Image Access WideTEK CIS scanner Contex large format scanners

REVIEW:

Graphtec CSX300 large format scanner

... Continued. [Graphtec CSX300 - previous] [Graphtec CSX300 - next]

Scanning Master 21+ Software

The scanning software supplied with the Graphtec CSX300 is Scanning Master 21+ software. This software has many good, useful features but in our opinion it is badly let down by its Rocker Mode, the method it uses to allow users to select settings in "real time". This is especially critical to CAD users striving for sharp, clean images.

Useful features include ...

  • Ability to save in all standard file formats - TIFF, PDF, JPEG etc.

    Scanners4CAD do not recommend JPEG as a suitable format for saving CAD drawings. It is nice to note therefore that if you choose to scan a drawing in colour, Scanning Master defaults to uncompressed TIFF file format and NOT JPEG.

  • Automatic paper size detection.

  • A choice of ways the document can be handled after the scan. It can either be ejected from the back of the scanner, rewound to the front of the scanner, or held at the back of the scanner so it does not fall on the floor.

  • Ability to auto-rotate drawings by 90, 180 or 270 degrees.

    A0 / E-size drawings need to be scanned short side first and so usually need to be rotated by 90 degrees after scanning so they are the right way up. The rotate option allows this to be done automatically as part of the scan process.

    There are also post-scan "one click" icons that allow drawings to be rotated after scanning, in case you have scanned them the wrong way up.

  • Automatic deskew.

    Deskews drawings that have been scanned skew by angles up to 7.1 degrees. Note though that Scanners4CAD recommend that users try to scan drawings straight rather than deskewing them, as deskewing a scanned drawing degrades its quality.

  • Auto despeckling.

    Allows the user to choose a speckle size in pixels. All speckles smaller than this will be removed automatically. The downside of this feature is that you have to guess the speckle size by trial and error ... or use Rocker Mode (see below).

  • Scan settings can be saved with a user-defined name so you can use them again for similar drawings in the future (presets).

  • Continuous scanning mode with auto increment of file names. As soon as one drawing has been scanned, another can be loaded and scanned without the need to return to the scanner.

  • Post-scan crop tool.

  • Post-scan zoom and pan tools.


    Scanning Master's Zoom
    Window: As you pass your
    mouse over the drawing the
    part of the drawing at the
    cursor position is magnified
    and displayed in the Zoom
    Window.

    In our opinion it's important to be able to quickly zoom and pan around a scan to ensure that it's all there, that the correct scan settings have been used, that the text is legible, etc.

    Scanning Master has three good zoom / pan tools - a birds eye viewer, a loupe and a zoom window.

    However we felt that its zooming and panning ability could be improved by the addition of quick zoom and pan on the mouse scroll wheel as implemented in AutoCAD and many other products, and by the addition of a command where a window can be dragged around the area of interest which is then zoomed into.

Poor features include ...

  • The Scanning Master Help and PDF manual, which we found unhelpful.

  • The Quality setting.

    In our opinion, Graphtec should dispense with the High Speed and Normal quality modes and retain the High Quality mode only. During our use of the scanner it frequently reset itself to Normal mode and we had to be constantly vigilant to ensure that it was set to High Quality mode.

  • The Rocker Mode.

Rocker Mode (Aaaargh!)

Rocker Mode constantly rescans a selected part of a drawing while you change the scan settings, allowing you to see the effect of the settings as you change them. Once you are happy with the settings, you can rescan the whole drawing using them.

Scanning Master has three windows - Settings, Preview and Details. To use Rocker Mode, select the Prescan button in the Settings Window. The drawing is scanned and appears in the Preview Window.

There is a red rectangle in the Preview Window that reflects the size and shape of the Details Window. Click over the area of interest in the Preview Window to move the red rectangle there Then, select the Rocker Mode option in the Settings Window.

The scanner then begins to scan the selected bit of the drawing again and again while you change the settings, allowing you to see the effect of the changed settings in the Details Window after each re-scan.

There are several issues with this:

  • It is hit and miss getting the red rectangle over the area of the drawing you are interested in.

  • The Details Window is too small for many situations.

    We tried making the Details Window larger.

    The larger Details Window hid part of the prescan, so we were unable to select the part of the prescan we were interested in.

    When we tried to bring the Prescan Window to the front, the part that had been hidden was blank, so we were still unable to select our area of interest.

  • Every time the Rocker Mode rescans the area of interest, it displays it differently.

    Below are three screenshots of the Details Window. In the first one, the parallel rows of dashed lines look separated. In the second, they look joined. In the third they have almost disappeared out of the Details Window altogether!

    Note that the scan settings were the same for all three screenshots.

    It is very difficult to fine-tune settings under these circumstances.

  • Once you have selected the scan settings for part of a drawing you cannot easily zoom around the drawing to see how the settings have affected the scan quality in other areas.

  • Constantly rescanning a piece of a drawing cannot be good for it. We would be unwilling to subject a delicate drawing to this. Also, the constant backwards / forwards action must place extra strain on the scanner's motor.

That said, we were able to get some useful results with the Rocker Mode (for example, setting the Intensity Correction value in the drawing used in the Scanning in black and white section of this article), but it was a long and frustrating process. While the intention of the Rocker Mode is good, the implementation is poor.

[Graphtec CSX300 - previous] [Graphtec CSX300 - next]