What Is A Plotter?

Date First Published: 27th August 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Hardware

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Types Of Plotters
Advantages and Disadvantages Of Plotters

Learn about what a plotter is in this article.

A plotter is a type of printer that is used for printing out vector graphics. Instead of printing individual dots on paper using a toner, it interprets commands from a computer or uses vector graphics files to draw out continuous lines using automated pens, pencils, or markers. It usually prints on very large paper at a very high quality. This makes it ideal for printing professional architectural drawings, engineering designs, and other CAD drawings when sending them for assessment.

Types Of Plotters

There are various types of plotters, which include:

Drum plotters - These wrap paper around a drum with a pin feed attachment. The paper is spun back and forth a cylindrical drum, whilst the ink pens move left and right. This allows lines to be drawn in any direction.
Flatbed plotters - These are placed on a large, flat horizontal surface.
Electrostatic plotters - These draw on negatively charged paper with positively charged toner. They are often used for computer-aided engineering.
Inkjet plotters - These spray microscopic droplets of ink onto paper to form an image, text, or pattern.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Plotters

The advantages of plotters are:

They can work on large sheets of paper, whilst generating high-resolution drawings, images, graphics, and text.
They support a variety of other materials, including cardboard, fabrics, plastic, plywood and aluminium.
They can repeat the same pattern multiple times without losing quality. This makes plotter printers ideal for graphics that require extreme precision with no errors.

The disadvantages of plotters are:

Compared to normal printers, they are quite large and take up more room.
They are usually much more expensive than normal printers.

History

Remington-Rand created the first plotter in 1953. To create technical drawings, it was combined with a UNIVAC computer. To operate pen plotters, a variety of printer control languages were created. In addition, transmitted commands like "put pen on paper," "lift pen off paper," or "draw line from here to here." were developed. The ASCII-based plotter control languages HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and DMPL from Houston Instruments are all often used.