BasicCAT — Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) Tools

Manga Typesetting Tool Comparison: TypeR and ImageTrans

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:06:50 +0000

In the world of manga translation, typesetting is where everything comes together. After OCR and translation, you still need to place text back into the artwork in a way that feels natural, readable, and faithful to the original design. This is where tools like TypeR and ImageTrans come in.

Both target similar users—scanlators, translators, letterers, and comic localizers—but they represent two very different philosophies: one centered on Photoshop, the other on an integrated pipeline.

Overview

TypeR is a Photoshop extension (forked from TyperTools) designed specifically for manga and comic typesetting. It enhances Photoshop with features like smart alignment, style management, and multi-bubble handling, aiming to speed up manual work without leaving the design environment.

ImageTrans is a standalone computer-aided translation tool that covers OCR, translation, and text reinsertion. It can automatically detect text regions, remove original text, and inject translations, while still supporting export back to Photoshop for refinement.

Workflow Comparison

TypeR: Photoshop-Centric Workflow

TypeR assumes Photoshop is your main workspace:

Open image in Photoshop
Insert text using TypeR tools
Adjust layout manually

Its biggest strength is eliminating repetitive actions (copy-paste, alignment, style switching) inside Photoshop.

However:

OCR and translation must be done elsewhere
Workflow is fragmented across tools

ImageTrans: End-to-End Workflow

ImageTrans covers the full pipeline:

Load images
Detect and extract text (OCR)
Translate using multiple engines
Remove original text and reinsert translation
Export to PSD for final refinement

It integrates OCR, large language model translation, text cleaning, typesetting and batch processing into one system.

This reduces tool switching and enables large-scale workflows.

Feature Comparison Table

Feature	TypeR	ImageTrans
Core Type	Photoshop plugin	Standalone application
OCR (text extraction)	❌ Not supported	✅ Built-in multi-engine OCR
Translation integration	❌ External only	✅ Multiple MT engines + CAT features
Text detection	❌ Manual	✅ Automatic detection (AI + heuristics)
Text removal (cleaning)	❌ Manual in Photoshop	✅ Automated (masking, lama inpainting, nano banana, etc.)
Text alignment	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Text reinsertion	✅ Manual typesetting	✅ Automatic + adjustable reinjection
Multi-bubble handling	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Style management	✅ Advanced (folders, presets)	✅ Global styles
Batch processing	❌ Not designed for it	✅ Supported
Photoshop integration	✅ Native plugin	✅ Export to PSD
Automation level	Low (manual control)	High (semi/fully automated)
Cross-platform	Depends on Photoshop	✅ Windows / macOS / Linux

Which One to Use

Choose TypeR is you prefer to do the typesetting entirely in Photoshop.

ImageTrans is a better choice in almost all aspects:

An integrated environment for document scanning, image extracting from CBZ/PDF, image editing, OCR, translation, cleaning and typesetting.
Compatible with basiccaly all Photoshop versions (CS2+) and any other image editors like Krita and GIMP.

How to Convert Vertical Japanese PDFs to Horizontal Layout

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:25:50 +0000

Japanese is typically written in vertical, which may be difficult for people accustomed to horizontal text. We can convert it to a horizontal layout.

PDFs can be divided into two types: those with selectable text and those that cannot be copied. For the selectable type, since the PDF simply renders text at fixed positions, the text often cannot be copied in reading order and requires layout analysis. For non-selectable versions, such as scanned PDFs, OCR software is needed to recognize the text, followed by layout analysis to determine the correct text order.

The computer-aided image translation software ImageTrans supports processing both types of PDFs, exporting vertically oriented text into a horizontal format.

Example:

Original PDF File:

Converted horizontal text:

もちろんです以下にランダムな日本語の文章を生成しました。

一匹の子犬。王都が見えてきた。でかいのは態度だけで後は何もかもが小さい。

It also supports adding furigana annotations:

もちろんです以下いかにランダムな日本語にほんごの文章ぶんしょうを生成せいせいしました。

一匹いっぴきの子犬こいぬ。王都おうとが見みえてきた。

でかいのは態度たいどだけで後あとは何なにもかもが小ちいさい。

How to Add Pronunciation (Furigana) to Japanese Kanji

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:25:50 +0000

Japanese kanji originated from China and are logographic characters. Their pronunciation can be annotated using romaji or kana. The kana used for this purpose are called furigana.

