Some workflow improvements (auto-prescan, frame pos., TIFF)
PostPosted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 7:22 pm
Two ideas that have been going around in my mind for some time:
1. (Mostly for scanning slides:) An option to automatically do a prescan when SF is launched from PhotoShop:
when scanning several slides from PS, I usually save the file, eject the slide, insert the next one into the scanner, launch SF, wait a few seconds until it is there, then click "Prescan" and wait until this is finished. Starting the prescan automatically would stop me from feeling like a dumb robot pressing the same button every time, and at least make the whole process feel more fluent, especially when switching to another application while waiting for the scan to finish.
(I use a Nikon LS4000, maybe the workflow is different with other scanners; I also didn't try what happens if a prescan is started without a slide in the scanner...)
2. The possibility to finetune the scan frame position using the cursor keys. I'm not sure about the perfect way to do that, but maybe while the mouse pointer is over the central area (where it switches to the hand cursor anyway), the program could react to the arrow keys by moving the frame pixelwise.
In my experience, when scanning slides the full frame is more or less the same size all the time, but needs just a little offset of some pixels. I find this unnecessarily hard to accomplish precisely by dragging with the mouse.
3. If SF was able to save LZW compressed TIFF files, it would sometimes save me from scanning the pictures to photoshop and saving the file from there (when scanning a batch of slides, for example). I don't know what licensing troubles this might cause, though...
Just thought this could improve the general usability even more!
Regards,
BB
1. (Mostly for scanning slides:) An option to automatically do a prescan when SF is launched from PhotoShop:
when scanning several slides from PS, I usually save the file, eject the slide, insert the next one into the scanner, launch SF, wait a few seconds until it is there, then click "Prescan" and wait until this is finished. Starting the prescan automatically would stop me from feeling like a dumb robot pressing the same button every time, and at least make the whole process feel more fluent, especially when switching to another application while waiting for the scan to finish.
(I use a Nikon LS4000, maybe the workflow is different with other scanners; I also didn't try what happens if a prescan is started without a slide in the scanner...)
2. The possibility to finetune the scan frame position using the cursor keys. I'm not sure about the perfect way to do that, but maybe while the mouse pointer is over the central area (where it switches to the hand cursor anyway), the program could react to the arrow keys by moving the frame pixelwise.
In my experience, when scanning slides the full frame is more or less the same size all the time, but needs just a little offset of some pixels. I find this unnecessarily hard to accomplish precisely by dragging with the mouse.
3. If SF was able to save LZW compressed TIFF files, it would sometimes save me from scanning the pictures to photoshop and saving the file from there (when scanning a batch of slides, for example). I don't know what licensing troubles this might cause, though...
Just thought this could improve the general usability even more!
Regards,
BB