Unit 30, Task 7a - D1

Unit 30, Task 7a – D1

The on-going development on input and output devices has changed quite a lot, especially when it comes to the quality of the devices.  When it comes to vinyl cutting the new development lets the product to be weather proof, which means that if a vinyl cut out is on a vehicle it can survive through all different sorts of weather.  Also when creating an image you can print out colours which mean buying white vinyl. Previously if wanting a colour on vinyl you would have to buy the vinyl in that colour, which would have cost a lot more than just buying plain vinyl. The development in vinyl cutters has changed for the better and is easier to supply for and use compared to how it was before.

Developments have also occurred in inkjet & wide format printing for bitmap displays and posters.  When using inkjet and wide format printing it is possible to print direct to 50mm substrate. This is development as the size of printing has gotten larger and comes in useful when wanting to have a thick image. Previously the printing would not be able to cope with that size of material. This means that big images were harder to make, however now it is simpler as the technology is available for such things as bitmap displays and posters.

 

Another development is laser printers. When printing using a laser printer you can print right to the end of the page which is convenient when making products such as business cards and leaflets. They also offer duplex printing which is printing on both sides of a page at the same time, this would make things quicker in a sense. Laser printers can also handle thicker materials such as card, which makes it even more useful. However previously when printing the image would not always go to the edge of the page, there would be a little white border where the printer had not printed on.  Also the printer wouldn’t have been able to handle thicker materials, it would have just been used for paper. This is a big development for laser printers as it has more useful qualities to it and more people will end up using them because of the quality of the product that they produce.

3D printing has also developed. 3D printing is a process where three-dimensional solid objects are made from a digital model. The process has been around for a while in different industries, however the development has been the quality of the way it works. Also it was only available for specific industries, and now it is available more for people to buy and use. The first 3D printer was created in the 1980’s, however it has been excessively adapted since then.