I agree Multipage scanning is a must. I wonder if the Hovercam would interface with vue Scan?
The other possible option is if the Hovercam could create a folder of Jpgs then a more efficient use of finereader may be possible. This essentially what I do with EyePal books. These are just folders of jpg files with a config file. FineReader on the Windows side does a good job working on all these to convert them into a Word file. I imagine the Mac version would do the same. Re whether a digital camera is essential I think it depends on what you need. I am just submitting my PhD and I am sure I would not have achieved this without the EyePal, whatever its annoying bugs and foibles. The sheer amount of scanning would not have been practical with a flatbed. With the eyePal I can independently scan a 300 page text book in less than an hour. The British Library also allowed me access to their Reading rooms with an EyePal and Netbook to effectively take digital copies of books there. They had a slow flatbed but I would probably have had to book in for bed if I had relied on that. Admittedly the EyePal software would then take up to 30 minute to convert this all to text but I can be getting on with doing something else whilst this happens. Interestingly people who are blind students have very different attitudes to scanning. I was always keen to maximise my independence . I was asked to advice someone else embarking on research about strategies. He became positively angry at my suggestion that a blind person could, or could ever be expected to scan course books independently. He wanted to use a support worker for this purpose with no input from him. The support worker would be employed for hours a weeks inefficiently churning out pages on a slow flatbed scanner. The result was very quickly far more expensive than my EyePal option. He was given 6 hours a week at approx £25 and hour. Over the 4 years I have spent on my PHD this would have equated to nearly £20,000 . In that context the £1,600 spent on the Eyepal seems better value. hour. I used support for scanning also, particularly with proofreading crucial parts but I think the digital camera solutions do offer far more potential for independence. David Griffith -----Original Message----- From: mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net [mailto:mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net] On Behalf Of Dónal Fitzpatrick Sent: 13 March 2013 22:03 To: Mac OSX & iOS Accessibility Subject: Re: Digital camera systems for scanning [was Re: Moutain Lion andEyePal] Hi again, Just to save people some time I've taken a listen to that podcast and here are some observations: 1. the paper must be carefully lined up with tactile markings on a supplied paper mat. The demonstrator comments that if the page is crooked, then scan quality degrades. 2. This one is crucial for me: Mr. Campbell states that he has not been (at the time of this recording) able to do a multi page scan. Unless the Hover Cam can be used in conjunction with other software, or indeed multi page scanning is possible, then it's a non-starter for me. I should also add that whilst navigating the Hover Cam software interface, I heard a reference to a "multi page filetype" button so it clearly is possible it's just the demonstrator has not managed it yet. On this basis, it cannot be said how accessible (or otherwise) the multi page scanning process is. I'd like to conclude by saying I'm not being in the least critical of the podcast here far from it I'm just summarising. It clearly works. One can hear the results of scanning a creased flyer which were pretty good. I hope this is a fair summary, I'd ask Esther and/or others who have listened to correct anything I have got wrong. Best, Dónal On 13 Mar 2013, at 21:21, Esther <mori...@mac-access.net> wrote: > Hello Cait, David, Dónal, and Others, > > I'm not sure that I agree with David about requiring digital camera systems, but as an alternative to the Eyepal, have you listened to the recent AppleVis podcast that Matthew Campbell did on "Using the HoverCam T5-V Document Scanner and ABBYY FineReader as a Scanning Solution on the Mac"? > > Here's the link to the URL: > <http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/using-hovercam-t5-v-document > -scanner-and-abbyy-finereader-scanning-solution-mac> > That's a very long link, so here's a shortened version in case it wraps: > http://bit.ly/10jLC8v > > I know that the HoverCam use with Docuscan has been discussed by a number of people, but there are a number of people who have issues with using a solution where you have to submit your scans to an external internet source in order to do the OCR, and in addition, Docuscan only works for English, whereas ABBYY Finereader Express provides an OCR solution for numerous languages. The HoverCam solution is around $300. The cost of an Eyepal at over 2000 Euros (to use Dónal's estimate) does seem excessive for old technology. > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > On Mar 13, 2013, at 2:23 AM, David Griffith wrote: > >> Eyepal is getting quite old now. At least mine is. When I got it the Eyepal >> was pretty much the only portable digital scanning solution available. >> Nowadays there are lots more choice. >> >> I started out using Eyepal on a PC and transferred it to my Imac when >> I got that. >> If I was starting out now I would probably not get the Eyepal again, >> mainly because of the inconsistent software support. >> >> I use Abbey finereader on my Windows laptop which does a good >> alternative OCR job of recognising the images created by the Eyepal >> on my iMac. I imagine the Mac version of finereader would work just as well. >> I would probably now investigate a bespoke Mac solution if I were in >> your position, I would try to find anybody who has experience of >> using docuscan and HoverCam. >> >> If you need to do serious amounts of scanning my own view is that >> flatbed scanners just do not cut it. A digital camera system is >> probably essential . >> >> Yet in terms of OCR accuracy the best scanner I have ever used was >> not a digital camera system but a Cannon 2580 duplex document >> scanner. This was great but had the disadvantage that it could only >> accept loose sheets through its feeder. I therefore had to tear all >> the pages out of books to feed them through. Once this was done the >> scan was fast and accurate. This was worth it for the superb scanning >> results, especially in conjunction with the amazing Microsoft document scanning software, sadly no longer available. >> Of course the books were ruined for anybody else. >> Unfortunately I can find no way of getting the Mac to recognise the >> Canon DR2580. This was in its time, a specialist Trade Scanner used >> by print shops so was not that common. Vue Scan is completely unable >> to recognise it. No drivers appear to work on the Mac so I am stuck >> with using it with my Windows machines. >> I have had similar problems with my flatbed canon scanner which again >> the Mac struggle with big time. I now use only Eyepal on the Mac and >> use the Canon scanners with Windows machines. >> >> >> David Griffith >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net >> [mailto:mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net] On Behalf Of cait furness >> Sent: 13 March 2013 11:10 >> To: Mac OSX & iOS Accessibility >> Subject: Re: Moutain Lion and EyePal >> >> I couldn't see the results of the scan. I suspect that I didn't >> quite understand what I needed to do to get that to happen. Can you >> both scan and recognize with abby? or do I need both programs for >> this? I thought I had to scan with vu scan and then use abby to >> recognize the scan. It's been a while since I tried. I finally gave >> up and went back to k1000 since I have school to deal with and reams of texts to muddle through. >> thanks heaps, >> Cait >> > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. > > Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> Dr. Dónal Fitzpatrick, School of Computing, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland Tel. +353-(0)1-700-8929 fax: +353-(0)1-700-5442 email: dfitzpat (at) computing.dcu.ie Email Disclaimer "This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Any unauthorised dissemination, distribution or copying of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail may solely be the views of the author and cannot be relied upon as being those of Dublin City University. 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We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
