The most expensive of the various color printing technologies, dye sublimation printers are typically used on only those print jobs where true photo quality is required. Plotters , like printers, place characters, symbols, images and graphics on paper, and also come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and types. The three basic types of mechanisms include pen , electrostatic and thermal . Electrostatic and thermal plotters have more in common with dot matrix printers than with pen plotters. As such, they are discussed first.
Electrostatic plotters can produce multi-colored images.
Pen plotters are commonly categorized according to the way in which the pen is moved from point to point on or above the paper. Flatbed plotters hold the paper motionless on a flat bed while a pen is transported in all directions to create the image. Some models are able to produce multi-colored images by automatically changing pens. Some also provide the capability of writing on a variety of media by allowing the use of various types of pens. Drum plotters lay the paper across a drum that rotates forward and backward as the pen is transported back and forth perpendicular to the motion of the drum to create the image.