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From: philip@Pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Printing Gray scale picture on LaserWriter?
Message-ID: <1990Jun6.195527.10326@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 6 Jun 90 19:55:27 GMT
References: <19845.266C6141@stjhmc.fidonet.org>
Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System)
Reply-To: philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 28

In article <19845.266C6141@stjhmc.fidonet.org>, Leo.Bores@f14.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Leo Bores) writes:
> In an article of <30 May 90 18:43:49 GMT>, ksuzuki@caen.engin.umich.edu 
> (KATSUYUKI SUZUKI ) writes:

> 
>  KS>Hi, everyone. I have question about printing grey scale picture on 
>  KS>Laser
>  KS>Printer. I have gray scale PICT format picture,(it is density plot) and 
>  KS>
>  KS>I pasted that file to MS Word 4.0, and printed to Laser Writer, since
>  KS>Laser Printer can print gray scale. It looked fine on the monitor, but
>  KS>when it was printed,the picture looked so awful. 
> 
> It is doubtful that you will be able to obtain what you are looking for on a 
> 300 dpi printer. Output MIGHT be better on some of the newer printers
that use 
> dots with variable pitch. We've had the same problem and with Half-Tones. To 
> get the appearance you want - you may have to have it printed out on
Varityper 
> or Lino with at lesat 1200 dpi.

Correction - a laser printer DOESN'T print gray scale strictly speaking. It
uses halftones to simulate grey scales. Your screen can vary the brightness
of a dot (pixel); your printer can't - it simulates the effect by changing
the number of dots it prints. This is why you need so much more resolution
for a printer for gray scale (and for that matter color) rendition.

Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.edu