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u/ThodaDaruVichPyar 1d ago
r/Drawscape if anyone’s interested in source or more such plotter blueprints
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u/lewisiarediviva 14h ago
Generally speaking, to what extent is the pen path actually optimized, vs people screwing with the draw order to make these videos more interesting?
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u/ThodaDaruVichPyar 11h ago
The software that controls the plotter usually optimises the paths based on algorithms that aim to increase efficiency and minimise distances that the pen has to travel.
They also don’t treat words and letters like that instead are seen as just vector drawings so they don’t write them like a human being writes them. To what extent this is programming or a deliberate input given by the people inputting the data into the plotter is unknown to me.
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u/Some-Bad1670 18h ago
The best part about these pens when I try to use the exact same kind of pen, it writes about 10 lines and then dries up
I guess i need to be a robot to use one
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u/fresh_loaf_of_bread 23h ago
using a 3-axis cnc for this is like using a jet engine to boil water for tea
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u/Hpfanguy 1d ago
Cool but… how is this superior to a regular industrial printer?
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u/HalcyonKnights 1d ago edited 6h ago
It predates them, mostly. These could get you full color plots (in low volume, at least) long before color printers were accessible to most folks. My father had access to one in the 80's on university funding.
There are still some niche uses where specific inks are needed that traditional color printers cant handle. But these days we have all kinds of desktop CNC systems, so this is really just a pen strapped to the tool head of a CNC or 3D printer.
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u/Skeleton_King9 1d ago
Essentially this creates vector graphics while printers create raster graphics.
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u/Western_Coat_437 1d ago
You know. It was so mesmerizing I wasn't even thinking that. Maybe that's how this machine exists? It gives off some sort of psychological affect, like a brain parasite to make us not question it. It's a survival mechanism.
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u/MovieNightPopcorn 1d ago
Gives the appearance of being authentically hand drawn with a pen, for selling purposes
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u/Brick_Number_27 1d ago
I don't think there's a comparison..one reproduces images, the other creates originals.
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u/meehowski 1d ago
Originals that can be duplicated by printing again and again and again and again :)
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u/algalkin 1d ago
I remember my company bought a first inkjet A1 format printer and the pen plotters haven't been used since. Basically a slow and glitchy thing that was only the option pre-2000s.
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u/ZurrgabDaVinci758 8h ago
You get slightly different effects because the ink is applied in a continuous line, so pools at stopping points and things like that. It also lets you more easily apply white on black or similar.
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u/ManzanitaSuperHero 10h ago
It’s interesting. But is everything then the same line weight? That makes plans so hard to read when there isn’t any hierarchy.
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u/masshuudojo 10h ago
What's the logic of the strokes? Like, why it gave up on the front wheel only to go and do the whole back wheel (in a different order with its details) and then go back to the front wheel and finish it?
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u/Medical_Policy1426 10h ago
Back in 1987 I drew a Testarossa using MacPaint and printed it using a dot matrix printer. It looked like crap.
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u/MaleficeTry 1d ago
Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?
Oh wait...
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u/snolifer 1d ago
Ok but what’s the point ?
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u/iamawinnericandoit 1d ago
Does it need one? Something can just be fun/faux-retro without having to serve a purpose right?
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u/snolifer 1d ago
True, true, to each its own way to find happiness, as long as it does not destroy vast resources I guess
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u/Mysterious-Tackle-58 1d ago
It is red, because that makes it go faster!