Raster image processor
This article or subsequent section is not sufficiently supported by evidence (e.g., anecdotal evidence). Information without sufficient evidence may be removed in the near future. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and adding good supporting evidence.
A Raster Image Processor (RIP) is a combination of hardware and software or, as a software RIP, exclusively software, which converts vector graphics into raster graphics of certain resolutions ("renders") or recalculates the resolution of raster graphics (scaling, resizing).
This involves converting specific data in a higher-level page description language - such as PostScript, VPS, AFP or PCL - or in a vector-based document format - such as PDF - into a raster graphic for subsequent printing.
In prepress, the data is sent to a computer-to-plate system after adjustment in order to directly produce a printing plate according to the template. Programs such as ApogeeX or Celebrant are used to send the data to the RIP server.
The term Raster Image Processor is only used explicitly in prepress and reproduction technology, where it refers to a special component in the printing process that includes other tasks in addition to the functions mentioned above:
- Color Management
- OPI image replacement
- Separation
- Trapping
Next to the printing press itself, the RIP is the most important and at the same time most error-prone component in the printing process. Commercial RIPs differ considerably in terms of the functions they implement, their compatibility with certain Postscript versions and their PDF support. The trend is for many prepress tasks to be increasingly taken over by the RIP component.
Furthermore, every PostScript printer or PCL laser printer has an internal RIP in its firmware.
The free GNU program Ghostscript, which allows direct rendering of Postscript files, is a software RIP.
