Whiteboard Photo Image Capturing Software Frequently Asked Questions

General:

Installation:

I can't get past the serial number screen on the installer. Why doesn't the "Next" button work?
As I install the software, I get a message "The following system files have been replaced by a program you recently ran." What happened?

Photo Conversion:

Q. Do I need to own a camera?

A. Not necessarily. Whiteboard Photo works with scanners, so you can use it for cleaning up scanned documents too. But, if you want to capture your whiteboard, you’ll need a digital camera.

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Q. How many pixels (what resolution) should my camera have (be)?

A. We recommend at least 1.3 megapixels or 1280 by 960 resolution. Lower resolution cameras work just fine with Whiteboard Photo, but you may have to take multiple pictures of a whiteboard or blackboard to capture the entire contents.

Q. Do I need any special adapters for my camera?

A. No. Whiteboard Photo supports standard camera software, including TWAIN. If you want faster download times, you might consider a USB connection or a memory card reader.

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Q. Does Whiteboard Photo convert multiple photos at once?

A. Yes. You can select as many photos as you want and convert them in a batch.

Q. Why couldn’t I just use my image editing software? What makes Whiteboard Photo different?

A. The inventors of the software had the same idea. They tried to use photo-editing tools such as Photoshop to clean up photos, but it just didn’t work. Whiteboard Photo uses sophisticated image analysis techniques to remove the background and bring out the colors in the photo. In addition, Whiteboard Photo provides geometry correction that even takes into account spherical distortions from camera lenses. No image editing software can do all that.

Q. Do I need a tripod to steady the camera?

A. No, but it might help. Most digital cameras can handle fairly low light conditions, but it is hard to steady the camera without blurring photos. Some cameras are better than others, though. An inexpensive table-top tripod can help keep photos crisp.

Q. Do I need any special lighting to take the pictures?

A. No. Whiteboard Photo can handle dark images with no problem. Whiteboard Photo can even use photos that are almost entirely black and find the whiteboard contents.

Q. Aren’t digital cameras expensive?

A. You decide. A camera good enough to take pictures of whiteboards can be bought for under $300 today, and prices are falling fast. Consider that an electronic copy board (e.g. Mimio, Softboard, SmartBoard, Panaboard, Ibid, Plus) costs anywhere from $500 to $5,000. With copy boards you have to remember to turn them on before you start writing and use special pens. For less money, you can capture any whiteboard, flipchart, or blackboard in your building after the fact.

Q. Does it take a lot of my time to tweak the conversion of my photos?

A. Nope. Whiteboard Photo has a one-click operation that does everything! It finds the edges of the board, corrects the geometry and fixes the color. There are options that you can set, but these only help you choose the type of image you want, not how it converts. On a Pentium II, it takes less than 30 seconds per photo.

Q. Can I decide to clean up only a portion of the photo?

A. Sure. You can drag a box around the part of the photo you wish to convert and Whiteboard Photo does the rest for you.

Q. What if I take a photo of only part of the flip chart or whiteboard? Will Whiteboard Photo work on that?

A. You bet!

Q. What if the software won’t work with my camera or whiteboard?

A. The software should work with every camera and whiteboard. But just in case it doesn’t, Whiteboard Photo comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Call or e-mail Pixid and we’ll give you a return address and authorization number that ensures that you will be properly credited.

Q. Does the software run on a Macintosh?

A. No, it’s designed only for Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000/NT at this time. However, we have many customers who use the software through Virtual PC. Although the software runs slower than on a native PC, it works fine.

Q. What kind of printer do I need to have?

A. Whiteboard Photo works fine with any printer Microsoft Windows supports. Prints generally look slightly better on color printers, but the software also prints nicely on laser printers.

Q. Does Whiteboard Photo work with OCR software?

A. Yes. Most off-the-shelf OCR software works just fine with Whiteboard Photo. Not only can you take photos of whiteboards, flipcharts, and blackboards, you can take photos of documents or posters and use Whiteboard Photo to clean them up too!

Q. When I load your sample photos they load really fast, but my photos take forever to load. How come?

A. You can dramatically improve the load time of your images by using JPEG format images instead of the uncompressed TIFF format. All cameras manufactured today support saving images in JPEG format. The JPEG images are orders of magnitude smaller, and therefore the load times will be much shorter. The low compression JPEG mode on most cameras is more than adequate for Whiteboard Photo and you'll find virtually no difference in image quality between those photos and TIFF photos.

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Q. When I start Whiteboard Photo, the title page appears but then nothing happens. How come?

A. Whiteboard Photo queries your printer driver upon startup to optimize the output for your printer. If you have a printer which is not communicating properly, Whiteboard Photo may not be able to continue. From the printer control panel, right-click the icon for a working printer and choose Set Default.

Q. I can't get past the serial number screen on the installer. Why doesn't the "Next" button work?

A. There may be a number of reasons. First of all, make sure that you have entered both your name and your company name. If you don't have a company name, type your own name again in the Company Name box. (You must enter something in this box.) Next, make sure that you have entered the proper serial number. The serial number is located on the back of your CD jewel case.

Q As I install the software, I get a message "The following system files have been replaced by a program you recently ran." What happened?

A. You are using an older computer that has not been upgraded for the year 2000 bug. The files we installed were actually newer, but since their dates end in the year "00", Windows 95 thinks they are from the year 1900. Don't worry, your software will function just fine.

Q. I colored areas of my flipchart and they don't look very good when I convert the photos.

A. Whiteboard Photo is designed to work with line drawings only. The software assumes that solid areas are part of the background and tries to remove parts of them. This is by design. However, we are looking into changing the software to handle solid areas better in the future.

Q. Thin lines disappear when I convert my photos.

A. Faint or thin lines sometimes look like the background to Whiteboard Photo. First try darkening the original photo. If that doesn't work, you may want to work on taking better photos. Try writing with a thicker pen, changing your lighting conditions, or increasing the number of dots in your photo.

Q. There are tiny spots in the background of my converted photo.

A. This usually happens if a photo is taken in low-light conditions. You might try lightening the original photo.

Q. One side of my converted photo looks great, but it's hard to read the other side.

A. If you take a photo at an oblique angle from the board, there is less information to process on the far side of the board. Try taking photos head-on without using the flash (use a tripod, if possible, to avoid blurring).

Q. I unrolled my flipchart to take a photo and now there are gray splotches on my converted photo.

A. Wrinkled flipcharts can cause shadows to be produced. Dark shadows can look like line drawings to Whiteboard Photo and are actually made darker by the software. To solve this problem, use a flash on your camera or light the flipchart from the front.

Q. The converted photos look blurry.

A. Whiteboard Photo doesn't change the focus of the image. You could try to sharpen either the original image or the converted one, but usually that doesn't help much. Your original photo may be slightly out-of-focus. Try to steady the camera with a tripod. If you don't have access to a tripod, use a flash whenever possible.

Q. There is a big rectangular shadow in the center of my whiteboard photo!

A. Reflections from a window can cause this kind of effect. Although we are used to seeing reflections on whiteboards, it challenges Whiteboard Photo from time to time. Try closing the blinds.

Q. Everything looks great, except the center of my whiteboard picture is missing.

A. Usually this happens when a flash is used. Try taking the picture from the side of the board. See the online help topic "Getting the most from your camera" for specific instructions on setting up the best shot.

Whiteboard Photo Box