MIGRAPH Scanner Review
16 messages in this thread
Paul,
What are the 3 dithering options of the Migraph? If you makdd multiple
passes to ge a scan of something more than 4" wide, will touch up support
assembling the image (e.g. pasting lefta sn right halves of an 5 x 8
together)? If so, how easily?
Have you talked to Migraph about the crashing problem? I'm giving some
thougt to Migraph for logo and newletter photo input. Could you upload some
samples (B & W and scans of "greyscale" and color originals,perhps)?
wmc
Wayne,
OK let me take your questions one at a time:
1.) It looks as though the three switch setting alter the size of the
dither pattern (coarse, medium, & fine). But I have not explored those
options too carefully. I have been having too much fun scanning line art.
I'll explore this more fully and get back to you.
2.) Yes you can assemble very large scans (memory permitting) by making
multiple passes. While it is not very difficult, they could make it easier.
The process involves moving one halve the image that has been "clipped".
The problem is that have to be at level of magnification that will allow
you see the entire clip area to move it. You can not zoom in to get a get
and accurate match and still move the clip area which is now larger than
the view area. So you have to zoom out, move the clip, then zoom back in to
see how close you are. This has to be repeated until you too side are
matched.
3. I have not had version .9 crash on me, but I can see how it might get
that reputation! When you sellect some options the program must have to do
numerous calculations. Sometimes you see the familar ZZZ pointer, but other
times the program just freezes, pointer and all! When the program is
finished doing what it is doing all returns to normal. This can take up to
15-20 seconds on my 030 A2000! On an unaccelerated Amiga I am sure that
anyone would think the guru was on the way, give up, and reboot!
4. The scanner excels at capturing line art, somthing I could never
accomplish with digiview. Scanning color and greyscale images takes a
little more experimentation and technique. Once you get the image the way
you want it you know exactly what the final printed image will look like
since it is already dithered into bunch of black & white pixels. But this
does take time on your part. It is certainly easier to digitize a greyscale
image and let the DTP software "screen" it for you.
I'll put together a sampling of scanned images and upload them.
-Paul-
How does the scanner hook up to the Amiga?
Tom
There is an interface that plugs into the parallel port. Yes my par: is
getting mighty crowded! But it does work with a switch box, and that is how
I have mine set up.
-Paul-
Paul,
Thanks for all the information. I'm looking forward to the scanned images.
wmc
They were uploaded about three days ago.
-Paul-
Paul,
I got the Scans…Thank you very much.
I pulled them into ProDraw shich manipulated them on Screen fine, but
couldn't print them or save them in clips ("remember, if it from Gold Disk
and has Professional in the name, it isn't!). So then I tried them in
ProPage and all I could do wsa accept them at full page size and print them
or crop them. Then I took them into PageStream and had LOTS of fun
resizing, cropping and printing them. The looked VERY good.
Do you think that the original files from Touch-up could be pulled into
Dpaint III then saved to fix the suspected hunk problem (I don't have
photolab)?
wmc
Wayne,
Yes if the image is not too big loading and saving from dpaint will
work. But I believe there is an upper limit to the image size that dpaint
will handle (1024×1024 ?). Photolab paint is limited only by total memory.
Working with only one bitplane on a 5meg Amiga you can load one heck of a
big image!! -Paul-
Paul,
Thanks for the review, images and help.
wmc
Wayne:
I really don't understand what the problem is with your copy of ProPage.
I also downloaded the MichTon scans, rebooted my machine so that I was
operating from a cli instead of workbench (don't have a 1 meg Agnus at
home), ran ProPage, created a new page from default, made five boxes,
loaded in all five of the scanned images from the file you're talking
about, sized them and cropped them to my satisfaction, droped the screen
resolution from "interlace" to "non-interlace", made the screen black&white
(both to conserve memory), and then output to dotmatrix. The images
printed just fine on my clunky old Star 9 pin!
?|^] Ray Lewis
Ray,
I CAN get them in ProPage. But you cannot SIZE them, only crop them. You
have to use PageStream to size them (e.g. keep the same image content but
change the size as opposed to changing size that changes image content).
It's ProDraw that is the total waste program. You can load the stuff in –
one image at a time and it takes 15 minutes per image to load into Pro Page
or ProDraw on a 80 meg HD 2 meg mem 512kAggie Amiga 2000. It takes about
30 secs in PageStream. Much as I have no Love-Loss for SoftLogik I have to
admit that with 1.8 they are slowly burying Gold Disk.
Oh yeah, the real killer is that ProDraw won't allow you to save the
bitmaps ina clip that you can actually import and size as well as crop in
ProPage. If you didn'tcreate it in ProDraw, you can barely use it in
ProPage.
Can't wait to here some experiences and see reviews on Saxon!.
wmc
Wayne,
Why are you having touble sizing in ProPage? I do it all the time. Are you
holding down the Alt key while trying to size?
-Mike Schiller
CIS: 76416,3065
Mike,
I think I thought that was only avialable in prodraw… me thinks me best
go try again…
wmc
Wayne:
Sizing ANY graphic in ProPage is quite easy.
First, load the graphic into a box.
Next, use the "hooks" on the side of the box (the little black rectangles)
to get the cropping you like (put the pointer on the little black
rectangle, and hold down the left mouse button. If you are on the right
spot, the pointer turns into a cross hair, and that side or conrner will
move.)
NOW — also using the mouse pointer and the left mouse button on the hooks,
you can enlarge, reduce, and/or change the aspect ratio of that box AND the
graphic inside IF YOU FIRST HOLD DOWN THE ALT KEY BEFORE YOU CLICK ON THE
LEFT MOUSE BUTTON AND KEEP IT HELD DOWN DURING THAT OPERATION.
Try it.
?|^] Ray Lewis
Ray,
After your last message I went back to the (3) manual(s) and luckily found
the bit on the ALT key. Now if I can only find the part in the ProDraw
manual that tells mey why that program won't give me a print requester when
I select project print….
BTW, I did find by reading the bitmap section that I have an unreasonalbe
expectation – only prodraw created graphics can be made into clips.
Imported bitmaps cannot. You'd think that in the 15 + minutes it takles
just to load a small bit map (like the Betty Boop in the upload) they would
be able convert it to a clip acceptable format. Oh well…maybe in 2.0…
wmc
Wayne:
Bit maps and structured art are two very different things.
A bit map is a bit-by-bit representation of the image, very similar to the
little dots which make up a newspaper picture. By making a very large one
in black & white, and then scaling it down in size, you can output a very
nice image (that's what they're doing with the scanners). Expand it,
however, and you see the dots very quicly.
STructured graphics, OTOH, are a description of the image, and the right
software will easily scale it up or down without sacrificing resolution.
?|^] Ray Lewis