scankromsator v5.6a. the unofficial program reference

8/11/2019 ScanKromsator v5.6A. the Unofficial Program Reference

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1.2.9. Controlling cutters

1.2.10. The context menu of a HANDLER of any cutter

1.2.11. The context menu items (main window)

1.3. Menu items

1.3.1. The menu item File

1.3.1.1. Subitem Task option settings

1.3.2. The menu item Edit

1.3.3. The menu item Result

2. The interface of the post-processing editor

2.1. The common elements

2.2. The context menu items

2.2.1. The common context menu

2.2.2. Clearing up the scans with the mouse

2.2.3. The arbi trary angle rotate window

2.2.4. The context submenu of the options

3. The description of the program usage

3.1. What is Draft kromsate:

3.2. What is the Process! button

3.3. How do the cutters work

1. Main program interface

1.1 The controlling Tabs

1.1.1. The tab Pages

Element Description

SplitSplit the page- This option switches on/off the action of the cutter "Set internal margin orsplit line". It is applied for splitting the double-paged scans or to cut away a vertical stripe -the remainder of the neighbor page - in case of a single-paged scan.

Deskew The automatic skew correction. It is recommended to use alwaysthis feature at the veryfirst scans processing. The algorithm - Hough transform with the precision 0.1.

Despeckle

The automatic speckles removal. It works only on the black-and-white scans - it gives noeffect on the greyscale and color scans (the peculiarity of the algorithm itself). Notrecommended to apply on the poor-quality BW-scans - it may remove the pieces of lettersor grammatical signs.

Art

The additional setting for the Deskewoperation - for the pages with the complexillustrations, tables and poor text. Apply it in cases when Deskewdetects the skew angleon a page incorrectly.If Art is set and Deskewstill detects the skew angle on a page incorrectly - then try toenclose the complex objects on a page in the Exclude-zone - to exclude them from thecalculation of the skew detection.Art has a flaw - it works 2-3 times slower Deskew- so use Artif you really need it (on

some "hard" pages).

OrhtoThe additional setting for the Deskewoperation - for the pages with the perpendicularcontent. May be used together with Art.

AutomarginsThe recognizing mode for the cuttersThis option must be always on. Its precisepurpose is unknown.

ScanKromsator v5.6A. The unofficial program reference 02/09/2014

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Page h.alignThe automatic horizontal text alignment on the scan area. The values: A(Auto) - in the realityit is Left; L(Left) - Left; C(Center) - Center; R(Right) - Right.

Page v.alignThe automatic horizontal text alignment on the scan area. The values: A(Auto) - in the realityit is Top; T(Top) - Top; C(Center) - Center; B(Bottom) - Bottom.

If you look carefully on this picture you can see that the author of the program has aligned all thenumbered elements in 2 colomns - denoted with the letters LandR. These are the suboptions of theleft (L) and right (R) pages.

The notions "left" and "right" pages make sense only while processing a double-paged scan - when yousplit it into 2 pieces and process them separately.

The checkbox Split controls the activity of the elements in the Rcolumn - when Splitis set, all theelements in the Rcolumn become active - and vice versa. In case of a single-scan it is considered asthe left page.So, the Lcolumn contains the elements numbered 1,3,5,7,8,11,12,15,17; and the Rcolumn contains the elements numbered 2,4,6,9,10,13,14,16,18.

Element 7 Switch on/off the contour recognition mode at the cutter "Cut left margin".

Element 8 Switch on/off the contour recognition mode at the cutter "Cut right margin".

Element 11(T) (Top) Switch on/off the contour recognition mode at the cutter "Cut top margin".

Element 12(B)

(Bottom) Switch on/off the contour recognition mode at the cutter "Cut bottom margin".

Usually the checkboxes 7,8,11,12must be switched on. They activate the so-called "contour recognition mode" (Artificial Intelligencemethods) at the corresponding cutters - top, bottom, left and bottom (pointing the mouse cursor on a cutter's slider pops up a promptwith the cutter's name). Switching these checkboxes on turns the corresponding cutters blue, and switching off - fuchsia.

If a cutter is bluethe corresponding side (left, right, top, bottom) of the text contour on the scan is detected automatically - during thenext processing by the Process!button. If a cutter is fuchsia- the cutter will cut directly over its position. In other words, a bluecutteris not really a cutter - it's rather a some kind of a user-defined prompt for the program which APPROXIMATELY sets the useful-content area (text) on a scan. The programs than will discard everything beyond the blue-cutter-surrounded area (junk spots etc.) andwill automatically recognize (Artificial Intelligence methods) the real contour of the useful-content area (text) on a scan (while the next

Process!button processing).

The fuchsiacutters were introduced later after blue cutters - to correct the unevitable algorithmic mistakes of the fuchsiacutters

(because the automatic algorithms can not always perform ideally). The fuchsiacutters are the "real" cutters (the manual-modecutters), they cut the scan just directly.

1.1.2. The tab Book

Element Description

Units Always use the value Pixels.

H.Gap value

The sizes of the left and right margins which will be automatically added to theprogrammatically recognized sheer text contour (it happens at the processing by theProcess!button). Very important parameter, it varies for the different DPIs. For 300dpi you should set 70, for 400 dpi - 100, for 600 dpi - from 120 to 150.