Below are some examples of text with pronunciation annotations (raw text and annotated):

Example 1:

一匹の子犬。

一匹いっぴきの子犬こいぬ。

Example 2:

もちろんです以下にランダムな日本語の文章を生成しました。

もちろんです以下いかにランダムな日本語にほんごの文章ぶんしょうを生成せいせいしました。

Example 3:

王都が見えてきた。

王都おうとが見みえてきた。

Example 4:

でかいのは態度だけで後は何もかもが小さい。

でかいのは態度たいどだけで後あとは何なにもかもが小ちいさい。

Adding pronunciation annotations to Japanese kanji is not a simple task. It requires correctly segmenting Japanese sentences into words and then obtaining the accurate pronunciation of the segmented results. Japanese kanji pronunciation is complex, with on’yomi (Chinese readings) and kun’yomi (Japanese readings), and phonetic changes often occur when multiple characters are combined.

Kuromoji is a specialized Japanese morphological analysis software that performs word segmentation, grammatical analysis, and pronunciation retrieval based on dictionaries such as ipadic and unidic. It can be used to annotate kanji with pronunciation.

However, it has some drawbacks.

The default ipadic dictionary has limited data, leading to inaccurate annotations. Unidic, on the other hand, segments too finely—for example, splitting “日本語” (Japanese) into “日本” and “語,” which results in annotation errors. Additionally, it handles counters like “一匹” (one small animal) poorly.

ImageTrans integrates Kuromoji and combines the results from ipadic and unidic to generate accurate annotations. It also automatically handles counters, achieving better annotation results. This can be used to assist with manga reading, Japanese language learning, and automatic text annotation. If higher accuracy is required, large language models such as GPT or DeepSeek can also be used for annotation.

How to Detect Text Colors in Images

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 08:28:50 +0000

Detecting text colors in images, including background colors and stroke colors, can be used for layout restoration, translation, and other operations.

Original image:

Translated image:

Implementation Principle

For background colors, KMeans can be used to cluster colors and identify the dominant colors in the image.

For text colors, contour detection can be performed to calculate the average pixel value of the text contour and exclude pixels that are similar to the background color.

However, if the background is complex and stroke colors or the color of each character need to be extracted, traditional image processing methods may not perform well. In such cases, convolutional neural networks can be used for extraction.

The computer-assisted image translation software ImageTrans integrates the algorithms mentioned above.

Examples

Below are some operational examples.

Example 1

In many CG images, different colors are often used to distinguish dialogues between different characters.

ImageTrans can detect stroke colors and text colors. Below are the raw recognition results.

As can be seen, the text colors and stroke colors have been detected, but they are not very accurate.

In the project settings, we can predefine several styles and specify the colors used for each style.

Afterward, perform a color matching operation to match the styles based on the text colors.

This resolves the issue of inaccuracies in the detected colors.

Example 2

Some texts use rich text formatting, where a single line of text may contain multiple colors. ImageTrans supports recognizing the style of each character and outputting results with rich text tags.

How to Convert Traditional Chinese PDF from Vertical to Horizontal and Enhance Text Clarity

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:32:50 +0000

I recently came across several older Taiwanese academic papers and found that they were all in PDF format with vertical text, Traditional Chinese, and black-and-white scanned copies. The text was illegible, which was so difficult to read that I worried it might worsen my myopia. So, I came up with some ways to optimize the reading experience. For users in Mainland China, converting the vertical text to horizontal format makes it much easier to read. However, sometimes preserving the original layout is better. So I also tried using OCR to recognize the text, remove the original content, and reformat it with clear, readable text. Below is a demonstration of the results and how to do it.

Demonstration of Results

Original file (PDF):

Converted to horizontal markdown format:

卷五十第

期一十二第

## 那一個甘蔗品種好?

## 選擇蔗種的基本原則

選擇甘蔗品種的基本原則,是「適地適種」,而「適地」的意義,並不是單指適合的土壤的意思,還包括蔗園所在地點的一切環境條件,諸如氣候狀況、灌溉條件、肥料多少、勞力充份否,間作不間作,留宿根不留等等,都要考慮到.只有適合種蔗環境的品種,才能有好的收成,所以在選擇品種之前,首先要明白所經營的蔗園的環境.下面幾點是主要的考慮對象：

（1）土質和地力：土質的粘重或輕鬆,主要關係土壤水分的保持與喪失.粘重的土壤,保水力较强,纵然在灌溉水不够充分的地方,也能栽培比較不耐旱的品種,但是粘重的蔗園容易排水不良,根系太深,不耐浸的品种就发育不良.土质轻松的土壤適恰相反,不適合栽培不耐旱品種,而適應根系深的品種.

甘蔗品種的耐肥性是個個不同的,有的適合在好地方的蔗園,有的在地方好的蔗園反而減產.所以地方的肥沃瘦瘠也需要密切注意.

（2）灌溉的條件：要說甘蔗是水做的,一點也沒有錯,一支甘蔗有七〇％以上是水.因之,水成了種蔗的必具條件,只是甘蔗品種裏有些特別喜愛水一些,缺了水,產量隨即降低,另一些對水淡漠一些,早一點影響產量不大.選擇品種的時候,不能不顧到這點.

（3）宿根：每一個品種的宿根能力多有不同,有些可以宿根,有些宿根产量很低,留宿根化不來,要是選錯了就要自己吃虧.

（4）植期不同：有些品种只能作为秋植,而且必須早秋植；延遲種植,產量降低.另一些品種又只適合春植,作為秋植時並不理想.而二期糊仔有二期糊仔的品種,一期糊仔有一期糊仔的品種,

都混雜不得的.

（5）勞力的多少：有的蔗友家中勞力很多,或者財力雄厚,足以招雇够量的勞力來從事精耕栽培,那麼就應該選擇適合精耕栽培的品種.否則,應該選擇在粗放耕作時仍有相當產量的品種.

（6）病蟲害問題：現在推廣的品種,大致說對於主要的病蟲害都是抵抗的,但在容易發生病蟲害的環境如玉米栽培地區,有些品種比較容易發生露菌病,應該避免栽培.

## 目前推廣的優良蔗種

談完了選擇品種時考慮的主要種蔗環境條件,現在來選擇品種,首先要介紹一些最近由糖業試驗所育成,在推廣中的甘蔗新品種.

F一四六已經推廣三個年期了,大家對它都已十分認識,它是一個中大莖,多分櫱的品種.初期生育緩慢,而在次年高溫多水的季節迅F一四六速生長.原料莖很多,只是短一點,適合在地力中等以上,有水灌溉,不很粘重的地方作为早秋植,F一四六可以間作,宿根也不錯,最高的產量可以達到三十萬公斤.

F一四八作為春植或晚秋植時,它增產能力比在早秋植時高,同時也不適合二期糊仔.蔗莖又細小一點,所以蔗友們不很歡迎.事實F一四八上,用F一四八作晚植蔗園的品種,它的產量比F一四六,和F一五二安定.而且在所有的新品種中,F一四八是糖份最高的一個,也是最不怕露菌病的品種,又因為它很早熟,種了它,多半是在製糖季初收穫,蔗友們可以提前利用種蔗後的土地.

F一四八也不適合在粘重或過份輕鬆,以及乾旱的地方栽培,間作和宿根的條件不及F一四六.

## F一五一

F一五一適合在粘土蔗園秋植及二期糊仔

,在溫度較低,土壤較乾的時候,萌

芽比其他新品種好.它是中莖種,原料莖比F一四六細而長,也比F一四六容易倒伏,但不易开花；和F一四六同样地晚熟,步留也差不多.露菌病的感染程度較重.F一五一的新植產量在輕鬆的壤土裏不及F一四六,在粘重的土壤則勝過F一四六.宿根的產量和F一四六相仿.

F一五一不能作為晚植蔗園的品種.

F一五二是地力肥沃,灌溉水充沛蕉園的增產王牌,它的原料莖高而粗,只要保持適當的原料莖數,很容易的得上二十萬公斤以上的F一五一甲當產量.不過在灌溉水缺乏,地力不夠而又沒有辦法施用重肥的蔗園,F一五二沒有增產的希望.

七、八月種植的F一五二容易母莖徒長,因此不如九月種植的蔗園產量穩定.F一五二是個好

## ·紹介者作期本·

▼湯冠雄：曾任臺灣糖業試驗所種藝系技師,現任該所虎尾蔗作改良場場長,從事甘蔗栽培研究已十七年.

![图片]()

夏輔禹：安東省岡城縣人,臺灣省立農學院畢業,現任糖業試驗所虎尾蔗作改良場研究組組長,一直擔任蔗田間作試驗方面工作.

![图片]()

A clear version preserving the original layout (Image + PDF):

Text-based PDF with vector text, remains sharp even when zoomed in:

File Link

How-to Guide

This requires using the OCR software ImageTrans.

