The very first Computer Graphics Plotter was invented long before CalComp, Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, or Xerox came up with their first plotters, but somehow this story is as controversial as the invention of television, modern computers, or stealth-technology.
Wikipedia mentions the CalComp 565 to be among the first vector graphic plotters and avoid this way to reveal an unpleasant fact: while the device was manufactured by an US Corporation — it wasn’t the first. When it comes to history they try to get away with Hewlett-Packard’s HP-GL as the first entry, but that’s a disappointing approach and misleading their YOUsers. Wikipedia isn’t perfect but we love it almost as much as Inkscape. However, we think it’s time to get facts straight even when it’s controversial like rocket-science, jet-engines, stealth-technology, television, or modern computers.
The very first Plotter for Computer Graphics was the
Graphomat Z64 Graphics Plotter
1956, Zuse KG started to work on a machine the world had never seen before. Konrad Zuse called it Graphomat, but it’s the first high precision, large format plotter to draw computer graphics. It was demonstrated at the 1961 Hanover Fair and available in two variations for 550x 600mm and 1200x 1400mm paper size. The prize for the standard version was 79.000 Deutschmarks and the premium size costed about 128.000 DM. It was intended to draw for geodesy, meteorology and road planning, but became well known in the Art world thanks to the computer art of a group known as “3N”.
Frieder Nake had access on one of those machines and use it with PL/I to connect random points with lines. We re:created his plot “Zufälliger Polygonenzug Nr. 20” (random polygon draw No. 20) by hand to double-expose it onto the Graphomat Z64 and used it as Hommage for him, like he did for Paul Klee in September 1965. You can read why Nake thought 1971 that There should be no Computer Art, or continue with a video about the inventor…
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