V.Gap value Analoguous - here for up/bottom page margins.vert.gap =hor.gap

On/off the equality mode for the vetical and horizontal margins. It is recommended toalways switch it on.

Page width

The page width determining mode at the Process!button processing.

- Auto: The automatical determining of an average width - at the Process!buttonprocessing. Recommended value.

- Fixed: The truncated page will have the prescribed sizes. You can set them via theinput fields provided at right.

- None: The truncated page will have no margin - e.g. after the Process!buttonprocessing you will get the sheer text-contoured scans.

Note: If Autowas set, after the Process!button processing the program automaticallyfills in H.Gap valueand V.Gap valuefields with the auto-calculated average pagesizes, and you must change Autoto Fixed, so that at the next some single pagesreprocessing (Process current file) their sizes would be kept equal to the auto-calculated ones.

Page height Analoguous - the means of determinig the pages height.




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1.1.3. The tab Files

Element Description

Output dir:The output folder for the resulting files. If the folder does not exist the program triesto create it.

DefaultUse the default folder for the resulting files. This folder will be named "out" and it will becreated automatically inside the folder with the source files.

Output prefix

The arbtrary prefix which will be added to the output filenames.

You can set * to keep the original filenames on the exit. In the case if the source filesare multypage tifs or the double-paged scans than the original name will be preservedalso but a corresponding suffix will be added.

Start from /step

Start from(1) - The starting value for the output pages numeration.step(2) - The numeration step for the output filenames.

Name length The output files name length.

Output format: The output images format.

DPI The DPI of the output images.

Color The bitdepth of the output images.

Input DPIThe DPI of the input images. Should be set only if the files to be processed contain noDPI or have the wrong DPI value.

1.1.4. The tab Options

Element Description

Deskewmethod

Choose here the Deskew rotation method. The recommended method - Auto(shear).

Fast: The standart rotation method. Exactly this method is commonly used in a majority of thegraphical editors. It is a lossles rotation, e.g. the letters do not thicken. But it brings theartifacts: some pieces of a letter shift related to other pieces and that causes the "reverseditalic" (for the scans 500 - than the artifacts are almost unnoticeable -and you can freely use it.Fastis much faster than all the other rotation methods. Beginninngfrom version 5.9 Fastis is no more needed.

Antialias (for greyscale/color scans). Uses interpolation to prevent artifacts (contour jags, etc).Unevenly thickens letters (a bit). For greyscale/color scans Antialiasis totally identical toInterpolate, in the past i t was introduced specially for b/w to neutralize artifacts.

Interpolate: for greyscale/color scans. This is Fastwith the bilinear interpolation - to preventartifacts (contour jags, etc). Good for greyscale/color almost effectless for b/w. The thickness

of the rotated text is affected by the parameter convert to b/w threshold(tab Convert). If to

choose Interpolateand to set onvert = LowLight, then the additional thickening does notappear and the text is rotated as good (no contour jags) as at Antialias. Beginning withversion 5.9 Interpolateis rewritten on Assembler and works faster than Fast.

ShearMethod for b/w scans.

Auto(shear): Method for b/w scans.It is Shearwith the automatical artifacts compensation. Itis a no-interpolation method. This method is most recommened. In contrast to Antialiasitgives no negative side effects. Beginning with this version Auto(shear)rotates thegreyscale/color scans with Interpolate(best quality) and b/w as earlier with Shear.

Antialiasthreshold

Threshold value for Antialias. The higher is this Threshold the less the thickening but the morethe artifacts. Recommended value - 150 - than the letters almost do not thicken.

Resamplefilter

Resampling filter. Always use Bicubic.

Choose here the despeckling algorithm. The recommended method - Normal.

Note: Despeckleis intended only for b/w scans. It produces no effect for color/greyscale scans.IMPORTANT: Sometimes you should not apply Despeckle- on bleached or low-quality scans - otherwise youwill erase the portions of the letters or the grammatical signs.

Fine:A "geometrical" algorithm. It removes all the speckles which are less than the specifiedsize and even some bigger speckles (which have a speci fic shape). Finerecognizes theletters ianjand preserves their upper dots. It is helpful when processing the math formulas. It




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Despeckleis a unique technology, reliable for 100%. It is the most cleaning method.

Normal:The classic canonical Despecklealgorithm (mean filter 3x3 with white-ignore).

Fine+Normal: The intellectual Despecklealgorithm. It recognizes the letters ianjandpreserves their upper dots.

Safe:This method is intended for bleached scans with poorly-connected letters. It recognizesthe areas occupied with letters ans cleans beyond them. The implemention is not ideal but theletters suffer much less.

Sanddespeckle This option tries to connect the poorly-connected pieces of letters.

Strongcon.speckles

It is strong connected pixels (4-connected pixels)- opposite to 8-connected pixels. If youswitch on this option then 2 diagonal-adjacent pixels are considered as 2 separate pixels(isolated).

It affects the cleaning. By default is off. Better do not switch it on.

1.1.5. The tab Options 2

Element Description

Cuttersstate:

It controls the cutters cleaning mode. The default value - cut&clear t/b, but the recommended

value - only cut. It affects also the appearance of the checkboxes on the cutters control panel:

cut&clear t/b:off/on and disabled/enabled (only the cutters "up-down").only cut: only on/off.cut&clear all:off/on and disabled/enabled (all the cutters).

