Nikon LS-3500 Software Reference Manual Download

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Summary of Contents for LS-3500

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Page 3: ...Software Reference for Scanners ...

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Page 5: ...central processing units computer networks or emulations on a main frame or mini computer B Make one copy of the Nikon Device Driver Software in machine readable form solely for back up purposes The Nikon Device Driver Software is protected by United States copyright law You must reproduce on each copy the Nikon copyright notice and any other proprietary legends that were on the original copy C Tr...

Page 6: ...tors dealers and agents specifically disclaim any warranty of any kind either expressed or implied including but not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose In no event does Nikon its employees distributors dealers or agents warrant the performance of or the results you may obtain from the Nikon Device Driver Software or that the Nikon Device Driver S...

Page 7: ...Software Reference for Scanners ...

Page 8: ... SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS ACCURACY RELIABILITY CURRENTNESS OR OTHERWISE THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN NO EVENT WILL APPLE ITS DIRECTORS OFFICERS EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL INCIDENTAL O...

Page 9: ... PC System Requirements ii Before You Begin ii Software Installation 1 1 Installing the Plugin Modules on the Macintosh 1 1 Configuring and Testing the GPIB 1 2 Installing the Plugin Modules under Windows 3 1 2 1 Interface Hardware for PC Compatibles 2 3 GPIB General Purpose Interface Bus 2 3 SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface 2 3 Getting Started on the Macintosh 3 1 Launching the Application 3...

Page 10: ...BM 4 1 Launching the Application 4 1 Scanning a Preview Image 4 2 Final Scan 4 3 Conclusion 4 4 Using the Macintosh Scanner Plugin 5 1 The Main Dialog 5 1 Controls and Indicators 5 2 Status Line 5 2 Film Type 5 2 Orientation 5 4 Portrait Landscape 5 4 Vertical Horizontal Flip 5 4 Densitometer 5 4 Sizing and Resolution 5 5 Scan Pitch 5 6 ...

Page 11: ...ontrols 5 11 Digital Mode 5 12 Analog Mode 5 12 Auto Exposure Auto Mode 5 13 The Settings Buttons 5 14 Toolkit 5 14 Calibrating the Lamp 5 17 Using the Windows 3 1 Scanner Plugin 6 1 The Main Dialog 6 1 Controls and Indicators 6 1 Interface 6 1 Scanner Tools 6 3 Calibration 6 4 Scan Size and Resolution 6 4 Scan Pitch 6 5 Sizing and Resolution 6 5 ...

Page 12: ...ols 6 7 Film Types 6 10 Autoexposure 6 11 Autofocus 6 11 Manual Focus 6 11 Densitometer Readout 6 12 Previewing 6 12 Defaults 6 13 Status Indicator 6 13 Scanning for Reproduction 7 1 Gamma 7 1 Color Balancing 7 1 Color Reproduction Background Information 7 2 Glossary of Computer Imaging Terms 8 1 ...

Page 13: ...Software Reference for Scanners ...

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Page 15: ...tica type Cautions and Notes are printed in boldfaced type with a triangular marker in the margin The Package Contents Listed below are the components of the Nikon Software Reference for Scanners package Nikon Software Reference for Scanners Nikon Device Drivers Disks for Macintosh and Windows 3 0 Nikon User Registration If any of the above are missing please contact your Nikon Electronic Imaging ...

Page 16: ...ual that will lead you through the basic steps of scanner setup configuration and finally scanning of the enclosed sample slide Don t worry if you don t fully understand some of the terminology and concepts we are introducing here The idea is to setup quickly and familiarize yourself with the controls by performing a routine scan You will probably require one hour to perform any hardware installat...

Page 17: ...n folder If you are using ColorStudio or another image processing application that uses Photoshop Plugins install the module in the location specified for plugins by the manufacturer of the software package Note This plugin works with Photoshop 1 0 or later or ColorStudio 1 5 or later You must update older versions with the new ones before you use this software Start your Macintosh and determine i...

