Polaroid PolaColor Insight User Manual
Polaroid
PolaColor Insight Software
User’s Guide for Power Macintosh and
Windows applications
© Copyright Polaroid Corporation 1999.
“Polaroid”, “SprintScan”, “PolaColor” and “IQA” are trademarks of
Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.
All other product names may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.
All rights reserved.
Ver 3 1/18/99
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 7
Features 8
Compatible scanners 8
What you can scan 8
Output file choices 8
Preview scan 9
Final scan 10
Saving scan settings 10
System requirements 11
Power Macintosh systems 11
PC systems 11
How to use this manual 12
Scanner connection and setup instructions 13
Getting assistance 13
2 Quick start 14
Typical PolaColor Insight software workflow 14
Typical scanning steps 14
2
3 PolaColor Insight basics 16
Navigating in the PolaColor Insight window 16
Menus 19
File menu 20
Edit menu 21
View menu 21
Scanner menu 22
Scripting menu 22
Help menu 22
Apple menu 23
Context menus 24
Macintosh context menus 24
PC context menus 25
Toolbar buttons 25
Status Bar 26
Help Features 26
4 Getting started 27
Starting the PolaColor Insight program 27
Choosing a scanner 28
Naming a job 29
3
4 Getting started (continued)
Saving and using job settings 30
Choosing settings for first-time use 30
Creating new default job settings 31
Exporting current job settings for later use 31
Importing job settings 32
Changing preferences 33
5 Previewing your scan 35
Preview overview 35
Choosing film and monitor profiles 36
Doing a preview scan 36
Flipping the picture 37
Rotating the picture 37
Cropping the preview 38
6 Correcting and enhancing the image 41
Correction overview 41
Using split view 42
Zooming and panning 43
Zooming in 44
Zooming out 44
Panning 44
Automatically adjusting lightness 45
4
6 Correcting and enhancing the image (continued)
Manually adjusting lightness 45
Enhancing detail in light and dark areas 46
Manually adjusting contrast 47
Automatically removing color cast 47
Removing color cast with the gray eyedropper 48
Manually adjusting color balance 50
Adjusting color saturation 51
Converting a color image to black-and-white 52
Defining a whitepoint or blackpoint 52
Defining the whitepoint 53
Defining the blackpoint 54
Adjusting highlights, midtones or shadows with tone
curves 54
About tone curves 55
Adjusting the tone curves 56
Adjusting sharpness 57
Reducing dust spots 58
7 Performing the final scan 59
Final scan overview 59
Final scan tips 60
Choosing an image resolution 60
5
7 Performing the final scan (continued)
Choosing scanning quality 61
Choosing units of measure 62
Scaling the image 62
Cropping the final scan 63
Using fixed size output 64
Doing the final scan 64
Ejecting the film carrier 65
8 Scanning and printing tips 66
Scanning tips 66
Choosing the correct film and display profiles 66
Adjusting lightness first 67
Trying all color cast removal tools 67
Scanning black and white slides 67
Printing tip 68
Batch scanning (Macintosh only) 68
Setting up for batch scanning 68
Performing a batch scan 69
Using the Photoshop plug-in (Macintosh only) 70
Troubleshooting SCSI problems 70
Software license agreement 71
6
1 Introduction
PolaColor Insight is a simple software program designed for use with all Polaroid
SprintScan 35, 45 and 4000 film scanner models. With PolaColor Insight software,
you scan a positive or negative transparency (color slide, color negative, black-andwhite slide, black-and-white negative). Then you preview, enhance, and save your
acquired picture. The automatic and custom picture correction tools are easy to learn
even if you have no image editing or color processing experience.
After you process a picture with PolaColor Insight software, you can work with the
image file using a photo editor like Adobe Photoshop, or a desktop publishing or
graphic design tool. You can place pictures in documents, newsletters, and reports for
home and office activities. You also can create image files with sharp and accurate
colors for display on a monitor as a screen-saver or a presentation, or as a component
of a page on the World Wide Web.
PolaColor Insight software uses Polaroid’s Image Quality Assured (IQA) technology
to produce consistently superior results. IQA applies correction factors for matching
the color characteristics of your monitor, and it also analyzes and adjusts each picture
for optimum brightness and highlight and shadow detail. In addition, PolaColor
Insight can improve the overall color tint of your picture.
