HOWTO: Use A Microtek Scanner With XVa3

TWAIN Device Settings

Due to the wide range of imaging devices, the first time you utilize an HP scanner, you will be prompted to enter its Twain Device Configuration settings.  These settings are utilized by XVa3 to allow the application to adapt to the capabilities of a particular imaging device.

 

Recommended Configuration Settings For Microtek Scanners

The recommended configuration settings for the HP scanners are outlined in the following table.  While you are free to select any values for these settings, the following values have been found to work best with the HP line of scanners.

Recommended Settings

Description

Twain AutoDetect Sensitivity

These settings indicate how noisy the scanner?s background appears.  Noise can include dust, scratches and color inconsistencies with the flatbed or the scanner cover.  These settings help the auto-acquire algorithms to determine what is image data and what is not.

Sensitivity

Normal Sensitivity

 

Sensitivity Factor

Medium

 

Valid Image Transfer Methods

The image transfer settings indicate the various methods by which the imaging device can transfer captured images back to an application.

Native

Enabled

 

Memory

Enabled

 

File

Enabled

 

Border Handling

The border handling settings let the application know about possible noise, color deviation or borders that may appear when scanning an image.

Ignore Border

Ignore small border

 

Transparency Handling

The transparency settings let the application know about extra templates that may appear in scanned images.

Uses a template

Disabled

Indicates whether a template is placed on the flatbed of the scanner when scanning transparencies. Microtek devices do NOT use templates.

Dual Scan Delay

Indicates an amount of time to wait between automatically acquire scans.  This delay should be used for scanners that have reentrancy problems with their device drivers.

Between scans wait ...

0

 

General Options

 

Allow automatic acquires

Enabled

Indicates that the imaging device supports automatic acquisition.

Allow Measurement Nudging

Disabled

Indicates that fractional adjustments can be specified to the imaging device.

Compensate for dust and scratches

Enabled

Indicates that auto-detection of images should take into consideration the removal of dust and scratches while determining the placement of an image on the imaging device.

Automatically apply brightness/contrast

Enabled

Indicates that brightness/contrast adjustment is handled by XVa3 and is not automatically applied by the imaging device when images are automatically acquired by the application.

Always scan as fast as possible

Enabled -or- Disabled

If speed is of the utmost importance when scanning images, then enable this option.  If you are scanning high quality images and graphic design quality images are required, then disable this option.

 

Adjusting the Settings

A TWAIN device?s settings can be modified any time by selecting the Twain Device Configurations ? option from the Tools menu.  To modify a specific TWAIN configuration either double click on the entry with your left mouse button or select the configuration by clicking on it once with your left mouse button and then click on the Edit Configuration button.

 

Automatically Acquiring Images

One of the new features in the XVa3 application is the ability to automatically acquire images from TWAIN imaging devices.  The XVa3 application utilizes the settings discussed in the previous section in order to automatically capture images from the imaging device without having to display the imaging device?s interface or require user interaction.

 

Each of the various capture tabs in XVa3 offer you ability to select the Automatically Acquire feature.  If you choose to not select the automatic acquire feature, then you will be provided with the default imaging device?s interface.  

 

Using the Microtek Capture Interface

If you decide to NOT use the Automatically Acquire feature when capturing images from a Microtek scanner, the Scan Wizard application will be displayed.  The Scan Wizard application is Microtek?s default imaging interface for acquiring images from their scanners.  The discussion in this documentation of the Scan Wizard interface will be general and tailored toward scanning x-rays.  For detailed information about the Scan Wizard application, please refer to the Scan Wizard product documentation.

 

The Scan Wizard Interface

The Scan Wizard interface is comprised of two windows: the control window (on the left); the image preview and image selection window (on the right).

 

  

Images are captured by:

  1. Selecting an image Type.

  2. Selecting the Resolution.

  3. Clicking on the Preview button.

  4. Identifying the image in the Preview window by selecting it with your mouse.

  5. Clicking on the Scan button.

 

Important Scan Wizard Options

Several important options may be found in the Preferences menu:

  1. Enable Fast Preview  ? This option should be enabled to speed up the preview segment when scanning an image.

  2. Positive Transparency under the Preview Setup option ? This option should be selected when scanning x-rays or other transparent media.

  3. Reflected under the Preview Setup option ? This option should be selected when scanning documents or other opaque media.

 

Selecting the Image

One of the most important aspects of scanning using Scan Wizard is the selection of the image or the portion of the image that should be scanned.  Image selection is done using an image selection box in the image display and selection window.  The selected portion of an image will be indicated by a box that appears around part or all of an image (referred to as an image selection box).  The image selection box may be dragged or resized using your left mouse button.  To drag the image selection box, simply move the mouse cursor to the interior of the box (the cursor will change to a four headed arrow) and click and drag with the left mouse button.  To resize the box, move the cursor over the corner or side of the box (the cursor will change to a two headed arrow) and then click and drag with the left mouse button.