Kathleen - Welcome to our Focus Session on the topic of Scanners
Sandy/K/Mo - I have one.. use it all the time.. but wondering what else I can do with it
Sandy/K/Mo - I made the kids bookmarks for the 100th day using my scanner and I took pictures of all the different grades and we used them as wallpaper in the computer lab at school
Mary - What do we want to start with? Are there any questions?
Bob - There are apparently many ways to send pix. Am I right?
Bob - I have scanned pictures and want to send them email, but am having hard time to do it!
Mary - For Email and Web work, use gif or jpeg, other formats are too bulky for eletronic sending
Grace/IL - I don't know how to get the scanned picture into e-mail. Do I have to put it in a Word document first?
Mary - Grace, no, you don't have to put it in a doc first. Just save it as a jpg, then attach it in an email message
Grace/IL - Ignorance reigns. Where do I find jpg?
Mary - Grace, jpg should be one of your options when you use the "Save As" command
Bob - Thanks ... that will help!
n2kids - Do scanners have an advantage over digital cameras? Would a school need both?
Mary - Scanners have one big advantage, they can work with lots of different media, not just photos
Chris?MD *1* - Scanners can scan anything, but cameras only take pictures. I think that is it.
Addie k/mo - i have both a scanner and a dig cam. personally i like my dig cam better because you dont have to get photos developed, but a scanner is better if you are mostly using existing photos or documents
n2kids - Like what, Mary?
Sandy/K/Mo - scanner lets you use others pictures too
Addie k/mo - it just all depends on what you are going to use it for, but if you are only going to have one a scanner does more
Mary - You can scan line drawings, worksheet type pictures, make your own books and worksheets. Scan forms ...lots of stuff
Mary - One very usfull tool is to scan hard copies of text, instead of retyping. You scan the text as OCR which converts it into editable text
Debbie - I can't get my text scanned in and open it to edit
Debbie - When I scan in the OCR and pull the text up in Word97 it is not print but xxxoooxxxooo
Mary - Debbie, when it is first scanned, save it as plain text, then Open Word and then open the doc, through your Word File menu
Debbie - Done it and still no luck
Mary - Debbie, it should work - be sure that you save the file as "Simple Text" - Mac, Text (.txt) - PC, and then open Word, next use the File Menu in Word to open this file.
Sarahw/2/TX - LOL! Kat! I have trouble getting a good pix out of my scanner. It may be the software (or the operator!)
Bob - Is that (OCR) hard to use?
Addie k/mo - what resolution is your scanner, sarah?
Sandy/K/Mo - I know on my scanner.. when it is a paper/typing you have to change to gray or black/white
Sarahw/2/TX - addie-- I think we may have unearthed my problem--my answer: HUH??
Addie k/mo - the higher the resolution, the clearer your photos. mine scans in different resolutions, depending on the purpose for the pix and how big of files you want
Sarahw/2/TX - actually I can often pull the picture up to the screen--it is trying to do anything with it and have it look ok that is causing problems. That is why I think it may be the software. It is not very intuitive. PhotoMagic - Photo Magic's - Newsletter! - PHOTOMAGIC - photo, mugs, mousepad, t-shirt, transfer, quilt
Janand4 - I can send drawings and text found out how this week. Trick is to scan in lower resolution about 77
Tracy - I don't know a lot either but I just got my own scanner for my classroom. In our school that's a real treat. I know the basics and have a few ideas I'd like to try.
Janand4 - On mine I drag my scanned document to email and send
Mary - All you can do with a camera is take pictures. I do that for the Web. I don't like to use all the printer ink for hard copies, but I know many who do
Addie k/mo - i am not familiar with photo magic. i have ulead photo impact, kodak live pix, and i can scan into microsoft publisher 97 [PC Magazine -- Graphics Software (Entry-Level Image-Editing Tools)]
Kathleen - When I scanned something (once a long, long time ago) it took forever to get it from the scanner onto the screen, real long. How long should it take??
Mary - Kathleen, sounds like you had your resolution set TOO high, try it again and watch your settings
Addie k/mo - kat, im not sure, mine doesnt take over a couple of minutes
Kathleen - addie, then I am doing something wrong. Do YOU make house calls?
Addie k/mo - sorry, not clear in conn!!!! i think that mary is right about your resolution. i had trouble with scanning in too high of resolution and created HUGE files and then they wouldnt email very well!!!
Kathleen - Mary, my scanner is a UMAX astra 600S mean anything to you?
