RASTER IMAGE PROCESSING CONTROLLERS OFFER RANGE OF POSSIBLE TRADEOFFS.

There are two popular hardware implementations of partial picture imaging raster controllers - random vector and sorted vector. The principal difference lies in where the work is accomplished - in the host computer or in the plotter controller. Random vectors require the host computer to perform less work; sorted vectors use a less costly controller but require the host computer to do more work. Electrostatic raster plotter controllers may require less storage for vector data than raster data, but the best format depends on plot size and image density.