First step

making a picture file

OMeR uses pages saved in BMP, PICT or TIFF format. The default format on Macintosh is PICT, and on Windows, BMP.

To obtain such picture files, you can use an external scanning software. If your scanner is Twain compatible (which is probably the case), it's more easy to scan your page directly from OMeR.

In any case, rules below must be followed :

• Only one page in each picture file, but as many pages you want in a document.

• Use an original with a good quality
Use preferably a printed score (not handwritten) of white background, with well drawn symbols. Avoid copies of copies, on which printing quality may have been altered. Ensure horizontal and vertical lines are not broken.

If possible, avoid too "heavy" scores, on which texts, chord diagrams or dynamics are printer too close to the staves : these symbols may disturb OMeR.

Tip : Some printed score use a thin paper which let show the other side by transparency. These "ghosts" can disrupt OMeR processing.
So, put, on the scanned page, a black paper. All the background will be uniformly white.

• Scan pages in 200 dots per inches (dpi). With a lower resolution, result won't be as good, with important risks of mistake. A greater resolution will increase the computing time unnecessarily.

Warning

If resolution is too low, an alert message will be displayed.

Tip : To check whether the scanning resolution is correct, load the image with a picture editor, and count the number of white pixels (graphic dots) between two horizontal lines of a staff. This value must be between 12 and 16.
If under 12, increase the scanning resolution, over 16 decrease it.

• Scan in black and white.
It's not necessary to scan in colors or gray levels, because the image will be converted in black and white by OMeR before being used.

From OMeR, select "Document>Scanner : Acquire". The Twain driver will display its standard box. Configure the scanner to scan the full page in black and white, with a resolution of 200 dpi. It's recommended to crop your picture to a avoid unneeded margins, and to check staves are horizontal.
Ensure also the page is well pressed on the scanner glass, in particular when you scan pages from a book.

OMeR is however very tolerant : special algorithms will process non-horizontal or distorted pages.

We recommend you to choose carefully you driver settings because quality, and so accuracy of the final result will depend on it. Don't hesitate to explore all the options of your Twain driver and to ask for a preview each time.

Start the page scanning process. As soon as completed, picture is quickly analyzed and a quality diagnosis is performed. Depending on the settings in “ File>Preferences>General ” this diagnosis will be displayed in the page window title and/or a dialog box will display details of the analysis.

OMeR works the same way your eye do : if you have difficulties reading a page because lines are broken or musical symbols are altered, OMeR will have too, and the result won't be good.

Tip : Most of scanner drivers enable to save their settings. Do it as soon as you find a satisfactory configuration.

Once page is scanned, a name is asked for this picture file (“bmp” extension on Windows and PICT on Macintosh “pct” extension)

This page is automatically added to the document's page list.

Tip : Save all pages from a same document in a unique folder, and give each page picture file the name of the score followed by the page number.

• Check the quality of the result
If you get something like :

(picture scattered with black dots) try to scan again your page, after having decreased the threshold level, if your scanner driver enables it.
Otherwise, turn the "dust removal" on.

If you get something like :

(lines too fat) scan again your page, after having decreased the threshold level.

If you get something like :

(broken straight lines and/or white dots in black areas) scan again your page, after having increased the threshold level, if your scanner driver enables it.
Otherwise, turn the "dust removal" on.