Everyone appreciates the beauty of caligraphy on stationary or special invitations, but most people don't have the time or skill to master it, and simulated caligraphy fonts from a normal printer don't have the same depth or precision as a pen and ink.

By fitting a fountain pen in a robotic printer that moves in 3 axis, all the standard strokes of caligraphy could be reproduced. Swapping out different pens and brushes would allow different styles and characters, from Chinese to cuneiform. The printer could also reproduce beautiful pen-and-ink sketches.
-- rasberry re-tart, Mar 10 2006

An artist who has experimented with a calligraphic brush in a pen plotter http://www.verostko.com/gallery.html
[DrCurry, Mar 10 2006]

Software and hardware for calligraphy on a pen plotter http://www.smartcom...rticleid=6035&guid=
This article and others referencing the same product are, alas, from 1991/2, so I suspect you may have trouble finding this now. [DrCurry, Mar 10 2006]

(?) Signature Machine http://www.signaturemachine.com/
[DrCurry, Mar 11 2006]

Um, this is just a good, old-fashioned pen plotter with a caligraphy nib. Is that actually a new idea?

(I was using pen plotters to draw calligraphy way back when, although not using special nibs. Coupled with computer-generated poems.)
-- DrCurry, Mar 10 2006


Margaret Atwood, the author, recently invented a device that allows her to sign books remotely in real time. Smart woman, all around.
-- bristolz, Mar 10 2006


...whereas most people are only smartarses.
-- Ian Tindale, Mar 10 2006


Traditional pen plotters hold the pen vertically; it's either touching the paper or not. Calligraphy requires varying the pressure quite delicately. [+]
-- gisho, Mar 10 2006


Yes, you would need to vary the pressure of the pen and its angle to succesfully reproduce caligraphy. I'm not sure if the pen plotters shown in the link would work this way.
-- rasberry re-tart, Mar 11 2006


While it should be possible to adapt a pen plotter to vary pressure (but not, I think, angle), signature machine technology will do exactly what you need (see link).

In fact, it could well be all you need to bake this idea.
-- DrCurry, Mar 11 2006



halfbakery