7
Features
PolaColor Insight software provides a range of features for basic and advanced scanning tasks.
Compatible scanners
Polaroid PolaColor Insight software is compatible with all Polaroid SprintScan 35, 45
and 4000 film scanner models.
What you can scan
PolaColor Insight software scans the following image media:
• Color slides
• Color negatives
• Black-and-white negatives
• Black-and-white slides (positives)
Output file choices
With PolaColor Insight software, you can save your images in these file formats:
PolaColor Insight
for Macintosh
• TIFF
• PSD
• JPEG
In any of these formats, you can save images as full 24-bit color depth or 8-bit grayscale.
PolaColor Insight
for Windows
• TIFF
• BMP
8
Preview scan
The preview crop box function provides great flexibility for preview scans. You can
work with the entire original image, or choose any rectangular portion of the original
image for previewing and processing.
You can also flip the picture side-to-side to create a mirror effect for any orientation
and rotate the image to any 90 degree compass point.
Each automatic image adjustment tool turns on or off with a single click. You can correct the exposure, enhance the detail in shadows and highlights, and remove an overall
tint, or color cast, from the picture.
The manual image adjustment tools enable you to control the extent of the lightness,
contrast, saturation, color cast removal, sharpening and dust reduction. You can create
custom effects and also convert an image to grayscale. You can use the manual adjustment tools in place of the automatic tools or in combination with them.
The split view feature lets you make dynamic updates to the image and see the before
and after effects as you apply changes. You can zoom and pan the image to make
enhancements with greater precision.
9
Final scan
The scan crop box lets you select an area of interest from the corrected image for the
final scan. You can enlarge or reduce the image to almost any percentage of its original size or you can have PolaColor Insight software automatically scale a selected
area to height and width dimensions you specify.
Depending on your requirements, you can prepare the image for low , medium, or high
quality printing on your printer. To prepare the image for on-screen viewing, you can
specify the size of the image in pixels.
Saving scan settings
As a convenience, you can save the settings from a scanning job and use them again
for a new job using the same original or others like it. You can also experiment with
different graphics effect, sizes, and resolutions and create and save variations of an
image file from the same original.
10
System requirements
Power Macintosh systems
• A Power Macintosh family computer or compatible, with a PowerPC processor and
16 megabytes (MB) of RAM (32 MB recommended).
• Apple system software version 7.5.3 or later.
• Appearance Manager software version 1.0.2 or later.
• A video adapter and monitor capable of displaying thousands of colors, minimum.
24-bit color (16.7 million colors) is recommended for optimal display of scanned pictures.
PolaColor Insight software runs on systems with adapters and monitors with
Note:
less color capability, but pictures displayed on the monitor may not be satisfactory.
PC systems
• An IBM PC or compatible, with at least a 66-MHz Pentium-class processor and 24
megabytes (MB) of RAM (32 MB recommended).
• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows NT (version 4 or later), or Windows 98 operating
system.
• An ASPI-compliant SCSI adapter with the appropriate Windows 95 or Windows NT
drivers.
• A video adapter and monitor capable of displaying 24-bit color (16.7 million colors)
is recommended for optimal display of scanned pictures.
PolaColor Insight software runs on systems with adapters and monitors with
Note:
less color capability, but pictures displayed on the monitor may not be satisfactory.
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How to use this manual
This user's guide provides instructions for using PolaColor Insight on a Power Macintosh computer or an IBM PC (or compatible). You can view the manual and navigate
through it on your computer screen using Adobe Acrobat Reader, or you can use
Acrobat Reader to print a copy for guidance while you are running the PolaColor
Insight program.
This guide contains the following chapters:
1 Introduction Overview of features and capabilities of PolaColor Insight software,
system requirements, instructions for obtaining technical support, and other general
information.
2 Quick start Brief instructions in outline form for experienced scanner-users.
3 PolaColor Insight basics Introductory information about PolaColor Insight naviga-
tion, menus, controls and on-line help features.
4 Getting started Instructions for starting PolaColor Insight and setting up a scanning
job.
5 Pre viewing y our scan Instructions for performing a preview scan, then orienting and
cropping the preview scan for further processing.
