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Cream of the Crop 1
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MERGIT21.ARJ
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FRAME.DOC
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1992-02-11
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MAKING A REFERENCE BLOCK FRAME FOR MERGEIT
MergeIt uses black reference blocks in the upper left and right corners of the
scanned image segments to calculate the best image cut and perform the merging
automatically. Of course you can always use MergeIt manually, but if you are
serious about using your hand scanner to make a large number of page sized
images then the effort to make a frame may be worthwhile.
For best and consistent results, these blocks should be very black so that the
boundary to the adjacent white regions are distinct. Write protect stickers
for 5 1/4" floppies are often excellent, as long as one of the long edges is
cut back to remove the rounded corners. When placing a document on the frame,
the thickness of these stickers makes it easy to align the document with the
bottom edges.
Frame layout for letter length images:
│<......3.5"......>│<......3.5".......>│<......3.5".......>│
Black=> ┌──┴──┐ ┌──┴──┐ ┌──┴──┐ ┌───┤
Reference └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └───┘
Blocks | ~1" | | ~1" | | ~1" | 1/4"
(height (width)
> 0.1") (or more)
Hand Scanner GuideBar Setup:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
optional top slide guide
............... ┌───┐
. optional │ L │─┐ ┌─────────────────────────────┐
. back │ E │ │ │ Hand Scanner │
. triangle │ F │ │i │ │
. support │ T │ │m │ │
. │ │ │a └───────┐ ┌───────┘
. │ G │ │g │ │
. │ U │ │e │ │
. │ I │ │ │ │
. │ D │ │c │ │
. │ E │ │u │ │
. │ │ │t ┌──────┴─────────────┴─┐
. │ │ │ └──────────────────────┘
. │ │ │e hand scanner bottom guide
. │ │ │d
.│ │ │g ║ ║
│ ├─┘e scan \ ║ ║ /
└───┘ image \║ ║/
down .
using left guide against
scanner body and bottom
guide.
Attaching a bottom guide to the hand scanner is extremely helpful in getting
accurate image scanning. Any turning of the scanner will distort the image
in ways that are not correctable by any software. The hand scanners should be
made with an easy way to add an edge guide. They aren't..., I use an aluminum
rod, 1/4" square and 6" long, epoxied to the bottom edge of the handle.
The left guide may be a straight piece of trim wood, a piece of utility
aluminum angle, or ?. It must be straight and long enough to guide the
scanner to the bottom of its scanning sweep.
The image cut edge is a piece of stiff white paper secured to the bottom of
the left guide.
Position the image cut edge so that it just slightly intrudes into the scanned
image. This will help you to best align the left guide when scanning in an
image. It will also define the left image edge since it will cut off the top
left reference block. The image cut edge is not essential (in which case the
scanner will naturally cut off the reference block at the left edge of the
image it scans).
Orienting paper for landscape scanning and merging:
Start scan
D C B here A
black ┌───┐ reference ┌───┐ blocks ┌───┐ downward ┌───┐
┌──┴───┴───────────┴───┴──────────┴───┴──────────┴───┤
│ ... LEFT MARGIN EDGE . . . . │
│ ... .. .. . . . │
│ ... .. .. . . . │
│ ... .. .. . . . T │
│ ... .. .. . . . O │
│ ... .. .. . . . P │
│ ... .. .. . . . │
│ ... .. .. . . . │
│ ... .. .. . . . │
│ D O C U M E N T │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Where possible, adjust document to put natural breaks in the reference
block regions. Typically this will be between text lines. Start scanning down
the document on the right side (at the top of the document) with the left
edge of the scanned image covering part of reference block "B" at its top edge.
Shift to the left so that the next scanned image covers part of the reference
block "C" at its top edge.
Finally, shift to the left so that the next scanned image includes part of the
reference block "D".
The width of each of the black reference blocks is written in the initial
values file. See "MergeIt.Doc".
Hints:
1) It is NOT required by MergeIt that you lay the input image document on
its side. I chose this convention as an introduction since it is most
appropriate for scanning in typed documents. (When scanning longer
documents in the upright position, you may find your hand scanner
software will not allow a long enough sweep at the higher DPI's.)
2) You may find the image cut edge casts a shadow into the scanned image.
If the edge is made to lay flat on the document, the shadow will be
minimized. You may also slightly undercut the edge in the region where
the image is scanned. You may also choose to eliminate the paper edge
and use a plastic spacer against the guide edge as you move the guide
to determine the next scan section. Cut the plastic spacer so it
indicates where your hand scanner left image edge starts.
3) To assure that each scanned section has reference block heights>=0.1",
you can make use of the top slide guide edge if you have one. Position
the reference blocks on the frame so that if your scanner uses the top
guide as a stop, the resultant downward sweep includes enough of the
reference blocks.
If you don't use a top slide guide, then you may cut the reference blocks'
height to about 1/8" (or more). When scanning, make sure the image starts
above the reference blocks.
Using MergeIt Without a Mechanical Scanning Frame
If the document to be scanned is part of a book or magazine that does not
fit the above scanning setup, you may still use the automatic merging
feature of MergeIt by making a removable strip with the reference blocks
appropriately positioned. Back this strip with a removable tacky glue, which
makes the strip similar to the common "Post-It" memo squares. Place the
strip at the top of the desired image. Carefully position a left guide edge
vertically to prevent slanting your image edges. Scan downwards against
this guide edge.