Scanning Large Amounts of Pictures? 72
ClintJCL asks: "My wife & I are involved in scanning every photo I've ever taken in my life. She can lay down 4 or 5 pictures into the flatbed scanner at once, thereby saving the scanning time which is the bottleneck. But then she has to split them with Photoshop, which is also somewhat time-consuming. I've searched on the net for hours for a piece of software that would automatically split these 'Batch image scans' into single images and it just doesn't seem to exist. There are plenty of pieces of software to split a single image arbitrarily into sections for the purpose of loading faster on an HTML page (which I disagree with anyway and is not what I'm looking for). But -nothing- that seems to do any sort of edge-detection to determine what pictures exist in a given 'scan batch'. I'm out of resources. I've nowhere else to go. Perhaps someone can clue me in on a piece of software that can do this for me."
Write your own! (Score:1)
The start of any great open source project is a useful idea.
anybody up for the challenge?
be a hacker (Score:3, Insightful)
Finding the image edges from her bulk scans is one of the more trivial operations you can do on an image. Grab a handy-dandy image library for your chosen format (pnglib, jpeg, whatever) and write a couple pages of code and you're done. GPL it and help others with the same problem.
Re:be a hacker (Score:2)
If you were doing this project, what image library would you use?
I know there are lots of easy to find standard libraries for PNG, JPG, etc, etc. But what are some good options for image manipulation?
Re:be a hacker (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:be a hacker (Score:2)
Yes, I suggested he fix his own problem. Consider it my small protest against Ask Slashdot. This is a great do it yourself job.
Coincidence (Score:3, Interesting)
Scanner software (Score:1)
perhaps sorting the photos ahead of time (Score:1)
Re:perhaps sorting the photos ahead of time (Score:2)
The scanner driver itself (Score:3, Informative)
As I said, this was a while ago and I don't remember the scanner, but it was probably some UMAX. The name "Mira scanner" stands out in my mind as the scanning software. You scanner may have this capability also; poke around a bit.
Re:The scanner driver itself (Score:1)
it does a nice batch job, sending all of the diferent "jobs" to photoshop as a seperate file,
I discovered it when I accidently selected job 2, and I kept sending 2 files to Photoshop, lol
Re:The scanner driver itself (Score:1)
Beyond that, all we had was paitence.
Lay pix on grid, then crop with ppm tools! (Score:1)
2) get ppm tools (bunch of image manipulation programs callable from command line or scripts).
I assume you have access to a UNIX/Linux command line, huh?
3) Find the tool which makes cuts from larger image, write a four line script to automatically cut out, say, all four corners of your large scan.
4) Run another script to apply "aggressive crop" to cut out any remaining white margins (you did not place original photos too close to each other on step one, right?)
5) Burn that CD!
Paul B.
hardware solution? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:hardware solution? (Score:1)
Re:hardware solution? (Score:1)
occasion that I did, I did not see any in the
$200 or less range.
At this point I wouldn't mind a build-it-yourself
kit with a web-page for instructions!
Like the original poster, I've had this same task
for a long time. My 600 dpi flatbed scanner is
a trooper for sure, but 4 pictures at a time is
still too cumbersome a process. I have about
2000 photos with no negatives which are my
"older" photos that I am interested in digitizing.
I also have a zillion or so negatives from
this century and the preceding decade. But those
older pictures are more interesting by far.
It's been too long to accurately date many of them
now. I came across two of the WTC recently. But
having them as separate files seems like it should
be a little more manageable than several shoeboxes
of photos.
I tried to get my grade-school aged nephew to
spend some of his afternoons scanning them in,
at a rate of $0.25/photo. He scanned a total of
about 50 pictures (with my equipment) then gave
up after several months.
I'm in the same boat as the original poster. I
would like some help finding a solution here. I
would have thought a 1/3rd size scanner with a
simple roller/sheet feeder (er, photo feeder) would
have been a super easy device to manufacture.