"Disabled" means that the area beyond the cutter will not be cut off but just cleaned up. WhenAutomargins is on it eventually gives the same result. If the user took control over the pagessizes on himself (Automargins = off), than it makes sense.

Textvert.sensivity

The vertical sensitivity of the contour-recognition algorithm (the Process!button processing). Itis recommended to never change it.

The automatical contour recognition sometimes might work incorrectly. For example it may ignore the singledistant symbols (SD-symbols), for example page numbers etc.

The recommended regulation method: after Draft kromsateswitch in Automarginsacorresponding cutter from blueto fuchsiaand set it manually next to the SD-symbol which is cutoff incorrectly in the Process!button processing.

Texthoriz.sensivity

The same thing but for the horizontal direction.

1.1.6. The tab Convert

Element Description

Convertto b/wthreshold:

The binarization threshold. The recommended value - Normal. It affects the grey->b/wconversion. The range - 0-255. For convenience some handy threshold values have ownnames (see downwards). It is a page-oriented parameter, so you can set it different for everypage.

It is strange that it also affects the color scans processing (without binarization). You can play with it (make itmore "dark" if the scan is bleached or more "light" if vice versa).

The samefor left &right

This option makes sense only for double-paged scans.

The binarization threshold for the left page. Tune it experimentally depending on the scan

bleachness. The imroperly chosen threshold brings either to the details loss or to theexcessive scan soiling.

Normal, LowDark, MiddleDark, LowLight, MiddleLight,HighLight:the regularbinarization thresholds.HighDark:In contrast to others it is not a common threshold. It is an adaptive threshold and itis calculated automaticall based on the scan entro .




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- Hold down Shiftfor the selected-files.

The selection Markedis used (as it was said above) to check the files that will be processed in the processing by the Process!button.

The selection Selectedis a user's selection. It is used to select a group of files in the list - if you want to make some operation over it.

The selection Bold selectedis automatically set during the Draft kromsateprocessing - to mark the files that have at least one cuttersome cutters set fuchsia (instead of blue).

1.2.3. The multyselect option change

Any option can be set at any file group. To do so you should hold down the Altkey while changing the option. The program willpropose the desired group of option change:

1.2.4. Controlling the filelist

1.2.4.1. Moving the files:

. Single file- press i t with the mouse and move to another position in the list.

. Group of files:

- The command Move selected: moves all the selectedfiles to a desired position in the filelist. The selection should not necesssarilybe continuous. For example you can select all the even files in the list and move them to the end of the list, where they will settlealready one after another.

- The command Shift selected: moves all the selectedfiles to a desired position in the filelist. The mutual files posi tions in the groupis kept.

- The command Paste interliev: inserts the files from the Clipboard to the filelist in the alternating manner: every new file is inserted tothe even (odd) position.

If the file order is changed after the Process! button processing (when the output files are already created), the program willautomatically rename the output files so that their original numeration order would not break.

1.2.4.2. The filelist navigation:

IMPORTANT:To navigate the filelist (in the main window or in the result view window) you can use the hot keys "q" or "[" (previous)and "]" or "w" (next).

Pressing the arrow keys, Home, Endholding down Shiftwith the active filelist move the cursor to the next selected, previous

selected, first selected, last selectedcorrespondingly.

1.2.4.3. The multypage TIF-files:

If you open many multypage TIF-files at once, the program considers them single-page.

If you add multypage TIF-files to an opened single-page TIF-file, the program also considers them single-page.

If the first TIF-file is a multypage one, than everything is OK - e.g. the program opens all the later added files correctly - whatever -paged wouldn't they be.

To open many multypage TIF-files as multypage you must hold down Shiftwhile opening the files. It was made because the program




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(This image is smaller than it actually is)

1.- (Set internal margin) ?

2.- (Set internal margin or splitline)

The cutter to cut the doubledscans

3.- (Cut top margin) The top cutter

4.- (Cut left margin) The left cutter

5.- (Cut bottom margin) The bottom cutter

6.- (Cut right margin) The right cutter

1.2.8. The cutters control panel

- The general view of the cutters control panel.

Element Description

1. (Cut left margin) On/off left cutter

2. (Cut right margin) On/off right cutter

3. ? (Perhaps earlier it was splitpage cutter control. But now this cutter is controlled with the Splitcheckbox)

4. (Cut internal2 margin) On/off the cutter Set internal margin (?)

5. (left cutter position) The left cutter coordinate

6. (first internal cutterposition)

The splitpage cutter coordinate

7. (right cutter position) The right cutter coordinate

8. (second internal cutterposition)

The Set internal margin (?)cutter coordinate

9. (Cut/clear top margin) On/off top cutter

10. (Cut/clear bottom margin) On/off bottom cutter

11. (top cutter position) The top cutter coordinate

12. (bottom cutter position) The botom cutter coordinate

13. (left page width) The distance between the left and right cutters (when Splitis off) or the distance between the leftcutter and the split cutter (when Splitis on).

14. (left page height) The distance between the top and bottom cutters.

15. (right page width) The distance between the split cutter and the right cutter (when Splitis on).

16. (right page height) The distance between the top and bottom cutters.

1.2.9. Controlling cutters

To move 2 or more cutters simultaneously hold down Ctrl.

You can tilt any cutter if needed (to cut off the dirt on complicated scans). Hold down Shiftwhile dragging the cutter's slider. Tostraighten a cutter back double-click its slider.

