Scanner Model

Sharp JX-330 600 DPI True Color Scanner.

Introduction

OpenScan is the Open Look Graphical User Interface scanning application designed to run under Open Windows version 2.0 or higher. It allows the user to easily setup, scan, view, and save images. Usage of OpenScan requires only minimal knowledge of scanner or imaging terminology and can easily be mastered in just a few minutes.

Getting Started

To run OpenScan you must already be running Open Windows or an X Window System server. To start Openscan you may simply type

scanner &

OpenScan will start up and use the default scanner that has been set up for your system. The OpenScan control panel will then appear on your screen.

Scanning

To start a scan, place a document on the glass bed of the scanner. Then click the button with the left mouse button. The scanner will then start the scan of a full page at the default resolution. Once the scan is completed you will then see a pop-up image data window appear on your screen. While the scan is under way, the will change into an button. Selecting the Abort button while the scan is in progress will cause a dialog box to appear, allowing the abort action to be confirmed or cancelled. If the abort is confirmed, the scan operation is terminated and no image data is displayed. While the scan is underway, all OpenScan control panel items are grayed-out and not selectable, as shown in the figure below.

OpenScan Image Data Window

This window displays the result of the scan at full resolution on your workstation screen. Note that since the default scan resolution is 150 dpi (dots per inch) and your screen displays at 75-100 dpi, only the very top lefthand corner of the image will currently be visible.

Moving the Image

To view more of the image, you can scroll the visible area it in the window with one of two ways. One method is to use the scroll bars on the right side and the bottom of the image to cause the a different region of the image to scroll into view. You can move the scroll bars

by pulling on the arrow sections with the left mouse button. This will cause the image to scroll smoothly in the window. If your workstation has very little memory or is slow, then the overhead associated with smooth scrolling may make this take some time. In this case you will want to move the image by grabbing the scroll bar handle by the middle empty section and pulling it in the direction of the region you want to view.

Another method for veiwing a different portion of the image is to pan the image using the mouse in the OpenScan Image Data Window. To do this, place the mouse cursor in the center of the image in the OpenScan Image Data Window. While holding down the left mouse button, move the mouse to the left, right, up, or down. Using this technique you can "push" the image around the window causing different regions to become viewable.

Saving the Image

To save the image to a file, simply click the left mouse button on the line to the right of the File Name label:

Type in the file name (or file path name) including the extension .tiff (by default, OpenScan saves the images as TIFF files so it is important that you add .tiff after the filename) to which you wish to save the image and move the mouse to the button and press the left mouse button. Your image should now be saved.

Preview Scanning

It is often convenient to first scan a new image at a very low resolution so that the entire page will be visible in the OpenScan Image Data Window. This low resolution image can then be used to interactively select the desired scan area (sometimes referred to as "cropping" the image.)

To perform the preview scan, move the mouse cursor over the button and the hold down the right mouse button and then a menu similar to the figure below should appear.

While holding down the right mouse button, slide the mouse downward until the Preview selection is highlighted. Releasing the right mouse button while Preview is highlighted will initiate a preview scan. Preview will scan the page at all the current settings except for the scan resolution which will be 75 dpi and the scan area will be 8.5" by 11". The OpenScan Preview Image Data window will the appear with the entire page viewable.

If you wish to preview a page size other than 8.5" by 11", then you may use the right menu on the Preview option to select other standard page sizes. To use the right menu, hold the right mouse button down and move the mouse down until Preview is highlighted, then move the mouse to the right through the arrow and another menu will appear. The standard page sizes will be shown.

To interactively select the scan area, move the mouse into the Image Data Window and position the mouse cursor at one of the corner points you wish to start scanning at. Now hold down the middle mouse button and drag the mouse to the opposite corner of the region selected and then release the mouse button. You will notice that a box is drawn, as shown below, in the Image Data Window to show you the selected scan area. Now press the scan button to begin the scan.

Troubleshooting