The Quickest, Most Reliable Way to Add Imaging Functions to Your Application

Pixel Translations’ PixTools/EZ is the best place to start in developing a document imaging solution. PixTools/EZ is a toolkit based on core technology used in creating more than 200 shipping products from Adobe, FileNET, IBM, Tower Technology, Hummingbird, LaserFiche and others. It will both speed your time of development, and greatly improve the ease of development. And with PixTools/EZ, you will enjoy support of every feature your scanner has to offer—barcode recognition, imprinting—everything.

Pixel Translations is a division of Captiva Software, the industry leader in enterprise-level input management tools and services. Pixel’s mission is providing professional application developers with superior document imaging functionality.

PixTools/EZ: Superior Functionality, Ready to Integrate
PixTools/EZ offers scan, view, and annotation functions that are ready to add to your application, making it a great foundation for your document imaging system.

Scan
PixTools/EZ connects you to any ISIS® certified scanner, including flatbed, sheetfed, simplex, duplex, microfilm, book, or check scanners, as well as multifunction devices. ISIS (the Image and Scanner Interface Specification) is the industry-leading standard originally developed by Pixel Translations in 1990. No other toolkit provider offers support for more scanners and scanning functions (support for more than 250 scanners at rated speeds or better!)

Special features, including barcode reading for batch processing separation and endorsing for sequential numbering of scanned pages, can be easily controlled. Additional features such as automatic thresholding, gamma correction, and special filters, are automatically supported when image-processing cards are detected in a scanning device. Add to this PixTools/EZ’s ScanAhead™ image caching, optimized compression and decompression algorithms, and real-time image rotation, and you have a powerful, high performance scanning solution that will help your company sharpen its competitive edge.

View
The faster you can view information, the faster you can put it to work. PixTools/EZ offers exceptional display performance and functionality as well as multipage viewing and sorting.

Superior in-memory image compression and decompression and image caching and prefetching ensure that even large images take less time to display and less space to store. And PixTools/EZ’s ScaleToGray™ functionality dramatically improves image quality. By using software or hardware to display image content in relative shades of gray, images are much easier to read.

Users working with multiple page documents must have the ability to easily move, insert, or delete pages. Implementing multipage document manipulation can be very complex and time-consuming, so PixTools/EZ includes pre-programmed modules for organizing multipage documents.

Whether documents are stored in a single multipage file or multiple single-page files, it’s all the same to a user, as what they see is an intuitive Tree View (as in the figure) with thumbnail images of each page. Inserting, deleting, and moving pages is as simple as using the same Select, Drag and Drop standard familiar to every Windows user. Behind the scenes, PixTools/EZ automatically detects standard file naming schemes (e.g., PAGE001.TIF, PAGE002.TIF, PAGE100.TIF) and reorders, renames, and displays the files correctly according to your user’s actions.

Above: Tree View makes it easy to move, insert, delete, and reorder pages of a multiple page document (above). Just click on a thumbnail of a page and drag it to its correct location.

Annotation
Optimal document imaging allows the clearest means of communication by offering a way to emphasize what’s important and de-emphasize what’s not. Users can do just that with the annotations in PixTools/EZ.

To draw attention to words or sections, Highlight them; put a Box around them; and add Pointers (arrows) or Text. For longer text annotations, use a Sticky Note, which is a pop up text container represented by a small icon. Use a Custom Stamp (or bitmap graphic), like “Rush”, to draw attention to the whole document. And for further emphasis, color your annotations—using any available color from your Windows palette.

Choose from a variety of annotations (above) to make edits, add text, and emphasize or conceal important information.

Quick & Easy: Why Professional Developers Choose PixTools/EZ
The faster you bring your product to market, the sooner you’ll enjoy success. To ensure an expeditious and easy development, PixTools/EZ offers: working sample applications to demonstrate key toolkit features; online help and complete documentation; pre-built dialog boxes; Meta-Controls™ (where a group of related imaging functions are represented through one control bar icon); a tutorial; and much more.

The features that make development quick also make it easy, delivering the flexibility and support you need to develop the application you envision—more than 260 properties, methods, and events. For additional flexibility, PixTools/EZ’s support for ActiveX/OCX makes it easy to work with other toolkits, including third-party ISIS Pipes supporters.

ISIS PIPES—Component Imaging
Using ISIS Pipes connectors, you can easily integrate compatible toolkits from other technology vendors that comply with the ISIS standard. Use the technology you need from the provider you choose. ISIS technology is embodied in the AIIM MS61 specification since 1996.

Pixel Translations originally developed the specification for ISIS in 1990 because we believe that open industry standards empower customers to choose what’s best for their ever-changing environment. In creating ISIS Pipes, we continue our support of this belief.

System Requirements

• Intel Pentium II (or higher) microprocessor, or 100% compatible
• Windows 98, Me, 2000, NT 4.0 Service Pack 6, or XP
• Visual Basic 6.0 or higher
• 64MB of RAM, 50MB of free disk space

Product Contents
PixTools technology is provided in the form of toolkits that include:

• software libraries
• documentation
• sample source code
• engineering support via phone, fax, and Internet

Our developer support group will work with you throughout your project to help you get your application up and running. After development is complete, we’ll continue to keep you up to date with information on crucial upgrades and new technology.