New features of capella-scan

New in version 9

Also for Mac

Most importantly, capella-scan 9 is not only available for Windows but also for Macintosh computers using the operation system macOS from Apple. capella-scan 9 has very large similarities to the predecessor capella-scan 8 and its functionalities, therefore most individual functions can be found very easily.

The start screen

When starting capella-scan, the first thing you see is the start screen. It allows to easily scan a new file, open an already existing file, restore a previous session or look up various other information. If one selects a file from the list "Recently opened" a file preview will appear on the right hand side.

The new user interface

Similar to the programs capella 9 and tonica fugata 15, the interface has been newly designed for easier access and usability.

The main screen shows the actual document in the middle. There are several areas arranged on all four sides of it, which you can show and hide.

The Edit area is structured in the work stages "Image" and "Notation". Thus the vast range of toolbar functions is decreased.

The capella preview

The capella preview is completely new. It shows the recognition results in clean copy, just as one would find it after a capella export. Many recognition errors are easier to be seen here. As soon as one corrects the recognition (in the main document view), the preview adapts automatically. The capella preview can be moved under or next to the document view, or simply into its own window, which can then be moved to a second screen, if available. The scrolling position of the capella preview is automatically synchronized with the main document view.

Wave and MP3 export

The recognized notes can be exported directly from capella-scan to Wave or MP3. (MIDI was also possible in earlier versions.)

Technical novelties

In former versions only the recognition was running in the background. Now also other tools and tasks are taken care of in background threads to keep the usability as smooth as possible. This includes computation of the thumbnail images, creation of the SystemTemplate and the capella preview.

Opening image files as well as levels of recognition is done by the same command "Open". Only the command to save is still individual for the given files: Save image, Save status of recognition, Export capella file etc.

Also cameras are supported in addition to scanners.

Object properties

Now all common object properties are shown in the Edit area. Thus, one does not have to take too much care as not to mark an object that is not wanted. If displayed in a context menu only the common properties are shown as in former versions, so that the context menu does not overflow.

Music recognition

capella-scan 9 uses a new module for text recognition based on the open source project Tesseract. Momentarily we want it to be just as good as it always has been. Looking forward, we believe that through this change there will be more possibilities of improvements, in particular for the recognition of music symbols.

The recognition has been improved by plausibility checks. In this way some typical recognition errors can be suppressed.

Evaluating the scan quality

After the recognition process an assessment of the scan quality is shown on the "Image" tab giving hints for possible methods of optimization.