Plustek V1.0 Safety guide

1
Version 1.0
for
Color Flatbed Scanners

2
All trademarks and brand names mentioned in this publication are property of their
respective owners.
2000. All rights are reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced
without permission.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................1
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE ............................................................................................................................1
CONVENTIONS OF THIS GUIDE .....................................................................................................................1
A NOTE ABOUT ICONS ................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER I. THE TWAIN INTERFACE..................................................................................................2
AN INTRODUCTION TO TWAIN...................................................................................................................2
INSTANT DESCRIPTIONS: “TOOL TIPS”.........................................................................................................3
CHOOSING TWAIN .....................................................................................................................................3
TWAIN DIALOG BOX FEATURES................................................................................................................3
ADVANCED SETTINGS WINDOW ..................................................................................................................7
Preferences Window ..............................................................................................................................8
ADVANCED WINDOWS FOR COLOR CORRECTION ......................................................................................12
Color Channels....................................................................................................................................12
Histogram ............................................................................................................................................12
Tone Map.............................................................................................................................................14
Image Gamma......................................................................................................................................16
SCANNING TIPS..........................................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER II. THE SCANNER SOFTWARE .........................................................................................18
OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................18
THE FAX UTILITY ......................................................................................................................................19
About the Fax Utility............................................................................................................................19
Using Fax Utility..................................................................................................................................20
Fax Utility Settings ..............................................................................................................................21
THE E-MAIL UTILITY .................................................................................................................................22
About the E-mail Utility.......................................................................................................................22
Using the E-mail Utility.......................................................................................................................22
E-mail Utility Settings..........................................................................................................................23
THE IMAGE EDITOR - PICTURE PUBLISHER................................................................................................24
Opening the Program ..........................................................................................................................24
Acquiring an Image from the Scanner.................................................................................................24
Basic Image Adjustments.....................................................................................................................25
Using Editing Tools.............................................................................................................................25
Saving Images......................................................................................................................................25
Printing Images....................................................................................................................................26
Scanning Tip: Monitor Gamma ...........................................................................................................26
For Additional Help.............................................................................................................................26
THE COPY UTILITY....................................................................................................................................27
About the Copy Utility .........................................................................................................................27
Using the Copy Utility .........................................................................................................................27

Copy Utility Settings............................................................................................................................28
THE OCR PROGRAM – TEXTBRIDGE CLASSIC ..........................................................................................29
To Use OCR via Action Manager 32...................................................................................................29
To Use OCR Directly from TextBridge Program.................................................................................30
To Use OCR Directly from Your Word Processor...............................................................................32
Some key points about OCR.................................................................................................................33
CONTACTING PLUSTEK........................................................................................................................35

1
Introduction
How to Use This Guide
This Software User’s Guide provides instructions and illustrations on how to use
your scanner. This guide assumes the user is familiar with the Microsoft Windows. If
this is not the case, we suggest you learn more about Microsoft Windows by referring
to your Microsoft Windows manual before using your scanner.
Chapter I discusses the scanner’s TWAIN interface.
Chapters II provides an overview of the software bundled with your scanner and
is a useful companion to the help menus found within the software applications
themselves.
Conventions of this Guide
1. Bold — Important note or first use of an important term in a chapter.
2. ALL CAPS — Represents commands or contents on your computer screen.
A Note About Icons
This guide uses the following icons to point out information that deserves special
attention.
Danger A procedure that must be followed carefully to prevent injury, or
accidents.
Caution. Information that, if not followed, may result in data loss or
damage to the product.
Pay Special Attention. Instructions that are important to remember and
may prevent mistakes.
Danger
Caution
Attention

