Vuescan Batch scan help

[natas]

This is driving me crazy. I have the version of Silverfast that came with my epson but cannot stand the output. So I bought Vuescan. Much better results...but I cannot get batch scanning to work.

In silverfast I can just draw around my frames and set them. How the heck do I do this in vuescan? I read the manual and I just can't get it to work. Is there a way to draw around each frame and set them as 1-8?

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

This is driving me crazy. I have the version of Silverfast that came with my epson but cannot stand the output. So I bought Vuescan. Much better results...but I cannot get batch scanning to work.

In silverfast I can just draw around my frames and set them. How the heck do I do this in vuescan? I read the manual and I just can't get it to work. Is there a way to draw around each frame and set them as 1-8?

Hi,

Did you read the help file about batch scanning? You need to setup batch scanning and crop method depending on hardware.

Cheers,
Bart

[natas]

Maybe I am missing something obvious but what crop method do I choose...and is it specific to my scanner? I just want to select my frames (draw rectangle), give them a frame number and be done.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Maybe I am missing something obvious but what crop method do I choose...and is it specific to my scanner? I just want to select my frames (draw rectangle), give them a frame number and be done.

Hi,

I'm guessing you are scanning filmstrips(?) on a flatbed scanner. In that case the frames are regularly spaced. If you're not scanning regularly spaced things, you need to change tactics. On the Crop tab you select Multicrop: "Auto", or if that doesn't work select "Manual", which will reveal more options for the number of images and their spacing.

If the images are the same size, you can either select one which functions as an example for the others, or pick a predefined size from the dropdown list. On the Input tab you can select the Batch settings, including the frames you want scanned and/or excluded.

Cheers,
Bart

[kevk]

If the images are the same size...

Yes, I think the key here is that for the batch scan options to work, the images have to be the same size and spaced out in a regular grid. I don't think you can batch scan when you have different size images placed "conveniently" on the scanner.
(If I'm wrong - please somebody enlighten me, as I seem to be doing a lot of scanning lately!)

Kevin

[natas]

Yes I am scanning film.

What annoys me about the software is how quirky it can be. I finally got it to work but had to spend a few hours screwing around with it. At one point I had 2 strips of 120 film in. It was 645 format so I had 4 on each strip. 1-4 worked perfectly. 5-8 had issue. 6,7 and 8 I got setup...but everytime I went to frame 5 it would re-draw my frame 3 times to large.

When I can get vuescan to work I love the results but man this piece of software can be buggy (I am on a mac). About half the time the preview doesn't update when you go to the scan tab...thats also real annoying.

Anyway I just wanted to know if there were any tricks to drawing out your frames and making it easier. My guess is the answer is no. I would use silverfast but I just can't seem to get good results with it.

[kevk]

Yes I am scanning film.

What annoys me about the software is how quirky it can be...At one point I had 2 strips of 120 film in... this piece of software can be buggy (I am on a mac). About half the time the preview doesn't update when you go to the scan tab...thats also real annoying.

I'm on Win 7 64 bit with an Epson v700 and don't have quirk or bug problems, though I don't use 120 film. The auto crop works flawlessly for 35mm film and slides.
I assume you are on the current version (9.0.something)?

Kevin

[natas]

Yes i am running the latest version with a better scanning holder.

[jaapb]

Hi

It seems you are relatively new to Vuescan. It is a very feature rich program and while supporting many scanners it can be quite intimidating. You need to invest some time to come to grips with your Vuescan/scanner combination.
I am on both Windows and Mac and not having any stability issues using Vuescan with my Nikon scanners and Epson 1680.

As for your specific cropping question and since you use a betterscanning holder take a look here:
http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/batchscanning.html
Although the crop command is a bit different in the current version of Vuescan this article outlines how to deal with a 645 filmstrip on an Epson scanner.
Hope this helps.

Jaap

[natas]

Yes I am new to vuescan.....and I read that article you posted. It helped a little...but I still don't understand why it is not easier.

I don't find viewscan intimidating at all...I just find it clunky on cropping compared to Silverfast. Now Silverfast I find intimidating because the UI for the most part is very cluttered and overwhelming compared to Vuescan.

I really just think the cropping can be buggy. I can't tell you how many times I resized a frame, clicked on the next frame only to find the last frame shifted over or completely resized. This doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it is very annoying. I found that if I close out of viewscan and re-open the issue usually goes away. This tells me I ran into a bug

[kevk]

...I can't tell you how many times I resized a frame, clicked on the next frame only to find the last frame shifted over or completely resized...

Yeah, I think it is not working how you think it does. You do not manually draw a crop box inside each frame. My understanding of the multi crop stuff is that you only click in the FIRST frame to set up the crop box - all the subsequent frames are scanned at that same size. The X images, Y images, X spacing, Y spacing values then define the extents of the grid of images to scanned from the single FIRST hand-drawn crop rectangle.

So if you click on "the next frame" it will just redefine the FIRST frame to be in a different place, hence the scanned frames will be all over the shop. Just manually define the first one, and set the X images, Y images, X spacing, Y spacing values so the other frames in your negative holder are picked up automatically.

Kevin