Use the built-in bubble detection feature to detect vertical text lines.
Use a large language model for OCR. Since the text here is quite blurry, only large language models can achieve good results. I chose the qwen3-vl-235b-a22b-instruct model for this task.
Use PaddleOCR’s DocLayout panel detection model to identify text paragraphs and sort the text lines from right to left according to the reading order.
Specify text styles for both vertical and horizontal text. Then, determine which text is horizontal and which is vertical based on the aspect ratio.
Export as PDF.
Next, export as markdown. Here, we can merge text lines by paragraph to remove unnecessary line breaks.

Software main interface:

Displaying panels and order:

How to Scan Negatives

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 12:28:50 +0000

Photos taken with old film cameras usually leave behind negatives (film) after being developed and printed at a photo lab. I recently came across quite a few of these negatives. The negatives contain a type of silver salt that is highly light-sensitive. Standard negatives are 35mm wide and 24mm high, and the developed content is inverted.

Because negatives are very small and have an additional orange mask (color cast), digitizing them is not an easy task. A common method is to use a professional film scanner. If a scanner isn’t available, you can also use a mobile phone or a camera to “scan” them by photographing.

Photographing with a Camera

Negatives are transparent and require transmitted light to reveal the image. You can prepare a white light source, such as a phone screen or a ceiling light.
Use a macro lens to take the photo. For a mobile phone, you can attach an external macro lens.
After shooting, use software like Adobe Photoshop for further processing: inverting the colors and using the “Auto Color” function to remove the orange mask.

Since a mobile phone was used here, there might be issues like insufficient sharpness, inaccurate colors, and screen moiré patterns. Using a professional camera would yield much better results, potentially offering greater sharpness than some scanners. Additionally, professional cameras can save files in raw format, which is more convenient for color correction.

Scanning with a Scanner

Choose a flatbed scanner that supports scanning negatives, such as the Epson V850. The one I used here is an Epson V300, which comes with a transparency unit and film holders, making it suitable for scanning negatives.

You can use the manufacturer’s software, like Epson Scan, to scan. It can automatically crop negatives, invert colors, and remove the orange mask.

If you prefer to obtain only the raw scan data, you can use software like ImageTrans to control the scanner via interfaces such as TWAIN, ICA, or SANE.

Afterwards, you can use ImageTrans or other software for cropping, inverting, and color correction.

Scanning using ImageTrans:

Result after cropping, inverting, and color correction using ImageTrans:

Reverse Engineering of Document Scanner Protocols

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 02:42:50 +0000

Scanners are typically accessed through interfaces such as SCSI, USB, and networks. To control a scanner to perform scanning tasks and return scanned data, a set of standards must be followed. Modern scanners generally support the eSCL standard for network connections. However, not all scanners comply with this standard; manufacturers often define their own protocols and provide drivers for applications to use.

But drivers are not always available for all operating systems and CPU architectures. As a result, some people have reverse-engineered these protocols, enabling the use of scanners without official drivers. Examples of such software include the open-source SANE and commercial options like ExactScan and VueScan. Additionally, writing custom drivers allows precise control over scanners, such as adjusting colors, enabling or disabling paper jam detection sensors, and previewing scan results in real time. Moreover, with browsers now supporting USB device control, it is even possible to operate scanners directly within a browser.

Below are some methods for reverse engineering scanners:

Directly Leverage SANE’s Source Code: SANE has reverse-engineered most scanners. By studying its code, we can understand the communication methods of various scanners.
Capture USB Traffic in an Environment with Working Drivers: For example, here’s how to do it on Linux:

Start capturing:
```
sudo modprobe usbmon
sudo tcpdump -i usbmon2 -w scan.pcap
```
Use SANE to scan a document:
```
scanimage -o t.jpg -l 0 -t 0 -x 5 -y 5
```
Then press Ctrl+C to terminate capturing command and save the results. Finally, analyze the results using WireShark.

This method requires strong analytical skills regarding the USB protocol and is relatively challenging.

Using Qoder, I had AI write a Python program based on SANE’s Pixma driver to control the Canon Lide 300 via Python and libusb. I tested and it works: https://github.com/xulihang/Canon-Lide-300-Python-USB-Driver.

For general users, it’s simpler to use existing scanning software, such as ImageTrans, which supports various scanning APIs like TWAIN, WIA, ICA, SANE, and eSCL. It allows users to operate most scanners across different operating systems. Scanned documents can then be further processed for tasks like translation, OCR, and generating searchable PDFs.

