| These days most large format printers come with a | | | | 2. No one likes to see white lines between blocks of |
| basic driver which will produce a reasonable picture, | | | | colour, so Postscript allows trapping to be specified, |
| but if you're using it for production of screen | | | | where one colour overlaps another slightly. Any |
| separations a RIP is a vital part of the equation. | | | | misregistration of the screens during printing will not |
| RIP stands for Raster Image Processor, a piece of | | | | result in a ruined print. |
| software that takes a Postscript file and converts it | | | | 3. RIPs have sophisticated nesting facilities where |
| into dots that the printer understands. A hardware | | | | several images can be arranged on the film to give |
| RIP is simply a software RIP in a proprietry case | | | | the most efficient layout. |
| that's really difficult to upgrade. The advantages of | | | | 4. Cropping of images is simple, just draw a box |
| the RIP stem from the flexibility of the Postscript | | | | around the bit you want to print and add it to your |
| language, a printer orientated language that allows | | | | layout. |
| separations, trapping and halftone information to be | | | | 5. Should you need larger films, the image can be |
| included within the file. | | | | broken into tiles, complete with registration marks for |
| | | | reassembly. |
| 1. If you are doing halftoned work use of a RIP is | | | | 6. Windows drivers often have limited lengths, if you |
| almost compulsory, you can get away with the | | | | need greater, say for banners, you need a RIP. |
| halftoning tools in Photoshop/Illustrator or Corel to a | | | | 7. The RIP allows explicit control over the ink drop |
| certain extent but the quality will be low and there is | | | | size and the resolution, this allows the density of the |
| little fine control. With a screenprinting RIP such as | | | | film to be controlled. |
| Wasatch, you have the choice of halftone line rulings, | | | | None of these are impossible without a RIP but you |
| dot shape, angles and a special trick called 'extra tonal | | | | would need to be very, very good with DTP |
| resolution' which adds greyscale colours - smoothing | | | | software and have far too much time on your hands. |
| out the postscript banding that often occurs with | | | | If there is one reason to get a RIP it's that it makes |
| low-resolution devices. | | | | your life easier, simpler and more profitable. |