Kathleen - Is the first step always selecting 'imaging' from my windows choices?
Kathleen - I think I have 2..vistascan and adobe photo deluxe - Adobe PhotoDeluxe
Sandy/K/Mo - My scanned pictures go to photo paint then I can open in corel and do whatever with them
Bob - Photo Plus .............. Mr. Photo ..... they're two of them!
Sarahw/2/TX - with my dig camera I got adobe photo deluxe--that seems a little better, I 've gone to play with the camera more so haven't done as much with the scanner
Tracy - We use our digicam to add photos of the kids to books they publish in hyperstudio.
Bob - Mary: Can you do some REALLY BASIC instructions for us 'scanner virgins'? Things like 'how to' stuff?
Kathleen - yes, Mary, is there some similarity in the basics?

A few scanning tips - scanner basics 101

Janand4 - Are we assuming all scanners work alike here?
Janand4 - Do they?
Mary - All scanners do work basically the same - flatbed scanners - it's the software that will be different
Tracy - n2kids, well for starters, our copier is always down. this is more practical than creative, but when I want to copy something from mailbox magazine or something like that, i can scan a hard copy then copy it on the risograph.
Bob - One problem I have is that when I send a picture to someone via email the picture is HUGE -- I mean so HUGE they can't see the whole thing on the screen. WHY?
Mary - Bob, scan at a lower resolution - (72 -90) and then use some image editing software to touch it up
Mary - Like CorelDRAW 8 - The Choice of Professionals http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/draw8/index.htm
Mary - or Paint Shop Pro 5 Product Information http://www.jasc.com/psp5.html
Mary - or Adobe Photoshop 5.0 http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/photoshop/main.html
Sandy/K/Mo - thats what I have.. Corel Draw.. but son is the prof.. not me :-)
maggie - I use both scanners and digital cameras. The best software I've found for sending email photos is photo deluxe.
Janand4 - Thanks Mary. I have Colordesk Photo, Image Pals, that came with my scanner
Janand4 - If you buy a program separate does it automatically associate itself with the scanner hooked up?
Mary - Not necessarily, you have to check for compatibility - unless your really know what you're doing, it's best to stick with the scanner's manufactures' recommendations - this will be the software that they include with the purchase.
Janand4 - How do you reduce the size of something you are going to email?
luella - How do you get the photo to be regular size in an e-mail?
Mary - Iuella, you have to edit it if you have scanned it too big
Mary - What editing software do you have?
luella - When I scan the picture, I have chosen a small size. It still scans big. Why?
Mary - You have your resolution set too high - try 72 - 90, that's good for digital stuff like email and web pages, for some hard copy stuff you can play with higher resolutions, but it's probably not going to need to be higher, for hard copies you'll be saving the scan in a different format, like pic or tiff or bmp
maggie - luella, i always use photo deluxe; I then resize the picture and I always have good luck.
Maggie - Louella, I use the scanner software and then switch to p deluxe; it has a real good section about sending over the Internet. In this section you can resize as well as reduce to 77K for internet stuff.
Bob - How can one tell if it is scanned too big!????
Mary - Bob, look at your setting before you scan. It's best to scan it right in the first place, then you don't have to do that much after
Kathleen - n2, you should visit Mary's site
n2kids - Kathleen, what's the address?
Mary - CVES http://connwww.iu5.org/cvelem/
Addie k/mo - one neat thing i did with my scanner is that we made a quilt. each child drew a pix of themselves on a half sheet of paper. i resized them to fit four to an 8x11 sheet and added a cute border to each one. printed it on tshirt transfer paper and ironed them onto muslin.
Chris?MD *1* - Addie, that is a neat idea. If I get a scanner, I will try it.
Addie k/mo - i used the scanner to put photos in my class newsletter too, but now that i bought the dig cam it lends itself better to that
Sylvia/CA - Addie, for the t-shirt... how many transfers per page?
Addie k/mo - i put four pix per page because the transfer paper is expensive. if you were making a tshirt you could probably only get one pix per page, maybe two if they were kidsized
Tracy - Piggy-Backing on Addie's quilt idea. Last year my students particpated in an internet project about Eric Carle books. Each class had to compile a graph of their favorites, and vote on one to add to the project quilt. The organizing teacher collected these to make an Eric Carle quilt. It would have been neat to take a picture of it and scan it and email to all participants.
Sandy/K/Mo - Tracy that's a neat project..
Addie k/mo - that is neat, tracy!
Sylvia/CA - Tracy, do you happen to have the URL of the quilt internet project?
Tracy - I do not have it at home but have it in my files at school. Can I send it to you? The projects are ongoing however that particular one is over. I will probably initiate something similar this spring.

Caterpillar Exchange

Janand4 - I can reduce the size of document in TIFF format but no one can open. How do reduce in JPEG???
Mary - Janan, you have to save the picture as a jpg and then you have to use some editing software to resize it, What software do you have?
jackie - I am going to take pics of my Sp. Ed kids and make them each a calendar for Xmas
Sandy/K/Mo - I wish that we had a list of projects listed in just one place.. so hard to find them all

Buy this book, it has a whole chapter about Projects and lots more - The Busy Educator's Guide to the World Wide Web.

Janand4 - I HAVE CANON CREATIVE 3 CD AND PRINT ARTIST 4.0 PLATINUM DO THESE HAVE CAPABILITY TO RESIZE MY JPG DOCUMENT?
Janand4 - I HAVE COLORDESK PHOTO WILL THAT WORK?
Janand4 - ON MY SCANNER I CAN DRAG DOCUMENT DOWN TO DIFFERENT PROGRAMS. EACH ONE SAYS WHAT IT WILL CONVERT TO. YOU ARE NOT ASKED AFTER YOU DRAG DOWN
Janand4 - I HAVE KAI'S POWER GOO SE
Janand4 - IHAVE PHOTO EXPRESS!!!! IS THAT ONE YOU MENTIONED?????
Addie - janand4 it should work
Janand4 - MY SCANNER IS IMAGEREADER ISA IS RIGHT AT $100 AND VERY EASY TO USE
Mary - Janan, I'm not familiar with them, look through their menus, One of them should have the tools needed, if these programs came with your scanner, they'll have a way to resize.
Maggie - Jpg should be listed as an option when you Save As
Sandy/K/Mo - on my scanner you have to click on choices for jpeg..
Sylvia/CA - Mary, since I came in late, I hesitate to ask... but I'm wondering if you or anyone else recommmended some scanner models... especially for a rookie, like me!
Mary - Have a look at this -  http://www.buyerszone.com/scanner/index.html
Sylvia/CA - i'm interested in purchasing a scanner as well as a digital camera... Addie inspired me with hers in Cherokee...
Addie - dont know how much you want to spend, sylvia, but a sony maciva is a good on and it has a flash and saves to disk....mine was about half the price, but doesnt have either of those options
Sylvia/CA - Addie, I"m willing to spend as long as it will serve me well!!
Addie - a sony maciva is about 600 dollars...but it saves 44 pix to each disk...big advantage, you can use it on any computer. mine has a cord and has to have certain software to retrive pix, so i can only use it on my home puter
Luella - Ihave PHoto Plus , I think
Sandy/K/Mo - I have photo plus too
Sandy/K/Mo - Luella... there is place that has %.. can chg. it there.. but I usually take it to Corel so I can adjust color
Mary - Luella, look through the menus, you should find a way to resize - I use PhotoShop and Corel Draw, so I can't help you specifically
Laura/TN - I love my scanner! I use it daily!
Sandy/K/Mo - I have a "Sam's" special Mustek and it works great
n2kids - Laura what types of things do you do with it?
Tracy - Laura what kinds of things do you do with it?
Laura/TN - Children's books (classbooks), postcards, T-shirts, parent letters, class porojects, etc.
Laura/TN - I have ColorIt software on with my scanner. Does anyone use this software?
Mary - I can oly help with PhotoShop and CorelDraw - PhotoPaint, sorry
Addie - my scanner is a microtek...it is okay, but it has this ideosyncracy that it has to be powered on before you turn on the puter....that is aggrivating if you decide to scan something on the spur of the moment and you have to save and shut everything down, turn on the scanner and turn the puter back on
Bob - Yes .... my scanport also requires to be turned on prior to computer!!!!
Laura/TN - I am presenting at the Tenn Technology Conference in November.
Kathleen - Laura, would you e-mail me about that conference?
Sandy/K/Mo - Laura... what are you going to do?
Laura/TN - The title of my session is "Scan Wizard Making Creative Classroom Projects"
Sandy/K/Mo - cool... we need to hear more.. post it please :-)
Laura/TN - Any one in Nashville on Nov.17 my session is at 1:00 at the Opryland Hotel!
