An imagesetter, unlike standard printers, is used exclusively to develop images.
Computers connect to printers to produce printed documents and forms, but specially designed printing devices can be utilized to help develop more specialized, photo-quality images via a computer. An imagesetter is one such device.
Definition
An imagesetter is a high-resolution computer output device used to develop high-quality black-and-white images via a computer's commands.
Function
An imagesetter develops sheets or rolls of bromide paper or film by exposing it to a light source. Bromide paper contains silver bromide, which produces neutral blue-black or black image tones. Imagesetter film is coated with silver halide, similar to the coating found on standard black-and-white photographs. The light exposure from the imagesetter infuses the image onto the paper.
PostScript
Computers send commands to imagesetters via PostScript language. PostScript is a page description language (PDL) that describes page appearance to a printing device. Page description languages use binary data streams, or groups of data in the form of a language composed of zeros and ones that a computer can understand.
Tags: images computer