2
Chapter I. The TWAIN Interface
An Introduction to TWAIN
The TWAIN program is a very important piece of software that comes with
your scanner. This program acts as an interface between the scanner hardware and the
image-editing software you are using to view and edit images. The TWAIN program
allows you to adjust a number of settings to define the quality of the scanned image.
The following chapter describes the TWAIN interface (see Figure 1) which
automatically opens when you click SCAN, or ACQUIRE from within a TWAIN
compatible scanning program or image-editing application.
The TWAIN interface allows you to make important adjustments before
scanning. For example, you can scan in different modes: black and white, grayscale or
color; increase or decrease the resolution (dots per inch of an image), and adjust the
brightness and/or contrast. The Prescan option allows you to adjust the borders of the
scan area by increasing or decreasing the size of the crop box located inside the
Prescan Area. The TWAIN interface also provides you with statistics such as how
large an image will be after scanning, in terms of both file size and physical
dimensions.
Figure 1. TWAIN Window
Note: Apply for the
scanner model built
with a transparency
ada
p
ter onl
y
.
Scan Area
Borders
Sourc
e
Resolution
Scan Mode
Bri
g
htness
Contrast
Horizontal
90°
°°
°Right
Vertical
None
90°
°°
°Left
180°
°°
°
Pointer
Magnifying
Glass
Scan Area
Coordinates Scan Area Dimensions Prescan Area Image Size Units Version

3
Instant Descriptions: “Tool Tips”
Let the mouse pointer rest over any item within the TWAIN dialog box and a
description of the item will instantly appear. However, for more information about the
use and function of specific items, you can refer to the on-line TWAIN Help by
clicking on the Help button towards the bottom of the window.
Choosing TWAIN
To select the TWAIN interface: From your TWAIN compatible program, locate
the scanner setup or TWAIN source option usually listed under the FILE menu and
choose the appropriate TWAIN source for your scanner.
TWAIN Dialog Box Features
This section describes all of the options available in the TWAIN interface. It is
very important to correctly configure the first two items (Source and Scan Mode) in
order to successfully perform a scan. All other items are optional and allow you to
tailor the characteristics of the scanned image.
Source - This option is available only for scanners built with a
transparency adapter. There are three possible sources listed:
• Normal - Use this setting to scan normal sheets of paper or any non-
transparent material.
• 35mm Slide - Use this mode for scanning slides.
• 35mm Negative - Use this mode for scanning negatives.
Scan Mode - There are three settings to choose from:
• Text - scans in black and white and is suitable for scanning text.
• B/W Photo (grayscale) - scans in 256 shades of gray, giving black and
white images or photos depth and shadow.
• 16-bit B/W Photo (grayscale) – scans in more than 65,000 shades of gray,
improving the realism of b/w images.
• Color Photo - scans in millions of colors for photo-realism. Choose this
mode when scanning color pictures or graphics.

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• 48-bit Color Photo – scans in billions of colors for professional imaging
requiring precise uniformity of color.
Resolution - Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi). The higher the
resolution, the more detailed the image, and the more memory and drive space
the image will use.
Brightness - This is the amount of light that is concentrated onto a document
while it is being scanned.
Contrast - Contrast adjusts the tonal range of an image by lowering mid-tone
values and increasing values for high and low tones.
Flip Horizontally - This option will only appear when scanning
transparencies or negatives, if your scanner is built with a transparency
adapter. It will flip the scanned image around the central vertical axis. This
feature will not show up on the prescanned image, but will only affect the final
scanned image.
Flip Vertically - This option will only appear when scanning
transparencies or negatives, if your scanner is built with a transparency
adapter. It will flip the scanned image around the central horizontal axis. This
feature will not show up on the prescanned image, but will only affect the final
scanned image.
Rotate 90°
°°
°Clockwise - This option will only appear when scanning
transparencies or negatives, if your scanner is built with a transparency
adapter. It will rotate the scanned image 90°clockwise. This feature will not
show up on the prescanned image, but will only affect the final scanned image.
Rotate 180° - This option will only appear when scanning transparencies
or negatives, if your scanner is built with a transparency adapter. It will
rotate the scanned image 180°. This feature will not show up on the prescanned
image, but will only affect the final scanned image.

