Glossary - Roland LV-290 User Manual

10.1 Glossary

Color Fill – Term within the awards and engraving industry used to describe the variety of techniques used to
add color or contrast to engraving.
DPI – Dots Per Inch or Pixels Per Inch. The resolution of an image is defined by the amount of dots/pixels
included in an inch. The DPI setting of 500, will tell the machine to include 500 laser firings within an inch.
Driver – A software program that allows the computer to communicate with its components and peripherals:
printers, scanners, monitors, etc.
Error Diffusion (Dithering Method) - This effect uses a series of random black and white pixels to represent
shading.
Firmware – Programming permanently set into a computer's ROM chips. This information is burned into the
computer chips and can only be changed by replacing the chips, or in the case of EEROM, by special procedure.
PPI – Pulses Per Inch. PPI determines the gross amount of laser pulses there will be per linear inch. PPI is
exclusively used for the vector setting. A PPI setting of 500 results in the laser firing every .002" (500 times per
inch). If the standard lens is producing a vector laser focal point of .007", then higher PPI settings will result in
deeper, overlapping laser pulses. PPI settings lower than 150 will result in the individual laser pulses being
spread far apart, so they will not touch each other. Low PPI settings are a good example of perforate paper.
Raster – The process of rendering a cutting or engraving by multiple horizontal lines.
For example: when
cutting out or engraving a square, the raster setting will make the laser use numerous horizontal lines to fill in
the outlined space.
Raster Image – An image that is defined as a collection of arranged pixels in a rectangular array of lines. A raster
image is similar to a "Bitmap" graphics image.
Raster Line – A raster line is the individual horizontal line that makes up the raster image.
Serial Port – A connection that allows a computer to send data to a peripheral device one bit at a time. Usually
it is a COM port that meets the RS232C specification.
Vector – The process of cutting or engraving an image by using single horizontal, vertical and curved lines. For
example: when cutting out or engraving the outline of a square, the vector setting will make the laser use a thin
single line to follow the outline of the shape.
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