Automatic Nesting

• Automatic placement:
  Images are placed automatically according to the minimum area the resulting layout requires on the print medium. You can define the spacing in-between images and the orientation of images. Automatic means the image is rotated in a way that a maximum number of images fits onto a minimum space. If Portrait (or Landscape) is selected, images are always rotated to portrait (or landscape) orientation, even though this orientation could lead to a higher paper usage.
• Maximum Job age:
  The job is printed after it reaches the predefined time (counted after creation of the job in Nesting state). All jobs are printed after the predefined maximum time has been reached; this option cannot be deselected.
  
  
• Percentage %: (see illustration below)
  The percentage of the printable area that is filled with images is checked after new images are added to a job in Nesting state. When it reaches the predefined threshold, the job is printed. You can define separate rules for roll and for sheet media.
  

  If you always want to reach a specific roll length rather than filling a specific percentage of the paper width, you can deactivate the percentage by defining a percentage of 100%. As 100% paper usage cannot be reached even under ideal circumstances, the job will stay in Nesting state until the Maximum Roll Length has been filled.

Roll Media Settings for automatic nesting.

When using roll media, an imaginary cut line (1) is calculated each time a new image is added to a job in Nesting state. The border of the printable area is then defined by this cut line. The calculation of the paper usage area is then identical to the calculation for sheet media. (For sheet media, the printable area is defined by the media size minus the non-printable borders.)

The required percentage (60% in this example) of the printable area is shaded in gray in the illustration

(2). Note that this is a simplification for illustration purposes. For fulfilling the rule, it does not matter where the images are placed on the printable area. Only the sum of the area occupied by images counts for calculating the percentage of paper usage. As soon as 60% of the printable area are filled with images, the job will be printed.

If the Roll Maximum Paper Length is reached, the job is printed immediately, regardless of the percentage of space filled with images. In the illustrated example 2, the images are too wide to fit two images next to each other, but not wide enough to cover the required percentage of the printable area. Therefore, the maximum length is reached without reaching the required percentage (4).