UD069225@NDSUVM1.BITNET (Eric H. Romo) (12/10/87)
I'd like to know how to get a digitized form of a graph that has only a
few lines shown in MacDraw format without making it huge(<100K, at
most). For the sake of discussion, let me describe it as a simple graph
of a quadratic equation with both axis shown and a simple legend
included as well, get the picture? Lotsa white space and only a little
dark space(lines, axis, legend(text)). I would hope there's a way of
getting this done with only the dark space "selected" as the MacDraw-type
objects. Is there any way of getting this done? say by setting the
detection level(intensity?) of Thunderscan, if not a simpler way?
Obviously I'm not well-versed in 'scanners' lingo, therefore could you
give this 'greenhorn' a detailed-lesson-for-the-tenderfoot in this use
of Thunderscan?
Your prompt e-mail replies can be sent to me and I will summarize in
another follow-up article to this group. Your time and effort are
graciously acknowledged in advance(Thanks a bunch.)
-------
ERIC H. ROMO
<UD069225@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
CHEMISTRY DEPT. UNIV. OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, N.D.UD069225@NDSUVM1.BITNET (Eric H. Romo) (12/19/87)
Here goes what I've heard so far: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Dorner, (dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu), writes: > I'd like to know how to get a digitized form of a graph that has only a > few lines shown in MacDraw format without making it huge(<100K, at > most). Scan it with High Contrast selected (or whatever it's called nowadays). This will give you a line image in Paint format. Then, you can either: A) select it with the lasso in {Super,Full,Mac}Paint or Hypercard. The lasso will only pick up parts of the bitmap bounded by black. Assuming you have no loops in your graph, this is exactly what you want. Copy it and paste into MacDraw. B) copy the whole bloody bitmap into MacDraw, trace over it with the MacDraw line tools, and delete the bitmap. This will take longer than method A, but will give you better output, especially if you scale the finished product. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- And Tom Dowdy (dowdy@apple.CSNET) responded with: In article <479UD069225@NDSUVM1> you write: >I'd like to know how to get a digitized form of a graph that has only a >few lines shown in MacDraw format without making it huge(<100K, at >most). For the sake of discussion, let me describe it as a simple graph >of a quadratic equation with both axis shown and a simple legend >included as well, get the picture? Lotsa white space and only a little >dark space(lines, axis, legend(text)). I would hope there's a way of >getting this done with only the dark space "selected" as the MacDraw-type >objects. Is there any way of getting this done? say by setting the >detection level(intensity?) of Thunderscan, if not a simpler way? > Basically what you are asking for is conversion from a BitMap (the scanned image) into a spline, or other object based definition (the "MacDraw" file). I won't get into all of the theory of edge detection and so on, but in theory, what you are asking for is not too hard to do in software. Your case is extra simple because you are dealing with crisp line art drawings. The problem with making a commercial package from this is that a commercial package has to be all things to all people or else it won't sell too well. Someone (Silicon Beach) is rumored to be working on something like this (digital darkroom it was called) in MacWeek a while back. This problem is similar to the problem of OCR (Optical Character Recognition, ie, the computer reading your textbook for you). An application that did what you ask would likely to be very expensive, due to the "all things to all people" theory of operation. A solution to the problem closer at hand would be to take the digitized picture and use that as a guide for drawing a MacDraw file. (Paste the bitmap in and trace it). Another possibility is to look into software that would be able to graph stuff for you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Dorner, (dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu), writes also: In all my experience with Thunderscan, I can say that it NEVER enhances an image. If you scan something with full magnification, and reduce it when you print it, you don't lose much--but you do lose. If appeareance is REALLY important (as I assume it would be in a dissertation), you might do better going to a copy shop (or offset printer), and have your graphs copied that way, and paste them in by hand. Maybe a rough pass with T-Scan, just so you know exactly where you want the images cropped, and where they go in the paper, etc. But do the final some other way if you want top- notch results, and paste (rubber cement) it in. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well that's the gist of the responses to my posting. If you have any more input I'd like to hear it via e-mail and then I'll post another follow-up here. Personally I'd like some better or easier ways of accomplishing the desired task, but I'll have to see what you come up with. Thanks very much, Eric. ------- ERIC H. ROMO <UD069225@NDSUVM1.BITNET> CHEMISTRY DEPT. UNIV. OF NORTH DAKOTA GRAND FORKS, N.D.