What is Plotter? | Type Of Plotter

ProgramingsPoint

3 Oct, 2023

Hello, in today's article, we will talk about Plotter.

Today we will know in detail what Plotter is? How does a plotter work? How many types of plotters are there? And why is Plotter used?

So without wasting any time, let us first know what a plotter is?

What is a plotter?

Definition of Plotter: A Plotter is an output device that looks like a printer. This is a type of graphic printer in which INK pen is used for designing, through which vector graphic is designed.

The plotter draws the design on paper by taking commands received from the computer, for which one or more automatic pens are used.

Like a printer, it does not draw individual dots but continuous lines on the paper. Plotter is most commonly used in engineering-related project works. Plotter is also used in works of large-size maps, posters, 3D design, etc.

An illustration of this is: In a 3D cutting plotter, a knife is used to cut the design. It cuts the pieces of the diagram and provides the correct shape according to computer commands.

Designing an image in a plotter takes time and if the image is large, it may even take a few hours. Similarly, the process of cutting hundreds of designs continues in which the same type of design can be drawn without any mistake.

Like a printer, a plotter is also connected to a computer. The plotter was the first computer output device that printed graphics and was used in engineering projects and architectural drawings.

The price of a plotter is higher than other ordinary printers. Another name for a plotter is a graph plotter.

How does a plotter work?

The plotter is connected to the computer. Computers have image software which creates designs. First of all, create the design of the image through image software and enter the appropriate coordinates, after which the software starts its work.

A pen, marker, or pencil are used to create the image. Nowadays plotters use a slider roller, and this roller keeps moving on the page.

In a plotter, a pen has an empty fiber rod whose end is pointed. Ink travels from the middle of this rod to the pointed end and creates a design on the paper. This pen moves horizontally and vertically on the paper.

Large-size multicolored designs can be easily made with a plotter. Today's plotters use Hewlett Packard HPGL2 and Houston Instruments DMP programming languages.

History of Plotter

Plotter was first invented by Remington Rand in 1995. In early times it was used with UNIVAC computers.

Digital Control Plotters Developed based on earlier analog XY-writers, XY-writers were used as output devices for measuring instruments and analog computers. Plotter printing is generally used for large file format printing, a plotter prints vector files directly while a regular printer prints image files. Many printer control languages were created to operate pen plotters, and transmit commands such as "pick up the pen from the paper", "place the pen on the paper", or "draw a line from here to here".

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Hewlett Packard and Tektronix produced small, desktop-sized flatbed plotters. The pen was placed on a traveling bar, so that the Y-axis was represented by movement up and down the length of the bar, and the X-axis was represented by the motion of the bar back and forth on the plotting table. Due to the large body of the bar, these plotters operated at relatively slow speeds.

In the 1980s, the smaller and lighter HP 7470 introduced the “grit wheel” mechanism, eliminating the need for holes along the edges, unlike the Calcomp Plotter two decades earlier. Grit wheels on opposite sides of the sheet press against flexible polyurethane-coated rollers and make small marks in the sheet.

Plotters are primarily used in technical drawing and CAD applications, where they have the advantage of working on very large paper sizes while maintaining high resolution. Another use is to replace the pen with a cutter, and in this form, plotters are used in many garment shops and sign board and sticker shops.

With the widespread availability of high-resolution inkjet and laser printers, cheap memory, and computers fast enough to print color images, pen plotters have all but disappeared. However, the “grit wheel” mechanism is still found in inkjet-based, large-format plotters intended for engineering work.

Types of Plotter

There are many types of plotters which are divided into different parts according to their working system, the information of which is as follows-

1) Drum Plotter

Its other name is also Roller Plotter. In drum plotter, writing tools like pen, marker and pencil, etc. are used for designing the diagram or image.

The sheet is placed in its drum which keeps rotating in the back and forth direction and draws the design on the paper.

It has a mechanical device called robotic drawing arms which holds a set of colored ink pens or pencils.

In a plotter, the pen moves vertically i.e. along the Y-axis and the paper wrapped on the roller moves horizontally i.e. along the X-axis. In this way, the design is made on paper and this entire process is controlled through a computer.

