{fh20000E0Sleuth 2
{fb1000000
Sleuth is one of those packages that everybody with a scanner, or FAX board, will find invaluable. The package will take a scanned page of text, and convert it into a plain text file, so that word processors can handle it.

OCR has been around for a number of years, but only really on other platforms which are used extensively for DTP work, such as _Macs_"Reviews.Apps.MacFS". But now Beebug have now released their second generation of Acorn OCR products. Sleuth is one of the very few products available today that work "out of the box", or will run first time, no need to install it. This means that it's dead easy to get going, all you need to do is get hold of some scanned text! It's also dead easy to use, just drop a scan on, tell it to start, and then save the output like you'd save a any RISC-OS file.

In general, OCR packages are able to read, and 'translate', a number of different font styles, and the more powerful systems are able to 'learn' new styles, or can be 'trained'. This is where Sleuth differs a little, because it is not able to learn new fonts. Having said this, Beebug have already trained it with a huge heap of styles, and the manual claims that it will also read in various variations on these styles. This should be adequate for all but the most demanding of users.

As I said earlier, Sleuth will run "out of the box". So, once you've scanned in your page of text, just drop it onto the Sleuth icon. Sleuth with think about it for a while, and make a few internal calculations, then it'll leap into action. The time taken to 'translate' a scan can vary enormously, anything from 10 seconds (for a perfectly clear line) up to several minutes for an A4 page, of not too good quality. Though when compared to some other systems, this is very reasonable.

A number of earlier OCR packages available had great difficulty in reading blurred text, or not very good quality scans. Sleuth seems to have started to address some of these programs with the built in dictionary. This is used to check every scanned word, and if there is no entry Sleuth will display that word in a different colour, so that it can be manually checked. It would have been nice if an interactive speller had been included, such as the one in Ovation. That way you wouldn't need to look up a word processor to check it all for you.

While I was reviewing Sleuth, I tried a few of my own scans to see how well the package handled them. Generally it came back with about 90% accuracy on good quality scans, ie 300dpi with no blurred text. I did run into a few problems when I tried to scan in a FAX, this time the accuracy went down to about 70%, but considering the incredibly poor quality, I thought that this was pretty good. When I altered some of the preferences, such as the quality/ speed settings, the accuracy improved, and I managed to get some perfect scores for the accuracy. To many people, speed is everything. Sleuth is pretty quick on a medium setting, but it can be speeded up by removing the dictionary checking, but this does mean that some of the scans will need to be spell checked.

One problem some other OCR packages come up against is pictures. I regularly use a HP ScanJet with a PC OCR package on it, but I still haven't work out how to stop it from reading the labels on the picture. With Sleuth you can select an area to 'translate', or you can tell Sleuth to ignore it. Selecting an area couldn't be easier, you just drag out a frame, similar to how you would select part of a scan with Computer Concepts ScanLight software.

Overall, Sleuth is a very good OCR product, probably the best on the Acorn platform. The accuracy is good, as is the speed. It's also great to be able to use a product as soon as you buy it without spending days trying to get all of the options set up correctly!

Ease of use 9/10 - Couldn't be much easier to use, great interface.

Features 6/10 - Basic sprite manipulation tools, but no training.

Value 8/10 - Perfect for schools and home users, really cheap compared to the comp- etition on other platforms.

{ssou

Product: Sleuth 2
Price: 116.32
Availability: All Acorn 32-bit machines with 4Mb+
Contact: Beebug (01727) 840303

Note: The original version of Sleuth is still available for 69.32. It does not include the dictionary, or as many font definitions, but is an excellent introduction to OCR. All of my test scans were created with CC's ScanLight 256.
{ss_s
_Win a copy of Sleuth2!_"Regulars.700Comp"
