[McIDAS #YRE-448128]: McIDAS-X software

Hi Nick,

re:
> The microfiche texts we are scanning were created from original wood block
> prints made centuries ago.  The paper has deteriorated such that the
> resolution between the background and the text itself varies in quality from
> completely clear to nearly completely obscured.  To our knowledge there is
> no optical character recognition of Tibetan script, so good programs to
> differentiate background noise from text are scarce and expensive.

This is fascinating!

> To that effect I have been searching for image enhancement software and
> through that search came upon your website.  I was shocked at the examples
> on the site, with nearly invisible images transformed to ones of great
> clarity.  I thought maybe this software could be used for our work as well.
> And it sounded on the website as if it is in some cases distributed freely,
> so working for a donor-supported organization such as ours I had to ask.

I am still under the impression that you have us confused with another site.
Perhaps you meant to contact the commercial outfit named Unidata in Denver
Colorado?  To make sure that you really are talking to the right folks, please
send along the URL of the web page(s) that you allude to above.  If they
do not include www.unidata.ucar.edu, then you are looking for a different
outfit named Unidata.  If they do contain our website, then I will need to
figure out exactly which of the displays is leading you to believe that
McIDAS is an image enhancement package :-)

> Naturally I don't understand the methods the software uses to improve the
> image so perhaps the text images would not experience the same benefits.
> But the examples on the website were so impressive as to necessitate an
> inquiry.

Please believe me when I say how interested in your project. I just want
to make sure that you are talking to who you need to be talking to.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: YRE-448128
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed