LaserSoft Imaging

Since my first SF purchase -version 5.0 Ai, different scanner than present- I was told that frame straightening in the preview window would be added to the next version. Since then, I have purchased the upgrades to 5.5 and now to 6.0 and this simple feature hasn't been added yet. It's probable of little consecuence as NegaFix now allows to take an "auto-exposure" reading of a selected area and then expand the frame, so there's room for straightening in Photoshop. However, I feel that the whole idea of an able interface like SiverFast is that the image reaches the editor needing the least possible manipulation.

Is this feature really planned or should I simply write it off? If affirmative, when?

Before I finish, I want to congratulate you for the great features you did add. I'm using Ai with an Epson 2450 and works like a charm.

Let me add my vote for "frame straightening". (fractional or arbitrary rotation??) I scan full frame with my LS-2000, since the film does not always line up square. The ability to rotate the preview image by fractions of a degree would allow you to do the final crop in SF 6 instead of Photoshop.

We are having a developer meeting tomorrow. I wil take that issue up again .

Eric.

Dear Eric,

Thanks for the reply. I hope this feature is included soon and *not* as an optional upgrade.

While talking of upgrades, I think most users would appreciate an email letting us know of new available versions, either minor revisions as major version changes. As things are now, I took me a few weeks to find out about ver. 6.

Regards,

Jorge /Mexico.

Dear Jorge.

I also hope that this feature will be included soon, and I hope it will be available for v6 users.

Future versions of SilverFast will have an "Update" button in the credits dialog, just beside the "Register" button in version 6. "Update" will look for available updates/upgrades for specific your plugin on our WEB site and download it automatically (if you wish).

Eric.

Eric,

That will be a useful addition.

Will there be some text to tell us what is different about a new release? It would be very helpful if those differences were spelled out so that the user knows what to look for in a new version once it is downloaded and installed.

Thanks

I second Peter Calvin's proposition. A small text file listing version changes is helpful and informative. This should be available on the web site too.

--Jorge.

We decided yesterday to implement the rotation of scanning frames (small angles, possibly +/- 5-10 degrees). It?s not sure when this feature will be available, but development will begin within few weeks.

Regarding the list of new features / bugfixes, we are planing to implement an automatic update feature into SilverFast. There will be a button in the credits dialog, which (when pressed) will look for available updates on the internet. This feature will also tell the differences between the new and the old version. But I have to agree, that there should be a kind of revision history on the WEB too. I?ll talk to the appropriate people.

Eric.

Please ask the designers of the revision history file to clearly identify bug fixes versus new or modified features. Also, it would be very useful to see the information BEFORE choosing downloading. Thanks

Frank

Regarding the frame rotation - May I suggest that you follow the example of Adobe's arbitrary rotation in Photoshop. The user can choose the degree of rotation in tenths, as well as the direction. Using the FH-2 holder and the MA-20 adapter in the Nikon LS-2000, I routinely select from .2 to .5 degrees of rotation to level my scan. If the available adjustments are too gross, then the user is back where they started, scanning full frame and doing their alignment and cropping in Photoshop.

Thanks.

I'd like to follow up on the question of frame rotation. I see that there has been conversation back and forth on the topic, and that a meeting held in Sept 2002 (9 months ago) - with a decision made to begin working on the software to add frame rotation. What is the status/schedule of implementing this? I would also second the suggestion that any frame rotation follow the example of Adobe's arbitrary rotation in Photoshop where the user can choose the degree of rotation in tenths, as well as the direction. I seem to have a chronic problem getting my film to load in perfectly aligned, and having the ability to adjust the frame would be a very big help.

This matter has has been addressed for two years now and I have doubts that it will be taken care of, anytime soon. I also have a lot of trouble aligning the film perfectly which often means having to put up with unwanted crops in Photoshop to straighten the frame. As my film holders don't allow much of the film edges to show, this is frequent.