Compiling SANE for macOS

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 02:42:50 +0000

I recently purchased a Fujitsu Fi-6130 scanner for just over 500 RMB, which is a relatively affordable sheet-fed scanner. I wanted to use it on macOS, but I found that for older, low-end scanners like this, the official drivers are no longer provided. The only options are to use SANE or VueScan.

SANE can be installed via Homebrew, but since I wanted to compile a version that is easy to distribute, I decided to recompile it myself. Here are the steps I took.

Install Homebrew.

Install the necessary dependencies.

brew install autoconf automake libtool gettext git pkg-config libusb libjpeg

Download the source code package from the SANE official website.

Run the following commands to compile:

./autogen.sh  
./configure --prefix=/usr/local \  
            CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include -I/opt/homebrew/include" \  
            LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib -L/opt/homebrew/lib"  
make  
make install  

If you need to distribute it to an environment without Homebrew, you can use otool and install_name_tool to modify the paths.

The macOS version of ImageTrans has already integrated SANE, allowing you to directly use scanners like the old fi-6130 for scanning.

Overview of Document Scanning Interfaces

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:32:50 +0000

Modern document scanners emerged around the 1980s. To connect scanners with computers, many document scanning APIs were developed: TWAIN, ICA, SANE, WIA, eSCL, and so on. This article provides an overview of these protocols.

TWAIN

Scanner manufacturers provide specialized scanning software for mainstream operating systems, typically Windows and macOS. TWAIN is a universal interface for calling the manufacturer-provided software to perform scanning. It is strongly tied to the user interface (UI); although the default scanning interface can be hidden, different UIs may still appear during operations.

Because it directly calls the manufacturer-provided software, it offers extensive capabilities, such as acquiring scanned images line by line, detecting barcodes within images, image enhancement, and more.

Using TWAIN to call Epson Scan for scanning:

TWAIN is primarily used on Windows.

WIA

WIA is the officially supported interface for image acquisition devices on Windows. After installing the scanner driver, scanning can be performed through the Windows Fax and Scan application.

It can also be called programmatically via COM. You can show the UI or acquire the image silently. The UI, when shown, is a unified, specialized version of WIA.

Using WIA cannot use the manufacturer’s specialized scanning software.

ICA

ICA is the official interface provided by Apple. After installing the dedicated ICA driver, a customized scanning interface becomes available in the Image Capture application. It also supports calling via the interface without displaying the UI.

SANE

SANE is the primary scanning interface on Unix-like systems (mainly Linux). It can also be used on macOS.

SANE scanner drivers are mostly written through reverse engineering, though some manufacturers, like Epson, do provide dedicated SANE drivers.

SANE was designed from the start for network scanning, so it is not as tightly bound to the UI as TWAIN.

eSCL

eSCL is an HTTP-based network document scanning protocol promoted by Apple. As long as the scanner is connected to the network, scanning can be performed directly through this interface. It is now maintained by the Mopria organization, initiated by manufacturers such as Canon and HP.

Scanning Software

Desktop Software

NAPS2: Supports TWAIN, WIA, SANE, eSCL, and ICA. It is an open-source, all-in-one, cross-platform scanning software.
ImageTrans: Integrates document scanning functionality based on WIA, SANE, ICA, and eSCL. It can directly scan documents and perform tasks such as OCR, translation, and generating searchable PDFs.
VueScan: Reverse engineers the drivers of most scanners, allowing direct scanner usage without additional driver installations.
SilverFast: Highly professional in scanning photos and film negatives; typically bundled with scanner purchases.

SDKs

Dynamsoft: Dynamic Web TWAIN
Asprise: JSane, JTWAIN, Scanner.js
Leadtools
Vintasoft
ScanOnWeb

Among these SDKs, Dynamic Web TWAIN supports the most protocols and is the most actively maintained.

Batch OCR and Translate Image and PDF files

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:00:50 +0000

ImageTrans integrates a Hot Folder feature in v5.6.0 that monitors whether a folder has new files added, and if so, it processes those files by executing the specified workflow using the current project as a template.

Here’s the basic operation steps:

Create a new project and set up things like language, OCR, custom workflows, and more.
If you want to support importing and exporting PDFs, you need to define the settings for importing and exporting in advance in the project settings, and add the exporting PDF in the workflow.
Through the menu bar - Tools - Hot Folder, open Hot Folder, set the folder to be monitored, and then you can batch OCR and translation files.