Page 18: ...interface card the NB Handler Init must be in your startup boot disk s System Folder in order for the plugins to work properly Using System 7 it should be in the Control Panels folder In order for the NB GPIB interface to communicate properly with the Nikon Plugins the NB Handler control panel should be configured to your device address settings In particular it is necessary that the GPIB finds a ...

Page 19: ... device Set the address in the text edit box labeled Primary It is not necessary to restart your machine for the changes to take effect Simply close the Control Panel and go on to Getting Started Note If you have an older NB Handler Init installed it may not be of the control panel type and will not show up in your Control Panels folder If so you can use the IBCONF utility usually supplied with yo...

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Page 21: ...ed and tested your image processing application you are ready to install the Nikon Plugin modules If you are using PhotoStyler they should be placed in the PhotoStyler directory Note This plugin works with PhotoStyler 1 0 or later Launch Windows If you are unfamiliar with how to do this please refer to the Microsoft Windows Owners Guide Insert your backup Nikon Installer Disk in your floppy drive ...

Page 22: ...n Fig 5 PhotoStyler Directories Enter your source and target directories To install only the Scanner Plugin or the Nikon CP 3000 printer export check the Update box before pressing the OK button Choosing Setup All will install all the plugins on the disk Fig 6 Installing the scanner If you are updating the scanner choose the Install Scanner selection ...

Page 23: ... conflicts between any boards installed in your computer GPIB General Purpose Interface Bus Currently only the National Instruments AT GPIB and MC GPIB boards are supported When installing the software drivers for these boards be sure to select the installation for Windows National Instruments can be reached at 1 800 IEEE 488 1 800 433 3488 SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface Any SCSI board with...

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Page 25: ... as below you are ready to start scanning and can proceed to Scanning a Preview Image Fig 8 Main Scanning Dialog If the message in the upper left hand corner reads Nikon LS 3510AF Ver 1 xx on either a SCSI or GPIB interface you are ready to make a preview or scan If not the plugin has not found the scanner and you will need to check your SCSI or GPIB cabling confirm tight connections and proper te...

Page 26: ...y you place the emulsion other than image orientation right reading or backwards although sharpest results will be achieved when the emulsion faces the front of the scanner because the imaging lens will not be reading the film through the film base which may reduce definition depending on the film type Standard Holder Sample 35mm film in slide mount Scanning Stage Light source Fig 9 Loading the Sc...

Page 27: ...re cycle and the scanner will automatically focus on the slide displaying the message Performing autofocus After this the Busy LED will immediately light up again and the scanner will begin the preview cycle as it reads the picture directly to your monitor display field by field We can now see the image appearing on the video screen in the scan window in the sequence red green then blue screens No...

Page 28: ...ig 13 Scanning Progress Indicator Be sure not to open the dust cover during the scan If it is opened extraneous light could adversely affect your scan and cause density changes to appear in the image This scan will take approximately 45 seconds to complete A new window containing the image and labeled Untitled 1 will appear after the scan is complete You may save the image in the normal manner or ...

Page 29: ...ou are ready to start scanning and can proceed to Scanning a Preview Image Fig 14 Main Scanning Dialog If the message in the upper left hand corner reads Nikon LS 3510AF Ver 1 xx on either a SCSI or GPIB interface you are ready to make a preview or scan If not the plugin has not found the scanner and you will need to check your SCSI or GPIB cabling confirm tight connections and proper termination ...

Page 30: ...ich way you place the emulsion other than image orientation right reading or backwards although sharpest results will be achieved when the emulsion faces the front of the scanner because the imaging lens will not be reading the film through the film base which may reduce definition depending on the film type Standard Holder Sample 35mm film in slide mount Scanning Stage Light source Fig 15 Loading...

Page 31: ...mpleted the Autoexposure cycle and the scanner will automatically focus on the slide displaying the message Performing Autofocus After this the Busy LED will immediately light up again and the scanner will begin the preview cycle as it reads the picture directly to your monitor display field by field We can now see the image appearing on the video screen in the scan window in the sequence red gree...