Many drum plotters use fiber-tipped pens and four or more pens are used simultaneously. The rotation of the drum is under the control of plotting which is connected to the computer.

2) Flatbed Plotter

The flatbed plotter is also called a table plotter. In this, a sheet or paper is placed on a flat bed and two types of robot drawing arms are installed in it, whose function is to hold two different types of colored pens and colored ink, due to which a colored image is output.

Normally the size of a flatbed can be up to 20*50 feet which is used in works like building, cars, aircraft, highway design, etc.

Flatbed plotter works slowly and takes several hours to draw complex designs.

The reason for this slow speed of flatbed plotter is the movement of the mechanical device but in today's plotter, the mechanical device has been changed to a thermal, inkjet, and electrostatics plotter, due to which the speed of the plotter has become faster.

3) Inkjet plotter

In Inkjet Plotter, microscopic droplets are sprayed on the paper which creates an image or pattern. This plotter is very popular among graphic designers and advertising companies which is used in making designs of banners, billboards, posters, etc.

Inkjet plotter provides higher-quality graphics than other types of plotters. In this, both Thermal and Piezoelectric technologies are used, in which thermal drops of ink are applied using heat in the inkjet plotter, whereas piezoelectric is used to spray the ink of charged crystal on the paper.

4) Electrostatic Plotter

In an Electrostatic Plotter, instead of a vector graphic, a raster graphic is used to create an image on paper.

It uses the electrostatic method. The liquid toner model uses a positively charged toner that is attracted to the paper and becomes negatively charged as it passes through the electro-rod lines.

This plot can also make colorful drawings easily. This plotter is quite fast and economical but its image quality is less as compared to pen plotter.

5) Cutting plotter

A cutting plotter is a large cutting machine in which a blade is used instead of a pen and pencil for cutting the design. The flat surface of the plotter is used for cutting paper. When the plotter receives the command from the computer, the process of paper cutting starts accordingly.

Advantage of Plotter

In Plotter, designs can be made on large-size paper and that too in high-quality resolution.
In Plotter, along with paper, drawing can be done on aluminum sheet, steel sheet, cardboard, etc.
The plotter can draw any design pattern thousands of times without any mistakes.

Disadvantage of Plotter

The price of a plotter is higher than that of a normal printer.
If you do not have enough space, the plotter will be difficult to store due to its large size.
The plotter requires more maintenance.
This plotter is not portable due to which you cannot take it with you on many occasions.

What is the printing size of a plotter ?

The printing size of all plotters is much larger than the printer. Large-size designs are drawn using a Drum plotter and Flatbed plotter. Due to the large printing size, many types of big designs like buildings, houses, maps, etc. are made in it.

Sheets up to 42 inches can be easily drawn in the plotter. In roller plotter, the length of paper is measured in feet, which are wrapped very long in the roller which keeps drawing on the paper continuously.

What are the uses of Plotter?

Plotters are used in many places including posters, maps, charts, building designs, etc.
Using it, designs are made on flat surfaces like steel sheet, plywood, etc.
Advertising companies use plotters to make large banners and posters.
You can also do 3D printing easily through a plotter.

What is the difference between a plotter and a printer?

Although both printer and printer look similar but only small size paper is used in printer whereas plotter is bigger in which you can print larger images. In terms of speed, a plotter works much slower than a printer because it has to create a larger image. The price of the printer is low while the price of the plotter is high.

Plotter	Printer
Plotter can read DWG, CDR, AI, and other format files.	It reads BMP, PDF, and JPG file formats.
It draws the design on paper through computer commands.	The printer provides images through commands received from the network.
It is more valuable.	The printer is cheaper than the plotter.
It can draw continuous lines.	A continuous line cannot be drawn in this.
In this, the process of drawing happens slowly.	It works very fast.
It can run on any platform.	It depends on the machine.
Adobe illustrator, Corel, Flex, and CAD software are used in this.	In this, along with Photoshop, other image editing software is used.
More space is required to keep the plotter.	It does not require much space to keep the printer, it can be kept in a very small space.

Conclusion

in today's article, we talked about Plotter and learned what is Plotter? How many types of plotters are there?

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