Scanning with VueScan Software

In the School of Film/Video we have Epson Expression 11000XL model scanners at various workstations. We use the professional document scanning software VueScan for scanning.

Instructions For Using Scanners and VueScan Software

Turning on the Scanner and Launching VueScan

First, make sure the scanner is turned on. The power button on the scanner is located on the front left side. 

Next, place your document on the scanner glass face down. You can use the marked guides and edge to align your document, starting with the back-left edge of the scanner surface. 

Then, open VueScan by clicking the app icon in the Mac dock

VueScan Settings

After the software opens you will see a panel with settings on the left side. 

You are welcome to adjust the settings however you’d like, but the following screenshot shows a standard starting place for document scanning:

Creating a Preview Scan

A Preview Scan allows you to see a preview of the final scan in the software. This is helpful if you want to adjust scanner settings, crop your scan area, or want to adjust how your document is positioned on the scanner bed. 

To start a preview scan click the “Preview” button on the bottom left side of the VueScan window. The Preview Scan will take less time if you set your Preview Resolution to a lower dpi.

Cropping your preview image

Once you make your Preview Scan you can then select a crop area for your final scan. You will see a moveable bounding box on your preview image. Adjust the edges to fit your document. 

Turning on “Auto Skew” will automatically rotate the crop box to match your document if it’s not straight on the scanner bed.  

Create A Scan

Finally, click the “Scan” button on the bottom left of the screen to create a scan.

Suggestions for Scanning Animation Frames with a Peg Bar

The scanners in the Animation Studios have an ACME Peg Bar adhered to the back edge of the scanner bed. The peg bar will keep your animation frames in register as you scan them in.

Scanning Animation Frames

After turning on the scanner and opening VueScan, place your first frame face down on the scanner bed using the Peg Bar.

Then, set your set your desired settings in VueScan and do a Preview Scan (see previous sections for suggested settings). 

Make sure you set a folder location with a new folder to house your scans. This will be important later when you want to import your scans as an image sequence into an editing software.

VueScan should automatically recognize the edges of your animation frame. To have this crop box stay the same for every frame you scan, go to the Crop panel in VueScan

In Crop, set the Crop Size to Manual. VueScan will automatically set the measurements to the bounding box around your frame. Feel free to adjust the box again here. 

Now every time you press Scan it will only capture that area of the scanner bed, which is the area your frames will be while you use the Peg Bar. 

Setting your frames to count up in numerical order

It’s important that while you scan your animation frames they have the same naming convention with the addition of a number that counts up as you add more scans. 

To have VueScan do this for you automatically, add “_001+” to the end of your file name in the Input settings panel. This will add a counter that starts with the number 1. 

After you set this naming convention and set your Crop size, each frame you scan will be saved to the folder you set and count up in numerical order.