Hi Erik, On the iPhone 4 camera, provided the lighting conditions are good, you'll hear VoiceOver say "auto focus" as you hold your iPhone at various distances above a page with printed text. You can try this with the regular camera app without taking a picture or trying to line up the camera with the text. The autofocus mechanism takes a few seconds to make adjustments. Now that I know how the auto focus works, if I've checked lighting with the Light Detector app, I can turn on even the regular camera app and lift the iPhone to various distances away from a letter or page with text and wait for VoiceOver to announce "auto focus". So, without even trying to hold the iPhone flat or aligned with text, if I lift the device, say 4 inches above the page and wait, VoiceOver will say "auto focus". Then if I lift the iPhone up another distance, say 2 or 3 inches higher and wait, VoiceOver will again say "auto focus" after a brief pause. I can continue to move my hand, holding the iPhone camera, up and down to various heights above the printed page, and wait for VoiceOver to say "auto focus". This works, for example, anywhere over a distance of a few inches to about 3 feet or more, provided there is sufficient light. What probably limits how close I can get to the paper and still hear "auto focus" is when the iPhone gets so close to the page that it blocks light from reaching it (e.g., when it on top of the page with no distance between camera and page, there is also no light that can travel through the iPhone to illuminate the page). In the Prizmo app, the iPhone 4G will first vibrate when I double tap the "Camera" button to take a picture. Then, I'll hear "auto focus". At that point I can say "take picture". The three buttons along the top of the screen are "Flash, automatic", an unlabeled button, and "Camera Chooser, backfacing". The unlabeled button is the one that toggles on and off the ability to take pictures with spoken commands. If your app did not respond when you say "Take Picture", try double tapping that button. If the iPhone 4 vibrates immediately after you double tap that unlabeled button to the left of the "Camera Chooser" button in the top left corner, you've just turned on the ability to have the camera take a picture when you say "Take Picture". Note that if you did not originally configure the Settings for the Prizmo app to turn on the "Speech Control" switch for capturing images you will not find an unlabeled button on this screen; there will simply be two buttons and not three. As it is, if, from the main Prizmo screen, you double tapped the "Settings" button in the top right corner, then flicked right to "General Settings" and double tapped, then flicked right to the two options under "Capture": 1) "Alignment Grid" (set switch to "off") and 2) "Speech Control" (set switch to "on"), the third button will be present, and can give you access to taking the picture on voice command. However, as I noted, this feature can be toggled off and on, even when you have set the "Speech Control" switch to "on" in your settings. The way you know that it is toggled on, and speech command will be accepted to take a picture is that your iPhone 4 will vibrate when you are on the Camera screen. If it does not vibrate, and does not respond to your spoken "Take Picture" instruction, then find the unlabeled button (e.g., touch the top right corner to find the "Camera Chooser" button then flick left) and double tap. Your iPhone 4 should now vibrate and respond to "Take Picture". Normally, the button is left active, so you never have to double tap anything else after you've configured your settings. However, FYI, this is where the speech control is located. And if you don't have "Speech Control" turned on in your local app "Settings" beforehand, you won't find this button at the top of the camera screen. Whether or not you then hear "Auto focus" announced depends on things like whether there is sufficient light, and whether you have held the iPhone steady for long enough to get an auto focus (usually just a few seconds if light conditions are OK, and you aren't holding the iPhone so close to the page that the iPhone itself is blocking light from getting to the page). Apologies if this is too much information, but I've found that the first time people try to use a new app or feature, there are a lot of questions, and there are also a surprising number of ways to wind up without having the correct settings and with no way to tell how to recover. (Usually, if they're confused, they don't do a good job of describing the problem, since they are using the app for the first time.)
I found it useful to be able to separate all these functions and understand how the camera worked so I could figure out how to get the best results with the app. For example, you can use the Light Detector app not only to check that there is enough light to try to scan, but also to get a feeling for the optimal height above the page. If I play with the light detector app and point it at a page of text from a letter or in a book, I can move the iPhone to the left or right across the page, holding it above it at a range of heights, and hear when the signal from the app is loudest to get a rough sense of how to center the iPhone camera. If I pull it up higher above the page, the signal tone will start to increase, and then beyond a certain point if I keep raising the camera the tone will drop, presumably because I am now including areas outside of the light page in my camera field. I can also tell the difference between the louder signal tones I get from the light detector when I try moving it around above an open book page, and the same book closed (all assuming there is sufficient background light in the room). Now, when I practice with the Prizmo app, I raise the iPhone directly to the height that I want for a full page (e.g., about 9 inches for a letter), and