Page 32: ...leted Fig 19 Scanning Progress Indicator Be sure not to open the dust cover during the scan If it is opened extraneous light could adversely affect your scan and cause density changes to appear in the image This scan will take approximately 45 seconds to complete A new window containing the image and labeled Untitled 1 will appear after the scan is complete You may save the image in the normal man...

Page 33: ...ign If you are unfamiliar with the operation of the Macintosh interface please consult your owner s manual The examples in this reference were used with the LS 3510AF in mind Other Nikon scanners will vary slightly in their feature set although all Nikon scanners can be controlled with this software The Main Dialog In this section we will discuss each menu and dialog box in detail The main dialog ...

Page 34: ...sage will read Performing an autoexposure Film Type Fig 22 Film Type This pop up menu allows the user to specify film type regardless of what kind of film is placed in the scanner If a monochrome scan of a negative color image is desired you should choose B W Negative The Autoexposure measurements are compensated according to tone range of the average color values If a unique color tone separation...

Page 35: ...re than 13 characters The register button will be enabled and pressing it will start the calibration cycle in the scanner This is a custom calibration specific to the film and processing that you are using You can store up to 24 custom film types in the scanner You can delete any of these film types by using the Delete menu item if you need to make space for a new film type The calibration provide...

Page 36: ... reading i e a left right flip This is most useful when you wish to flop the image because you have to scan it with the emulsion facing the front of the scanner when maximum sharpness is required avoiding scanning the image through the base of the film In the vertical orientation you can save time if you inadvertently place the film in upside down These buttons stay depressed for the main scan If ...

Page 37: ...s The actual scan area in Figure 29 is shown as the gray square while the film area is shown in white superimposed over the scan area The corner coordinates are the actual pixel coordinates of the scanner s pixel array given in x y form Fig 29 Scan Area of the LS 3510AF The scanner s natural orientation encourages you to place the film into the scanner with the emulsion facing the light source You...

Page 38: ...or 1 2 the resolution of the scanner s full scan capability at 1588 pixels per inch The image would still cover the area described above but every other pixel would be skipped in the scan Scan pitch is inversely proportional to the native scanner resolution The scanner hardware does not process fractional or non integer pitches Pitches other than integer pitches are interpolated with an extra scal...

Page 39: ...anges to allow for the scan size requested You may now move the crop to cover any area of the preview that you wish to scan by placing the crosshair cursor over the crop box holding down the mouse button and dragging the box to the new location If you now want to shrink or expand the crop while keeping the same output resolution and size you must check the File Size checkbox You will now be able t...

Page 40: ...e Proportions checkbox This will allow you to enter a height or width value without changing the aspect ratio Type 8 into the width edit field The resolution specification items will look like this Fig 35 Lock Proportions Note the little lock in the previous figure That means that any changes in width will cause a change in height to keep the scan rectangle in the same aspect ratio as before That ...

Page 41: ...ection area Type 300 into the resolution field and you have the following Fig 36 Changing Resolution The crop in the main preview area will look like this Fig 35 Specification Crop If you attempt to type in a number that is too large the plugin will beep and the closest acceptable value will be substituted Experiment with the crop selection to see how you can best make use of it It will allow enou...

Page 42: ...e and at least 2 MB less than your maximum system memory size When Adobe Photoshop is launched after this it will use the maximum possible memory up to the value that you typed in If you consistently get a dialog that tells you that the application will be opened in a smaller partition you should go back into the Get Info dialog and reduce the memory requirements System 7 users should have 32 bit ...

Page 43: ...This toggling pair specifies SCSI or GPIB interface While opening the plugin the software will search the GPIB and then the SCSI bus for any scanners When found the device found will have its ID displayed in the upper right hand corner If no device is found and one is known to be connected then the toolkit button provides a means to search the bus again for a particular address Digital and Analog ...

Page 44: ...n scanning negatives adding to the value removes that color You can directly control Red Green and Blue gain settings from 20 to 120 The numbers that you input affect the reference value that was determined at Prescan Photometry This reference will always be 50 so that the resulting change in exposure when these controls are manipulated is calculated as follows 25 25 50 5 50 meaning an exposure de...

