The XSane Work Area

The XSane work area consists of four separate windows:
• Main window: Contains selections to set the scanning mode and features used in the scanning process.

• Histogram window: Shows the color-density spectrum of the image.

• Preview window: Displays a low-resolution scan of the image and allows you to alter the scan area.

• Viewer window: Displays the final scanned image and provides some rudimentary image functions.

Each window provides access to specific functions of the scanning process, as detailed in the following sections.



The Main Window
XSane’s Main window interface depends on the mode you are working in. There are six different modes that the XSane interface uses. These modes are set with the drop-down box in the upper-right corner of the page (next to the sight icon).

The XSane Operation Modes
Viewer
Sends the scanned image to the Viewer window. You can set the default filename, file type, and a counter increment for storing multiple files.

Save
Saves the scanned image to a file using the filename and type specified.

Copy
Sends the scanned image directly to the specified printer.

Multipage
Collects multiple scans to combine into a single project that can be saved in Post-Script, PDF, or TIFF format.

Fax
Sends the scanned image directly to faxing software, if installed.

Email
Sends the scanned image directly to an email software package


The Main window also allows you to change settings for the scan, using a series of dropdown boxes, sliders, and buttons:
• Scanner Hardware Type: flatbed or autofeeder
• Scanning Color Mode: color, grayscale, or black and white
• Image Adjustments: brightness, contrast, and color
• RGB Default: red, green, and blue value enhancements
• Negative: invert black/white images, used for scanning negatives
• Auto-enhancement: automatically determine the best values for colors
• Enhancement Default: resets image adjustments to the default values
• Restore Enhancement: retrieves stored enhancement settings
• Memory: stores the set enhancement values in memory

Each of the modes allows you to set the color features of the scanning process so that you can fine-tune the results of the scan. The Histogram window also helps you out here.



The Histogram Window
The Histogram window (as seen back in Figure 15-9) displays a color spectrum of the color densities contained in the image. There are two histograms in this window. The top histogram displays the color densities of the raw image directly from the scanner. The bottom histogram displays the color densities after the color enhancements set in the
Main window have been applied. The Histogram window provides simple controls for viewing the histograms. The four sliders in the middle between the histograms allow you to define the black, white, and gray points in the histogram. The buttons under the histograms allow you to single out a single color component (or the intensity for the I button). The fifth button in the row defines whether the histograms are drawn with pixels or lines, and the LOG button defines whether the densities are displayed as linear or logarithmic values.



The Preview Window
The Preview window allows you to adjust the scanning settings before making the final scan. It consists of a viewing area to preview the scanned document as a low-resolution scan, a toolbar at the top of the window with buttons for various features, and some selection buttons at the bottom of the window to customize the scanning settings.

To perform a preliminary scan, click the Acquire Preview button at the bottom of the Preview window. XSane performs a low-resolution scan of the document and displays it in the Preview window viewing area.

The buttons in the toolbar, from left to right, are
• Batch scan add area: Add the selected area on the preview image to a list of areas to scan.
• White pipette: After clicking this button, use the mouse pointer and left-click on an area in the preview image that is considered white. This value is used to adjust the automatic color settings.
• Gray pipette: After clicking this button, use the mouse pointer and left-click on an area in the preview image that is considered medium gray. This value is used to adjust the automatic color settings.
• Black pipette: After clicking this button, use the mouse pointer and left-click on an area in the preview image that is considered black. This value is used to adjust the automatic color settings.
• Unzoom: Return the preview area to the original scan area.
•Zoom out: Increase the preview area by 20 percent.
•Zoom in: Decrease the preview area by 20 percent.
•Select zoom area: Use the mouse to select an area to zoom.
•Undo zoom: Remove the previously set zoom area.
•Autoselect: Select the part of the image to edit.
•Autoraise: Click an image to raise it to the forefront.
•Select visible area: Select the visible area in the preview for scanning.
•Delete preview image cache: Preview images are cached to allow the undo function.
Click this button to remove any previously previewed images.

Besides the toolbar buttons there are several buttons at the bottom of the Preview window that affect the operation of the scan:
•Preset area: Select an area of the preview image to be used as the maximum scanning area. This value is relative to the size of the scanner bed.
•Rotation: Select a rotation angle and axis to use to rotate the scanned image.
•Aspect ratio: Define a width:height aspect ratio to set for the scanned image. This option limits the selection frame size because the specified ratio is maintained.
•Acquire preview: Perform a low-resolution preview scan using the Preview window settings.
•Cancel preview: Stop the preview scan.
•RGB settings: Adjust the red, green, and blue values of the pixel pointed to with the mouse pointer.
•Magnifier: Magnify the area directly around the mouse pointer to allow more precise selection of scan and edit areas. XSane allows you to perform quite a bit of customizing in the Preview window before you make the final scan of the image. This capability helps you avoid having to rescan an image until you get it right.



The Viewer
The Viewer window displays the final scanned image when you select the Scan button and allows you to perform some rudimentary operations on the image before saving it. The Viewer window contains a toolbar above the scanned image that provides access to the necessary functions. The toolbar buttons available are
•Save image: Save the image to disk, specifying the file type and name.
•OCR: Attempt to read any text on the image and save in a text file.
•Clone image: Open another Viewer window with a copy of the scanned image.
•Flip: Reverse the image in the Viewer window.
•Despeckle image: Remove spots from the scanned image.
•Blur image: Apply a blurring feature to the scanned image.
•Scale image: Change the size of the image.
•Rotate image: Three buttons that allow you to rotate the image 90, 180, and 270 degrees.
•Mirror image: Two buttons that mirror the image using the horizontal or vertical axis.
•Zoom: Zoom in to or out from the image in the Viewer window.

If you set the filename and extension of the file in the Main window, the Viewer automatically saves the image using that file type and name. If not, the Viewer provides a Save As dialog box that allows you to set these values. XSane supports saving images using the file types.

XSane provides a wide selection of standard file formats for storing your image file. Images saved as PDF files are compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader applications on the Microsoft Windows platform, which is a great feature of XSane.

Source of Information : Wiley Ubuntu Linux Secrets