Definition
Phototypesetting
computer typesetting
.
Technology development
It can be roughly divided into five stages. ①Manual phototypesetting machine: started in 1949, it is composed of camera device, word template and light source. Manual selection of words, photography and imaging. ②Automatic phototypesetting machine for full fonts: started in 1958, there are two forms, one is to microprint the fonts on the film, the film is mounted on a high-speed rotating ring frame, a point light source is placed in the center of the ring frame, and the point is controlled by a computer. The light source and the ring frame make the light passing through the specified font to be sensitive to the film. The other is to mold the characters on a glass plate, which is controlled by a computer to select characters and image them. ③ Dot-matrix electronic phototypesetting machine: Since 1965, characters are stored in dot-matrix digital form, and electron beams emitted by a computer-controlled cathode-ray tube electron gun hit the photographic film to make it light. ④Laser imagesetter: Beginning in 1976, a laser beam controlled by a computer scans and forms dots on film or photo paper. The output font and image quality are high. ⑤Laser phototypesetting machine: It is a new technology that appeared in the 1980s. It is directly engraved by a computer controlled laser beam.
Classification
The imagesetters can be divided into four categories according to the storage and generation methods of characters.
① Photography-The optical imagetypesetter is molded on the film, and the image is exposed and imaged by photography.
② "Photography-Cathode Ray Tube Scanning Phototypesetting Machine" The whole characters are molded on the film, scanned and converted into digitized characters, and then scanned and imaged in dot matrix form.
③"Digital-Cathode Ray Tube Scanning Phototypesetting Machine" fonts are stored in digital form and scanned and imaged in dot matrix form.
④ Digital-Laser Scanning Phototypesetting Machine” The fonts are stored in digital form, and the computer controls the laser beam scanning and imaging in the form of dot matrix.
System
A system that uses an electronic imagesetter as the output machine. The software of the electronic phototypesetting system includes an input program, an editing program and a typesetting program. There are two types of user interface forms of typesetting programs: command type and menu type. ①Imperative: Use English abbreviations as typesetting commands, with basic typesetting functions. ②Menu style: The user selects appropriate typesetting commands according to the "menu" on the screen and can move the cursor to make selections.
Development trend
① Combination of electronic phototypesetting and office automation: Office automation system uses layout to process output, which can separate the lower-priced layout processor from the more expensive phototypesetting machine . Publishing houses, institutions, and schools can use a layout processor to complete a large sample with a final layout, store the information in a floppy disk, and then input it into the imagesetter to output the final product, which can reduce the number of times of communication between the publishing house and the printing factory. Greatly shorten the typesetting cycle.
②The electronic phototypesetting system with "pre-processing" technology as the core: It is characterized by the combination of text and image on the display screen before inputting the phototypesetting machine, and can be modified at will After being satisfied, output the finished products of the same format in the imagesetter.
③Computer network type phototypesetting system: can make full use of the advantages of computer network distributed processing.
④Phototypesetting system combined with database and communication technology: Users can extract the stored format from the database system through the communication network, and output it by the imagetypesetting machine. Newspaper typesetting can use database technology to manage manuscripts, use a large imposition terminal for layout design, and the imagesetter to output a combined graphic and text layout.