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Rotate 90°
°°
°counter-clockwise - This option will only appear when
scanning transparencies or negatives, if your scanner is built with a
transparency adapter. It will rotate the scanned image 90°counter-
clockwise. This feature will not show up on the prescanned image, but will
only affect the final scanned image.
Prescan Window - The Prescan Window (figure 2) is the large white area in the
middle of the TWAIN window. Documents or images that are prescanned will
be displayed there.
Prescanning images is very useful as it gives you an idea of how a document or
image will look after it is scanned. You can use the Magnifying Glass to zoom
the view of the prescanned image by clicking on the magnifying glass button
towards the upper right of the TWAIN window and then clicking on the part of
the image you wish to view in detail.
Figure 2. Prescan Window
If you change any settings either in the TWAIN window or in any of the
Advanced windows, the effects of the changes (except for Flip, Rotate, Filter
and Descreen) will immediately appear on the prescanned image in the Prescan
Area. This allows you to instantly judge the effects of almost any setting you
change.
The Scan Area Border, designated by the dotted box in the Prescan Area, can
be resized and moved. This is very important for keeping the image size (in
terms of computer memory) as small as possible. To do this, first prescan the
document or image you wish to scan by loading it in the scanner and clicking
on the Prescan Button. After it appears in the Prescan Area, resize and move
the dotted box so it fits snugly around the edges of the prescanned image.
Scan Area
Borders

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Placing the mouse pointer INSIDE the Scan Area Border box will change the
cursor as shown to the left and allows you to move the entire frame by
dragging the mouse.
Placing the mouse pointer at the EDGE of any side of the margin will change
the cursor as shown to the left and allows you to reduce or expand the frame
around the image.
Pointer - Changes the cursor from magnifying glass to pointer. The pointer
must be used to adjust the Scan Area Border or change settings.
Magnifying Glass - Clicking on the magnifying glass button changes the
cursor to a magnifying glass and lets you easily zoom in and out of the
prescanned image in the Prescan Window.
To zoom in, click the left mouse button. To zoom out, click the right mouse
button. To stop zooming in and out of the image, click on the Pointer button
just above the Magnifying Glass button.
Note: The magnifying glass only affects the view of the prescanned image
in the prescan area and in no way affects the scanning process or
the final scanned image.
Scan Button - Accepts all settings and begins scanning.
Prescan Button - By clicking on the Prescan button, you can scan the source
document into the Prescan Area in the middle of the TWAIN window. This
allows you to modify the scan area (for smaller images such as photographs)
and gives you a rough idea of what the scanned image will look like before you
scan.
Advanced Button - Advanced controls for precision scans. See below for detailed
explanations about the Advanced Settings window that appears when you click
on this button.
Cancel - Clicking on the Cancel button saves your current settings and closes the
TWAIN window
Help - Clicking on this button runs the on-line help program

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Status Bar - The status bar (figure 3) contains important information about the
settings in the TWAIN window.
Figure 3. Status Bar
Scan Area Coordinates shows the position of the Scan Area Border in terms of X
and Y coordinates.
Scan Area Dimension shows the exact width and height of the Scan Area Border.
Image Size displays the amount of memory your image will use. The larger the image
size, the longer it takes to actually scan the image. Larger images, due to their
memory requirements, will also take longer for your image-editing applications
to process when making any corrections.
Tips for reducing the file size of an image:
• Change the scan mode – Color mode collects the most amount of
information and therefore requires more memory than grayscale or black
and white.
• Reduce the resolution –See Scanning Tips later in this chapter for detailed
information about selecting the proper amount of resolution.
• Reduce the scan area - When scanning images that are smaller than a full
page, make sure you prescan the image and adjust the scan area borders in
the Prescan Area window.
• Some file formats such as GIF and JPEG can compress image data, greatly
reducing the amount of space an image takes up on your hard drive.
Units shows the measurement units used in the Prescan Area. The measurement units
can be changed by clicking on the Advanced button.
Version displays the version of the TWAIN program you are using.
Advanced Settings Window
The Advanced Settings window (figure 4) has 4 tabs running along the top -
Preferences, Histogram, Tone Map and Gamma, all of which will be explained in
detail below. Click on one of the tabs to display settings. For additional instructions
click on the Help button at the bottom-right of the window to view the on-line
TWAIN help.
Attention

