Zebra Technologies zebra zxp series 1 user manual Printer Settings and Adjustments

4: Printer Settings and Adjustments

Printing Preferences

-Monochrome Conversion: Specifies the method of monochrome conversion used in printing. Different selections have different effects on the way the image is printed. The options are Diffusion, Halftone, Barcode, Text Mode, and Auto.

•Diffusion: Error diffusion is used primarily where you have a full color (RGB image with 8 bits per pixel) or full gray (single color but still 8 bits per pixel) that you need to print with binary printing (can only print full-on or full-off; i.e., 1 bit per pixel). Typically preferred over halftoning (see below) for most images.

•Halftone: To simulate gray in graphics, halftones are printed. Halftones are arrays of dots arranged in a grid (e.g., 6x6 or 8x8) to represent each image pixel as a shade of gray. For dark gray, more grid dots are black. For light gray, more grid dots are white As the grid size goes up so does the number of possible output levels, 6x6 cell has 36 possible output levels while 8x8 has 64. But as cell size increases, there is a corresponding decrease in resolution.

•Barcode: This is the simplest method for converting from 8 bits per pixel to 1 bit per pixel.

For example, the input pixel can be a value from 0 to

255. If the threshold is 128, any pixel over 128 becomes full on (1); and any pixel that is less than 128 becomes full off (0). This mode works best for text, barcodes, line art, logos -- everything except continuous-tone pictures.

•Text Mode: This mode can be used when you have black anti-aliased text. Black anti-aliased text is typically black in the center; but on the edges, it has shades of gray that get lighter as you move out form the center of the text. This anti-aliased text will have a softer looking edge that is less sharp than non anti- aliased text.

•Auto (default): This mode analyzes the image and optimizes the conversion (diffusion, halftone, barcode, or text mode) automatically.

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