Screen Cezanne Users Unite

[Bob McCarthy]

Bryan something has changed. I went through scans I made with the Cezanne and found no evidence of what your finding. There were scans on the cpu I sent, I'd suggest you take a look to confirm. I scanned 8x10 and batches of 4x5 covering the bed without issue. I believe there are no driven cogged wheel/track systems in a scanner like this. The stepper motors just make a step based upon a controller which determines the size and frequency of step. The engineer in me tells me these system either work or do not.

I'm still thinking some sort of intermittent electrical problem. At one point I thought maybe static build up, or scsi cable/connections. A good cleaning can never hurt, I've never had it apart, but I can not see how it can cause such an intermittent problem. But if the glitch happens in the same exact spot, I find that confusing, maybe some debris on the carriage track. Because the bed was locked down, any issue from jolt in transport would likely only occur in the starting position.

I suppose we should not rule out the computer and/or software somehow corrupted the database but this is an area I'm not conversant in. My software background is network and physics for gaming.

bob

[Peter De Smidt]

It's a strange issue. I've had it, Peter Y. has, and so has Bryan. For me, moving to a different place on the platton "fixed" it. It's odd that if it's a electrical or software issue that moving around on the bed will change the behavior. Although Bryan did say that the lines seemed to be fixed in place, which I haven't checked. Bob was using a UPS, though, and I haven't been. I can move mine from my main system over when I next have to do some scanning. Perhaps I'll give it a try this weekend.

[Corran]

Bob, I've already deleted those scans per your request, but I totally believe this is a new issue. The really odd thing is the consistent spots it is happening. I think it's possible there is a bit of debris or something in the carriage track as you mention, dislodged in shipping, and only effecting it in that certain position.

Surely anything that is electrical must be more random and subject to be anywhere on the platen. Jim got back to me a couple of days ago and said he believes it's definitely a hardware, not software issue.

Well, I'll continue to troubleshoot, and thanks for the input guys. Luckily it is working in that center part so I'm glad to be making scans regardless. It's not the end of the world, just slightly annoying.

[SURF]

I scanned a Tri-X negative (4x5) and an area in the photo with straight lines, the scan has the lines being wavy! I'm not convinced it's the scanner, but me doing something wrong and not having the film secure enough.

Hi Corran, my guess is that all this things go from wrong geometry of the scanner. Please scan the problemed part two times on the same place of base glass: the second scan - rotate original 90 degree on the glass. Then you can compare the scanes in image editor after rotating 90 degrees back. 3000 dpi is a good starting resolution for that.

[Bob McCarthy]

Sorry I forgot I did ask you. maybe still in trash can, recycle bin for PC types.

Anyway, I too agree its unlikely software, but I've had reinstalls fix the craziest problems. We don't want to do this if we can avoid it. If the carriage is sticking or binding somewhere, it seem to me it would cover a fairly largish area, not a scan line or three.

from my understanding each scan line is sent in a burst, to be aligned in software with the one before and after. It's possible it's send in a continuous stream with indexes for alignment, I didn't code the softward/hardware interface, but someone at screen likely knows. This is where the wavy lines peaked my interest, seemed like a rhythmic issue going on. Missing scan lines could be caused by lines of code not arriving or arriving corrupted and being assembled as an blank or black line in the final file. That could be hardware or network.

Guessing, but even possible there is debris in the belt that drives the unit that might cause lack of smoothness and occasional micro jerks??

I would call screen and send a file and ask for support.

or maybe one of the scanner guru's like lenny eiger would help us.

bob

[coisasdavida]

but even possible there is debris in the belt that drives the unit that might cause lack of smoothness and occasional micro jerks??

That sounds very plausible.
I'll try SURF's suggestion tomorrow as well, then clen the belt as best as I can, and try that again.

[Corran]

Hello everybody.

I'm hoping that maybe the collective experience and knowledge of all you fine people will be able to help me further with the issue I was describing in the last few pages. I've been dealing with the issue by avoiding the problem areas, but suddenly this last week the problem has grown exponentially and sadly right now I seem to basically have a $2500 paperweight.

Here's the problem, in detail, with as much information as I have been able to suss out:

-The issue seems to be garbled lines in an area of about 50-60 pixels, in a line across the scan perpendicular to the movement of the bed. This seems to indicate an issue with the movement of the bed, rather than an issue with the sensor.
-Often the problem manifests as out-of-sync colors within the scan. I'll see a "ghost image" of the scan in several different colors offset from where they are obviously supposed to be.
-The lines stay in the same place. If I pre-scan an area, and the lines are visible on the pre-scan, they will be in the exact same position when I scan the image. They do not move. They have only propagated recently to infest also the middle area which was problem-free up till last week.
-I have cleaned out the scanner as much as I could. I opened it up and cleaned the mirror, I dusted out the inside, I cleaned some gunk off of the rubber rolling wheels that govern the movement of the bed. I have also carefully secured the scanner and it seems to be 100% stable as far as I can see. I have also opened up the Mac and re-seated the SCSI cards, and tried both cards (they both acted the same).
-I also tried a different SCSI cable as well as a different power cable.
-When the scanner resets for the next scan, the bed movement makes a very loud rubbing sound. Normal?

I think that's about all there is to it. There is several images of the issue in previous pages, but I can post more if needed. The problem has now gotten so bad that I do not think there is any place on the bed to successfully even scan a 4x5 image.

Some questions I have been thinking about -
There is a SCSI termination thingy on the scanner, beside the connection to the computer. What issues might a poor termination cause, and how can I check this?
There is two SCSI cards in the computer. Is this a bad idea? Should there be terminations inside there, or a connection between the two?
I have the scanner plugged into a power regulator, but not an especially nice one. Is there power considerations that could cause this issue?

Also, does anyone have a contact at Screen that might be able to ascertain what the problem is from sample images? Getting a house call for maintenance sounds implausible considering my location and also very expensive.

Thanks guys.

[Corran]

GREAT news - I fixed it, for real this time.

The issue was, as I had been thinking, partially my fault. The reason the issue became so evident this week was because I moved the scanner, albeit slightly. The problem was caused by a very slight bowing of the table. I would think that the heavy-duty metal beams inside the scanner would prevent this, but apparently the extremely fine movement of the scanner was indeed "hitching" when moving along that slightly curved path. I double-reinforced the table and added some extra "feet" under the scanner to give it a stable platform.

That said - it's possible it was something else, as I fooled with a lot of things tonight working on the scanner. I had the whole thing open and was poking around and cleaning things and re-seating the belts and such. I also dug around the Mac for a while trying different things. I took out one of the SCSI cards, not sure why there's two in there.

Anyway...thank God I don't have to call a service rep. At least, so far so good - I'm making a high-resolution scan of an 8x10 right now to check the performance.

[Vord]

Hi Guys,

Quick question, I just picked up a Cezanne Elite and I'm trying to test it but have come to the realization that I need to be connected to a server is that correct or is there a way to run it without?
I have no internet under OS9 Sadly, so otherwise I suppose I'll have to go pick up a AirPort card.

Thanks!

Mick

[Peter De Smidt]

The "server" means the server application. You can run this on the same machine that you run ColorGenius. So, starting with all power off. Turn on the scanner. Once it's self test is done, turn on the computer. Run the Screen Server application. Once it's up, open Color Genius. There's no need to create a network.