Home Page Overview Advanced Controls Special Controls Image Enhancement

How To…. Glossary

Basic Controls

Three scanner controls for you to scan your image. The basic control is the Manual Control. It provides all the scanner controls necessary for you to scan images. Here will introduce the basic functions that you need to know. | Click the topic that you want to get into. Place the Document Click the Preview Button Use Frame Tool and Zoom Tool What is Scan Mode What is Original Choose Resolution Filtering Your Image Do Descreen Get a Scan Image

Place the Document

Document placement is not a critical factor in the general quality of your scan. However, proper placement of the document on your scanner can help speed up scanning and image processing. To properly place the image on the glass, do the following:

1. Raise the scanner’s document cover.
2. Place the image face down on the scanner’s object glass. Refer to the scanner documentation for proper document placement.
3. Lower the document cover.

Power on your computer and scanner. When the power and ready indicators of your scanner glow steadily, you are ready to scan.

If you want to scan transparencies, you may need to use slide tray and frame holder to help you to scan. Refer to How to use slide tray or frame holder?

Click the Preview Button

Before scanning an image, it is helpful to get a preview of the scanned image on the scanner’s object glass first. Basic scanning involves acquiring an image through the MagicScan window, adjusting some MagicScan settings, selecting the "PREVIEW" button to get an idea of the area you want to include in a final scan, placing a selection frame around the area of interest. The previewed image will be displayed on the Preview Window with low resolution. If you want to change the preview resolution for your image, please click the button on the bottom-left corner. A dialog box will be popped up which allows you to set your desired resolution for a previewed image. Yet the resolution you set here is only for image displayed on Preview Window. Be aware that after you click the SCAN button, the image resolution will be the setting that you set on the Resolution bar in the Control Window.

Note: Before clicking the Preview Button, you can set your desired image settings and adjust the preview size to speed up the scanning process and allow accurate preprocessing of the final scan.

To reset the preview size:

Clicking and dragging the horizontal and vertical boundaries(rulers) of the preview area, you can adjust the preview size of the scanned image.

Use Frame Tool and Zoom Tool

You can define the boundaries of the area to be included in your final scan by using the Frame Tool.

And the Zoom Tool allows you to zoom "in" or "out" on an image whithin the preview window; zooming in (+ sign appears on the zoom cursor) enlarges the view of the active image so that you can work on small details in an image. Zooming out (- sign appears on the zoom cursor) reduces the view of the active image when, for example, you want to check the whole preview image.

If the image that you want to scan is very small, you can use zoom tool to zoom in the image and use frame tool to select the part that you want to scan. It is very useful for you to get a precise scanned image.

To use frame tool is very easy, simply

1. Select the Frame Tool by clicking the Frame Tool icon.
2. Drag the cursor to the preview area and release the mouse button when the selection frame is in position.
3. To adjust the selection frame size or shape - placing the mouse cursor over the marquee then clicking and dragging in the direction shown by the arrows.
4. To move the selection frame without changing its size or shape, place the cursor within the selection frame and drag it to the desired location.
5. To create an entirely new selection frame, place the cursor outside the existing selection frame and drag diagonally. The first selection frame will disappear while the second one remains.

See also: Add Frame Tool and Hand Tool

To use zoom tool

1. Select the Zoom Tool by clicking the Zoom Tool icon.
2. Place the cursor to the preview area. The cursor will change to a magnifying glass whenever it is in the preview space.
3. Zoom in (magnify an area) by positioning the cursor on an area of interest in the preview area and clicking the left mouse button. The preview area will be doubled in size. Click again and the area will again be enlarged by a factor of 100%. By repeating this process, you can enlarge the preview display of the image up to 800% of its original size.
4. As an alternative to the method stated above, select the Zoom Tool and then, while holding the mouse key down, drag the cursor over the area you want to enlarge. A solid frame, defining the area of enlargement, will appear while the mouse key is being held down. Upon release of the mouse key, the defined area will be enlarged.
5. Use the scroll bars to view hidden areas of the displayed preview image.
6. For Macintosh users: Place the magnifying glass over the center of the area to be reduced. Press and hold the Option key and then click the mouse button. For Windows users: Zoom out by positioning the cursor in the preview area and clicking the right mouse button (or SHIFT + Left Mouse Button).
7. Double click with the Zoom tool to revert the image back to normal viewing size (100%).

What is Scan Mode

Scan Mode specifies the mode that the image is to be scanned in. MagicScan provides the following scan mode for you to use. You can choose Color RGB, Color CMYK, Gray 256 scales, Lineart B/W and 256 colors for your scanned image.

See Also: Scan Mode

What is Original

This directive tells the Scanner what form the source image is going to take. The Scanner can scan from the following types of source:

Flatbed (Reflective)
Scans paper documents or pictures. Choose this option for paper originals (non-transparencies) which do not consist of a "see through" type of material, such as photographs, flyers, newspapers and so on.

UTA(Transmissive)
Scans transparencies (this option is only available when the UTA is attached). Choose this option for transparent objects (through which light can pass, e.g. overhead projector slides) if a Transparency Adapter is installed and turned on.

UTA (Negative)
Scans photographic negatives. Choose this option for photographic negatives or films if a transparency adapter is installed and turned on.

The five additional options for UTA (Negative) are only available for certain types of scanners. For those scanners which do not have these options, the default option is used. Select the option which corresponds to the type of film used in your slide.

