Scan2CAD raster to vector conversion software

REVIEW:

Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner

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Conclusion

Externally, the Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 is compact and lightweight. This makes it suitable for transportion between sites and for use in small, cramped offices.

The Ci 40 is capable of producing high quality scans of technical drawings. We liked the Ci 40's ScanWorks software, which costs an additional £295 or US $580. It allows you to make a scan, then edit settings with a slider bar while watching the image change in real time. This makes it very easy to select appropriate settings such as thresholds. ScanWorks has excellent adaptive thresholding for quickly cleaning up dirty scans.

Once you have selected the settings, you just save the scan. There is no need to rescan the drawing as is necessary with scanning software previously reviewed. Also, because you are selecting settings on the actual scan and not on a preview, what is saved is exactly what you see on the screen. In our opinion, this makes ScanWorks the most productive - and safest - scanning software we have used to date. That said, a faster rotate and a hole fill option would be nice additions to this competent software.

In terms of raw scanning speed, we found the Ci 40 relatively slow when scanning in black and white and greyscale, but fast when scanning in colour. However, the productivity of the ScanWorks software will give you a time advantage in any situation where you need to select appropriate settings for individual scans rather than just scanning as fast as possible with no attention to drawing detail.

The fact that it is easy to scan over an office network with the Ci 40 is also a positive productivity benefit in a small office. However, the need to insert a ScanWorks dongle into the receiving workstation is limiting in a networked environment.

The Ci 40 includes basic print options for low volume prints and copies. We would recommend that anyone with a serious print requirement should purchase Colortrac's CopySmart software for £295 or US $580.

In the US, the reviewed Ci 40e is very competitively priced. Its list price is some $1000 less than the next most expensive colour large format scanner and the Ci 40c, which has slower colour scanning, is $900 less expensive still.

In the UK, the price differentials are less but the Ci 40c is still the least expensive large format colour scanner currently available. The reviewed Ci 40e falls well within the lower price range. Should you buy a Ci 40c and later decide you want faster colour scanning, you can upgrade to the Ci 40e by email.

So what of the Ci 40's single roller transport system?

Compared to other scanners we have reviewed the Ci 40's single roller transport system did not provide any noticable advantages or disadvantages in scanned image quality.

Although the Ci 40 is specifically intended as a thin document scanner and is not recommended for drawings with hangers, we found that all our test drawings fitted through it and that its paper handling was easy to use and reliable. Its front paper exit was especially convenient in our small office where the scanner was placed on a worktop against a wall where there was no space for the document to hang down at the scanner rear after scanning.

In the pre-production unit we reviewed there was a question mark over the scanner's handling of some folded drawings. This appears to have been fixed in the production version. Nevertheless, we retain a concern about the Ci 40 in this regard.

While we did encounter some other issues, most were software teething problems which Colortrac is resolving. The exception was the scanner's accuracy. Across the scan, accuracy was just within tolerance on the pre-production model we reviewed and just outside on the production model. Along the scan, the accuracy was significantly out. While this is correctable by changing the scanner's motor speed, it should not be necessary to adjust it on a completely new scanner.

With the exception of this, the SmartLF Ci 40 is capable of good quality results. Scanners4CAD looks forward to following its future developments.

Our thanks to Declan Tyler and Peter de Winter Brown of Colortrac Limited.

Colortrac Limited:
www.colortrac.com

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