fixscan

This program is really just a script that automates the use of several other software programs (convert and idl) to refine a set of scanned images and (optionally) combine the results into a single tall PNG image.

The refinement of the scanned images includes despeckling, reducing the number of colors to about 12 shades of gray, and cropping white edges. This usually makes the file much smaller, while leaving the image quality undiminished -- assuming it is a scan of handwriting on white paper. When images are concatenated into a single tall image, they are separated by some added white space and a thin blank line.

When PNG is fully supported by all C.U. web browsers, the script will be altered to produce a tall PNG image instead.

Usage is simple: type ``fixscan'' followed by the list of all image files to be worked on. The files must be listed in the order they should be concatenated. So, if the current directory contains these files:

	hwsoln4p1.png
	hwsoln4p2.gif
	hwsoln5p1.tif
	hwsoln5p2.gif
	hwsoln5p3.png
and you want to combine the three ``homework 5'' pages into one image, type the command

amath>  fixscan hwsoln5p1.tif hwsoln5p2.gif hwsoln5p3.png

   or

amath>  fixscan hwsoln5*
This program first checks that all the named files exist and are valid image files. Then it asks if you want them merged into one file or left separate. Finally, it produces one or more files named ``ScanImg**.png''; it is up to you to rename them and move them to where they are needed.

SAMPLE

6 scanned pages were combined into a single tall PNG image:
amath> fixscan hw2*.png

filebytespixel dimensions
hw2p1.png 19982 634×812
hw2p2.png 29104 637×814
hw2p3.png 33461 637×818
hw2p4.png 30675 637×814
hw2p5.png 62820 637×820
hw2p6.png 45602 637×820
total size
of 6 files:		221644
combined image
ScanImg99.png
made by
fixscan 		107829 637×4901