Page 45: ...anner to do what s referred to as a Prescan That is the scanner adjusts itself to the image by determining density and contrast It optimizes it s internal analog levels to make the best scan possible In most cases the autoexposure will do such a good job that you won t need to adjust the analog or digital controls The Auto Mode checkbox means that the plugin will ensure that the scanner has made a...

Page 46: ...ts button After you have made changes to the controls during a scan if you wish to reset the plugin to the established default use Reset Toolkit Fig 44 Toolkit Button The toolkit button leads to a utilities dialog where you can send low level scanner commands calibrate and test all scanner functions This is a diagnostic tool and care should be taken when you use it Fig 45 Utilities Dialog If you n...

Page 47: ...pper case only this dialog converts all characters to upper case for you by reversing the operation of the shift key The Send button issues the command to the scanner and the Read button will receive data back Errors are reported next to the Result text at the bottom center of the dialog box The SCSI and GPIB search buttons are repeated in this box as in the main dialog They lead however to auxili...

Page 48: ... icon This will cause the scanner to scan and display the results in a preview window at low resolution If you press the shift key you will get an RGB preview Fig 51 Utilities Preview Button The Record File button will record all transactions sent from the command line and the data received back from the scanner To speed up the return of long data streams from diagnostic commands like the TS5 rout...

Page 49: ... is not intended for daily use It writes color balance and light distribution shading information to the non volatile memory in the scanner Note The Calibrate Lamp button should be used with caution Before proceeding to calibrate the unit you must remove any film and film holders from the unit Otherwise it will misinterpret the light balance and attempt to calibrate to a setting that is outside no...

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Page 51: ...of the Windows interface please consult your owner s manual The examples in this reference were used with the LS 3510AF in mind Other Nikon scanners will vary slightly in their feature set although all Nikon scanners can be controlled with this software The Main Dialog In this section we will discuss each menu and dialog box in detail The main dialog looks like this Fig 53 The Main Scanning Dialog...

Page 52: ... The SCSI Interface Dialog The Address control allows the choice of automatically searching the SCSI bus for the scanner or selecting a specific address Every device on a SCSI bus must have its own address The SCSI board itself is usually set to address 7 Hard drives are usually set to address 0 The scanner will be set to address 5 by default The default choice is to scan the bus for the scanner C...

Page 53: ...rectly with the scanner and to calibrate the lamp If you need assistance in understanding some of the scanner commands consult the Technical Programmer s Reference for your scanner available from Nikon The Scanner Tools button will be disabled if the plugin cannot establish contact with a scanner Fig 58 The Scanner Tools Dialog The Command text edit box allows you to enter scanner commands Pressin...

Page 54: ...he unit any film or film holders must be removed from the scanner If this is not done the scanner will misinterpret the light balance and attempt to calibrate to a setting that is outside normal limits Next close the dust cover press the Calibrate Lamp button and wait until the busy light goes out and you are returned to the Scanner Tools dialog This process will take a few minutes on the LS 3500 ...

Page 55: ...mber is used to divide the maximum resolution For example at pitch 1 the scan will be full resolution at pitch 2 it will be half at pitch 3 it will be one third etc It is the number of scan area pixels that go into one pixel of the final output image The scanner hardware is not capable of fractional or non integer pitches These in between pitches are handled by scanning at the next higher resoluti...

Page 56: ...djusted If the crop reaches maximum size then the resolution will go down Crop The width and height are adjusted Table 1 Results of a Change With Proportions And File Size Unchecked Width or Height The other size will be adjusted to keep the proportions and the pitch will be adjusted to keep the same crop If the pitch reaches the scanner s maximum resolution the resolution will be adjusted Resolut...

Page 57: ...ng displaying as an icon other images will also make memory available for the scan Different images will have varying scan times depending on their density During autoexposure the scanner will determine the exposure time for each color Darker slides require longer scan times There are three factors within the dialog that adversely affect scanning speed fractional non integer pitches checking the H...

