Hi abasir,
I think that where the POSAM design goes wrong is in not utilizing available drawing/CAD programs to develop input to the inkjet manufacturing process. In the "Programming and Design" section of this forum over 20 programs are listed that will produce input for CNC processes. If I desired to make PCBs with an inkjet, then I'd like to be able to use a PCB design program like ExpressPCB or a 2D cad program like AutoCAD to electronically produce a design that the inkjet manufacturing process could turn into a usable physical object. If I wanted to do rapid prototyping then I'd like to be able to use a 3D CAD program like Solidworks to electronically produce a design that the inkjet manufacturing process could turn into a usable physical object. (For 3D work, there are programs, such has DRCAD that can slice a 3D file into a stack of 2D CAD files that can be printed sequentially on top of each other.) This ensures that the inkjet system can be used for a wide range of manufacturing purposes, but it requires that the system be capable of handling a wide range of different file formats. Inkjets are already capable of handling many of these formats, because they operate through print drivers.
With the exception of old pen plotters, the only thing that digitally controlled printers know how to do is put down dots. Thus, the only thing printer hardware understands is a properly formatted bit-map that defines the placement and properties of each dot. The task of taking a graphics file (egg) to a bitmap (baby chick) is called raster image processing and is performed by the print driver. What I hope we can do is handle everything from the original electronic design through the properly formatted bitmap with available commercial and/or open source software. What I propose building is a combination of hardware/firmware that will move the stage and fire the jets based on that bitmap to produce a chicken. I'll talk more about drivers soon, since their output defines what that hardware/firmware must do.  |