Direct support for Colortrac scanners

PixEdit supports both monochrome and color scanning with Colortrac scanners. Parameters for monochrome or color scanning are available before starting the scanner. PixEdit automatically detects the type of installed scanner, and enables/disables various options depending on scanner model. During scanning, you may press Esc at any time to abort the current scanning session.

Batch scanning is useful if you need to scan several documents. In this mode, hundreds or even thousands of documents may be scanned without pushing any button in PixEdit. PixEdit will detect the presence of inserted documents and automatically start a new scan. When using batch scanning, the documents are collected into a multi page document in PixEdit. At the end of the scanning session, you may choose between saving the document as a multi page document or take advantage of the Save&Separate function found in the FILE menu for automatic separation of pages into separate files. In this case, you can specify seed name, its position in the filename, incrementation method and several other parameters.

You may adjust the scanner parameters before or during scanning. While scanning, the whole PixEdit window is used to display data as it arrives from the scanner. Additionally, the overview window contains a scaled down version of the document. Both windows are updated continuously as parameters are modified.

PixEdit offers full window rocker mode with real-time parameter adjustment. To enter Rocker mode during scanning, click on the Rocker Mode button. The scanner scans forward and backward over the area of interest to fine-tune the scanner settings.

Another PixEdit scanning feature performs free pan and quality inspection of any location during scanning. You are no longer restricted to only inspecting the data as it arrives from the scanner. You can, without interrupting or suspending the scanner drive motor, pan instantly to any location and inspect the quality of the image. If modification is required at that point, click on the ROCKER mode button. The scanner goes back to the desired rocker position, allowing parameter adjustment. You may, at any time during scanning, go back to the traditional follow mode for adjustments of data as it arrives.

Panning is executed by dragging the frame around in the overview window during scanning. The scanning speed is not affected by any of these features.

No separate ‘prescan’ feature is required. Any scan or adjustment session may be interrupted and restarted by clicking on the Rescan button. Scanning parameters may be adjusted both before and during scanning.

Batch Scanning: This option is useful when you need to scan a large quantity of documents without interacting with PixEdit. When PixEdit is set in this mode, PixEdit will automatically wait for another document to be inserted into the document feeder when the current scan has completed. When all documents have been scanned, push the 'Stop Batch Scan' button. All scanned documents can now be saved as one large multi page file, or you may choose to use the Save&Separate option to save each page as a separate file. Many options are available for automatic naming

During scanning, you may see the image data as it arrives (follow mode) by placing the red frame at the updating spot in the overview window. To inspect any other location in the partially scanned image, you may move the red frame. The scanning speed is not affected, and you can switch back to follow mode by placing the red frame at the updating spot in the overview window. PixEdit defaults to follow mode.

Rocker mode: (black/white mode only) By clicking the Rocker button, the scanner continuously Rescans the displayed part of the document. The scanner continues to scan in both directions, allowing you to adjust the threshold or brightness values. Rocker mode may be used in any previously scanned part of the document by dragging the red frame to the area and then clicking on the Rocker mode button. The scanner moves to the selected area and enters rocker mode.

Some monochrome documents may prove impossible to scan with acceptable quality. The Docwash function is a tool for manually thresholding very dirty or difficult documents. Refer to the description of Docwash for further details.