Frequently Asked Question
Preparing a scanned or downloaded image for embossing.
Last Updated 9 years ago
This tutorial walks you through the simple process of preparing a scanned image to emboss. With a ViewPlus Embosser and its included Tiger Software Suite, not only is this possible, it’s simple.
1) Scan Your Image
Use your preferred scanner and software to scan the page or item you’d like embossed. Crop off any excess information you don’t intend to use, and then save a copy of the scanned image as a .jpg file in a convenient location. This way you will always have the original to go back to if necessary.
2) Paste into Microsoft Word
Right-click on the image, and select COPY. Open the Microsoft Word template you created with the “Preparing the Workspace and Saving as a Template” tutorial. Right click on the blank page and PASTE the image in. Grab a resize handle and enlarge the image to fill most of the page. It may fit best if you switch the page orientation to Landscape. To do this, go to FILE, then PAGE SETUP. On the MARGINS tab, under ORIENTATION, select LANDSCAPE.
3) Format Picture
Left-click on the image to select it. If your PICTURE Toolbar is not visible, go to the VIEW menu, then TOOLBARS. From the TOOLBARS menu, select PICTURE. Using the Picture Toolbar buttons (see the “Using the Picture Toolbar in Microsoft Word” tutorial if necessary), change the image to GRAYSCALE, and adjust the contrast and brightness so that the different aspects of the diagram are distinguishable. If necessary, you may want to touch up areas using Drawing Tools or a picture editing program. For example, with the picture on the right, heaver lines were used over the top of the pointer lines for clearer embossing. If you are unable to clean-up or edit the image adequately, you may find tracing to be more useful. (To learn more about this feature see the “Creating Graphics with Braille Labels” tutorial.)
4) Insert Text Box Label
When scanned in as a picture, text is embedded into the image and inaccessible for editing or translating. To label your tactile image with braille, simply add text boxes. Under the INSERT menu, select TEXT BOX. Left-click where you want a text box to be on your document. A text box will appear, which you can reshape to the size you need by holding and dragging out its corner resize handles with your cursor. Click in the center of the text box and type in the text you want.
5) Format Text Boxes
Right-click on the text box border and select FORMAT TEXT BOX. In the dialog box that pops up, click on the arrow down beside LINE COLOR, and select NO LINE. Choose OK to return to your document. To add multiple text boxes, repeat steps 4 and 5.
6) Translate Document
To convert all of your document’s text into braille, first ensure you have the correct TIGER PROFILE selected in FORMATTER SETTINGS. Once that is done go to TIGER in the main menu bar and select TRANSLATE DOCUMENT. Your document will then be translated into braille. Reposition text boxes as necessary.
7) Emboss Your Document
To emboss, go to FILE, then PRINT. Make sure the desired ViewPlus Embosser is selected in your Document Settings, then choose OK to print.
1) Scan Your Image
Use your preferred scanner and software to scan the page or item you’d like embossed. Crop off any excess information you don’t intend to use, and then save a copy of the scanned image as a .jpg file in a convenient location. This way you will always have the original to go back to if necessary.
2) Paste into Microsoft Word
Right-click on the image, and select COPY. Open the Microsoft Word template you created with the “Preparing the Workspace and Saving as a Template” tutorial. Right click on the blank page and PASTE the image in. Grab a resize handle and enlarge the image to fill most of the page. It may fit best if you switch the page orientation to Landscape. To do this, go to FILE, then PAGE SETUP. On the MARGINS tab, under ORIENTATION, select LANDSCAPE.
3) Format Picture
Left-click on the image to select it. If your PICTURE Toolbar is not visible, go to the VIEW menu, then TOOLBARS. From the TOOLBARS menu, select PICTURE. Using the Picture Toolbar buttons (see the “Using the Picture Toolbar in Microsoft Word” tutorial if necessary), change the image to GRAYSCALE, and adjust the contrast and brightness so that the different aspects of the diagram are distinguishable. If necessary, you may want to touch up areas using Drawing Tools or a picture editing program. For example, with the picture on the right, heaver lines were used over the top of the pointer lines for clearer embossing. If you are unable to clean-up or edit the image adequately, you may find tracing to be more useful. (To learn more about this feature see the “Creating Graphics with Braille Labels” tutorial.)
4) Insert Text Box Label
When scanned in as a picture, text is embedded into the image and inaccessible for editing or translating. To label your tactile image with braille, simply add text boxes. Under the INSERT menu, select TEXT BOX. Left-click where you want a text box to be on your document. A text box will appear, which you can reshape to the size you need by holding and dragging out its corner resize handles with your cursor. Click in the center of the text box and type in the text you want.
5) Format Text Boxes
Right-click on the text box border and select FORMAT TEXT BOX. In the dialog box that pops up, click on the arrow down beside LINE COLOR, and select NO LINE. Choose OK to return to your document. To add multiple text boxes, repeat steps 4 and 5.
6) Translate Document
To convert all of your document’s text into braille, first ensure you have the correct TIGER PROFILE selected in FORMATTER SETTINGS. Once that is done go to TIGER in the main menu bar and select TRANSLATE DOCUMENT. Your document will then be translated into braille. Reposition text boxes as necessary.
7) Emboss Your Document
To emboss, go to FILE, then PRINT. Make sure the desired ViewPlus Embosser is selected in your Document Settings, then choose OK to print.