If you want to just remove the dirt in the centerfold but not to split the scan in 2 parts - uncheck the Splitoption but leave the 2 internalcutters. In this case the area between them will be only cleaned.

The cutters are synchronized with the image when changing the scale, rotating or flipping.

To restore a cutter original position choose Reset cutter positionin the context menu of an element on the cutter's control panel.




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The cutters can not be switched off all together (too risky). Instead you can just position the cutters beyond the scan.

1.2.10. The context menu of a HANDLER of any cutter

Element Description

Reset slope Reset a cutter's tilt (e.g. "straighten" i t).

Copy current position to > Extend the current cutter position to... For details - see the table below

Copy current position to Extend the current cutter position to...Menu item Description

all marked all the files checked with a bold green tick.

all down all the following files

all up all the previous files

alternate down all the following files with the same parity

all selected all the files selected with red

1.2.11. The context menu items (main window)

Now you can edit even the source scan (in contrast to the older versions), although this feature supports fewer operations than editing

the output scan. The multypage TIF editing is supported also.

You can now clean (Mouse-Up mode -> Clear selection) and save (Auto save) the source scan.

There is a feature for the source scan - to erase any thin continuous black line (good for pen underlinings). Currently only for the sourceb/w-scans. Hold down Ctrl +Shiftand click any black point in a contour. But take care not to touch a letter - or it will be erased also.

The selections can be now of an arbitrary form (drawn with the mouse) (elliptical also) - not just rectangular (both for the source andtarget scans).




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Menu item Description

Zoom rectangle Enlarge the selected fragment to the whole screen.

Show selectionThis command creates a small window (their number is unlimited) to store the selected area.This way you can keep the different processing results and compare them visually.

Crop selection Cut the selected fragment into a new image.

Invert selection

Interchange the selected and non-selected area - e.g. the selected area becomes non-selected, and the area beyond it becomes selected.

This way you can select, for example, the area beyond the images: select the images (the

multiple selection is supported with Shift) and choose invert selectionto interchange theselection.

Deselect Cancel the selection

Save image Save the image

Undo Undo the change. The undo depth is unlimited.

Exclude region

The exclude zone. Maximum up to 20 zones per page are allowed. It excludes (inside thezone) the following operations:

Despeckle - to protect the half-tone illustration and dithered pictures. It's the main

function of Exclude region.

Deskew (Auto Shear, Interpolate, Antialias) - the zone will be excluded in the calculationof the skew angle in the deskew operation (for example, exactly the images confuse theskew calculation process). The zone will be rotated without an interpolation - to bring notan undesired moire.

Illumination correction - if a scan contains the greyscale images, they can suffersignificantly.

All the Gray image enhanceoptions, except Histogram.

The background cleaning method Convert -> Convert to b/w threshold: -> Smooth.

Exclude and Mark as dither regionThis zone will be binarized to b/w with a special alghorithm designed specially for color orgreyscale images.

Mark as bitonal regionBitonal zones conversion. Just a salvation for the exact color reproduction of the full-colorillustrations.




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Mark as change contrast regionThe change contrast zone. The contrast value is taken from the Contrastwindow, the tabContrast, provided the global change contrast (for the whole image) is off. E.g. if the tabContrasthas the Enabled chckbox set, then the change contrast zones are ignored.

Mark as floodfill region

The floodfill zones work only for b/w. The black area is flood with the white color beginningfrom the zone center. If the zone center contains the white pixel, than the program will look fora black pixel within the zone starting from the center and then will floodfill spiring outwards. Ifthe zone contains no black pixels then no action will be taken.

The flooding of the black zone is applied to the whole area, e.g. it is not limited with the zone

size. So the zone is needed only to set the starting coordinate as a floodfill seed.

Delete all regions Delete all the selected areas.

Delete selected region Delete the selected area.

vv Ruler

The ruler. It is intended not only for measuring the distances but also to measure the skewangle.

Measuring the skew:Switch on the angle measuring mode (menuRuler), click on thefirst point of the measured line and (holding down the mouse button) move the cursor toanother point of the same line. The cursor will be followed with the "elastic" line, and the skewangle value will be posted nearby.

Next if you release the mouse button holding down Ctrl or Shift, the measured skew will fill in

the field Fixed deskew angle(the tab Pagesthe button special...) with the sign yielded withRuler. The program will rotate the scan to this angle at the processing. By the way all theangles in the program are interpreted the same way, e.g. + means the rotationcounterclockwise.

Units > The measurement units.

No Zoom FilterSwithcing off the image interpolation filter. It is useful when working with the color or greyscalescans - to boost the performance.

Linear Zoom Filter Use the linear image interpolation filter.

Mouse-Up mode > The rectangular mouse selection mode. See details next

Selection form > Choose here the selection shape. See details next

vv AutoSaveOn/off the auto-save mode at the page change. It is useful when editing manually every pagein a sequence.

vv Do not show save dialog ?

Convert to bitonal Ctrl+Y

Convert to bitonal image. E.g. dithering - for the greyscale image - because the directbinarization will damage it. The dithering - is a special technique that imitates a greyscaleimage with numerous tiny black dots set with a complicated pattern.

Here's how to work with Convert to bitonal: scan a page with an image to the greyscale,convert the illustrations (e.g. parts of the image) to bitonal, press Preview (to get b/w if theoutput format is set b/w). As a result the output illustrations are preserved in a good quality.

