Let's Fire It Up!

Howdy, again. Zoner here. Are you ready to start massaging a photograph into a web image? Hope so, cause that's why I'M here!

Not for long, but so's you can talk the talk, I'm gonna bore you with a couple details on what I use to make digital images. First, an Artec 24-bit flat bed scanner, which I affectionately call "A6000C." Next, I'm usin' Paint Shop Pro to "acquire" the image. It's the Version 5.26 beta, by the way. Still in development. I get to use it into April, then I'll likely pay for it. It'll be worth the money, that's for sure. It now rivals Photoshop, IMHO, and is WAAAY easier to use. If you want a copy of your very own, till about the 6th of April, wander on over to where Paint Shop Pro Lives.

That's about it. A piece of hardware and some software. Oh . . . the computer that brings it all together, but that's no matter. End of techie alert.

Just to keep this on the up and up . . . I'm borrowing an image from a magazine ad. We're not gonna make any money with it, so I don't think we have to worry about infringement. I'm sure the unlimited resources of Suite101 will scare off any legal scruitiny. 'Sides, all the lawyers in the world are busy right now. Some deal in Washington.

How are we going to get the image from the magazine into the computer? That's where that "acquire" comes in. Nowadays, we're just about all using what's called "TWAIN Compliant" scanners. It's not really necessary . . . and real boring to explain the "TWAIN" thing. It's basically HOW the scanner talks to the computer, and how the computer SEES the scanner. If all scanners use the same "TWAIN-Compliant" interfaces . . . then ANY scanner will talk to ANY computer. That's all there is to it.

So, we're going to acquire an image. I'm bringin' it in on MY machine at 300 PIXELS per inch. Makes for a big file. Takes about 12 MB of memory to grab it, and it takes up 1.8 MB of disk space. I do that so I can get a real close look at it, and to give me more options in "playing" with the image. The original image is right here, on MY server, cause the size is larger than what Suite101 can handle. You can see it's got a ways to go to be useful. (It's already reduced by half from its original size, but it's still real

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