Page 58: ...e entire image slightly This can be used to increase detail in the range of darker areas of a slide where the scanner is more susceptible to detail loss If no value is specified the value determined by the last autoexposure is used The exposure and color balance controls directly affect the time that the CCD is exposed to the film The base value is 50 and any change is a direct ratio of the value ...

Page 59: ... time for all colors and a red balance of 100 will double the time for the red only 25 50 X 100 50 50 50 1 Note Increasing exposure time will darken negatives and lighten positives and decreasing exposure time will lighten negatives and darken positives The combination of the exposure and color balance controls can produce an effect that the scanner cannot produce The scanner has a minimum exposur...

Page 60: ... Add Remove Film Types button Fig 68 The Add Remove Film Types Dialog To add or replace a type first select where to put it by selecting the entry in the Current Film Types list box Type a name up to thirteen characters long in the New Name text edit field Place a piece of unexposed color negative film in the scanner and press the Define button For best result register the type using a gradated im...

Page 61: ...when a LS 3510AF is connected When this button is pressed the scanner will attempt to autofocus on the film If successful the focus position is placed in the manual focus text edit field The scanner may not be able to focus on a slide if it has low contrast or few sharp details This should be done for every slide When the Auto checkbox is checked the plugin will automatically perform an autofocus ...

Page 62: ... the mouse is over the preview image It displays the values of the preview image at the mouse position in either RGB values or CMY percentage Fig 76 The Densitometer Display Type Buttons Press either the RGB or the CMY button to switch to that display mode for the densitometer Previewing Fig 77 The Preview Controls When the Preview button is pressed the plugin will do a preview scan of the slide T...

Page 63: ...us Indicator Fig 79 Status Indicator This dialog appears when a lengthy process is in progress If progress information is available there is a display of percentage complete otherwise a striped bar is drawn If there is no way to cancel the operation the cancel button is disabled Fig 80 Status Indicator With No Progress or Cancel Messages include the current scanner condition and routine being perf...

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Page 65: ...or color balance the Analog Controls internal to the scanner allow a greater degree of manipulation without relying on a set number of bits for continuous shading as the image processing application might do Since in a non digital electrical circuit there are no discrete steps imposed by the number of bits to encode and decode a certain shade there will be no gaps between points no aliasing or sta...

Page 66: ...h more quickly than if you had only corrected to 48 and still found the image too cold It is always better to go beyond the anticipated correction first and roll it back later to fine tune the results Color Reproduction Background Information The color dyes that are used in photographic film and papers are formed when color couplers compounds that are essentially colorless in their unprocessed sta...

Page 67: ...s to compensate for the deficiency in the original image color characteristics The same technique applies to the cyan layer In general color negative films tend to scan with better results than transparencies because they have a flatter gamma lower contrast and the Dmax is relatively low Also the mask colors help to improve color reproduction the grain size has been diminished for the relative fil...

Page 68: ...r popular method is called rotogravure and is familiar to most Sunday Times Magazine readers In this process the cylinder is engraved so that the exposed areas form small wells for each dot The wells vary in depth and so they hold a different quantity of ink for each dot depending on how much they were exposed and engraved or etched The preparation for such a plate is very expensive and there is n...

Page 69: ...ecessities then try to stick to the same one Above all use a scientific and calculated approach to calibration Haphazard we ll run it when we like the way it looks methods that don t rely on writing your data down and consistent measurement techniques can only lead to costly revisions every time you start a job Since the intention is to save time and money you must be as professional in your metho...

Page 70: ... major component of the job since the tone breaks will always appear adjacent to continuous midtones in a face that requires a delicate gradation balance Finally for gray replacement in the midtones it is generally true that using several screens of small dot size fills in the pattern of holes between variable high contrast dots better than a single large size dot pattern The surface effect that y...

Page 71: ...canning for Reproduction 7 7 Software Reference for Scanners If the terminology is beginning to sound confusing this is because it is confusing and it is now time to turn to the Glossary for some relief ...

