NEURATRON SUPPORT

How do I? - Scanning

Questions and Answers

Consult the on-line help.

The manual provided with the product contains in-depth information on this topic. To access this manual, press "F1" from within the program.

Which scanners work best with PhotoScore?

Windows; Most scanners are suitable, although ones supplied with WIA drivers are recommended since you will then be able to use the Automatic and PhotoScore interfaces in PhotoScore 4 (if you have Windows Me/XP). The latest Epson (e.g. Perfection series) and HP (e.g. ScanJet series) scanners generally work very well. If you need to scan oversized scores, Mustek's A3 USB scanner is very well priced.

Mac OS X; It is advisable that the scanner is supplied with a Mac OS X TWAIN driver (a classic TWAIN driver will not do), otherwise you will not be able to scan directly into PhotoScore (although you can still scan and save suitable TIFF files using your scanner's software, which PhotoScore can then open). Unfortunately many scanners are not supplied with these. We recommend in particular Epson (e.g. Perfection series) scanners as these also work with the Automatic and PhotoScore scanning interfaces (v4 only). Please note, there appear to be some compatibility issues between Epson drivers and Mac OS X 10.4 with regards to use of the Automatic and PhotoScore interfaces (although the TWAIN interface should still function with no problems). If you need to scan oversized scores, Mustek's A3 USB scanner is very well priced.

How can I improve PhotoScore's accuracy when scanning?

The following may help to improve the accuracy:

1) Line the page up in the scanner as straight as possible.

2) Check that Make scans level is selected in the Scanning tab of the PhotoScore preferences.

3) When scanning from books, try to keep the page being scanned as flat as possible. This will help prevent dark shadows (from where the page curves) interfering with music on the page, which can cause recognition problems.

4) If the scanned score contains little or no appoggiatura or cue notes (small noteheads), try switching Appoggiatura and cue notes off in the Reading tab of the PhotoScore preferences.

5) If you have exhausted all other options, try switching Advanced rhythm and tuplet correction off in the Reading tab of the PhotoScore preferences. NOTE: This feature generally significantly improves accuracy and is required for tuplet recognition. However, it occasionally causes omission of rests, dots and flags.

If using the TWAIN scanning interface (or PhotoScore 1, 2, or 3):

6) In general, ensure you are scanning in 256 shades of gray - also called 'b/w photo', 'grayscale' or '8-bit gray'. However, with some scanners you may achieve better results by scanning in 2 colors - also called 'b/w drawing', or '1-bit gray' - and manually adjusting the brightness setting so that there are no broken lines or smudged objects.

7) If you are scanning in grayscale, but find that the image is ending up too light (e.g. lines are broken) or too dark (e.g. objects are merging together), try scanning in black & white (also called 'b/w drawing', '2 colors', or '1-bit') and adjusting the brightness of the image.

8) Make sure you are scanning at an appropriate resolution (between 200 and 400dpi) - see right for details of resolutions for different staff sizes. Scanning at resolutions both too low and too high can dramatically affect results.

9) Ensure that the Scaling feature is not turned on (if it exists), or is set to 100%. Otherwise the image could be scanned into PhotoScore at an inappropriate resolution.