Choosing A Commercial Imaging
Toolkit
Introduction
The are currently many commercial imaging toolkits
available and choosing one from the
list of many can
potentially be confusing and difficult. What the
developer needs to do is
to make a list of the features
to look for and the importance of each feature. The tips
given below can be used as a guide to selecting an
imaging toolkit and should be used to
augment the
developer's own criteria.
Price and Licensing
Is run-time licensing required? Usage of most imaging
toolkits require two types of
licenses - development and run-time.
A development license typically needs to be purchased
for each development PC on which the imaging toolkit is
to be installed on. Some imaging toolkit vendors provide
group development licensing where bulk purchases result
in cheaper costs per license.
A run-time license typically needs to be purchased for
each end-user PC on which the developed application
needs to be installed on. Serious consideration needs to
be given to this component of the licensing especially
in cases where the developed application is expected to
be installed and used on hundreds (or even thousands) of
PCs.
Trial Versions
Is a trial version of the imaging toolkit available? If
so, are there any limitations in functionality? Is there
is a time limit to the trial version?
Trial versions are very important as it allows the
developer to test out the claims of the imaging toolkit
vendor. Performance and clarity of the displayed images
are aspects that must be tested out before a purchase is
made. An inefficient toolkit will take an unacceptable
length of time to display high resolution and large
dimension images.
Portability
Another important consideration is whether the imaging
toolkit is supported across all Windows platforms - i.e.
95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. This is especially
important if the developer has no control over the type
of Windows platform that is being used by the end users
- since there is a very high probability that different
users will be using different versions of Microsoft
Windows.
Functionality
Does the imaging toolkit provide all standard
functionality?
Most imaging toolkits provide:
1. Acquisition (TWAIN and/or ISIS) from different
devices - e.g. scanners,
video cameras, digital cameras, etc.
2. Display with anti-aliasing, zooming and panning
functionality
3. Annotations
4. Printing
5. Image cleaning - noise, auto-cropping, deskew,
despeckle, etc.
6. Image enhancement - contrast, brightness, histogram
equalization, etc.
7. Imaging editing - filters, effects, rotation, etc.
8. Color management - transparency, separation,
replacement, conversion, etc.
The developer also needs to consider any specialized
requirements that the project may have that may only be
available in specialized imaging toolkits. For example:
1. High speed TWAIN transfer scanning
2. Image pixel access
3. Ultra efficient memory management
4. Ultra efficient compression and decompression
5. OCR, OMR and BCR support (even ICR)
Supported Image Formats
Are all the popular image formats supported? Are there
any hidden costs in the form of add-ons that need to be
purchased for some image formats? Support for the more
recent and specialized formats may only be available
with the purchase of additional add-ons - e.g. Lossless
JPEG and JPEG 2000. Also, many imaging toolkits require
the purchaser to request for a GIF/LZW waiver from
Unisys Corporation before a separate key is released to
unlock GIF and LZW-related functionality.
Development Environment
Does the imaging toolkit provide an OCX control for
immediate use by the developer? Some imaging toolkits
only provide a DLL which provides crunching
functionality - display of the image is the
responsibility of the developer.
Also, can the toolkit be used with the development tool
of the developer's choice? Can the imaging toolkit be
used with the new .NET platform? What about Visual
Basic, Visual C++, Delphi, Power Builder and Borland?
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