then wait until I hear the "auto focus" message. You won't want to start out doing that. If I don't have a ruler (Anne suggested breaking off a plastic ruler at the height you want, such as 9 inches), I use the fact that my handspan, fully extended, is seven inches. So if I raise my iPhone above a page with one hand, and then put the pinky end of my fully extended other hand on the page, the tip of my thumb will mark a point about 7 inches above the page. You will likely have larger hands than I do. Early on in the days of the viphone list, Cara wrote a post where (with the iPhone 3GS), she tried taking pictures at various distances using the auto focus feature, and sending them to a sighted friend, who would say that the text was in focus and clearly readable. This was part of a discussion about why it was difficult to use OCR apps. It turns out their are a number of other factors, such as whether the text is aligned with the edges of the picture or badly skewed, and whether the image blurred if your hand shook while you tried to take the picture (on of the reason's Prizmo's voice activated "Take Picture" makes this work better), or whether there was enough light. Separating all these steps was helpful to me, though you don't need to do this when practicing with Prizmo. I also found it useful to understand under what conditions Prizmo would fail. For example, if you take a picture of text on a colored background, or where there is a picture below the words, as used in some advertising flyer, you may get a message like "Could not extract text. Please check that text orientation is not rotated or upside down, and that image is good enough, then try again." This happens even when a sighted person tries to take the same image for OCR, even though they can read the text against the picture background. It also seems to happen if you can't autofocus. On the iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS, I'd guess that this may happen when the light level is too low, but the 4G iPod Touch does not have an auto focus feature. Instead, it has a fixed focus that is set to a few feet. Someone on the viphone list reported getting this "Could not extract text" error message when using Prizmo with the 4G iPod Touch camera about a week ago. I suggested that he try the hack that iPhone 3G users used to get close-up shots in focus, which was to put two $1 credit card sized plastic magnifiers in front of the lens to force the fixed focus distance down from 2-3 feet to several inches (e.g., the same distance range that iPhone users apply). The other reason for getting the "Could not extract text" message is taking a picture that is badly out of focus, badly misaligned, or blurred. You can try this yourself once you have mastered taking good pictures. Simply turning the camera so that the text is at a 45 degree angle (i.e., badly misaligned) will give this message. Actually, even deliberately skewing the camera alignment by 5 degrees, which is maybe the difference between having both bottom corners of the iPhone aligned with bottom of the page, and having one corner line up with the tip of your finger held parallel to the bottom of the page, and the other lined with edge of the base of the same finger (e.g. being off by the width of your finger, or an angle about a third of the way between the "12" and the "1" on a clock face, is enough to get the "Could not extract text" message. Again, sorry if this is way more than you want to know about. I just find that it's easier to improve results if I understand how to get better and the circumstances where problems arise. This also means that it's easier to start by picking good cases to work with. (Most credit card bills and bank statements tend to have small fonts, so I would start with a simple letter. Also, knowing that some flyers print their text on colored paper, and that even sighted users trying to use Prizmo to OCR the text can't make that work helps.) If all else fails, you can print out a page of text that you yourself compose, and ensure that it uses a large type font, and is printed on white paper. Then try using Prizmo. You should be able to tell how high you need to hold the camera to read the whole message. Sandy also posted examples of text she tried to OCR from books. If most of the text comes out, but you start getting tildes instead of letter characters over part of the page, chances are that the page was curved there, and you will get better results by trying to hold that part flat. HTH. Cheers, Esther On May 10, 2011, at 01:16, erik burggraaf wrote: > These instructions helped a lot. I at least got it to take a picture and > convert the results. The only thing I'm missing is the auto focus. I'm not > seeing it in the settings or in the camera window. Anybody know where I > should go to turn that on? > > Thanks, > > Erik Burggraaf > User support consultant, > Now posting occasionally on twitter at eburggraaf, > 1-888-255-5194 > http://www.erik-burggraaf.com > > On 2011-05-09, at 2:42 PM, Geoff Waaler wrote: > >> To clarify, Sandy posted to the viphone list. I haven't verified, but >> don't believe she's subscribed to Macvisionaries. I will copy one of her >> posts below which should help any interested party to get started. >> >> Supplemental to Ann's comments, I have no light perception and can report >> getting some results using Prismo on my 3GS. I'd never depend on it to read >> a bill or contract, but can often get the gist of a page. Considering the >> much lower resolution of the 3GS camera, this is very impressive and >> infinitely better than my results with the SayText, SmartScan or DocScanner >> apps. >> >> Best regards, >> Geoff >> >>> Begin forwarded message: >>> >>>> From: Sandy Tomkins <sandratomk...@googlemail.com> >>>> Date: 13 March 2011 14:04:52 GMT+00:00 >>>> To: "viph...@googlegroups.com" <viph...