That sounds way too complicated for me. Is there an easier program?
Also is there a bar code reader ap and what info does it tell you?
Jenny and my goofy guide Brooks
On Mar 19, 2012, at 2:07 PM, Anne Robertson <a...@anarchie.org.uk> wrote:
> Hello Paul,
>
> The Light Detector app is just called Light Detector and you just launch it
> and it plays a tone which rises with the light level.
>
>
> Here are the instructions for Prizmo that Esther posted a little while ago.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Anne
>
>
>
> One of the features that contributes to Prizmo's increased effectiveness for
> visually impaired users is the ability to take pictures with speech control,
> by saying, "Take Picture", which reduces the likelihood of a blurred image
> due to moving the phone when you double or split tap a button to take a
> picture. You turn this feature on in the Settings menu by double tapping the
> "Settings" button in the top right corner of the main Prizmo screen. Flick
> right to the "General Settings" button under the "Settings" heading and
> double tap. On the "General Settings" screen, flick right past the "Capture"
> heading and set the "Alignment Grid" to "Switch button, off", then set the
> "Speech Control" to "Switch button, on". I believe both switches are turned
> on by default, but it is several months since I configured Prizmo. I'm not
> sure whether turning off the "Alignment Grid" is necessary, but you certainly
> don't need it to be displayed, since you can't see it while using the camera.
> Once you have checked that these settings are in place, double tap the
> "Settings, back button" in the top left corner to return to the "Settings"
> screen, then double tap the "Done" button in the top right corner to return
> to the main Prizmo screen.
>
> The main Prizmo screen has a list of types of documents to scan and OCR,
> followed by a "Documents" button at the bottom of the screen that are results
> you want to store in the app. In general, you will choose to double tap
> "Text" (the first listed entry).
>
> The app works in 3 stages, which are indicated by the 3 buttons at the bottom
> of the the next ("Photo") screen: (1) Source (obtaining the image using the
> Camera -- can also use previous images from your photo album taken outside
> the app), (2) Image (options to apply corrections to image before OCR --
> generally requires vision to perform actions, such as cropping to only
> include the part of the image that contains text or correct for distorted
> pictures because you didn't hold the iPhone flat), and (3) OCR (perform the
> OCR with an option to choose the language to improve the OCR), then display
> the results for editing, copying, etc. or saving in the app's stored
> "Documents". You can navigate through the app without ever using these
> buttons, just by double tapping the "Next" button in the top right corner of
> the screen to move through each stage, and that's probably the easiest way to
> use the app when you get started, especially if you only work with documents
> in English. However, if you want to OCR a document in a different language,
> you can improve your results by double tapping the "OCR" button (third or
> three at the bottom right corner of the screen) and then flicking left to the
> language button (e.g., "English") in the row of option buttons for that
> screen, and double tapping. You'll be able to double tap another language
> from the list of 10 available languages. (Note that you will not hear
> "selected" announced beside the currently selected language in the list, but
> you can only exit the "Language" menu by either double tapping a new language
> selection or by double tapping the "Cancel" button in the top right corner.
> Once you have changed the language (e.g., to French) and returned to the
> "Photo" screen with the OCR button set, you should hear the new language,
> "French", announced if you flick left to that button.) Setting the OCR
> language before applying the "next" button improves the recognition of words
> with accented characters -- otherwise I may get a "6" for an "e" with acute
> accent, and other such examples.
