Re: Overlay

On 1/19/15 6:58 AM, RPG List wrote:

Anyone have a decent set of instructions for creating an overlay?

I have the redbook but its quite a ways out of date and I haven't had to
create one of these for at least 10 years.

I'm assuming you mean an AFPDS overlay, possibly for use in PDF generation.

1. If you haven't already done so, locate, download, and install the "Generic InfoPrint 300dpi AFP" printer driver. My impression is that it's only available for WinDoze.

2. Create a document of what you want the overlay to look like, at the desired size, using the software of your choice (I generally do it in Open Office), and print it to that driver. Set the Output Type to "Overlay." You may have to set a user-defined page size. You probably want to set the color options to "Full Color - 32Bit CMYK" and compression to JPEG.

If find you have critical alignment issues, it may be necessary to export your document to a PDF, then print it from Acrobat, applying the necessary scaling. This can, unfortunately, also produce very bulky overlays, resulting in very bulky PDFs.

3. Upload the resulting file to the library of your choice on your Midrange system. Make sure you do so in binary mode.

4. CRTOVL, using the file you just uploaded. Note that, for whatever reason, it only allows 8-character overlay names, and it assumes the overlay name as the default member in the file.

5. Test your overlay. Repeat steps 2-4 as needed, until you have a satisfactory overlay.

--
JHHL