6 Correct ing and enhancing the image Procedures for adjusting and optimizing
image tone, color, sharpness and other characteristics.
7 Performing the final scan Steps for performing the final scan to save your enhanced
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picture as an image file for viewing, printing or importing into other applications.
8 Scanning and printing tips Information that will help you obtain the best results
with PolaColor Insight software.
Scanner connection and setup instructions
For instructions on connecting the SprintScan scanner to your computer and performing other hardware setup and maintenance tasks, refer to the appropriate SprintScan
hardware manual on your SprintScan installation CD.
Getting assistance
For customer support from within the U.S.A., call 1-800-432-5355, Monday through
Friday , 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.(Eastern time), or fax to: 781-386-9688. You can also write to
Polaroid National Technical Support Operations, 201 Burlington Rd. 1-2A, Bedford,
MA, 01730.
In Canada, call 1-800-268-6970., or fax to: 416-675-3228. You can also write to
Polaroid Canada, 350 Carlingview Dr., Toronto, Ontario M9W 5G6.
For the latest product information, updates and bulletins, access the Polaroid World
Wide Web site at http://www.polaroid.com. You can also submit technical questions
via electronic mail by clicking Customer Support on the Polaroid Web page.
13
2 Quick start
Typical PolaColor Insight software workflow
Using PolaColor Insight to scan and enhance images usually includes these operations:
Starting and setting up the PolaColor Insight program.
1
Performing a preview scan.
2
Correcting and enhancing the image.
3
Performing the final scan.
4
See the following section for a more detailed outline of scanning steps.
Typical scanning steps
This section provides a typical sequence for scanning with the PolaColor Insight program. On some jobs, you may not perform every step listed here.
Start and set up the PolaColor Insight program:
1
Start the PolaColor Insight program (page 27).
a
Choose a scanner, if needed (page 28).
b
Name the current job (page 29).
c
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Choose program preferences (page 33).
d
Perform a preview scan:
2
Choose your film and monitor profiles (page 36).
a
Preview the image (page 36).
b
Rotate, flip or crop the preview image (page 37).
c
Correct and enhance the image (page 41).
3
Perform the final scan:
4
Determine the final scanning resolution and quality (page 60).
a
Set the output size, scaling and cropping (page 62).
b
Perform the final scan to create an output file (page 64).
c
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3 PolaColor Insight basics
Navigating in the PolaColor Insight window
Macintosh window
a
c
g
d
e
f
Note: Descriptions of these window components begin on page 17.
h
16
PC window
a
b
c
d
e
f
Menus The PolaColor Insight menu bar includes menus for choosing commands and
a
functions: File, Edit, View (PC only), Scanner, Scripting (Macintosh only), and Help.
See Menus on page 19 for more detailed information.
Toolbar (PC systems only) The toolbar contains shortcut buttons that correspond to
b
menu options for the most frequently used tasks. To see a description of any shortcut
button, point to the button with the mouse.
g
h
17
Tabs Six tabs display these PolaColor Insight software panels:
c
Preview For capturing and orienting a preview image before proceeding to the
other panels for enhancement and final scanning.
Tone For adjusting image brightness and contrast.
Color For adjusting the color qualities of the image.
Curves For defining a whitepoint or blackpoint, or for adjusting highlights, mid-
tones or shadows with tone curves.
Sharpness For enhancing sharpness and reducing dust spots and small specks.
Scan For choosing resolution, size and other attributes of the final image, and for
initiating the final scan.
Image display area The image display area is the portion of the panel where the
d
scanned image appears during preview, enhancement, and final scanning operations.
Context menus Context menus provide a con v enient way to access some commands.
e
See Context menus on page 24 for more information.
Status bar The status bar at the bottom of the window displays information about the
f
current activity on each panel.
Title bar The title bar at the top of the window displays the default job name (Unti-
g
tled n) each time you start a new job. The job name is refreshed on the window when
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Menus
you name or rename the job with the Name Job command. It also shows the viewing
scale factor for each image window.
Command area The command area on the right-hand side is used to enter specific
h
instructions for preview, correction, and scanning operations.
The PolaColor Insight menu bar includes these menus:
File For naming jobs and importing and exporting settings.
Edit For canceling actions, resetting controls and changing program preferences.
View For controlling viewing options (PC systems only).