@googlegroups.com> >>>> Subject: Re: An example of Prizmo. >>>> >>>> Hi Tim, >>>> >>>> Before I begin, I must apologise for, what I imagine will be, a lengthy >>>> reply. >>>> >>>> First of all, so as to clear the decks, I should say that although I do >>>> have a modicum of sight, it only gets in the way when using these scanning >>>> apps, so I am working entirely without looking, so, working on that basis, >>>> I will tell you what I have done re settings and then describe the method >>>> I employ to make a scan. >>>> >>>> In the settings section of Prizmo, I disable the grid guide. >>>> >>>> From the home screen of Prizmo I select "Text" which opens another >>>> page, now, on this new page there is a camera option which I choose. I >>>> can't quite remember if I did this before entering the camera option or if >>>> I did it from the page before, but one of the options on one of the pages >>>> is "tool bar", double tap that and along the bottom of the page you should >>>> find some toggle buttons like "flash" etc, there is just one button which >>>> is not labelled and that is the one you need to double tap to turn on >>>> speech command. This will allow you to tell the camera to shoot, you say >>>> "Take picture!" This is important as it means you don't have to tap the >>>> screen thereby wobbling the phone. However, if you use this mode, you >>>> really need to use the earphone/mic because the speaker seems to default >>>> to small speaker and you can't hear what you are doing otherwise. >>>> >>>> OK, Choose your book. Can I suggest that you practise with something >>>> that is easy to scan. So, something with reasonable print if you can >>>> ascertain that, something with reasonable paper quality, and something >>>> that will sit nice and flat. My thinking is this, too often we start off >>>> with scraps of paper or foolscap printed letters etc, in either case, we >>>> are demanding too much before we are ready. If you use a normal sized >>>> paperback, for example, you won't need to take the phone so far away from >>>> your target image because of the larger size. Does that make sense? I have >>>> found it much better to get some successes under my belt before pushing >>>> things to their limit. I find that if you get a bit of confidence it makes >>>> you more likely to succeed with the tougher stuff. >>>> >>>> Right! Now there is the question of light levels. There are various >>>> options with Prizmo re using the flash, the scan I got from my herb book >>>> was taken without the flash, but the light level here in my kitchen on >>>> this fairly bright Sunday morning is quite good and I reckon this is a >>>> whole area for discussion, I.E. how best to proceed assuming a person has >>>> no light perception and wants good results. Whether one should use the >>>> flash by default or not etc. There are times when the flash could work >>>> against you if the surface you are scanning is shiny, for example. >>>> >>>> With the book open and the page I had chosen to shoot was sitting nice >>>> and flat, I double tapped that "Camera" button, then I hear "auto >>>> focusing" I already have the phone, face down, obviously, in the centre of >>>> the page, actually, I tend to try to have the top right of the phone in >>>> the centre as that is where the camera is and then, using both hands to >>>> hold the phone, I lift it about six inches above the page and say "Take >>>> picture!" If possible I like to hear "auto focused" just before I give the >>>> command, but not actually sure it makes any difference. You will hear the >>>> picture taken and you can move. >>>> >>>> I do find that I get better results if I use both hands to hold the >>>> sides of the phone because I have aterrible sense of the flat and I seem >>>> to do better with both hands to keep it perfectly horizontal, don't know >>>> if I am wxplaining this well, but I do have a firmer hold and keep it more >>>> still this way. >>>> >>>> Pretty much imediately, I touch the bottom right of the screen and >>>> double tap the "use" button. >>>> >>>> A new page will open, I flick twice to the right to hear "next" and >>>> double tap that. Now I hear "Processing", it generally takes about ten >>>> seconds, and, if you have been at all successful, you will hear a trill as >>>> your scannedpage opens. Sometimes, I do get a notification telling me that >>>> no text was extracted, but assuming that doesn't happen, I just do a >>>> double finger flick up to read the scanned page. >>>> >>>> I will say this, I have had this app for about a week to ten days and >>>> every now and again I open it up, dig out a book and give it a go. At >>>> first I only got, perhaps, 20 percent success, this is improving all the >>>> time, but sometimes it just won't work well at all, and this may well have >>>> something to do with lighting, so I will be paying attention to htat to >>>> see if I can sort out the best option re flash. >>>> >>>> Hope this elps a bit, do keep trying and remember to enable speech and >>>> disable the grid guide thing. >>>> >>>> Sandy. >>>> >>>> Sent from my iPhone >> >> >> On May 9, 2011, at 12:38 PM, carolyn Haas wrote: >> >>> Hi Erik: >>> I know Sandy T has done several posts on this app, using iPhone 4. She's >>> gotten some pretty impressive results. Check the archives from I believe >>> April. >>> >>> HTH >>> Take care >>> >>> Carolyn >>> On May 9, 2011, at 10:19 AM, erik burggraaf wrote: >>> >>>> Hi, has anyone gotten prismo to work on the ITouch or the IPhone? I >>>> couldn't get it to do a scan, but one of my clients has bought it and >>>> wants to learn to use it. >>>> >>>> I'll give it another shot here, but would appreciate any pointers. >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> >>>> Erik Burggraaf >>>> User support consultant, >>>> Now posting occasionally on twitter at eburggraaf, >>>> 1-888-255-5194 >>>> http://www.erik-burggraaf.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