Why are these devices so hard to find?
Re:hardware solution? (Score:1)
I was hoping for freeware.
Man this world is cruel.
Photoshop Actions (Score:2)
Why use files? (Score:1, Offtopic)
What? You say your clipboard only holds one image? Not if you're using a clipboard extender. I use Clipmate [thornsoft.com], though you might prefer one that's specially oriented towards handling graphics.
Re:Why use files? (Score:1)
Not to troll, just wondering where you're going with this.
Organizing Images (Score:2)
It is useful to have individual files to share with other people. But these might not be the same files you originally captured. You'd probably scan in the photos at the highest resolution and color depth your scanner can do. But when you attach an image to an email, you probably need to step it down a bit.
Anyway, you just have to have some kind of organizing software, if you've got so many photos that optimizing scanner time becomes an issue. If I were designing software that did this, I'd use a database, like the biolife example [borland.com] that comes with Delphi and Kylix. But now that I look at what's available, I see that most apps do store images as individual files [axialis.com].
Still, the principles the same. A good organizer can capture new images from your clipboard. So the procedure works out like this:
umax magic scan.. Your scanning Prints???? (Score:3, Informative)
ie you preview
you box all the pictures
you click scan
you can adjust each box color/exposure separate.
it scans each image as a separate file. Of course you have to preview each image which takes times.
You could write some software to do it. It might help to use a background matt of a consistant color though.
I think you really should consider scaning only images you care about and adjusting each one individually. If you really care about your images get a negative scanner. Scanning negatives is far far fat better than scanning prints.
Learn to use the scanner software (Score:1, Flamebait)
I haven't run into a scanner that didn't let you define jobs or a batch scan feature. Everything from an HP SCSI monster 8 years ago, to a slick new USB scanner, to my $35 UBid special Mustek parallel scanner. It is a pretty basic feature.
Just check through the TWAIN interface and look for something involving batch scanning. Just out of curiosity, did you buy your copy of Photoshop? Or are you using a "lite" version that came with the scanner? I just ask because GIMP has given me all the tools I've ever needed.
Yet again, an Ask Slashdot question appears to be a stumper, but really is something that a tech support operator (or small child) should deal with.
Re:Learn to use the scanner software (Score:2)
Rufus is not an Anonymous Coward!!
You Have Everything You Need (Score:3, Informative)
There should be a pallete around that lets you create actions. You basically hit the record button and go through the steps you want to do. Map that to a keystroke and voila.
When selecting the picture, you could even used a fixed width box, so all of the pictures will have the same dimensions. For the action, you could have it copy what you've selected, create a new image and paste the selection into it. Then have it merge layers and auto-adjust the levels/contrast and then have it bring up the save dialog box.
All you're really left doing is scanning the set of pictures, clicking the mouse once (for the fixed width box), hitting the keystroke and then typing in the name of the file.
A couple suggestions on how to implement (Score:5, Insightful)
Use PhotoShop/(or GIMP) scripting (Score:1)
(1) scan the composite image,
(2) copy 4 rectangular regions into 4 new images.
(3) save 4 images as imagename_[1,2,3,4].png
You could then go back and crop to perfection afterwards. There are with filehandling in ScriptFu (Gimp) but maybe the PhotoShop scripting can handle this kind of thing.
Imagemagick's convert command. (Score:1)
-crop widthxheight +-xoffset +- yoffset
or somthing like that. Figure out what it should be for the tapped down grid, and make it a script to auto slice all your scanned images.
t.
Good suggestion (Score:2)
This is almost exactly what I was about to suggest, except that I would use string taped down at the edges (& pulled tight) instead of sticks. Why? It makes it easier to remove the pictures afterwards. You'll probably want to do the following:
Make a point to check that your strings haven't moved every hundred scans or so, and periodically check the cut images as well, just to save yourself from plunging ahead with a miscalibrated setup.