Grace/IL - I have an HP 5100Cse. Just got a new HP722 printer and there was a big rebate for getting the two.
Tracy - Here's a great paper-saving tip. Rather than giving each student a xeroxed copy of an activity or assignment you can scan it and display it on a large screen monitor or television if you have a presentation system. We do this often in our building to conserve paper and copier maintenance.
Addie - another neat thing i did with my scanner is that i took old baby pix and growing up pix of my son and created a calendar for the grandparents for christmas
recovery teacher - i have a visioneerand don't know much about it Help!!!!
Janand4 - So have I learned that if you want to reduce the size of a photo you save it to hard drive and then open it up in a program that will resize it like photo express?
Mary - Yes, Janand4
Janand4 - Whew!!!! thanks!
Janand4 - My next question is how do i type on a form that i have scanned?
Mary - Jan, That's a tricky one - The easiest way to do that is again in a good editing software program like PhotoShop
Mary - ClarisWorks Draw is also good for doing that
recovery teacher - What do I need to be able to scan a form and fill it in
Mary - Recovery, scan your form, then open it in a program that allows you to draw text boxes anywhere you please, like PhotoShop or ClarisWorks - the Draw component
Addie - janand4 you would have to use your OCR software that probably came with your scanner
Janand4 - Will it matter about the format i drag it down to addie?
Laura/TN - Janand you should have a tool bar that allows you to select word process menu.
Addie - janand4, i dont understand your question
Janand4 - I do Laura??? I will have to look again not seen that yet
Addie - so, mary does photoshop do OCR too???
Mary - OCR = Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - The function of OCR Software is to improve the scanning process with the transfer of hard copy documents into workable electronic text. This works with your Scanner. The outcome is plain text (Simple text) non formatted text. Once you had the document scanned and saved as a text file you can then open it through almost any program that handles text and then format it in whatever way you like. PhotoShop won't open it but you can copy and paste it into a new PSD file, if you want, but this is not what Janand4 and Recovery want. They want to scan a form which they will have to save as an image because they don't want to lose the formatted view. They then need to open this image up in a program that in capable of "writing" on the image. This can be done in most Paint programs.
Sylvia/CA - Mary... guess this should have been more formal...another question coming your way...
Sylvia/CA - When I finally get a new scanner out of the box, are they hard to learn how to use?
Mary - I didn't think so, but apparently it is for some :)
Tracy - Mary, what resources did you use to learn?
Mary - Tracy I have many books and I read the web! I'll post some good sites for Scanning, here they come -
Mary - A few scanning tips - scanner basics 101 http://www.scantips.com/
Mary - Other Scanning Resources & Information http://www.li.net/~j4dice/geninfo.html
Mary - PIX - Scanning Tips Making Your Scanner a Great Design and Production Tool http://www.pdn-pix.com/scanner.html
Mary - Scanning Tips, Revisited http://www.win95mag.com/12_96/html/scanner_follow.html
Mary - The Scanning FAQ - Intro Page http://www.infomedia.net/scan/
Janand4 - My recommedation if if you buy a scanner buy one with alot of software included with it and with a book that tells about the software. My problem is i have software included but no instructions
Addie - i bought my scanner at a puter store and they showed me how to hook it up, installed the softward and showed me how to use it...probably a little more expensive, but worth it to me
Sandy/K/Mo - Jana.. mine didn't come with a lot of instructions either.
Grace/IL - Sylvia, I would have thrown mine out right away if Hubby hadn't rescue me. It didn't want to install but now all seems to be going well.
Tracy - Jan, is there online help for the software included?
Laura/TN - I recommend Color it software, because you can scan a black and white picture and then "Paint it" on the computer!
Addie - mary is there any advantage to whether or not the scanner plugs into the printer port or has its own port??? mine has its own, but i notice that the ones they sell at sam's plug in through the printer port
Addie - my ulead photo image does the painting thing too. my brother emailed me a pix of my niece, so i painted her up like a clown and sent it back to him
Sandy/K/Mo - addie mine goes into its own port
Tracy - Addie, that's really cute!
Sandy/K/Mo - That' s where coral draw comes in.. chaning pictures.
Addie - that program has options to paint pix like watercolor and oil, so i want to experiment with some black and whites and paint them like those cute old fashioned kids
Grace/IL - Mary, I found this helpful. Still all Greek but one thing at a time.
Sylvia/CA - Mary, I got lots of info, too! Just need to get me a scanner!! LOL...minor detail!
Mary - Sylvia, get one they're great!