Scanner For selecting the active scanner. Also for ejecting the film carrier from the
SprintScan 4000 scanner.
Scripting For initiating command sequences scripted with AppleScript (Macintosh
systems only).
Help For displaying on-line help, choosing help options, and (on PC systems only)
displaying information about SCSI connections and your version of PolaColor Insight
software. (This menu may be labeled with a question mark on some Macintosh systems.)
Apple menu For displaying information about SCSI connections and your versions
of PolaColor Insight software and scanner firmware (Macintosh systems only).
See the following sections for more detailed information about each menu.
19
File menu
Name Job Displays a dialog box to let you specify an optional name for the current
job. This name will be the default file name prefix when you create a TIFF, JPEG or
PSD image output file (Macintosh), or a .TIF or .BMP image output file (PC).
Import Settings Opens a previously saved settings file and applies predetermined
attributes to the current scan job.
Export Settings Saves the attributes of the current scan job in the currently open settings file.
Export Settings As (PC systems only) Saves the attributes for the current scan job as
a new settings file.
Export Settings As Default (PC systems only) Saves the attributes for the current
scan job as the default settings file. These settings will be take effect whenever you
start the PolaColor Insight program.
Recently Used Files (PC systems only) Implements the settings from the BSF file
selected from the list. (The list contains the four most recently saved settings files.)
Note: This list is not visible until you export settings files.
Quit (Macintosh) or Exit (PC) Quits or exits from the PolaColor Insight application
and returns to the desktop.
20
Edit menu
Undo Cancels the previous image correction command.
Redo Restores the image correction cancelled by the previous undo command.
Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, Select All (Macintosh systems only) For editing text in
fields on the Scan panel.
Reset All Image Correction Tools Sets all image correction tools to their neutral
positions.
Save Settings As Default (Macintosh systems only) Saves the attributes for the cur-
rent scan job as the default settings file. These settings will be take effect whenever
you start the PolaColor Insight program.
Preferences Displays a dialog box for adjusting preview resolution, choosing initial
image correction settings, enabling messages, and choosing other program settings.
View menu
The View menu appears on PC systems only.
Toolbar Shows or hides the toolbar.
Status Bar Shows or hides the status bar.
Menu Buttons Shows or hides the buttons to the left of some menu items.
21
Scanner menu
Current Scanner List Shows a list of all SCSI scanners connected to the computer,
with the currently active scanner indicated by a checkmark.
Show All Scanners (PC systems only) Displays the names of any connected and
powered-on SprintScan scanners. Click the scanner's name to select it.
Update Film Carrier (Available for SprintScan 4000 scanner only.) Resets the
Frame Number box to the current frame after the film carrier has been changed.
Eject Film (A v ailable for SprintScan 4000 scanner only.) Ejects the film carrier from
the scanner.
Scripting menu
The scripting menu appears on Macintosh systems only.
Open Scripts Folder Opens the Scripts folder for adding or deleting command-
sequence scripts created with AppleScript.
Script list List of available command scripts. Several scripts are provided with Pola-
Color Insight, and you can use AppleScript to create others.
Help menu
The Help menu appears on all PC systems and on Macintosh systems using MacOS
8.0 or later. (On Macintosh systems with older operating systems, this menu is labeled
with a question mark.)
About Balloon Help (Macintosh systems only) Displays the Balloon Help version
information.
22
Show Balloons (Macintosh systems only) Hides or shows context-sensitive help.
PolaColor Insight Help (Macintosh systems only) Launches the Adobe Acrobat
Reader and displays the PolaColor Insight User's Guide.
View SCSI Bus (PC systems only; on Apple menu for Macintosh) Displays informa-
tion about SCSI devices connected to the system.
Help Topics (PC systems only) Displays a list of on-line help topics, along with a
help index tab and a tab for finding help topics with word searches.
Tip of the Day (PC systems only) Displays a helpful tip for using the PolaColor
Insight program.
About PolaColor Insight (PC systems only) Displays information about the soft-
ware and component version numbers, and physical memory and disk space availability.
Apple menu
The Apple menu appears on Macintosh systems only.
About PolaColor Insight Displays information about the PolaColor Insight program
and scanner firmware version numbers.
View SCSI Bus Displays information about SCSI devices connected to the system.
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