You have to also switch use error ditheringon in the menu.

Convert to b/w Ctrl+U

Convert to b/w. The binarization threshold is taken from Convert to b/w thresholdtab Convert.In this operation the file format is not changed because a selected region is binarized to b/wand than set back, e.g. the file is kept 8-bit (greyscale) as it was in the beginning. And theresulted image contains already only black and white colors.

Convert to greyConverts a selected region on the color image to greyscale. The command is not an option ofthe processing.

Mouse-Up mode Choose here the mouse selection mode




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vv Set exclude region Set an exclude zone

Mark as dither region Mark as a dithering zone

Mark as change contrastregion

Mark as change contrast zone

Clear selectionClear the selection. It is a very useful mode for the manual garbage cleaning.Select the garbage with a mouse, release the left mouse button - and all theselected zone will be cleared.

Convert to b/w Convert to black-and-white

Convert to bitonal Convert to dithering

1.3. Menu items

NOTE:This section describes the most inportant and interesting menu items. The features of the undescribed elements can be easilyguessed based in the other reference sections.

1.3.1. The menu item File

The program has the notion "task". The task contains the information about the scans that are loaded into the program, the way thecutters are set, many page options etc. The task can be saved and reopened later. The saved task is handy to stop and resume theprocessing.

Open task Open task

Save task Save task

Close task Close task

Task options settings Open the window of task option setttings

1.3.1.1. Subitem Task option settings

The program options changed by the user can be saved as a set and reused later.

To do so open the window File->Task options settingsand input the desired options set, assign any name to this set and save it(button Save). Yu can create any number of such default-options sets - with own names. One of these sets will be a default set (set theUse as default optionscheck on it) and it will be opened automatically at the program start-up.

Before creating a new task you can load any set - and these options will be restored. After that you can load the new images. You canmake, for example, the new sets for 300dpi, 600dpi, etc.




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- Eraser Eraser

- Crop Cropping rectangle

- Show stamp Show the stamp

- Clear options Show the dialog with the clearing options

- Rotate selection Show the dialog of rotation the selected fragment

To mark a file as selected (red color) in the main filelist when you are in the post editor window Result viewyou should press F2 or

F2 and F3 (for left and right files in the case when 2 files are shown in the result view window). It may be necessary to mark a wrong-processed file. Having marked this way all (or one) such file(s) you can get back to the main program window, correct the selected

files and execute the commandprocess selected.

In the Result viewwindow pressing Backspacebrings you to the previously seen page (for example, you watched 10-th, than 15-th -

press Backspaceto return to 10-th - not to 14-th). Ctrl + Backspacebrings you to the page where you started your navigation in theResult viewwindow.

The selection form can be stored in the Clipboard (Ctrl-Insert) and later restored either on the same or on another file (Shift-Insert).

Can ScanKromsator despeckle white dots on the black background? Yes, but only in the post editor window Result view(e.g. thisfeature is unavailable in the main program window).

To move along the filelist you can use the following hot keys: ahead - w and ], backwards - q [. Or use the middle mouse button. In the

latter case you can set the page turning direction by choosing the corresponding option in the context menu Options... -> Middlebutton click -> (Forward, Backward, None).

Ctrl-Shift-mouse click on b/w works as the floodfill, on grey/color - as the magic wand.

Hotkey: in case if the zoomed image is bigger than the main window pressing "A" or ":" scroll the image immediately up and pressing"S" """ scroll the image immediately down - to make the corresponding part of the image visible.

In version 5.6A almost all the editing operations are available in all the viewing modes (single page/2 pages/comparision with theoriginal). The active window is highlighted.

Some post editor features:

The eraser that erases with one of 3 colors: white, black or average over a region (for color and greyscale).

You can place a stamp on the page (with the support of the transparency), move it with the mouse, change the sizes, and mergeit with the image.Magic-wand, color averaging etc.

It is possible to apply despeckle to a selected area - not just to the whole page. Besides there is a white-despeckle- removingwhite dots on the black background.While editing the images (both input and output) not just the rectengular selections are supported but also you can use ellipticaland arbitrary-shaped selections drawn with the mouse.

The output image supports Copy, Cut, Paste, Pastewith transparency.You can copy the data to the Clipboard not just within ScanKromsator but also from other graphical programs.

After Pasteyou can move and stretch a fragment before merging.The rotation of the selected area.Zooming with the keyboard with (+,-).

2.2. The context menu items

2.2.1. The common context menu




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Special... > Special features

Clear Clear the selection

Crop Crop the selection to another file

Rotate selection Ctrl+RThe rotation of the selected area. Disabled in the Two pagesshowing mode, because in that mode it isunclear what image apply this command to.

Stamp > Working with the stamp.Undo Ctrl+Z Undo is unlimited.

Save Save

Image info Ctrl+I The information about the image

Options... > The submenu with the options

Zoom rectangle Ctrl+W Zoom the selected rectangle to the size of the window

Fit Ctrl+F Zoom the image to fit the window

Fit height Ctrl+H Zoom the image to fi t i ts height in the window

Copy Ctrl+Ins You can copy to the Clipboard not only within ScanKromsator but also from other graphical programs

Cut Ctrl+X Cut

Move Ctrl+M Move

Shift image Shift image

Paste Shift+Ins

After Paste you can move and stretch the image and only than merge it.