Sylvia/CA - Thanks to ALL for the tips and recommendations!!
Bob R/CA - Sylvia, one of the comp chains had one for like $50 - can you believe it? I can get details if you like
Bob R/CA - I have one, I hate it. I've never been happy with a scanner
Kathleen - Mary, thank you for sharing your expertise and maintaining your dignity, more than I can say for some of us;-)
Sylvia/CA - yeah, Bob! I want something GOOD!! something that will last!
Mary - I love my HP Scan Jet 5P - they don't make them any more, but it's a great machine. The newer ones are even better - price range $200.00 - $500.00
Shelly/CA - Do they take a lot of your memory or hard drive?
Bob R/CA - scanners are a pain, IMO, they need to be on when you start the cpu, they are a pain to calibrate, etc etc
Kathleen - What do you mean, they have to be on when you start the CPU?
Bob R/CA - with NT/95, the scanner needs to be on when you start the cpu, you can't start it later or reconnect it once you have loaded the OS
Sylvia/CA - OH BOB!!!! YOU ruined it! I was JUST feeling optimistic!!.... *dread!*
Terry - I just logged on. Did I miss lots of good information about purchasing a scanner? I would like to buy one , but I don't have any idea about cost or features
Bob R/CA - well, they are not insurmaountable problems, but they make a scanner ... not one of my favorite peripherals
Bob R/CA - (althgouh I could not live without mine)
Kathleen - So, I should turn the scanner on before I turn on the computer?
Grace/IL - Mine is just all hooked together. The printer, I think, feeds through the scanner. Just turn on the computer and the printer and everything works. Don't worry, Sylvia!
Mary - Just have it go on when you hit your master switch, I don't find it to be a problem, but then I'm easy :-\
Bob R/CA - Terry, I recommend you get a flatbed single pass scanner, try to get 30 bits or better if you can, and look for a really good photo program with it - Photoshop if you can
Kathleen - What is the simplest scanner software, most user friendly?
Mary - HP used to include PhotoShop LE with their scanners
Mary - Kathleen, Paper Port is easy, but you should use what your scanner's manufacturer recommends for best compatibility
Terry - Bob, Can you give me an idea about cost? I realize that it probably varies with features. Also are there any particular brands you would suggest?
Bob R/CA - I bought mine about a year ago, they must be way down by now. I'd guess a good 30 bit or better scanner lists starting at 100 or sio - Mary?
Mary - 200 - 500 - I still think that you get what you pay for. Prices are coming down like everything else - it makes me sick to look, I paid 450 for mine two years ago and it was mid-range
Kathleen - Oh, boy I think I paid about 179 for mine :-/
Bob R/CA - well, you do get what you pay for to a large extent. If you can afford the HP name, that's always a winner
Kathleen - Mary, you make it sound so simple:-)
Kathleen - has anyone ever heard of UMAX Astra 600S??
Bob R/CA - the last thing you want is a cheap scanner that "drops lines" and leaves entire lines of the image out, or a scanner that can't handle poor contracts, or is out of focus - yikes!
Kathleen - oh, Mary, 450, yikes
Shelly/CA - I saw one at Costco for about $80.
recovery teacher - Thanks Mary! Who markets Photo Shop?/ Cost?/
Mary - Adobe PhotoShop - around $600
Bob R/CA - I paid $500 for mine two about two yeas ago (a Mac one) but it came with the full version of Photoshop - for me, that was an excellent purchase :o)
Shelly/CA - I think it was with a rebate.
Tyfyka - Neither, have I. I know that the HP's are supposed to be the best around and the prices are now affordable!
Kathleen - I wish someone had heard of UMAX Astra 600S :-/
Bob R/CA - shelly, check on-line for consumer reports for that model before you drop good money after bad
Mary - That's why I went with HP, they seem to be pretty good and are getting better, but there are others, check with Consumers Report, they'll give you some good tips
Shelly/CA - good idea Bob!
Bob R/CA - UMAX is a common name Kat
Kathleen - common name, is that good? or just, well, common?
Mary - Kathleen, just sit down some day and read the menus in the software that came with your scanner, you'll learn how to work in in no time
Kathleen - Where would I find menus in the software??
Bob R/CA - that's how I arrived at the brand name I have, it's an Acer 610plus or something, 30 bits, single pass (I think???) and gets good contrast on even light pictures. I new all this even beforehand because I read several comparitive test articles on the web first
Mary - Good night all

 
 

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