Editing Tiled printing (section)

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[[Image:Tiled printing example - MARTA.jpg|thumb|A tiled printing of a subway station hung in a hallway ([[:Image:MARTA - N3 Station.jpg|source photo]])]]

'''Tiled printing''' is a method that [[computer program]]s use to enable users to print images larger than a standard page. This method was popularized by a program called '''The Rasterbator'''. A tiled printing program overlays a [[Grid (spatial index)|grid]] on the printed image in which each cell (or tile) is the size of a printed page, and then prints each tile. A person can then arrange the tiles to reconstruct the full image.

Tiled printing has been widespread since the days of [[mainframe computer]]s. An early example is the [[Unix]] <code>[[banner (Unix)|banner]]</code> program which created very large printable text banners out of ASCII characters in some Unix variants. Programs were available to convert images to [[ASCII art]] that when printed large enough and viewed sufficiently far away, appeared to be smoothly shaded. Modern software may use [[halftoning]] to achieve a similar effect.

Another form of tiled printing, inspired by continuous feed printers, involves making a long message of letters, possibly with inline graphics of the same height, and printing it sideways over several pages to make a banner. This type of printing is usually associated with [[The Print Shop]], a 1980s software package.

Since high-resolution images are used to create the prints, a large amount of ink is used in the process. [[Ink jet printer]]s are used to make tiled printouts without sacrificing the resolution of the original image at reasonable cost. These decorations are sometimes called ''rasterbations'', after a popular tiled printing program, "The Rasterbator." The Rasterbator program accepts users images and divides them into a grid format. Users can specify how big the final product should be, in terms of pages. The application then produces PDF images that when printed out, form the entire picture.