14 DAY TRIAL // Hamrick Software has updated its powerful scanning utility for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, VueScan. For Mac users, the new version adds support for searchable PDF files, uses 'Output | OCR text language' to set language, adds support for Canon 8200F devices and fixes a problem with 'Input | Media' set to 'Text.' The update also enables VueScan to write Windows-1252 (Western European) characters to PDF.
VueScan, as noted by Ed Hamrick (the app’s creator) supports flatbed and film scanners, as well as multiple digital camera RAW file types. The program automatically reduces the need to work in Photoshop, Hamrick claims, by adjusting images to an optimum color balance. Designed to produce colors that look true to life, VueScan includes a built-in color calibration of scanners, offering options for scanning faded slides and prints, batch scanning, IT8 color calibration and other advanced scanning features, and supports more than 100 brands of negative films. Listed below are the main features of VueScan, according to Ed Hamrick.
- scans documents, photos and film; - creates PDF, JPEG, TIFF and TXT files; - supports over 1,200 scanners; - has been downloaded over seven million times; - costs $39.95 and a free trial is available.
According to the release notes of a recent VueScan update, Hamrick Software also improved cropping of negative film, 'Crop | Multi crop' to outline all frames, and added better Turkish language support.
How to download and use VueScan
In order to upgrade an existing copy of VueScan, customers simply need to download the latest version either from the developer’s website, or from Softpedia, and double-click the resulted DMG file. After dragging the new version to their Applications folder, VueScan will automatically recognize an existing license. Hamrick Software’s policies say that upgrades to new versions are free in the first year after one purchases the Standard Edition, while those who purchase the Professional Edition always get these upgrades for free. When one first downloads and installs the program, VueScan runs in trial mode.
Also for newcomers, the VueScan User's Guide (also available in PDF) assists you in learning more information about how to put the software to good use. There is also a list of supported scanners located here. VueScan is available for the following operating systems: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.5, 10.4, 10.3; Windows 7, Vista, x64, XP, 2000, NT; Windows 95, 98, ME; Linux (built with Ubuntu 8.10); Linux (built with Red Hat 9).