Select an area and copy it to the Clipboard. Paste it back. The area will appear over the page and it isyet not merged with it, so you can move and stretch it. If you besides press the T button (you'll see thedifference straight after pressing it), then the next merging will be transparent, e.g. the white color willbe transparent.

To eventually merge the pasted area with the image chose mergein the context menu or clickanywhere beyond the pasted area. In the new version there is also an option to make the grips on thepasted area contour single-pixeled - so that they do not overshadow the image.

Invert selection Invert the selection

Deselect Remove the selection

vv AutoSave The automatical saving of the current file when moving to the next one.

vv AutoClearOn/off the AutoClear mode. AutoClear: press the left mouse button and select an image area with themouse cursor. At the moment you release the button the selected area is cleared.




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Clear options Clearing options

Clean color > The color the cleared area is cleared with

Convert to bitonal Convert to dithering

Convert to b/w Convert to black-and-white

Draw > Get to the submenu Draw

Restore last selections

Starting with the version 5.05 ScanKromsator has one tricky feature - Restore last selections.Suppose you processed an image (in the autoclear mode) and suddenly noticed that somewhy thepage must be reprocessed (this happens sometimes, if you see that a part of the image was bleached

and despeckle damaged it). Then you set this part of the image to the exclude zone (to prevent itsdespeckling) select the command Restore last selectionsand press Delete. As a result the

command will select all the zones that were selected previously and will clear them by Deletepressing.

If you used despeckle-removing(with Ctrl-Mouse Up), than such zones will be re-despeckledautomatically (in the same mode) and they will be highlighted on the page with the yellow color.

Analoguously for the case of the white-despeckle (Ctl-Shift-MouseUp), but only the highlight will begreen.

Text label > Working with the textual label

2.2.2. Clearing up the scans with the mouse

Any of the possible Despeckle algorithms can not fully automatically clean the scan from all the speckles. Sometimes it is necessaryto clean the scan manually after Despeckle (sometimes even instead Despeckle - if the scans are bleached and malprinted andDespeckle may damage them).

Settings:

switch on AutoSavein the context menu (so that it would not bother us with the messages about the necessity to save thechanged file).switch on AutoClearin the context menu (now after releasing the mouse button the program will despeckle/clean - see thesettings further).in the window Clear options(see below) set Speckle size (fine)= 20.

Clearing:

. Simple clearing:

Select a fragment with the pressed mouse button. Release the button and the fragment will clear up completely. The fill color for thecleaing depends on the option Clean color (white/black). The color can be rapidly changed with a mouse doubleclick on the image.

. Despeckle-clearing: (recommended)

If you press Shift at the despeckle-clearing you'll get despeckle instead of clearing (note that despeckle is applied not to the whole

image but only to the selected region). You should increase (see lower the window Clear options) the allowed Speckle size(therecommended value - Speckle size (fine)= 20), and then the clearing will be much better than using the simple Despeckle at theProcess!button processing, but you must make sure that the selection does not touch the punctuation marks. Despeckle-clearing ishandy because you should not position the selection exactly on the text and then the text will not be damaged in the majority of cases.So the despeckle-clearing is much less laborious than the simple clearing but only the biggest garbage pieces should be cleared withthe simple clearing (with Shift at the despeckle-clearing).

If you press Shift and also Ctrl at the despeckle-clearing than the despeckle will work not for the black but for the white dots, e.g. it will

floodfill small white spots on the black background. If after that still remain some spots that are bigger than Speckle sizethen double-click (to switch to the black floodfill), select a spot, release the mouse button - and the spot is filled. Double-click again to return backto the white floodfill. Be careful with the text while despeckling white spots - the inner closed cavities of some letters have often smallsizes and may easily colorize black!

You can make it a bit different: from the very beginning in the windowClear optionsset Change mode by mouse dbl-click=Clear/despeckle(to rapidly switch between clear and clear-despecklemodes).

Besides you can change the behaviour of the (Shift, Ctrl) keys - in theClear Optionswindow. E.g. you can set despeckle at the mouse buttonrelease and clearing at the mouse button release + Shift. Choose theone you like. By default Clear Options -> Despeckle method -> Fineis used. You can set additionally Fine+Normal. But it is notrecommended to change the maximum allowed speckle sizes for




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Normal(they are set separately: for Fine- the field Speckle size(fine), for Normal- the field Speckle size (normal)), because Normalnot only clears the garbage but also removes the shaggy garbage fromletters.

Element DescriptionSpeckle size(fine)

The maximum allowed speckle size that can be despeckled with the mouse selection

Action

MouseUp - clear, Shift+MouseUp - despeckleMouseUp - despeckle, Shift+MouseUp - clearMouseUp - clear, CapsLock=On - MouseUp - despeckle

Choose here the mouse clearing mode

There are also some operations with the magic color. This is for the coloured scans (or for the coloured i llustrations). It is a powerfulthing. It allows to "normalize" the color, make kind of the color despeckle and clean etc. It would take much time to explain how does itwork and it will be explained in the future documentation.

Clear optionskeeps the list of colors used in magic clear(only during the current session).