8
Figure 4. Advanced Settings
Most of the menu options are considered advanced features. We strongly suggest
that you first become familiar with scanning and using the settings in the TWAIN
window before attempting to use any of the following features. Many of these
advanced features will also be available to you in your image-editing software after
you scan.
P
Pr re ef fe er re en nc ce es s W Wi in nd do ow w
The Preferences window (figure 4) has a number of settings that control how the
image is scanned and how it is viewed in the Prescan Area.
M
Mo on ni it to or r G Ga am mm ma a
Monitor gamma defines how the colors in an image will be displayed on your
monitor (not the color data in the image itself). The monitor gamma setting allows you
to change the gamma values for your monitor.
The monitor gamma only affects the prescanned image in the prescan area.
This is because image-editing applications have their own monitor gamma settings.
The settings defined here should be exactly the same as the settings in the image-
editing application you will use to view and edit the scanned image.
To correctly adjust the monitor gamma, you must first have your computer and
working environment stable. This includes the lighting in the room, and making sure
your monitor brightness, contrast and colors are properly adjusted. Next, drag the
slider bars to alter the monitor gamma. When finished, click OK to exit.

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Make sure that the monitor gamma values you set correspond to the monitor
gamma values in your image-editing/graphics program. This ensures that colors in the
prescanned image you see in the Prescan Area will be exactly the same as the colors in
the final scanned image in the image-editing program.
When the monitor gamma in the TWAIN program and all your image-editing
applications are the same, you will only need to adjust the Image Gamma to change
the color brightness for scanned images in all applications.
Changing the image’s gamma value (by clicking on the Gamma tab at the top
right of the Advanced window) allows you to change the brightness of the colors in
the image itself, and keeps all monitor gamma values in your programs consistent.
This ensures that colors will always be displayed in the same way.
A
Au ut to o D De en ns si it ty y
Checking this box automatically adjusts the Histogram to make the scanned
image clearer. It does this by increasing the difference between color tones.
I
In nv ve er rs se e
When inverse is checked, the colors of an entire image will become reversed. A
black and white image will look similar to a photo negative.
D
De es sc cr re ee en n
Descreen applies filtering to images that contain moiré patterns (or herringbone).
A moiré pattern is created from scanning pictures in magazines, or printed material
that use color dithering. The descreen filter is not needed when scanning original
photographs or black and white images and text, but is recommended when scanning
any printed color graphics, such as a page from a magazine, in order to remove the
unsightly interference patterns which may occur.
Before After

10
F
Fi il lt te er r
There are five filter choices located under the Filter menu (Figure 5). Filters help
you improve your scans by allowing you to sharpen images as well as remove
excessive dots and distortion.
Figure 5. Filter Menu
Average: Determines the medium depth of an image and averages
adjacent pixels to make images appear softer.
Blur: Lets you dull the edges within an image, and decreases the
contrast by making dark edges lighter and light edges darker.
Before
After

