2.3.2 Performing OCR on Screenshots

Once calibration is complete, you can capture price data from Elite Dangerous screenshots.

On the "Optical Character Recognition" => "Capture and Correct" tab, click the "Monitor Directory for Commodity Screenshots" button. Point RegulatedNoise at your Elite Dangerous screenshots directory (which should be selected by default), and click "OK".

Now, go into Elite Dangerous, find some price data and take a screenshot, in the same manner as you did when [calibrating](2.3.1 OCR Calibration).

RegulatedNoise will automatically capture the screenshot, scan it for pricing data, and present it ready for correction. When the OCR process has completed, any commodity names the OCR routines think have failed, will be offered one-by-one for correction. Correct the value and click "Continue".

When all such corrections have been completed, the resulting CSV data is presented in the "CSV Output from OCR" box. You can make any corrections here, before importing the data into the RegulatedNoise price database. You can also click "Edit Results" for an easier-to-use way to make corrections and compare with the original screenshot.

Click "Import" to import the data into the price database and clear the output box, ready for more screenshots.

Notes

• You can take several screenshots in a row, then process them all - you do not have to process each screenshot before taking another.
• The current system name is taken from your Elite Dangerous netLog files.
• Once you've calibrated and set the Elite Dangerous screenshot directory, you can turn on "Start OCR automatically when this app is started" box. RegulatedNoise is then ready to scan as soon as it is started.
• You can send your data to the EDDN project by checking "Post data to EDDN on import". If you are confident, you can uncheck the "Test Schema" checkbox, but please ensure that your data is of a high quality before doing so.
• If you're confident, you can Auto-Import data instead of clicking "Import". It is advised this not be used with the "Post data to EDDN on import".
• If you're short on disk space, you can "Delete screenshot automatically on import". RegulatedNoise will save black-and-white PNGs of relevant data, which are much, much smaller than the original screenshots.
• The "Username" field is solely to identify data uploaded to EDDN. You will be given a random username by default; you can change this as you see fit.