2.2.3. The arbitrary angle rotate window

Rotate selection.It works for the selected region (you can apply it to the whole image). You can set here the rotation angle orcalculate it automatically (button auto2), than press Paste(paste without merge, so you can move and stretch it with the mouse) orPaste and merge(paste and immediately merge). Reset the angle - the button1, choose the rotation direction - in the group Rotatedirection; you can choose the rotation algorithm in the list 3. You can choose the mode of the transparent paste with Merge withtransparency. There is the preview window 5, where you can click the image with the mouse and it will magnify (to return to the initialzoom press the button fit image4), and also you can "grab" and "move" the image with the mouse in the preview window.

2.2.4. The context submenu of the options




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Options...


Mouse Wheel -> Zoom Rotation of the mousewheel changes the zoom

Mouse Wheel -> Scroll Rotation of the mousewheel scrolls the scan

MouseWheel -> Navigate Rotation of the mousewheel navigates through the filelist

Middle button click > Choose here the middle mouse working modevv Auto merge ?

No Zoom Filter Switch off the interpolation filter (used to display the files)

Linear Zoom Filter

Switch on the linear scans displaying filter

Single page 600dpi grey or color takes uncomressed (Windows works exactly this waywith the bitmaps) from 50 to 100 MB - that is why the program takes long time to displaysuch scans with the filter switched on, besides for each point the filter analyzes 9 neighborpoints, so multiply the size more by 10. That's just a huge load to the microprocessorcache.

Nonlinear Zoom Filter Switch on the non-linear scans displaying filter

vv No zoom filter for source

images

If this option is active in the comparision mode the left image (the original) isdisplayed without the filter

vv Lock undo The possibility to block the undo-manager

vv Remove text label after

merge?

vv Show navigate

command's panelShow the floating button's panel - the Navigate panel

vv Show edit command's

panelShow the floating button's panel - the Editing panel

Selection form > Choosing the shape of the selecting instrument - the rectangle or the polygon

3. The description of the program usage

At very first ScanKromsator launch make sure that the button Auto-accept changings option is on/off(on the upper panel) is on

and the tick on it is colored green. The button should look like this: . It means that all the options changes you made will beremembered automatically. Otherwise when you move the focus from one file to another one (in the filelist) all the options (set by theuser for the current file) will be lost.

The ScanKromsator workflow in brief:

(It is just a conceptual description - for the general program workflow understanding)

1. The preliminary processing.

(Splitting the scans)

Load the raw scans and split them manually(to fully control the process). Here 2 si tuations are possible: if you have the doubled scans- split them in two separate single pages:




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doubled raw scan left page right page

or, if you have single-paged scans (wide-sized books that were scanned each page separately) - cut off the remainder of neighborpage (looking like a stripe):

single-paged raw scan single page remainder of the neighbor page

You can do it this way: choose in the menu Edit -> Clear all options. Then click the last file in the filelist and press the button Apply

up to current . This will put the bold green ticks on all the files in the filelist. Holding down Ctrlset the checkboxesSplitand Deskew(to apply Deskew to all the to-be-cut files) on the Pagestab. Click on the very first file in the loaded filelist andposition the cutter Set internal margin or split lineabove its coupling line (where 2 neighbor pages - left and right one - contact).

Right click the Set internal margin or split linecutter's slider and choose in i ts context menu Copy current position to -> alldown. This way you will extend the cutter's position downwards to all the following files in the filelist. Now you have to walk through allthe files (with "q" and "w" (or "[" and "]") keys) in the filelist and manually correct the position of the splitting cutter (only if needed) - tomake sure it stands approximately (too much accuracy is not required) above the 2 pages coupling line on all the scans. If necessaryrepeat Copy current position to -> all downin the process of the manual correction.

Set the other needed options (Output diretc.) and press the button Process!. Now wait until all the scans are split.

If you got the neighbor page remainders - delete them (as they are not needed).

Close the program.

SUMMARY:

Now you got your scans "standartized" in terms of useful text disposition - no more messy "left", "right" scans, no more annoyingneighbor-page stripes-remainders etc. That's why the preliminary processing stage is so handy.

2. The finishing processing.

2.1. Setting the general options

Load into the program the scans processed in the 1-st stage.

Switch across the controlling tabs (Pages, Book, Files, etc.) and set the desired options for the next to come processing. You can setthe individual options for every single scan if the filelist (it is so by default - e.g. when you are focused on a file in the filelist and changeany option, it is applied only to the current file) or for any group of the files (hold down Ctrlwhile changing an option - to apply to allfiles, Alt- to choose a group of files).

2.2. Draft kromsate

Press the button Draft kromsate . In the opened window press OK. This will launch the procedure of the automatical (preliminary)cutters positioning (over all the scans).




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Preliminary means that after Draft kromsateis over, you should adjust the position of all the incorrectly set cutters on all the scans.But don't worry - it's usually quite a simple and fast procedure.

So when Draft kromsateends up, walk manually through all the scans and correct the improperly set cutters. The main idea is that thecutters should not cut off anything useful (the text), but, at the same time, the cutters must chop off all the garbage from the useful textas much as possible. Some cutters after Draft kromsatewill be switched off - so you should (if necessary) switch them on (on thecutter's control panel) - here is how it looks like:

On the rarefied (low-texted) pages (title pages, the content, etc) Draft kromsateautomatically switches some cutters from bluetofuchsia- to emphasize the uncertainly recognized text contour sides (also fuchsiameans that the "direct cut" is on for a given cutter).Such a scan will be marked boldin the filelist. Most often you should correct manually the fuchsiacutters (after Draft kromsate) andswitch them back to theblue mode - for the simplicity of the next coming processing.