>
> Here's the sequence for the iPhone 4, assuming that you have configured the
> "Settings" menu as outlined earlier. It is very helpful to use the $0.99
> "Light Detector" app to check lighting conditions and also get a sense of the
> optimal centering and height of the iPhone above the page before you use
> Prizmo. (You can hear when the "Light Detector" signal is loudest if you
> move the phone up and down or left/right and forwards/back with respect to
> the page. This only gives a rough sense of where to position the phone when
> you use Prizmo, but if you can't hear any difference in signal with Light
> Detector when you move the phone around over the page, chances are that
> either the background light level is too low to take a good image, or you're
> blocking the light source with part of your body. You should also use a
> headset connected to the headphone jack, since as soon as the iPhone camera
> is accessed in a mode that is capable of responding to your spoken "Take
> Picture" command the volume of VoiceOver through the speaker will drop, and
> not get restored until you exit the camera screen either by double tapping
> the "Use" button in the bottom right corner of the screen or the "Retake"
> button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
>
> 1) From the main Prizmo screen, double tap "Text"
> 2) On the Photo screen, flick right to the "Camera" button that is the first
> of the 3 "Get text from picture" source options, near the bottom of the
> screen, and double tap
> 3) On the iPhone 4 Camera screen (no heading), there are three buttons at the
> top: one for the "Flash" at the top left and one for "Camera Chooser" at the
> top right. In between is an unlabeled "Button" that toggles on and off the
> speech control function when the switch for that option is turned on under
> the "General Settings" submenu of the "Settings" menu. If the switch for the
> speech control option is not turned on in "Settings", this unlabeled button
> will not appear on the screen. If, when you enter the Camera screen, your
> phone does not vibrate, and VoiceOver's volume through the speaker does not
> immediately drop, then the ability to use speech control to take a picture by
> saying "Take Picture" on this screen has not been toggled on, and you will
> have to double tap that unlabeled button to the left of the "Camera Chooser"
> button to activate this function. Once you toggle on the speech control
> function, your iPhone should vibrate, and the volume of VoiceOver through the
> speaker should immediately drop. I believe that the first time you access the
> Camera screen, speech control is toggled off (i.e., you can do a two finger
> flick down to "Read All" the controls on the screen and hear everything
> announced through the speaker). If you double tap the unlabeled button at
> the top of the screen to turn on voice control of the camera shutter, then
> whenever you enter the Camera screen your speaker volume will automatically
> be lowered, requiring use of headphones. Presumably this is to get a good
> trigger when you say, "Take Picture". Your speaker volume will remain
> lowered until you leave the Camera screen (either by double tapping the "Use"
> button in the bottom right corner after taking a photo, or by double tapping
> the "Cancel" button in the bottom left corner to leave the screen without
> taking a picture), or until you
> toggle the speech control feature off by double tapping the unlabeled button
> at the top of the screen again. (Note, if you become very confident and
> proficient in the layout of the camera screen, so you can double tap the
> "Use" button in the bottom left corner without a VoiceOver prompt, you can
> run this without headphones. Alternatively, if you're at home in a quiet
> setting you may still be able to hear VoiceOver through the lowered speaker
> volume and also work without headphones. Also, if you're fast at getting the
> iPhone to the correct height and level before you hear the buzz, and then say
> "Take Picture", you can work without headphones. But in general, be prepared
> to use headphones when you use voice control for the camera shutter.)
> 4) Revisiting step 3. Assuming you set your speech control on, and exited
> the Camera screen (e.g. by double tapping the "Cancel" button in the bottom
> left corner), you can start the process again, with your headphones
> connected. After double tapping the "Text" button (Step 1) and before double
> tapping the "Camera" button (Step 2), place your iPhone on the page you want
> to OCR using the edges of the paper to align the sides of the device. Center
> the iPhone so that the camera lens (top right corner as you normally hold the
> device) is approximately in the center of the page. (If you use a case, make
> sure that the back of the case does not block the camera lens). Sandy has
> mentioned suggestions like lightly folding the page in half length-wise and
> width-wise to guide positioning and aligning the iPhone, in the case of
> practicing with a sheet of letter paper. Make sure that you flatten the
> paper because failing to keep either the page or the iPhone flat when you
> take the picture will cause some of the letters to show up as tildes; this is
> typical if you scan a book page and haven't flattened the section near the
> spine enough.
> 5) Double tap or split tap the "Camera" button, then, using two hands to make
> sure you keep the iPhone level, raise it steadily up from the page to a
> height of about 7 to 9 inches. (Nine inches is roughly twice the length of
> the iPhone.) You'll feel the iPhone vibrate, and then VoiceOver will
> announce "auto-focused". At this point you can say "Take Picture" and hear
> the shutter close. (You'll probably start by lifting the iPhone too slowly
> to reach 7-9 inches before you feel the vibration and hear "auto focused".
> Say "Take Picture" anyway -- your image is more likely to be in focus. The
> actual distance you lift depends on the size of the page. Small billings
> only require about 6 or 7 inches. I practice lifting and then check the
> distance I've lifted an iPhone against the handspan of one hand, which for
> me is 7 inches, but I have small hands.
> 6) Double tap the "Use" button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
> This is the last element on the screen, so you can also just use a four
> finger tap on the bottom of the screen and then double tap. (I preferred the
> four finger swipe down, but this is the current gesture for moving tot he end
> of the screen.)
> 7) On the next screen flick right the "Next" button in the top right corner
> and double tap. You'll move to a screen labeled "Processing"
> 8) The results of the OCR will show up in an "Edit" screen which will let you
> review and edit your results.
> 9) Double tap the "Next" button in the top right corner when done. You can
> Save your results, or copy them, mail or upload them. Options such as copy or
> email are listed as buttons along the bottom of the screen. Do a three
> finger flick left to hear the second page of options, which include MobileMe,
> DropBox, etc.
>
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