them. And I assume Ronyasoft can provide more clip-art on their site...

Some of the spelling seems to be a little odd - when looking through the templates, I found 3 'Helloween' titles, which had "Halloween" spelt correctly on the posters themselves. I thought this was just a little fun on Ronyasoft's part, until I found the 'Home Animals' template had 'Hamster' spelt 'Humster'

All-in-all, a keeper.

For what it does this is a nice piece of easy to use software.

Some of the templates are very good indeed and you can create your own too.

I also think that the Poster Printer and Designer should ideally be one and the same product.

Really great software easy to use & a fairly decent variety of free template designs to choose from. Installed on windows & runs on 64 bit with no problems. Thanks!

I like it. And it even comes with decent templates, unlike some other softwares that are out there. I also like that it comes with motivational poster templates... :)

No problems, installed fast and easy, activated instantly and without issue. Program runs without errors. Easy to use GUI, program is light and fast.

My only recommendation would be to add a white 1px border around the cursor when it moves to the crosshair, because if the background of the poster is black, you cannot see the pointer, and therefore cannot see what you are pointing at...

Overall, I like it.


Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Edition
2GB RAM
2.2GHz Intel Pentium 900 Processor

Thanks for valuable comments and ideas. Will analyze them and try to take into account.

Now we are going to add a lot of new templates to the software.

Practically have not found ideas about new kind of templates you would like to have in the software.

Do you have any ideas???