How to Do Everything With Your Scanner- P52 docx

The Universal First Step: Importing the Image With all image-editing programs, the first issue you face is importing a scanned image into the editing software.. Does this mean you must f

Image-Editing Software Used for Examples in this Book

There are a lot of different image-editing programs on the market Chapter 10 gave you an overview, a sense that all image-editing programs perform the same basic tasks, with the more expensive, high-end programs offering you more options

PhotoSuite and PhotoDeluxe are the two software programs that come bundled with most scanners Other programs bundled with scanners, such as Paint Shop Pro, are remarkably similar to these two “industry standards.” Consequently, these two programs are used to illustrate our projects in this chapter and subsequent chapters, but you’ll find the steps are pretty much the same for other programs you might be using

After you’ve mastered one image-editing program, you’ll find it extraordinarily easy to master others.

The Universal First Step: Importing the Image

With all image-editing programs, the first issue you face is importing a scanned image into the editing software Does this mean you must first scan an image using your scanner software, then open it in your image-editing software? No!

Programs such as PhotoSuite and PhotoDeluxe actually open your scanner software and direct it to perform the scan The image thus scanned is ready to be edited and saved in whatever image-editing program you’re working with

If you’re working with PhotoSuite, simply follow these steps to scan an image and import it into PhotoSuite:

1. After opening the PhotoSuite program, click the Get button on the navigation bar

The navigation bar is located below the menu bar The screen in Figure 14-1 appears, displaying an Activity panel on the left

2. From the list of photo sources displayed on the Activity panel, select Scanner (TWAIN) A scanner list appears

3. Select the scanner type from the scanner list If the list is empty, the Scan button will be disabled

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FIGURE 14-1 You can access your scanner software from within the PhotoSuite

image-editing program

4. Each consecutively scanned image is assigned a default file name with the prefix

“photo” added, for example Photo0001, Photo0002, Photo0003, and so on You can specify a different file name, or change the file names later if you wish

5. Click the Scan button to acquire the images The interface of your scanner software becomes active, as shown in Figure 14-2 You can use this interface

to perform the scan from within your image-editing program

Similarly, if you’re using PhotoDeluxe, the Get Photo button gives you access to all the ways you can import a digital photo into the program Click the Get Photo button, then Scanners, and follow the onscreen instructions When you finish, the photo appears in the photo window, ready for use in Home Edition

You must click the Get and Fix Photo button before you can access the submenu containing the Get Photo command button.

Click to access scanner software interface.

FIGURE 14-2 Your scanner software is operated from within your

image-editing program

Create Your Digital Photo Album

What good is a photo if you can’t find it when you want it? Digital imaging programs not only allow you to edit photographs, they allow you to organize and display them conveniently and at will Even better, digital albums never yellow, tear, or mildew

What Is a Digital Album?

Just as paper albums allow you to store all your prized photos in a single location, digital albums allow you to store image files in a central location on your computer

Once you’ve done this, it’s easy to display your photos, make slide shows, and copy

Activated scanner software interface

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You’re probably familiar with one kind of database: the folders you use to organize documents and other files in Windows Explorer A digital album is another kind of database A database allows you to organize image files so you can access and retrieve them later To retrieve a file from an album, you use a file name or path much as you would to access any other type of file on your computer

Find out How Your Particular Editing Program Creates Digital Albums

You can find out whether your image-editing program allows you to create albums, and how to do it, simply by searching the program’s help database by entering the keyword “album,” as shown in Figure 14-3 Most image-editing programs use this term to refer to photo databases

FIGURE 14-3 Enter the keyword “album” to find out how to

create a digital album in any image-editing program

A Look at How Some Popular Programs Create Digital Albums

The process of creating a digital album and viewing its contents is straightforward

Regardless of which image-editing program you’re using, saving and viewing an album involves the following:

■ Creating an album on your computer to save images

■ Saving images to the album file

■ Opening the album file and locating the image you want to view

Creating an Album in PhotoSuite

PhotoSuite is a particularly sophisticated and versatile program for creating image files It has several features of interest First, it allows you to view thumbnails (miniatures) of all the photos stored in an album, as shown in Figure 14-4 It also allows you to maintain a master album, which contains no pictures, but holds all your other albums You can view all the photo albums you’ve created within PhotoSuite in the master album

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