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Blur More: Adds additional blurring.
Sharpen: Allows you to sharpen the edges within an image by making
the edges in an image more distinct. The Sharpen filter also
increases contrast by making dark edges darker and
surrounding light edges lighter.
Sharpen More: Adds additional sharpening.
Unsharpen: Sharpens the edges in an image to remove the blurriness.
A
Al lw wa ay ys s o on n T To op p
When this box is checked, the TWAIN program will always be on top of the
other windows open on your desktop.
A
Au ut to o P Pr re es sc ca an n a at t S St ta ar rt tu up p
Clicking this checkbox will cause the TWAIN program to perform a prescan
immediately, whenever it is opened. Doing this allows the image to be automatically
prescanned -- making settings adjustments quicker and easier, since any changes to
settings made in the TWAIN window will immediately be shown on the prescanned
image.
A
Au ut to o C Cr ro op p a af ft te er r P Pr re es sc ca an n
When this box is checked, the TWAIN program will identify the dimensions of the
image you scanned and crop around the edges. The crop shape will be a square or
rectangle and it will not trace the edges of oddly-shaped images. This command can
be useful when scanning smaller images such as photographs.
E
Eq qu ua al li iz ze ed d C Co ol lo or rs s
This command is only available when scanning photo negatives. The Equalize
command redistributes the brightness values of the pixels in an image so that they
more evenly represent the entire range of brightness levels. When this box is checked,
the TWAIN program finds the brightest and darkest values in the image and averages
all the brightness values so that the darkest value represents black and the brightest
value represents white. Use this command, for example, when a scanned image
Before After

12
appears darker than the original and you want to balance the values to produce a
lighter image, or vice versa.
U
Un ni it t
This area is used to choose the measurement units to be used in the Prescan
Window.
Advanced Windows for Color Correction
The Advanced window has 3 other tabs: Histogram, Tone Map and Gamma
used for the TWAIN color correction options. These items are intended for users who
are familiar with image editing tools and how they affect images. If you are just
learning how to scan, then we strongly recommend not using these features until you
become familiar with your scanner and its terminology. Many image-editing programs
already have these features. However, if the need arises to adjust the color level of
your scanned images, then click on the appropriate tab and perform the adjustments.
Note: Before adjusting the Histogram, Tone Map and/or Gamma, perform a
PRESCAN so you can view the changes before you scan.
C
Co ol lo or r C Ch ha an nn ne el ls s
Along the top of the Histogram, Tone Map and Gamma windows are the color
channels (Figure 6). This can be useful in comparing color ranges between the color
values, and in identifying methods when editing specific areas.
Figure 6. Color Channels
The first channel is the Master channel, the only active channel for gray images;
and for color images it affects the three other channels evenly. The other 3 channels
affect the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) colors in an image, respectively. Clicking on
one of the color channels activates it in the graph in the center of the window.
Note: Changes made to the individual color channels will be added on top of
changes made to the Master channel.
H
Hi is st to og gr ra am m
Histogram (Figure 7) is a representation of statistical data by rectangles: widths
represent class intervals and heights represent similar frequencies. Make adjustments

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to the histogram only when the color balance of your scanned image does not match
the original picture.
Figure 7. Histogram
However, if the colors in a scanned image appear unclear, the histogram can be
used to make them more to your liking. A histogram shows how bright or dark colors
in the image are, and can be used to adjust these levels.
When using the histogram, it is very helpful to prescan the image. Changes made
to the histogram will instantly be shown on the image in the Prescan Area, allowing
you to immediately judge the effects of the changes!
A histogram is a graphic representation of the tonal distribution (the brightness
and darkness levels) in an image. It plots the number of pixels (dots) at each
brightness level. The histogram displays these levels in the 4 color channels.
The x-axis of the histogram graph represents the color values from darkest (0) at
the far left to the brightest (255) at the far right; the y-axis represents the total number
of pixels at that value. A histogram for a dark image shows most of the pixels at the
left side of the graph. A histogram for a bright image is more heavily weighted to the
right side.
You can manipulate colors in the histogram by changing the values in the
highlight, midtone and shadow slider bars towards the bottom of the window.
The highlight represents the high (bright) end of the color spectrum. If the
highlight value of the Master channel is lowered to 245, all color values
between 245 and 254 will be given the value of 255 (white). Thus, lowering

