Mac App Store VueScan: new life for an old scanner. Vuescan - program overview

By purchasing new scanner, the user usually receives a disk with drivers and software along with the device. However, over time, this disk tends to disappear in an unknown direction, and the need to use the included drivers disappears, since by this time more latest versions, which can be downloaded at any time from the manufacturer’s website. This is where the idea of ​​alternative developments comes in, with the help of which one could work with all the functions of the device. But some utilities can do much more than the original utility from the disk to the scanner!

⇡ VueScan 8.6 - bringing the old scanner back to life

  • Developer: Hamrick Software
  • Distribution size: 6 MB
  • Distribution: shareware
  • Russian interface: yes

The scanner is one of those devices that can last for ten years or even more. If you don't use it very much, it can continue to work great as you upgrade your work computers over and over again. However, manufacturers computer peripherals I'm not very happy with this state of affairs. Perhaps you will be convinced of this if you want to connect an old scanner to a computer with installed Windows 7, go to the developer’s website and find that there are no drivers for your model and its support has been discontinued. Leaving users alone with new OS versions and old hardware, manufacturers seem to be saying “Buy a new scanner!” But don’t rush to open price lists and send the old man into retirement - perhaps he will serve for many more years. And the VueScan program can pair it with a new computer.

VueScan can serve the role universal driver for legacy scanners. Using this utility, you can successfully scan documents, images, films, save the received data in one of the supported formats (PDF, JPEG, TIFF and TXT) or immediately send them to print. VueScan will also be useful to owners of modern scanners, since the program has more customization options than most utilities supplied by the manufacturers of these devices.

The program can work in one of two modes: "Master" or "Detailed". The first, as the name implies, is organized in the form of a step-by-step assistant. The user is asked to select the final purpose of scanning - saving to a file or sending to a printer, after which he must specify the scanning source and the folder in which the files will be saved, and decide on the quality of files to be received.

Interestingly, in this mode, VueScan does not burden the user with concepts such as resolution. Instead, you just need to indicate what you plan to do with the received scans: send by mail, store in an archive, send for printing, etc. In the next step, VueScan will show you what the document will look like after scanning, and give you the opportunity to rotate the image and crop it. The program will then perform a scan.

Master mode is suitable for performing quick scan, but if you are used to keeping every little detail under control, it makes sense to switch to the “Details” mode. Over more than ten years of existence, VueScan has acquired a huge number of capabilities, including current version two modes offered detailed settings. The first of them displays only the most important parameters, and in the second - all available options.

By scanning an image from film, using VueScan you can partially eliminate grain, restore colors, and increase sharpness. Also, due to the numerous settings of the program, you can control the color balance, set auto-framing parameters and much more. The settings selected once can be saved as a profile and then used again and again. This is convenient if you are making scans of the same type, for example, scanning an entire book.

VueScan has an integrated system optical recognition text (OCR), thanks to which documents scanned with its help can be immediately recognized and created based on them RTF files or PDF with text search. To be fair, it should be noted that not all documents are recognized correctly by VueScan, but do not forget that this is not the main function of the program. Therefore, we can consider it a very pleasant addition to the main toolkit.

The professional version of VueScan is different from standard themes that offers support ICC profiles And color spaces. In addition, it includes the ability to calibrate scanner colors according to the IT8 standard, as well as the ability to scan to RAW files.

⇡ BlindScanner 2.7 - working with the scanner on a local network

  • Developer: Masters ITC Software
  • Distribution size: 2 MB
  • Distribution: shareware
  • Russian interface: yes

The number of scanners available to the user is usually less than the number of working computers. This may cause some inconvenience. For example, if you have a couple of desktops and the same number of laptops at home, then you need to decide which of them is most convenient to connect the scanner to, and then deal only with this computer. When a scanner is connected to one of the computers in the office, the user sitting at this computer cannot work normally - colleagues constantly turn to him with a request to scan documents. As a result, this employee's performance decreases due to the fact that he is constantly distracted.

BlindScanner solves this problem. Using this utility, you can open access to the scanner for any computer in local network. To do this, you need to install the server part of the application on the PC to which the scanner is connected, and the client part on each of the computers from which you plan to use the device. The server part can work as an application or as a service.

