What are plotters?
A plotter is a printing device connected to a computer that operates by moving a pen to the surface of the paper.

While considered ideal for line art, it can print alphabets too. Because of their greater suitability for line art, plotters are known as vector graphic printing devices as the term "vector graphics" is used to describe the use of lines, curves, points and polygons based on mathematical calculations to draw images. The print design is implemented on paper according to the command given to the plotter.

Producing line art with the help of a plotter requires the knowledge of printer control languages. Some of the common ASCII-based languages are: HPGL (Hewlett Packard) and DMPL (Houston Instruments).

Plotters are ideal for CAD (Computer Aided Design) and technical drawings, architectural designs, project blueprints, banners etc. The key advantage of plotters as compared to traditional printers is the ability to work on large (wide) sheets of paper (two to five feet or more in fact) and still provide high resolution. Plotters are known to print on a wide variety of materials and thus offer considerable flexibility in terms of the printing surface. Both black and white plotters as well as color plotters are available; for generating color prints, these devices use color pens as required.

Where are plotters used?
Large format/ wide plotters are mainly used by the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and GIS (Geographical Information Systems) sectors. Many government / public sector undertakings and educational institutions also find plotters to be quite handy and indispensable. Other markets for plotters include advertising agencies, print and design shops and large scale retailing units.

The demand for plotters is currently experiencing three important changes, namely: a change from analog to digital printers, declining volume of large format prints and requirement for enhanced color print outs. Speed and photo quality (resolution) are considered as the key measures of efficiency of any plotter.

What are the common types of plotters?
The different types of plotters used in business are: electrostatic, pen, inkjet, laser and thermal plotters. Today, plotters using the pen are being substituted with inkjet printing technology, which helps print on large sizes of paper by placing droplets of ink (in units known as dpi or dots per inches) to create a desired image through a wide array of ink nozzles. Moreover, inkjet technology affords flexibility to print technical drawings as well as graphics. Inkjet printers are commonly used to print: banners, posters, outdoor signage, greeting cards, post cards, screen printing film positives, maps, CAD designs etc.

This plotters' buyers guide is designed to help the purchasing professional with some basic tips in understanding the different aspects of a plotter purchase. We hope this will contribute to identifying the right plotter and the right vendor that can service one's business needs.