Raster Image Processor

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A Raster Image Processor (RIP) ( German  raster image processor ) is a combination of hardware and software or as software RIP exclusively software , the vector graphics into raster images of certain resolutions converts ( "render") or the resolution of raster graphics recalculated (scaling, resizing) .

Specific data from a higher-level page description language  - such as PostScript , VPS , AFP or PCL  - or in a vector-based document format - such as PDF  - is converted into a raster graphic , which is then usually printed .

In the prepress stage, after adjustment, the data are sent to a computer-to-plate system in order to produce a printing plate directly from 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 or in reproduction technology , where it describes a special component in the printing process that, in addition to the functions mentioned above, includes other tasks:

• Color management
• OPI image replacement
• Separation
• Trapping

In addition 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 significantly in terms of the functions implemented, their compatibility with certain PostScript versions, and their PDF support. The trend is that many prepress tasks are increasingly taken over by the RIP component.

Furthermore, every PostScript printer or every PCL laser printer has an internal RIP in its firmware .

The free GNU program Ghostscript , which allows the direct display of Postscript files, is a software RIP.