The client part of BlindScanner has user-friendly interface, with which you can completely control the scanning process. First, you need to select a scanner available on the network from the list of devices, and then decide on the location for saving the files and the format.

BlindScanner supports saving documents in BMP files, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, TIFF. Before scanning, you can set the resolution, as well as the color mode: black and white, grayscale or full color. If you need to scan many documents, you can use the "Multi-page scanning" group of settings, after which you can specify whether the scanner has an automatic paper feeder, whether you need to scan both sides of the sheet and skip blank pages. In addition, in the mode multi-page scanning BlindScanner can perform auto-scanning with a delay. Selected scan settings can be saved as a profile for future use.

BlindScanner also has a Pro version, which is distinguished by the ability to scan directly in the program in which you are supposed to work with scanned documents - Adobe Photoshop, Abbyy Finereader etc.

It is worth keeping in mind that the program uses port 8900 to connect to the server, so it correct operation, you may need to ensure that it is not blocked by a firewall.

⇡ Scanned Document Distributor 2.0 - upload scans to FTP and send them by mail

  • Developer: Nico Cuppen Software
  • Distribution: shareware
  • Russian interface: no

Most "native" applications supplied with scanners allow you to save the finished file in one of popular formats, however, this is where their capabilities end. Let's imagine a situation where you need to scan many documents and then open them in specific program. In this case, you have to do a lot of unnecessary steps: save the file on disk, then run the program and open the file from it.

Scanned Document Distributor differs from other scanning applications in that it can perform many different actions with the received files. So, in addition to the usual saving them to disk in PDF format, TIFF, JPG, GIF or PNG, the program can immediately send the file for printing ( network printers supported), transfer the file via e-mail as an attachment, upload it to an FTP server, and also launch any application specified by the user and open the file in it. It is important that several actions can be used within one task. For example, a scanned file can be automatically sent for printing and uploaded to an FTP server.

Working with Scanned Document Distributor is organized as follows: first you need to create a profile that includes scanning parameters, as well as a description of the actions that need to be performed. After saving, the profile appears in the main program window, and all that is required from the user the next time the program is launched is to place the document in the scanner, select desired profile and click on the button that starts the process.

However, if you constantly use the same profile, you can reduce the number of actions to a minimum. Using the Create Profile Shortcut feature, you can add an icon to quick launch Scanned Document Distributor with the selected settings on the desktop, in the Start menu, on the Quick Launch panel. In the program settings, you can specify the email address to which a notification will be sent each time a scan profile is launched.

The program supports scanners with an automatic paper feeder. Depending on the settings you select, when scanning multiple pages automatically, the result may be saved as multi-page files TIFF or PDF.

⇡ Photocopier Pro 3.10 - quickly send scans for printing

  • Developer: Nico Cuppen Software
  • Distribution size: 1.7 MB
  • Distribution: shareware
  • Russian interface: no

Unfortunately, not all programs supplied with scanners have the ability to quickly send a scan for printing. Nevertheless, this function is in great demand, because a scanner and printer connected to a computer can easily replace a copier. You can, of course, scan a document, then open it in the appropriate program and send it for printing, but this takes a lot of time. If there are not one or two documents, this is especially tedious. Photocopier Pro allows you to send your finished scan to the printer with just one click.

The program is very easy to use - all its main parameters fit in one small window (although for more fine tuning need to open additional window). By default, before scanning begins, it displays a window in which you can preview the document and, if necessary, crop it, center it, increase or decrease brightness, change the scale, or make other adjustments. You can also specify the required number of copies, enable scanning on both sides, and disable the automatic paper feeder.RiDoc 3.3 - assistant for working with scanned documents

  • Developer: COMPANY RIMAN
  • Distribution size: 4.8 MB
  • Distribution: shareware
  • Russian interface: yes

RiDoc is multifunctional program which helps to manage a large number scans. With its help, you can save scanned documents to TIFF, BMP, JPEG, PNG files, create PDF files, send documents to print or send by email. In addition, using RiDoc you can quickly insert a scan into a MS Word document. Unfortunately, the latest version of MS Word 2010 does not have the function of directly inserting an image from a scanner, which users are more accustomed to. earlier versions programs. This is why having this option in RiDoc can be very useful.

