I've just made some tests with Mac OS 9 version of Vuescan. The software is
highly recommended for professional scanning.

I expected Vuescan would assist me with an autocrop + autorotate feature,
when I have to to batch scan multiple prints. I see autocroping but don't
find an autorotate feature.

For me it is nearly impossible to put multiple prints on the scanner without
any accidental rotation. Without an autorotate feature, every print has to
be manually rotated within Photoshop. A real pain if you have to scan a lot
of prints.

So did I miss something or does Vuescan lack an important feature?

Greetings

Peter

"Peter Gutbrod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I expected Vuescan would assist me with an autocrop + autorotate feature,
> when I have to to batch scan multiple prints. I see autocroping but don't
> find an autorotate feature.

Auto-rotating is a bit tricky to implement, and when I tried it
some time ago, I wasn't successful in making it work reliably.

The main thing is to figure out which way is up, and I tried
using some combination of where the bluest colors were (sky),
brightest colors (lights), greenest colors (grass), etc. It
just wasn't robust enough for it to be practical.

If anyone has any better ideas for an algorithm for auto-rotating
images, please let me know.

Regards,
Ed Hamrick

Ed Hamrick wrote:
> "Peter Gutbrod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I expected Vuescan would assist me with an autocrop + autorotate feature,
>>when I have to to batch scan multiple prints. I see autocroping but don't
>>find an autorotate feature.
>
>
> Auto-rotating is a bit tricky to implement, and when I tried it
> some time ago, I wasn't successful in making it work reliably.
>
> The main thing is to figure out which way is up, and I tried
> using some combination of where the bluest colors were (sky),
> brightest colors (lights), greenest colors (grass), etc. It
> just wasn't robust enough for it to be practical.
>
> If anyone has any better ideas for an algorithm for auto-rotating
> images, please let me know.
>
> Regards,
> Ed Hamrick
>
>

So I didn't miss something

Ed, I didn't think about intelligent rotating in steps 0f 90 degrees of
prints randomly put on the scanner glass. I speak about those little
accidental rotation or lets say misaligning of a few degrees I have
usually, when placing the prints on the scanner (unless you flush them
against the border of the scanner glass which usually crops some
content). As prints have an exact rectangle form, it should be possible
for the software to detect that angle and automatically rotate the
cropped scanning area counter wise, if requested.
The very basic HP-Scan software can do this f.e.

Greeting

Peter

"Ed Hamrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Auto-rotating is a bit tricky to implement, and when I tried it
>some time ago, I wasn't successful in making it work reliably.

>If anyone has any better ideas for an algorithm for auto-rotating
>images, please let me know.

Sorry, I don't have a really good idea. Most times, my landscape
slides are done using the camera in normal position, not upside
down. And 90 percent of my portrait orientated photos are made
by rotating the camera clockwise. When you allow the user to
specifiy only two or three valid position, the chances of
guessing right are increased.

Even more, I might prefer vuescan to keep the image in landscape,
even when it is really made in portrait, instead of rotating an
image that is actually in landscape. That is, I would like to
be able to configure Vuescan as follow:

1. Keep the image unrotated, except when another rule matches.
2. When your guess is, for 75 percent or more it is a portrait,
than rotate it right.
3. When your guess is, for 95 percent or more is is a
"reverse portrait", than rotate it left.
4. Don't turn it upside down at any time.

Hope that helps,
Kurt.

Kurt Stege <kurt-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> "Ed Hamrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Auto-rotating is a bit tricky to implement, and when I tried it
> >some time ago, I wasn't successful in making it work reliably.
>
> >If anyone has any better ideas for an algorithm for auto-rotating
> >images, please let me know.
>
> Sorry, I don't have a really good idea. Most times, my landscape
> slides are done using the camera in normal position, not upside
> down. And 90 percent of my portrait orientated photos are made
> by rotating the camera clockwise. When you allow the user to
> specifiy only two or three valid position, the chances of
> guessing right are increased.
>
> Even more, I might prefer vuescan to keep the image in landscape,
> even when it is really made in portrait, instead of rotating an
> image that is actually in landscape. That is, I would like to
> be able to configure Vuescan as follow:
>
> 1. Keep the image unrotated, except when another rule matches.
> 2. When your guess is, for 75 percent or more it is a portrait,
> than rotate it right.
> 3. When your guess is, for 95 percent or more is is a
> "reverse portrait", than rotate it left.
> 4. Don't turn it upside down at any time.
>
> Hope that helps,
> Kurt.

My workflow is to output Vuescan raw files, then work from them. I
output these cropped to finished size. They are all initially all in
Portrait orientation, due to the way Vuescan is set up. With
Photoshop, I batch rotate the ones that are actually landscape
orientation images. I also directly clean all the raws of dust and
scratches, but that's another story.

Now, in Vuescan, I set crop to maximum, and rotation to none, and when
doing scanning-from-disk, they all come out oriented correctly.

I think the original question concerns slight adjustments, as well as
auto-detection of orientation, but for what it's worth, the above
workflow will save you having to constantly re-enter orientation, and
fine tune cropping, when doing batch scan-from-disk.