Editing Plotter (section)

==History==
One of the earliest plotter was [[Konrad Zuse]]'s computer-controlled and transistorized Graphomat Z64 in 1958, also shown at the [[Hannover Messe]] in 1961.<ref name="Böttiger_2011"/>

Early pen plotters, e.g., the [[Calcomp plotter|Calcomp 565]] of 1959, worked by placing the paper over a roller that moved the paper back and forth for X motion, while the pen moved back and forth on a track for Y motion. The paper was supplied in roll form and had perforations along both edges that were engaged by sprockets on the rollers.

Another approach, e.g. [[Computervision]]'s Interact I, involved attaching ball-point pens to drafting [[pantograph]]s and driving the machines with [[stepper motor]]s controlled by the computer. This had the disadvantage of being somewhat slow to move, as well as requiring floor space equal to the size of the paper, but could double as a [[digitizer]]. A later change was the addition of an electrically controlled clamp to hold the pens, which allowed them to be changed, and thus create multi-colored output.

Hewlett Packard and [[Tektronix]] produced small, desktop-sized flatbed plotters in the late 1960s and 1970s. The pens were mounted on a traveling bar, whereby the y-axis was represented by motion up and down the length of the bar and the x-axis was represented by motion of the bar back and forth across the plotting table. Due to the mass of the bar, these plotters operated relatively slowly.

In the 1980s, the small and lightweight [[HP 7470]] introduced the "[[Sandpaper#Grit sizes|grit]] wheel" mechanism, eliminating the need for perforations along the edges, unlike the Calcomp plotters two decades earlier. The grit wheels at opposite edges of the sheet press against resilient [[polyurethane]]-coated rollers and form tiny indentations in the sheet. As the sheet is moved back and forth, the grit wheels keep the sheet in proper registration due to the grit particles falling into the earlier indentations, much like the teeth of two gears meshing. The pen is mounted on a carriage that moves back and forth in a line between the grit wheels, representing the orthogonal axis. These smaller "home-use" plotters became popular for desktop business graphics and in engineering laboratories, but their low speed meant they were not useful for general printing purposes, and different conventional printer would be required for those jobs. One category, introduced by Hewlett Packard's [[MultiPlot]] for the [[HP 2647]], was the "word chart", which used the plotter to draw large letters on a transparency. This was the forerunner of the modern Powerpoint chart. With the widespread availability of high-resolution [[inkjet printer|inkjet]] and [[laser printer]]s, inexpensive memory and computers fast enough to rasterize color images, pen plotters have all but disappeared. However, the grit wheel mechanism is still found in inkjet-based, large format engineering plotters.
[[File:Plotter Algotex.jpg|thumb|Inkjet plotter]]

Plotters were also used in the [[Create-A-Card kiosk]]s that were available for a while in the greeting card area of supermarkets that used the [[HP 7475]] six-pen plotter.

Plotters are used primarily in [[technical drawing]] and [[computer-aided design|CAD]] applications, where they have the advantage of working on very large paper sizes while maintaining high resolution. Another use has been found by replacing the pen with a cutter, and in this form plotters can be found in many garment and sign shops.

Changing the color or width of a line required the plotter to change pens. This was either done manually on small plotters, but more typically the plotter would have a magazine of four or more pens which could be automatically mounted.

A niche application of plotters is in creating tactile images for people with visual impairment on special thermal cell paper.

Unlike other printer types, pen plotter speed is measured by pen speed and acceleration rate, instead of by page printing speed. A pen plotter's speed is primarily limited by the type of pen used, so the choice of pen is a key factor in pen plotter output speed. Indeed, most modern pen plotters have commands to control slewing speed, depending on the type of pen currently in use.

There are many types of plotter pen, some of which are no longer mass-produced. [[Technical pen]] tips are often used, many of which can be renewed using parts and supplies for manual drafting pens. Early HP flatbed and grit wheel plotters used small, proprietary fiber-tipped or plastic nib disposable pens.

One type of plotter pen uses a cellulose fiber rod inserted through a circular foam tube saturated with ink, with the end of the rod sharpened into a conical tip. As the pen moves across the paper surface, capillary wicking draws the ink from the foam, down the rod, and onto the paper. As the ink supply in the foam is depleted, the migration of ink to the tip begins to slow down, resulting in faint lines. Slowing the plotting speed will allow the lines drawn by a worn-out pen to remain dark, but the fading will continue until the foam is completely depleted. Also, as the fiber tip pen is used, the tip slowly wears away on the plotting medium, producing a progressively wider, smudged line.

Ball-point plotter pens with refillable clear plastic ink reservoirs are available. They do not have the fading or wear effects of fiber pens, but are generally more expensive and uncommon. Also, conventional ball-point pens can be modified to work in most pen plotters.

===Contemporary uses of pen plotters===
[[File:Plotter_printer_homemade_crop.jpg|thumbtime=20|thumb|Homemade plotter using stepper motors and a ballpoint pen to draw.]]
In the mid-to-late 2000s artists and hackers<ref name="R3"/><ref name="R4"/> began to rediscover pen plotters as quirky, customizable output devices. The quality of the lines produced by pens on paper is quite different from other digital output techniques. Even 30-year-old pen plotters typically still function reliably, and many were available for less than $100 on auction and resale websites. While support for driving pen plotters directly or saving files as HP-GL has disappeared from most commercial graphics applications, several contemporary software packages<ref name="R5"/><ref name="R6"/><ref name="R7"/><ref name="R8"/> make working with HP-GL on modern operating systems possible.

As use of pen plotters has waned, the [[wide-format printer|large-format printers]] that have largely replaced them have sometimes come to be called "plotters" as well.