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A raster image processor (RIP) is a component used in a printing
Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
 system which produces a raster
Raster graphics

In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally Rectangle grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a Computer display, paper, or other display medium....
 image also known as a bitmap
Bitmap

In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of computer storage organization or used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped bit array....
. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language
Page description language

A page description language is a language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. An overlapping term is printer control language, but it should not be confused as referring solely to Hewlett-Packard's PCL....
 such as PostScript
PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. PostScript is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas....
, Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format

Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system....
, XPS
XML Paper Specification

The XML Paper Specification , formerly codenamed "Metro", is a specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format developed by Microsoft....
 or another bitmap of higher or lower resolution than the output device. In the latter case, the RIP applies either smoothing or interpolation algorithms to the input bitmap to generate the output bitmap.

Raster image processing is the process and the means of turning vector digital
Digital

A digital system uses discrete values, usually but not always symbolized numerically to represent information for input, processing, transmission, storage, etc....
 information such as a PostScript
PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. PostScript is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas....
 file into a high-resolution raster image.

Originally RIPs were a rack of electronic hardware which received the page description via some interface (eg RS232) and generated a "hardware bitmap output" which was used to enable or disable each pixel
Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel is the smallest item of information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots, squares, or rectangles....
 on a real-time output device such as an optical film scanner.

A RIP can be implemented either as a software component of an operating system or as a firmware program executed on a microprocessor
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
 inside a printer, though for high-end typesetting, standalone hardware RIPs are sometimes used.






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A raster image processor (RIP) is a component used in a printing
Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
 system which produces a raster
Raster graphics

In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally Rectangle grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a Computer display, paper, or other display medium....
 image also known as a bitmap
Bitmap

In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of computer storage organization or used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped bit array....
. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language
Page description language

A page description language is a language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. An overlapping term is printer control language, but it should not be confused as referring solely to Hewlett-Packard's PCL....
 such as PostScript
PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. PostScript is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas....
, Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format

Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system....
, XPS
XML Paper Specification

The XML Paper Specification , formerly codenamed "Metro", is a specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format developed by Microsoft....
 or another bitmap of higher or lower resolution than the output device. In the latter case, the RIP applies either smoothing or interpolation algorithms to the input bitmap to generate the output bitmap.

Raster image processing is the process and the means of turning vector digital
Digital

A digital system uses discrete values, usually but not always symbolized numerically to represent information for input, processing, transmission, storage, etc....
 information such as a PostScript
PostScript

PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. PostScript is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas....
 file into a high-resolution raster image.

Originally RIPs were a rack of electronic hardware which received the page description via some interface (eg RS232) and generated a "hardware bitmap output" which was used to enable or disable each pixel
Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel is the smallest item of information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots, squares, or rectangles....
 on a real-time output device such as an optical film scanner.

A RIP can be implemented either as a software component of an operating system or as a firmware program executed on a microprocessor
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
 inside a printer, though for high-end typesetting, standalone hardware RIPs are sometimes used. Ghostscript
Ghostscript

Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript and Portable Document Format page description languages....
 and GhostPCL are examples of software RIPs. Every PostScript printer contains a RIP in its firmware
Firmware

Firmware is a term sometimes used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs that internally control various electronic devices. Typical examples range from end user products such as remote controls or calculators, via computer parts and devices like harddisks, keyboard s, TFT screens or memory cards, all the way to scientific instr...
.

Earlier RIPs retained backward compatibility with photosetters so they supported the older languages. So, for example Linotype RIPs supported CORA (RIP30).

Stages of RIP


  1. Interpretation: This is the stage where the supported PDLs (Page description languages) are translated into a private internal representation of each page. Most RIPs process pages serially so the current machine state is only for the current page; i.e one page at once. Once a page has been output the page state is discarded to ready it for the next page.
  2. Rendering: A process through which the private internal representation is turned into a continuous tone bitmap. Note that in practical RIPs interpretation and rendering are frequently done together. Simple languages (mostly the most ancient) were designed to work on minimal hardware so tend to "directly drive" the renderer.
  3. Screening: In order to print, a continuous-tone bitmap is converted into a halftone
    Halftone

    Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing. 'Halftone' can also be used to refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process....
     (pattern of dots). Two screening methods or types are Amplitude Modulation (AM) screening and stochastic or Frequency Modulation (FM) screening. In AM screening, dot size varies depending on object density -- tonal values; dots are placed in a fixed grid. In FM screening, dot size remains constant and dots are placed in random order to create darker or lighter areas of the image; dot placement is precisely controlled by sophisticated mathematical algorithms.


A RIP chip
Chip

Food * Chips, French fries, long cuts of potato that are deep fried* Corn chip, a snack food made from corn* Tortilla chip, a snack food made from corn tortillas...
 is used in laser printers to communicate raster images to a laser
Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. The term laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation....
.

RIP Providers

  • can interpreter several printer languages or document formats - HP PCL5, XL, Adobe PostScript Level3, Mirosoft XPS, W3C XHTML-MP, and render to raster image.


See also


  • Laser printer
    Laser printer

    A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers , laser printers employ a Xerography printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam acros...
  • Raster graphics
    Raster graphics

    In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally Rectangle grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a Computer display, paper, or other display medium....
  • Raster to vector
    Raster to vector

    In computer graphics, vectorization refers to the process of using software and hardware technology/services to convert raster graphics into vector graphics....
  • Vector graphics
    Vector graphics

    Vector graphics is the use of geometrical Primitive s such as point s, line , curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based upon mathematical equations, to represent s in computer graphics....


External links

  • , from About.com