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DotImage 5.0 New Features

For information on upgrading from DotImage 4.0 to DotImage 5.0, see this knowledgebase article.

For a visual interactive summary of new features in DotImage 5.0, please watch this video.

New DotImage Modules

  • ASP.NET Web Annotations using AJAX Technology
  • Added a DICOM Decoder with JPEG2000 and Metadata support (5.0a update)
  • Added a ColorExtractionCommand that can be used to detect and extract color elements in a document (5.0a update)

Improvements to the core DotImage library

  • A new TIFF Codec developed from the ground up for improved support and performance
    • Tested on our extensive image database of thousands of customer images
    • Benchmarked to be generally faster than the old codec based on LibTIFF
    • Images with TIFF Tags occupying many megabytes of memory no longer affects decoding performance
    • Supports more flavors of TIFF and improved OJPEG decoding
    • Now supports writing OJPEG Compression 6 to support legacy TIFF readers
  • Optimizations for multi-core processors.  Added an interface for multi-threaded image processing commands which will parallelize image processing and improve performance on multi-core machines
  • AdaptiveThresholdCommand performance improvement for multi-core processors
  • SimpleThresholdCommand performance improvement for multi-core processors
  • Improved Memory Management API via a PixelAccessor class.  This class raises events when certain memory thresholds are met or exceeded and can track all AtalaImage memory in use.
  • New event in PDF encoding allowing the selection of compression parameters such as JPEG quality for each encoded page.
  • Added chroma subsampling support to the JPEG encoder.
  • Added a new Thresholding command called DynamicThresholdCommand which is similar to Adaptive Thresholding but keeps dark homogeneous regions intact (5.0a update)

Improvements to PDF Rasterizer

  • Major performance and compatibility improvements since the initial 4.0 release (see Press Release)
  • Occupies less memory when rendering color PDF's (24-bits per pixel as opposed to 32-bits per pixel)
  • Occupies less memory when reading gray or B&W PDF's (8-bits per pixel as opposed to 32-bits per pixel)

Improvements to BarcodeReader

  • Added Australia Post (1-D) barcode support (5.0a update)
  • Added Micro QR (2-D) barcode support (5.0a update)

Improvements to Annotations

  • The Annotation features are now only included with DotImage Document Imaging 5.0, and no longer offered to purchase standalone.  However Annotations can still be deployed without DotImage dependencies.
  • Refactored into a Model – View – Controller pattern for increased extensibility and the ability to use other rendering mechanisms
  • Supports full matrix based transformations
  • Added Ability to flip Annotations
  • Added ability to interactively rotate individual annotations
  • Added support for Undo and Redo
  • Added a new Callout Annotation
  • Added support for custom line endcaps for line, lines, freehand, and callout (arrow, rectangle, ellipse, etc.)
  • Improvements to Rubberstamp Annotation
  • Custom-designed icons for each annotation type are available as resources in multiple sizes (32x32, 24x24, 16x16).
  • Since this was a redesign, there are interface changes from previous versions.
  • Added the ability to change the behavior and visibility of individual grips
  • Added clipboard support through Cut, Copy and Paste methods
  • Added the ability to create annotations on a single click or double click with optional annotation centering
  • Improved the annotation security features
  • Added nested layer support
  • Improved Text Annotation with a fully transparent editor and auto sizing to the text content.
  • Now different actions can be set to different mouse buttons
  • Rubberstamp now resizes to aspect ratio of annotation (5.0a update)
  • XMP Annotations Data can now be written in DotImage v4.0 format (5.0a update)

Improvements to ASP.NET WebControls

  • Controls can now be placed in an ASP.NET 2.0 MultiView control
  • Controls can now be placed in an ASP.NET AJAX (Atlas) UpdatePanel control.
  • Added support for Atalasoft Web Controls to be included within a parent control that is invisible.
  • Added getDisplayImageUrl javascript method to provide a URL to the current viewable image in the control.
  • WebThumbnailControl now supports the ability to select multiple thumbnails at once by holding down the control key while selecting.
  • Added caption support to individual thumbnails in the WebThumbnail Control supporting custom captions with page number and filename.

New AJAX enabled Web Annotations Module

  • Extends the AJAX enabled WebImageViewer to add annotations support to the existing image viewing, panning, zooming, and editing control.
  • Requires no applets or plug-ins
  • Supports IE6, IE7, FireFox, and Safari
  • Renders annotations stored within an image file or an external file.
  • Uses same mechanism and data layer as the Windows Forms Annotations module.
  • Move, resize, and create annotations within the browser.
  • Annotations are updated from the server once placed, or resized fully enabling the rendering of all built-in annotations as well as any custom annotations.
  • Supports Layering and changing rendering order (z-order)
  • Programmatic access to annotations via server-side code
  • A full Javascript API to programmatically access all annotation properties and methods without server postbacks
  • Edit text Annotations interactively in the browser

Improvements to Advanced Document Cleanup Module

  • Overall performance and quality has been increased
  • AutoBorderCropCommand quality of results have been improved
  • MarginCropCommand has been improved and is now much faster
  • HolePunchRemovalCommand has been improved, and does a better job eliminating false positives.  Now reports the number of holes removed, and hole locations. No longer removes non-elliptical holes.
  • AdvancedBorderRemovalCommand has been improved and will no longer remove features that extend from the border to the relevant areas of the document.
  • HalftoneRemovalCommand has been added, which eliminates shaded areas of an image that when thresholded create ordered dots and negatively affect OCR. Reports halftone locations.
  • LineRemovalCommand has been improved with better speed and accuracy.  Can specify Orthogonal, Vertical, or Horizontal lines to remove.  Reports line end points and thickness. 

Improvements to OCR Modules

  • Pre-processing can now occur before, during, and after deskew and the point where the searchable PDF module grabs the image to embed.
  • Pre-processing options now represented as a class as opposed to a bit field for easier manipulation.
  • More consistent event model.
  • Text regions now report orientations in GlyphReader
  • GlyphReader now supports automatically detecting rotated documents
  • New property in Searchable PDF Module (PdfTranslator) to automatically fix page orientation in the resulting PDF when page rotation is detected.
  • Compression Event added to PDFTranslator enabling JPEG2000 compression value to be modified (5.0a update)
  • Pages can now be excluded from OCR translation with a new PdfTranslator property (5.0a update)

Improvements to DotTwain Scanning Module

  • CreateDeviceSession method was added to the Acquisition object to allow a temporary Device object to be created, used and disposed.  This is required for some network scanning situations that may change the device identity between sessions.