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Page 73: ... pitch resolutions for X and Y axes and thus alter the aspect ratio or stretch the image in a vertical or horizontal direction analog signals these electrical signals represent or are analogous to real world events such as a sound or pattern of light An analog is a simile or representation of something else ASCII a coding system used to represent characters using binary storage auto gamma an autom...

Page 74: ...ither on or off bit A binary digit representing 0 or 1 true or false binary images these are high contrast bit mapped images used to represent line art and typography byte sequential color stored in triplet pixels for RGB HSV etc or quadruplet pixels for RGBÅ YMCK etc bps bits per second this is used to measure transmission rates of digital information and can be used instead of Baud rate when mor...

Page 75: ...n accumulate electron charges CCD gain the voltage gain in the scanner s CCD circuit clamping level the voltage limit of the CCD output can be clamped at a particular point allowing the black level of the image to be established so that regardless of the exposure increase the black level stays the same CPU central processing unit cropping trimming an image color balancing the process of balancing ...

Page 76: ... specified using Munsell Hunter Pantone ANPA or other color matching systems contrast the difference between the lightest and darkest shades in a picture The slope of the function of exposure versus density is in effect the contrast also called gamma decimal a number system of Arabic origin which uses a base of ten It also includes various types such as integers rational real and imaginary numbers...

Page 77: ...contrast pixels are spread over a wider area driver an intermediate software or firmware controller for various input output devices connected to a computer and the application running on it EEPROM or E2PROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory effective reading area the useful reading area on the Nikon scanner emulsion The light sensitive coating in photographic film or paper The s...

Page 78: ... area that is being reproduced using approximately equal quantities of cyan magenta and yellow ink the common component of the three colors can be replaced with a similar density of black ink Also called achromatic reproduction gray balance the relative proportion of primary colors additive or subtractive needed to produce a neutral tone from dark to light intensities GPIB General Purpose Interfac...

Page 79: ...equential byte sequential line sequential full chunky chunky planar and full planar intensity see color models irradiation photons entering a light sensitive film emulsion tend to bounce around resulting in diffusion of sharp lines and loss of definition This can be minimized with thinner emulsions and a light absorbing base under the sensitized layers high key describes an image where most if not...

Page 80: ...or images when there are very few colors available in the palette to do so moiré an undesirable visible interference pattern created when dot screens overlap at certain frequencies This pattern can be subdued or eliminated through trial and error and compromise The angles and frequencies of the four process screens must be manipulated to reduce the effect MSB most significant bit the left most bit...

Page 81: ...hing as well pixel the smallest discrete element in a picture usually square in a digital system Short for picture element These elements can also be irregular shapes and randomly spaced like silver halide grains in a photographic emulsion Also called pel PostScript a page description language authored by Adobe Systems It is used extensively in the desktop publishing industry to translate digitall...

Page 82: ...ch plate is printed separately and in various combinations with the other three so that the four color images can be properly evaluated for dot gain and the overall quality of the color separations Also called progs prescan photometry performed by the scanner before a screen preview pseudo color images when colors are assigned to monochrome shades to give meaning to areas in the picture Often used...

Page 83: ...ht more than others Different types of glass can possess larger or smaller indices of refraction registration the accurate placement or line up of discrete image elements in superimposition such as in multiple pass scanning or four color printing plate registration This term is also used to refer to the downloading of commands to the LS 3510AF memory resolution the fine line definition or resolvin...

Page 84: ... lines used to create mechanical halftones in the photographic process These halftones are mostly generated digitally these days serial interface an interface where bits are transmitted one after the other Serial interfaces require only two conductors and can have very long transmission line lengths Compare to parallel interface shading compensation the CCD element normalization process in a Nikon...

Page 85: ...ormation from scalar to vector Vector information is defined as having magnitude and direction In other words a point in space can be defined in a Cartesian coordinate system and there is a vector specifying that location in space In imaging we can convert a pixel from a value at a particular x y location to a vector number which defines its magnitude as well as its spatial location in one number ...

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Page 87: ...Notes Software Reference for Scanners ...

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