Another one interesting opportunity RiDoc - adding a watermark to scanned documents. This feature can be used to protect content from being recognized. If a document needs to be shared with others but you don't want the text to be recognized, a diamond watermark overlaid on top of the main content will make it much more difficult for OCR systems.

Finally, RiDoc can be used to organize scanned documents. The program implements the function of working with " quick folders", thanks to which, firstly, it is convenient to select a directory for saving, and secondly, you can quickly find previously saved files. To work with "quick folders" you need to make a list of them, and then simply select the one you need when saving.

⇡ Conclusion

No matter how mundane the task may seem, in most cases you can find original ways her decisions. This also applies to document scanning. The programs that this review is devoted to allow you to simplify many operations related to obtaining and processing scans and automate some actions. Try working with these utilities and, perhaps, very soon they will be included in your own list must have applications.

VueScan is inexpensive scanning program, which supports many (if not all) film scanners and some flatbed scanners. There are versions of this program for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The main advantage of VueScan is the ability to easily and accurately correct color on color negatives. This is quite a complex procedure, but VueScan makes it much easier. VueScan allows you to take advantage of some of the scanners' special features, such as batch scanning, autofocus, infrared to eliminate dust and scratches, multi-pass scanning to reduce noise in dark areas of the slide, and more. With VueScan you can perform multi-pass scanning even on scanners that do not support this feature. VueScan also allows you to extract maximum depth slide colors from a scanner, which itself only provides 24-bit depth.

VueScan is a separate scanning program, which interfaces directly with the scanner hardware. -there is no interface provided here. VueScan is often faster than the original scanner software, both in terms of scanning and focusing. If you wish, you can always return to the “native” software.

Selecting the type of negative film allows you to correct a specific orange tint, and VueScan “knows” about 200 types of film. It should be noted that this is quite complex problem, as color shift may occur due to any inaccuracy in exposure setting or film processing. But VueScan has special tools to solve this problem.

VueScan is easy to use, almost completely automatic, and is configured by default to produce the best color results. If you find it too complicated, you may be going too far into the weeds - just try to trust the program more and try out the default settings. All you really need to set is the scanning mode and perhaps the film type. The program will do the rest for you. At the same time, you can enlarge the preview window and histogram to the size you need.

You may want to adjust the brightness as VueScan sometimes makes the image too bright. But still, the main thing you will work with is color balance. Although, it all depends on the content of the image.

Using the White Balance option, you can adjust the RGB settings and make the image more natural. For example, selecting Auto Level mode adjusts the maximum histogram values, which then appear as white. For scenes with artificial lighting or for an orange sunset, perhaps would be better suited Neutral mode. Images without neutral colors (gray and white), for example, photographs with green grass or flowers in the background, may not need white balance correction, but for all other photographs (portraits, landscapes, still lifes) this parameter is very relevant. Using the Auto Black and White Points values, you can change the preset overall pixel value and preserve as much detail as possible in dark areas, rendering shadows and penumbra as natural as possible.

The Auto Black and White Points values ​​can be changed to increase contrast by moving the Black slider to the right (but not much, no more than 0.5%). However, as practice shows, it will be better to leave the default values ​​and adjust the contrast later, in Photoshop. For typical scenes, a shift of 0.5% often produces fantastic results. Contrast and saturation increase dramatically. However, it is still not recommended to overuse this as it may result in loss of detail in shadowed areas. which VueScan tries to save.

VueScan is not an image editor; for editing you can use Photoshop. The main task and main advantage of VueScan is the ability to quickly and effectively correct color balance. And this is already a lot, especially when we're talking about about the negatives.

You can download the VueScan program for Windows x64 and Windows x32.