If needed you can save the task to the disk on this stage (menu File -> Save task) and resume the work later.

2.3. Process! button processing

Press the Process!and wait. This will start the automatical final scans processing (including the cutting).

After the processing (with the Process!button) switch to the Booktab. The program automatically filled the auto-calculated averagepage sizes in the fields H.Gap valueand V.Gap value. Now you have to necessarily change there Autoto Fixedso that if you later

reprocess some single pages (Process current file) their new size would be kept the average calculated.

If needed you can save the task to the disk on this stage (menu File -> Save task) and resume the work later.

Next observe the resulted scans in the post processing editor (menuResult -> View all). If you notice that somewhere a page numberis cut off, or a piece of the useful text is chopped off - return to the main program window, posi tion to the corresponding scan properlyand correct the needed cutter. Usually you should switch this cutter from from blueto fuchsia- by resetting a corresponding checkbox

in the Automarginsgroup on the Pages tab. After the cutters correction press the button Process current fileand the givenscan will be reprocessed (cut again) correctly.

That it - that was briefly the workflow algorithm for ScanKromsator.

3.1. What is Draft kromsate:

Draft kromsateis a fully automatic preliminary cutters positioning over the desired group of scans, e.g. the automation of the mosttedious, annoying and routine work. Draft kromsateis an algorithm of the automatical segmentation, e.g. it recognizes the areas ofthe useful text and the area of the garbage on a scan. The purpose of Draft kromsateis just to place (e.g. position) the cutters on thescans (approximately), Draft kromsatedoes not calculate the final page sizes.

Draft kromsateutilizes some Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition methods.

"Kromsate"is a Russian verb which means "to jauntily cut in pieces; usually with some 2-blades cutting tool (like scissors)". Syn.:shred, hack, mangle, cut up.

3.2. What is the Process! button

The main processing by the Process!button - that is an automatical algorithm that auto-recognizes the useful text contour on thescans (some Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition methods). Internally the program automatically analyzes the area inside thecutters, finds the useful text contour and cut by this contour. At the same time the scans are processed with Despeckle, Deskewetc.It results to the so-called "bare text" pages (without margin). Next the average width and height are calculated (and filled in the fieldsPage widthand Page heighton the Booktab), than the program creates an empty template with the same sizes and the bare text iscopied over this template (with the relative alignment set in the input fields Page h.alignand Page v.alignon the Pagestab). Finallythis copy is appended with the desired margin (sizes are taken from the input fields H.Gap valueand V.Gap valueon the Booktab).That's how the final scans are produced.

Besides the Process!button serves for launching some simple processings set by a user in the program.

3.3. How do the cutters work

The cutters have 2 modes - the bluemode and the fuchsiamode. The cutters are just a hint for the processing by the Process!button.It is important to understand that a bluecutter does not actually cut, it just outlines a zone where the Process!button processing willsearch fully automaticallyfor text contour - and it will really cut along this contour. I call it the "outline hint" mode. In case of thebluecutter the real cutting line will lie somewhere inside (a zone outlined with the bluecutters) and it will be parallel to the givenbluecutter




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(but there is an exception - the blueSplit-cutters Set internal margin Set internal margin or split linedo not ever change their color and cut the scansjust there where they are - because when splitting scans no recognition is necessary).

IMPORTANT:The distance between a bluecutter and the corresponding side of the actual bare text contour (the real future cut-line)may contain an arbitrary amount of the blank space - it does not affect anyhow the proper operation of the Process!buttonprocessing. It is only important that there should be the minimal garbage amount - otherwise the Process!button processing will takeis as a useful text and that will lead to the improper average bare text sizes calculation.

Sometimes Draft kromsateswitches off automatically some bluecutters - which means that Draft kromsatedecided that the givenside of the bare text contour has no garbage and the splitter (as a hint) is not needed. But it is not always truthful - than you have toswitch a corresponding bluecutter on (by setting a checkbox on the controlling panel) and manually set it.

However the completely accurate (algorithmic) bare text contour recognition is impossible in any case. That is why the fuchsiacuttersmode was introduced. A fuchsiacutter - is a "real" cutter, e.g. it cut directly over its position (and the margin is appended to the cutbare text later). I call it the "direct cut" mode. A fuchsiacutter is a means of the manual correction of the result of the Process!buttonprocessing.

The most typical usage of a fuchsiacutter if fighting the incorrect cutting of some single prominent symbols - e.g. page numbers,paragraph starters, line pieces etc. The program often has troubles understanding such symbols as meaningful - that would require afull-fledge OCR (optical character recognition).

SUMMARY:

A bluecutter - (the "outline hint" mode) does not actually cut. It is just a recognition region outliner.

A fuchsiacutter - (the "direct cut" mode) actually directly cuts. It is needed only in (quite rare) cases when a bluecutter fails to yield asatisfactory result (after the Process!button processing).

Author: monday2000.

The date of creation: 27 March 2006

Changed: 30 October 2007

Translated:19 October 2009

E-Mail (monday2000 [at] yandex.ru)

http://www.ucoz.ru/

scankromsator v5.6a. the unofficial program reference

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