In today’s fast-paced world of technology, printers have become an essential tool for various businesses. They facilitate them in printing different papers, creating various marketing materials, and ensuring secure document management.
However, when it comes to printing large-scale designs, graphics, or architectural plans, a traditional printer may not accommodate all your needs and cannot provide you with the best results. This is where a plotter is needed.
In this article, we will explore in detail when you should use a plotter instead of a printer.
- Large Format Printing
The plotters utilize vector graphics to generate large images. This ensures the image quality does not degrade when scaled up. You can use plotters for printing on large sheets of paper. They will provide you with the best results that you may not achieve with a traditional printer.
Moreover, plotters use pen technology to perfectly trace out the lines of an image, allowing for very fine and detailed drawings. This makes them an ideal choice for creating different business marketing materials, such as banners. Unlike a traditional printer, the plotters can handle various materials beyond paper. They can print on fabric, plastic, and even certain metals, accommodating multiple design needs.
- Technical Drawings
Technical drawings are the precise and detailed graphical representations of various types of objects and structures. They are complex and often used to communicate design and manufacturing information. Even a minor negligence in these drawings can affect the overall project, leading to many severe problems and costly losses. But you do not have to worry about anything if you have a plotter. These machines help you make many complex technical drawings easily and efficiently. They take instructions from the computer and use pen and paper to draw exactly what is instructed without any mistakes. This ensures precision and accuracy, as there are no chances of any human errors. By using plotters, you can print out huge graphs, designs, and many other types of paper-based documents, such as engineering drawings, business charts, and architectural blueprints.
- Maps Designing
Map design is a complex process that is more than just drawing lines on the page. It is a systematic approach of arranging and representing different geographical features to communicate information effectively. You can design any type of map with the help of a plotter. They can handle large paper sizes and print at higher resolutions, providing you with sharp and clear maps that incorporate every detail. That’s the main difference between printer and plotter. You cannot achieve this precision with a traditional printer.
- Vector Graphics Rendering
Vector graphics rendering refers to the process of creating images using mathematical equations and algorithms. They are more focused on defining points, lines, and curves rather than pixels. That’s why plotters are the best choice for vector graphic rendering, as they consider every minor detail and provide you with the best possible results.
Plotters draw different lines and shapes accurately, which is essential for maintaining the integrity of vector graphics. They use a pen that moves along a path defined by a mathematical formula, resulting in perfectly smooth vector graphics.