14
the highlight of the Master channel brightens the whole picture. Doing this also
increases the color contrast because all the remaining pixels between the
midtone and the highlight will be automatically redistributed over the midtone
to 255 range. This redistribution serves to increase the difference between
shades of color.
If the highlight for one of the Red, Green or Blue channels is adjusted then the
results will only affect pixels of that color or containing combinations of that
color (i.e. Yellow contains Green and Blue and would thus also be affected by
changes to one of these channels).
The midtone is used to adjust the mid-range of color values. Raising the
midtone darkens the image and lowering the midtone brightens the picture.
For balanced color, the midtone should be set at 50%.
The shadow represents the low (dark) end of the color spectrum. If the shadow
value on the Master channel is raised to 10, all color values between one and
ten will be given the value of zero (black). Thus, raising the shadow darkens
the entire image and raising the shadow in a specific color channel darkens
pixels of that color. Raising the shadow also increases the color contrast of
darker tones (the range between the midtone and the shadow).
The Default button at the bottom of the window sets the shadow to 0, the
highlight to 255 and the midtone to 50% - the lowest contrast settings.
Note: Checking the Auto Density box in the Preferences window will
automatically adjust the histogram to give high quality images without
needing to manually adjust the settings in the Histogram window.
T
To on ne e M Ma ap p
Like the histogram, the tone map (Figure 8) lets you adjust the tonal range of an
image. However, instead of making the adjustments using just three variables
(shadows, midtones and highlights, in the histogram), you can adjust any point along
the tonal scale, and up to 20 points in all.
The x-axis of the graph represents the original brightness values of the pixels
(input levels); the y-axis represents the new brightness values (output levels). The
diagonal line that appears by default shows the current relationship between the input
and output values; no color tones have been changed, so all pixels have the identical
input and output values.
Attention

15
The curve moves from shadows on the left (black with a value of 0) to highlights
on the right (white with a value of 255). All color tones appear somewhere in
between.
When you move the cursor onto the map you will notice the IN and OUT values
showing specific numbers. The in value represents the original value of the color tone.
The out value represents the new value of the color tone if you were to click on the
graph and thus redefine it.
Figure 8. Tone Map
Before adjusting color tones on the tone map, it is a good idea to prescan the
image. When this is done and the image appears in the Prescan Area, any changes
made to the tone map will immediately appear on the prescanned image. This enables
you to see the effects of the changes you make. When you are satisfied with the results
and finally click on the Scan button to scan the image, the scanned image will contain
the color properties you have defined.
There are two ways to adjust tones on the tone map:
Clicking with the left mouse button on the graph as mentioned above, remaps the
color values to the numbers shown in the In and Out boxes. All other color tones will
also be remapped to create a smooth curve in order to keep the color of the image
smooth.
The second way to alter the tone map (and possibly the most useful) is to click on
the diagonal line on the graph and while keeping the mouse button pressed, move the
mouse. Let the cursor hover over a single point on the graph while keeping the button
pressed to give your computer time to recalculate the changes, and the results will
show up on the prescanned image in the Prescan Area. All other color tones will also

16
be remapped to create a smooth curve in order to keep the color of the image smooth.
Release the mouse button when you are satisfied with the results. This action provides
the most flexibility in adjusting the tone map and can be repeated on other parts of the
line to create up to 20 remapping points.
Clicking on the Default button removes any changes you have made and resets
the tone map to the original values.
I
Im ma ag ge e G Ga am mm ma a
Image Gamma is used to adjust the colors in the image that will be scanned into
the computer. Gamma values follow a smooth curve, as seen below in Figure 9. By
adjusting the gamma, you can change the tonal range of the selected color channel.
Gamma values are primarily a measure of the brightness of a color. The larger the
gamma value, the brighter the color becomes. Adjusting the gamma on the Master
channel affects the tonal range for all colors equally. And adjusting the gamma for the
individual Red, Green or Blue channels only affects pixels containing that color. Click
on a color channel and then drag the slider bar near the bottom of the window to
adjust the image gamma.
Figure 9. Gamma settings
Remember, you can immediately view the effects of any changes you make in the
Prescan Area by first prescanning the image.
Clicking on the Default near the bottom of the window causes the gamma values
in all color channels to be reset at 1.00.