

If the image fills a typical sheet-fed press, it is (30 inches x 3,000 lspi) x (40 inches x 3,000 lspi) = 1.08 trillion, which takes 10 gigabytes of computer memory to store and transfer. The RIP calculates all the spots that must be turned ‘on’ to create the graphic that will be imaged on the printing plate. Most plate-setters have a resolution of 2,000 to 3,000 lspi (laser spots per inch). With computer-to-plate technology for lithographic printing plate production, a laser is used to expose an emulsion on a printing plate. The grid then acts as a switch to turn a mechanical part of the imaging engine on or off. The spots on the grid can only be turned on or off - which is how binary data is encoded - either as 0 or 1.

The RIP has a matrix grid at the resolution of the output device and computes which spots on the grid get turned on and which are turned off to create the shape of that letter A on the output device.
#Raster image prozessor series#
A font file delivers PostScript language to the RIP that describes a series of points and vector curves between those points to outline the letter A. Let’s examine the creation of a single character of the alphabet, or glyph. Every PostScript printer contains a RIP in its firmware.The raster image processor (RIP) is the core technology that does the computational work to convert the broad range of data we use to create a computer graphic into the one-bit data that drives a physical imaging device.
#Raster image prozessor software#
Ghostscript and GhostPCL are examples of software RIPs. Originally RIPs were a rack of electronic hardware which received the page description via some interface and generated a "hardware bitmap output" which was used to enable or disable each pixel on a real-time output device such as an optical film recorder.Ī RIP can be implemented either as a software component of an operating system or as a firmware program executed on a microprocessor inside a printer, though for high-end typesetting, standalone hardware RIPs are sometimes used. Raster image processing is the process and the means of turning vector digital information such as a PostScript file into a high-resolution raster image. In the latter case, the RIP applies either smoothing or interpolation algorithms to the input bitmap to generate the output bitmap.
#Raster image prozessor portable#
The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language such as PostScript, Portable Document Format, XPS or another bitmap of higher or lower resolution than the output device. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. So, for example, Linotype RIPs supported CORA (RIP30).įreebase Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votesĪ raster image processor is a component used in a printing system which produces a raster image also known as a bitmap. The RIP chip in a laser printer sends its raster image output to the laser.Įarlier RIPs retained backward compatibility with phototypesetters/photosetters, so they supported the older languages. Every PostScript printer contains a RIP in its firmware. Ghostscript, GhostPCL, and ColorBurst's Overdrive (for macOS) are examples of software RIPs. For high-end typesetting, standalone hardware RIPs are sometimes used. RS-232) and generated a "hardware bitmap output" which was used to enable or disable each pixel on a real-time output device such as an optical film recorder, computer to film, or computer to plate.Ī RIP can be implemented as a software module on a general-purpose computer, or as a firmware program executed on a microprocessor inside a printer.

Originally a RIP was a rack of electronic hardware which received the page description via some interface (e.g. The input can also be or include bitmaps of higher or lower resolution than the output device, which the RIP resizes using an image scaling algorithm. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language such as PostScript, PDF, or XPS. Such a bitmap is used by a later stage of the printing system to produce the printed output. Wikipedia Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votesĪ raster image processor (RIP) is a component used in a printing system which produces a raster image also known as a bitmap.