    VUESCANPRO

    License type:

    Quacked

    Languages:

    Windows 8, 8 64-bit, 7, 7 64-bit, Vista, Vista 64-bit, XP, XP 64-bit

    Downloaded:

VueScan review

VueScan is one of the inexpensive scanning programs that supports almost all film scanners and some flatbed scanners. It is available in versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The advantage of this program is the ability to easily and accurately color correct color negatives. This is very difficult to do, but with VueScan the procedure is greatly simplified. Using the program makes it possible to implement some special functions scanner: batch scanning, autofocus, infrared channel, eliminating dust and scratches, multi-pass scanning, reducing noise in dark areas of the slide, and others. With VueScan it becomes possible implementation multi-pass scanning, which has direct interaction with the scanner hardware. There is no TWAIN interface in this program. VueScan is faster than the original in many cases software scanners in scanning focusing. Which, however, will not prevent you from returning to the latter at any time.

By choosing the type of negative film, you can correct a specific orange tint; VueScan distinguishes between nearly two hundred types of film. In fact, this is quite difficult, since any inaccuracy made in setting the exposure or processing the film can lead to color shifts. VueScan has special tools to solve this problem. Using VueScan is quite simple, many functions are activated automatically for the best color rendering, since this is the default result. The apparent difficulty in using the program can be created by the user himself, who has dug too deeply into it; VueScan is trustworthy in terms of the default settings specified in it. The user really needs to decide on the settings for the scanning mode and, perhaps, the type of film. For the rest, you can trust the program. If necessary, it is possible to increase the preview window and histogram as much as necessary.

You can adjust the brightness, due to the fact that the program in some cases “overdoes” this parameter. However, main task The user is to work with color balance, if, of course, this is required by the content of the image.

The “white balance” parameter is involved in adjusting the RGB settings and increases the naturalness of the image. For example, in mode automatic level(Auto Level) the maximum values ​​of the histogram are adjusted, subsequently displayed in white. Scenes involving artificial lighting or an orange sunset is best processed in Neutral mode. Images that don't have neutral grays and whites, such as photos with green grass or flowers in the background, probably won't need any adjustments. white, but other photographs (portraits, landscapes, still lifes) are very dependent on this parameter. The Auto Black and White Points values ​​help change the preset overall pixel value and save the largest number details of darkened areas, the most natural rendering of shadows and penumbra. It is possible to change these values, that is, increase the contrast by moving the Black slider to right side(however, no more than half a percent). But practice has proven that it is better not to deviate from the default setting, and leave contrast correction for later and for Photoshop. These half percent changes in typical scenes are simply fantastic. But if you overuse changes to preset values, you can lose the detail in the shaded areas that VueScan saves.

VueScan is not an image editor; Photoshop handles this function successfully. The main task and main advantage of this program is that with its help you can quickly and effectively adjust the color balance. This means quite a lot for working with negatives. You can download VueScan for Windows x64 and Windows here.

VueScan is software that is designed to work with different models scanners. The program was created in 1998. VueScan supports many flatbed as well as film scanners.

If you are looking for advanced scanning features or your scanner no longer supports your model, then this program will suit you perfectly. This utility compatible with big amount scanners. Latest version The program supports more than 1,500 models.

Password for all archives: 1progs

Video instructions for activation

Documents that have been scanned can be saved in various formats. The program also allows you to create multi-page PDF. In order for users to be able to use the utility without restrictions, VueScan must be activated.

Main features of the program:

  • Scan documents, photos and film.
  • Creation various files— TIFF, PDF, TXT, JPEG.
  • Import function support.
  • Recognition of graphics and symbols in a document.
  • Step-by-step control of scanning files.
  • Automatic removal of various defects.
  • Batch scanning of documents.

Thanks to the program, you can conveniently scan any files - images, documents, etc. The application also has the ability to remove defects in the image, work with color depth, and suppress scanner noise. To use the program without restrictions, you need to download the VueScan key.

Advantages of the program:

  1. Supports more than 1500 scanner models.
  2. Support for different operating systems.
  3. A simplified interface for scanning documents.
  4. In stock standard set formats for scanning scans.
  5. Scanned text recognition.
  6. Russian language support.

Disadvantages of the program:

  1. To use the application without restrictions, paid activation is required.
  2. It happens that you cannot connect your scanner through this application.

The program interface is quite simple. The most important thing is that VueScan supports the Russian language. Everything in the program is clear, so even novice users can figure it out.

Despite some shortcomings, we can say that VueScan is the desired program for computer. It is much easier to work if there are several scanners. Also, you don’t have to search for suitable drivers every time.