Introduction

Since 1990, LEAD Technologies has been providing advanced imaging tools to developers. LEADTOOLS is used by thousands of developers distributing world class applications deployed on millions of PCs throughout the world. LEADTOOLS is the most comprehensive, robust, flexible, and powerful imaging SDK solution available and is ideal for developers involved in still-frame, multimedia, document, medical, and vector imaging desktop, service and web projects.

LEADTOOLS supports the latest Microsoft technologies targeting Windows versions including 2000, 2003/2008 Server, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. LEADTOOLS includes Win32 and x64 libraries for .NET, Silverlight, C, and C++, WCF services, Windows Workflow Foundation activities, and controls for WPF, AJAX, Silverlight and .NET. Additionally, 32-bit ActiveX controls are available.

Key Features:

• File Formats. Read, write, and convert image files in over 150 of the most popular standard image formats, including JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, TIFF, JTIF, PNG, BMP, MODCA/IOCA, PCX, TGA, PDF, and XPS.

• Image Compression. Compress images using the best and fastest compression algorithms, such as JPEG, JPEG 2000, CMP, CMW, ABC, LZW, CCITT G3/G4, Huffman, ABIC, MRC, JBIG, JBIG2, and RLE. LEADTOOLS offers comprehensive support for compression schemes found in standard raster file formats, as well as high-performance proprietary compression technologies that outperform the industry standards.

• PDF and PDF/A. Load, save, convert, and compress raster and searchable PDF files. Convert to and from any supported format. Capture printer output to PDF. Save OCR results as searchable PDF.

• Image Display. Paint images and regions with transparency while controlling zoom, scale, fit, pan, scroll, brightness, and contrast settings. LEADTOOLS can automatically reduce the colors based on the display device with dithering and palette control. Additionally, LEADTOOLS provides image-list and thumbnail browser controls, an interactive magnifying-glass tool, and an automated pan window.

• Bitonal Scaling. Greatly enhance the on-screen quality and readability of resized black and white images using LEADTOOLS display options.

• Annotation/Image Markup. Overlay images with a variety of annotation objects such as text, lines, shapes, arrows, buttons, highlights, hot spots, sticky notes, stamps, and buttons in C, C++, .NET, WPF and Silverlight projects.

• Image Processing. Use more than 200 digital filters and transforms to process images or regions of interest. Functions include deskew, smooth, sharpen, edge detect/enhance, modify brightness/contrast/gamma, change hue and saturation, red-eye removal, unsharp mask, add noise. Resize and rotate images using various resampling techniques including bicubic. Most image functions support both signed and unsigned images.

• Document Cleanup. Automatically straighten (deskew) an image (including proprietary functions for deskewing scanned bank checks), remove noise (despeckle), and remove borders, hole punches, lines, and inverted text. LEADTOOLS Document Imaging cleanup functions are especially useful when working with images from scanners or FAX machines.

• Scanning (TWAIN/wia/SANE). Control image acquisition from any TWAIN or WIA device including scanners and digital cameras. Use a device driver's built-in user interface or create your own. Query a TWAIN source to determine TWAIN features the driver has implemented. The LEADTOOLS Fast TWAIN feature automatically sets the optimal settings to maximize scanning speed and performance. The LEADTOOLS SANE SDK consists of a Linux API, a JAVA library, and a server library. Acquire images from any Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE) device, using the same interface whether the session is a native or a network session.

• Barcode. Detect, read, and write 1D and 2D barcodes within an image.

• Advantage OCR. Extends the functionality of LEADTOOLS SDKs by providing properties, methods, and callbacks for easily incorporating optical and magnetic ink character recognition (OCR/MICR) into your applications. Superior OCR processing speeds are exceptionally useful in form recognition and processing applications.

• OCR/ICR (Advantage | Professional). Add multi-threaded OCR to projects and utilize multiple cores to maximize performance. Convert images of text (machine-print or hand-written) in Latin, Asian, Arabic, and MICR character sets. Output results to disk or memory as several supported formats including searchable PDF, DOC, and HTML.

• OMR. Process check boxes and bubble sheets in forms, ballots, surveys, and tests.

• Forms Recognition and Processing. Automatically recognize images as a specific form and then pull data from predefined fields.

• Document Writers. Convert printer output and EMF to a variety of document formats such as PDF, DOC, HTML, XPS, RTF, and text.

• SVG. Load SVG, PDF, EMF, Doc/DocX, and a variety of other document and vector files as SVG (this is very useful with the Document Writers).

• Virtual Printer. Capture output with the advanced and programmable LEADTOOLS Virtual Printer driver.

• Printing. Print images or regions of interest while controlling position, scaling, half-toning, and dithering. Print multiple images and text to single or multiple pages.

• Common Dialog. LEADTOOLS imaging common dialogs combine Windows Common Dialog functionality with LEADTOOLS imaging functionality. Common dialogs are provided for every LEADTOOLS image processing function, plus additional functions such as FileOpen and FileSave. All strings can be customized or localized for globalization.

• Medical Image Viewer Control. Use the Medical Image Viewer Control to provide support for the display and manipulation of one or more medical images.

• Grayscale Images (12 and 16-bit). Load, process, display, window level and save 12 and 16-bit grayscale images including DICOM and TIFF formats.

• Window-leveling. Detect and set LowBit and HighBit for image data, display images with automatic LUT intensity expansion, or set LUT entries and ranges with specific values and gradients. Display images through the LUT without changing the data, or process the image data using the LUT. Linearize the number of pixels locally in a bitmap, based on the specified color space in order to bring out the detail in dark areas of an image, and smooth the edges between blocks.

• DICOM Data Set. LEADTOOLS Medical Imaging toolkits provide complete support for the DICOM 3.0 specification including all IOD classes and modalities such as CR, CT, MR, NM, US, RF, SC, and VL, and complete DICOM Basic Directory support.

• DICOM Communication/PACS. Provide complete support for DICOM Communications, including all Service Classes such as Verification, Storage, Query/Retrieve, and Patient Management. Contains high-level communications functions simplifying the creation of DICOM SCU and SCP.

• DICOM Security. Support the Secure Transport Connection Profiles as specified in Part 15 of the DICOM 3 standard.

• JPIP (JPEG 2000 Interactive Protocol). Include high-level components into enterprise client/server applications so that the applications can immediately start streaming high-resolution images under low-bandwidth HTTP connections.

• NITF. Load, save, and manipulate the National Imagery Transmission Format in your Windows applications.

• Vector. Add vector load, edit, save, conversion, and display functionality to projects.

• Image Optimizer. Optimize images for websites or to maximize storage space by automatically and intelligently reducing colors and maximizing compression.

• Color Conversion. Support images ranging from 1 to 64 bits per pixel and convert from any supported bits per pixel to any other supported bits per pixel.

• Color Space Conversion. Convert, separate and reconstruct images from individual RGB, CMYK, CMY, HSV, HSL, YUV, YIQ, CIELAB, XYZ, YCCK, Y41P, UYVY, YUY2, YVU9, and YCC color planes using LEAD's built in conversion functions, ICC color profiles, or Emulation Tables.

• Screen Capture. Capture all or part of the screen. Use capture with any of the LEADTOOLS image processing functions and save to any file format that LEAD supports.

• Digital Paint. Create an entire image editing or design application, or simply add pieces of those types of functionality into an existing application.

• Automation. Incorporate containers and automation into your Windows applications.