MAKING A REFERENCE BLOCK FRAME FOR MERGEIT MergeIt uses black reference blocks in the upper left and right corners of the scanned image segments to calculate the best image cut and perform the merging automatically. Of course you can always use MergeIt manually, but if you are serious about using your hand scanner to make a large number of page sized images then the effort to make a frame may be worthwhile. For best and consistent results, these blocks should be very black so that the boundary to the adjacent white regions are distinct. Write protect stickers for 5 1/4" floppies are often excellent, as long as one of the long edges is cut back to remove the rounded corners. When placing a document on the frame, the thickness of these stickers makes it easy to align the document with the bottom edges. Frame layout for letter length images: ³<......3.5"......>³<......3.5".......>³<......3.5".......>³ Black=> ÚÄÄÁÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÁÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÁÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄ´ Reference ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÙ Blocks | ~1" | | ~1" | | ~1" | 1/4" (height (width) > 0.1") (or more) Hand Scanner GuideBar Setup: ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ optional top slide guide ............... ÚÄÄÄ¿ . optional ³ L ³Ä¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ . back ³ E ³ ³ ³ Hand Scanner ³ . triangle ³ F ³ ³i ³ ³ . support ³ T ³ ³m ³ ³ . ³ ³ ³a ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ . ³ G ³ ³g ³ ³ . ³ U ³ ³e ³ ³ . ³ I ³ ³ ³ ³ . ³ D ³ ³c ³ ³ . ³ E ³ ³u ³ ³ . ³ ³ ³t ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄ¿ . ³ ³ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ . ³ ³ ³e hand scanner bottom guide . ³ ³ ³d .³ ³ ³g º º ³ ÃÄÙe scan \ º º / ÀÄÄÄÙ image \º º/ down . using left guide against scanner body and bottom guide. Attaching a bottom guide to the hand scanner is extremely helpful in getting accurate image scanning. Any turning of the scanner will distort the image in ways that are not correctable by any software. The hand scanners should be made with an easy way to add an edge guide. They aren't..., I use an aluminum rod, 1/4" square and 6" long, epoxied to the bottom edge of the handle. The left guide may be a straight piece of trim wood, a piece of utility aluminum angle, or ?. It must be straight and long enough to guide the scanner to the bottom of its scanning sweep. The image cut edge is a piece of stiff white paper secured to the bottom of the left guide. Position the image cut edge so that it just slightly intrudes into the scanned image. This will help you to best align the left guide when scanning in an image. It will also define the left image edge since it will cut off the top left reference block. The image cut edge is not essential (in which case the scanner will naturally cut off the reference block at the left edge of the image it scans). Orienting paper for landscape scanning and merging: Start scan D C B here A black ÚÄÄÄ¿ reference ÚÄÄÄ¿ blocks ÚÄÄÄ¿ downward ÚÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÁÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄ´ ³ ... LEFT MARGIN EDGE . . . . ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . T ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . O ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . P ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . ³ ³ ... .. .. . . . ³ ³ D O C U M E N T ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Where possible, adjust document to put natural breaks in the reference block regions. Typically this will be between text lines. Start scanning down the document on the right side (at the top of the document) with the left edge of the scanned image covering part of reference block "B" at its top edge. Shift to the left so that the next scanned image covers part of the reference block "C" at its top edge. Finally, shift to the left so that the next scanned image includes part of the reference block "D". The width of each of the black reference blocks is written in the initial values file. See "MergeIt.Doc". Hints: 1) It is NOT required by MergeIt that you lay the input image document on its side. I chose this convention as an introduction since it is most appropriate for scanning in typed documents. (When scanning longer documents in the upright position, you may find your hand scanner software will not allow a long enough sweep at the higher DPI's.) 2) You may find the image cut edge casts a shadow into the scanned image. If the edge is made to lay flat on the document, the shadow will be minimized. You may also slightly undercut the edge in the region where the image is scanned. You may also choose to eliminate the paper edge and use a plastic spacer against the guide edge as you move the guide to determine the next scan section. Cut the plastic spacer so it indicates where your hand scanner left image edge starts. 3) To assure that each scanned section has reference block heights>=0.1", you can make use of the top slide guide edge if you have one. Position the reference blocks on the frame so that if your scanner uses the top guide as a stop, the resultant downward sweep includes enough of the reference blocks. If you don't use a top slide guide, then you may cut the reference blocks' height to about 1/8" (or more). When scanning, make sure the image starts above the reference blocks. Using MergeIt Without a Mechanical Scanning Frame If the document to be scanned is part of a book or magazine that does not fit the above scanning setup, you may still use the automatic merging feature of MergeIt by making a removable strip with the reference blocks appropriately positioned. Back this strip with a removable tacky glue, which makes the strip similar to the common "Post-It" memo squares. Place the strip at the top of the desired image. Carefully position a left guide edge vertically to prevent slanting your image edges. Scan downwards against this guide edge.