35mm Slide Tray
If you choose the 35mm Slide Tray option, you must use the Slide Tray, even if it is only for one slide. Further, MagicScan automatically starts a multiple scan. The slide tray is designed to carry several 35mm slides. Program detects the location and orientation of slides automatically.

Frame Holder
If you want to scan transarencies (not 35mm slides), you must use a frame holder to hold them. The frame holder is designed to carry general transparencies. Program detects the location and orientation of frame automatically. For use frame holder, please refer to How to use slide tray or frame holder?

Choose Resolution

The resolution setting determines the amount of information the scanner will capture in a resulting scanned image. The higher the resolution is, the finer the image detail and the bigger the image file size is. Obviousely, increasing the resolution will result in corresponding increases in image data and image file size.

Resolution means the number of pixels per inch on a display or in an image file or the number of dots per inch (DPI)/ line per inch (LPI) in a halftone screen. Higher resolution images give better detail, but are also much larger than lower resolution images.

200 DPI | 50 DPI

You can select any one of the resolutions shown on the sub-menu according to the scanner your computer is connected to or specify your own resolution by selecting the Custom Dpi... option which invokes the Custom Scan Resolution dialog box. Notice that there are several settings below "Custom Resolution." MagicScan allows you to set three more resolution settings by yourself. Type the desired resolution (in dpi) and click OK. These three settings will be displayed below the Custom dpi... settings in the Resolution pull down menu, so you can choose these settings whenever you need.

Filtering Your Image

Filter is typically useful for high-contrast images whose image edges and boundaries need softening or sharpening by changing the values of pixels in those regions of the image. Choose Filter from the Image menu. A submenu then appears.

No Filter | Sharpen Sharpen More | Blur Blur More | Unsharp Masking
This is the default filter option. No filtering will take place when using this option. | Emphasizes the edges of an image. This option sharpens the image boundaries by increasing the relative contrast between adjacent pixels. In general, sharpen filters should only be used when you want to accentuate the differences between one color area and another. | Softens the image. This option smoothes out any sharp transitions in hue between two adjacent pixels. | The Unsharp Masking filter detects shape edges and color boundaries and then emphasizes them with a kind of underscoring. By opening the Unsharp Masking submenu, the Unsharp Masking dialog box appears. You can choose Unsharp Masking preprocessing in three strengths: Low, Medium, and High or define it in terms of percentages (1% to 200%)

Do Descreen

Descreen is a preprocessing option which can be used to minimize the appearance of unsightly interference patterns (moiré patterns) which may occur in your image file when scanning original documents created by a halftone process.

Many kinds of graphic images which are printed for publication are printed by a halftone process. Halftone printing technology uses a lattice of uniform squares with a dot printed in each lattice cell. By using dots of graduated size, a desired fraction of each lattice cell may be colored (the ink color) and the remainder of the cell may be left white (the paper color). The illusion of a continuous variation of gray or color tones occurs when we look at a halftone graphic because the eye averages features which are not clearly seen as object details. In newspaper photographs the halftone lattice is coarse enough to be seen easily. In glossy magazine printing, the lattice is much finer and therefore more difficult to detect.

If you choose halftone-printed graphic material as your object for scanning, its halftone printing dot pattern may result in interference patterns occurring in the resulting scanned image. The image may appear to have a checkered, banded, or dotted appearance. These interference patterns are called moiré patterns. Descreen preprocessing can minimize the transfer of moiré patterns into your image file.

Besides a default setting of None (no descreening), the Descreen selector provides three grades of descreen preprocessing.

None | Art Print
No descreening. | Smoothes the fine dot pattern found in high quality art prints. magazines.
Magazine | Newspaper
Smoothes the fine dot pattern found in glossy magazines. | Smoothes the coarse grain pattern commonly found in newspaper images.
Custom |
The user will specify a value for the lines per inch (lpi). |

Original | Image with Magazine Descreen

Get a Scan Image

To get a scanned image is very easy, simply click SCAN button in the Preview Window. The chosen area in the Preview Window will be scanned. The scanned image will be transferred to your application and will appear on your screen.

Note: When scanning with MagicScan in a Network, the Networking Scan Server dialog box displays the scanner status and the percentage of scan complete. After the scan has been completed, the scanned image will be shown on the client computer.

If you wish, save the resulting scanned image by using the appropriate application commands and image file format. Refer to your application documentation for assistance in completing these steps. In addition, if you want to scan directly to a file, click PROOF button and save the file. Or, invoke MagicScan without through any other application software by clicking MagicScan program icon from MagicScan group window / folder. In this situation, the scanned image can be saved automatically after you click SCAN button.

Add Frame Tool

Use the Add Frame Tool to create a new selection frame within the preview screen for multiple scan and batch scan.

Adding a new frame does not eliminate frames currently on the preview screen. A new job will be created in the Job List Box. To add a frame, do the following:

1. Click on the Add Frame Tool icon from the Preview Window.
2. Place the cursor where you wish to make the frame.
3. Click and hold the mouse key down at that position. The cursor changes to a pointer arrow.
4. Keeping the mouse key pressed, drag the corners or sides to the desired shape and size. Then release the mouse key.

Hand Tool

The Hand tool allows you to scroll through an image on the Preview screen.

To use the Hand Tool do the following:

1. First of all, create a new frame and job in the Job List using the Add Frame Tool.
2. Click on the hand tool Icon. The cursor will change to a hand shape within the preview area.
3. Position the cursor over the image, click and hold down the mouse key to grasp the image, thus enabling you to move the image around as you please.