ACS Scanning

The Aperture Card Scanners (ACS 4100 DSP and ACS 4200 DSP) has additional setup features, nudge functionality and Hollerith code retrieval functions.

Setup of ACS Paper Sizes

To specify the ACS setup click on the toolbar button or by choosing the menu item PreferencesèScanningèACS Setup.

In the list box you will find all US and Metric standard paper sizes, 9 user defined sizes labeled USER1 through USER9 and a special paper size labeled DEFAULT. For each paper size you can setup the x- and y-offset, the width and height, the reduction used when the card was created, the size code and the rotation.

In the dialog you can also set the auto size column, the oversize and the polarity. These 3 settings are however common for all paper sizes.

The x- and y-offsets are in most cases set to zero. If however some of your films have not been mounted 100% centered on the card, these settings can be used to get the right result. The width and height specifies the size of the original document. The standard paper sizes have already been initialized with the right settings and it is recommended not to change these settings. If your cards hold documents that do not comply with standard paper sizes, edit and use the USER1-9 paper sizes. The reduction combo box holds all the reduction factors used when creating aperture cards. The standard paper sizes are already set to the right values. If you have a document that does not comply, use the USER sizes. For a description on size code, see below. You can use the automatic rotation feature to get your scanned images saved in your preferred rotation. Most paper sizes do not need this feature as they are already mounted on the card the right way. Some paper sizes are however always rotated 90 or 270 degrees.

Many aperture cards are created with built in index information, by punching holes in the card. These holes are called Hollerith codes. Very often, when using Hollerith codes, the size of the original document is punched in one of the 80 available columns. This is useful, as IDEALScanOS, when such information is available, automatically can choose the right paper size parameters prior to scanning the card. This can highly speed up the scanning process. How to use this feature is described below.

The column used to store this paper size information in your environment is setup with the auto size column feature. The code used for each paper size is setup with the size code feature.

The oversize feature enables you to scan a little bit more of the card than specified with the width and height settings. This is useful is you want to the sure to capture the entire image, even if the film was not mounted 100% centered on the card.

The polarity feature is used when scanning cards that were created by making a copy of another card. Due to the way cards are copied, the original and the copy has different polarity. If the polarity is not set correctly, the resulting image will be mirrored.

Batch Scanning Cards based on Hollerith Codes

Before scanning cards you always have to setup the paper sizes. In particular the auto size column and the various size codes. Once you have confirmed that you have the correct settings you must enable auto sizing based on Hollerith codes by setting the Size feature in the “Scanner Settings” toolbar to “Auto”.

When a card is inserted in the scanner, the Hollerith codes are read. The character in the column set by the auto size column is extracted and compared to the size code for each paper size. If only 1 paper size has a matching size code, the setting from this paper size is used, when the card is scanned. If no matching size codes are found or if several matching size codes are found (your setup should prevent this from happening), then IDEALScanOS uses the setting from the “DEFAULT” paper size.

If you combine this scanning scenario with the auto save feature and a good file naming method (see Scan Station) you can easily establish a setup that will scan 50 cards unattended.

Using the Nudge Feature

As mentioned previously the film is not always mounted 100% centered on the card. If all cards have this problem the best way to solve it is by setting up the right x- and/or y-offset. On the other hand if only a few cards has this problem, this solution is not feasible.

The Nudge feature is better for this kind of situation as the nudge settings are reset to zero after each successful scan, that is, when the image is accepted and saved to disk. The nudge feature offsets the scanner for a single card.

If a film is not mounted correctly you will see this while scanning, as some of the image is missing. To start the nudging feature of IDEALScanOS select the button from the “ACS Options” toolbar or select the menu Scan/Prescan/CopyèNudge...

Vertical and horizontal nudge values are specified in inch or centimeters, depending on your regional sections.

If you enter a negative number the image is moved up and to the left, respectively. A positive number moves in the opposite directions.

Hollerith Codes

You can retrieve the Hollerith Code information into the Scan ID field and/or into the path of the file by using the following functions:

If you want to strip leading- and trailing blanks from the retrieved Hollerith string before saving to the Scan ID field and/or the file name path/file name you can write:

#strip(HOL)# where HOL is one of the above functions: @hol@, @hol(X)@ or @hol(X;Y)@

If you want to retract certain characters from the retrieved Hollerith string before saving to Scan ID field and/or the file name path/file name you can write:

#stripall(STR1;HOL)# where HOL is one of the above functions: @hol@, @hol(X)@ or @hol(X;Y)@ . STR1 contains the character(s) you want to be retracted from HOL before saving. If you for example write #stripall( ;@hol@)# the result will be the total Hollerith string without blanks (there is a blank after ( and before ;). If you write #stripall(ab c;@hol@)# the result will be the total Hollerith string without blanks, a, b and c's.

See also ACS Options Toolbar