-- MarkusQ
Re:Good suggestion (Score:2)
Re:Good suggestion (Score:2)
The problem with this is that the glass would move the picture away from the scanner element, which would cause the image to be out of focus. Even the thickness of a thin sheet of glass would most likely be enough to bring the image out of focus.
The best way to do this is to sort the pictures by size, and put, say, 3 4x6 photos on the bed at once, all landscape. Tell the scanner to scan 7200 pixels high, 3600 pixels wide, and save all the 4x6 images this way. Now, use image manipulation programs (there are some programs that are commandline based for resizing, cropping, etc) to write a script that divides each image into 3 images 2400 pixels high each, save them with auto-numbered filenames, and delete the 3 picture images. Open the whole folder in xv or something, and go thru each photo with next, rotating as nescisary.
Re:Good suggestion (Score:2)
That said, I do like your idea, it is the most logical thing to do - but I was trying to think up some way that photos could be loaded quickly off-bed as one set is scanning, so that you could scan/swap/load/swap/scan/swap, etc...
One thing that I want to build or buy is a backlight for my scanner for negatives/slides. However, this need is becoming less and less as I use my cheapo digital camera...
Nikon Scanners (Score:1)
is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:2)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:2)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1)
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:1)
It's been 10 seconds since you hit 'reply'!
WHOA!
Slashdot requires you to wait 2 minutes between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.
It's been 28 seconds since you last successfully posted a comment
WHAT KIND OF A CHATROOM IS THISS????!!?!?!
Re:is this the orthodoxy chatroom (Score:2)
Scratch the itch (Score:3, Interesting)
Programmers are always looking for projects, this sounds like a relatively easy one.
Slide and Negatives (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:ImageMagick tools (Score:1)
They are not.
Nor would I want to be held to a static grid the rest of my life.
Scan the negatives (Score:2, Interesting)
Just a thought.
Dave
Suggestion (Score:1)
Hamrick Software Vuescan (Score:1)
VueScan [hamrick.com] from Hamrick software supports this. There is a Linux, Windows and Mac (9 & 10) version available. I have been using this with my film scanner for quite a while. Work great. Not free, but not expensive either and updates come out very frequently, adding support for new scanners and new features.
From the manual:
Scan multiple photos, slides, film strips at once on a flatbed
VueScan provides a feature that allows you to scan multiple photos, slides or film strips in a single pass of your scanner. Lay the prints or slides on the scanner bed in a grid, edge to edge, then use the "Device|X/Y images" and "Device|X/Y spacing" options. From a single scan, VueScan will produce multiple files, all cropped and color balanced automatically.
Re:Hamrick Software Vuescan (Score:2)
I figured an out of the box solution existed since most OCR software does this automatically when you scan page of mixed text and images, it will block out the page into sections to be OCR'd and images to be jpg compressed. I know Adobe Acrobat's scanning version is pretty good at this and let's you pre-define the default compression for the images.
Re:Hamrick Software Vuescan (Score:1)
Transparency markers? (Score:1)
wonk!
Bluescreen/Greenscreen (Score:1)
A few approaches... (Score:2)
Second, you can split the image files from the scanner by size. This would require that you setup the photos that you scan groups of photos that are all the same size together, and get them placed in the same place on the scanner. Even then, you'd end up with either some white space around the photos, or they'd be cropped a tiny bit.
The third option (the one I think you had in mind) is image processing. pnmcrop (http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pnmcrop.html) will crop off the white or black border around a photo, but probably won't handle 4 photos at once. If you can fit your 4 photos within 4 static boxes, you can crop to those boxes by size, then use pnmcrop to chop off the extra white border.
gimp (Score:2)
Re:gimp (Score:1)
Re:gimp (Score:2)
ThumbsPlus has done well with this (Score:1)
What's your time worth? (Score:1)
Re:What's your time worth? (Score:1)
Re:What's your time worth? (Score:1)
All costs involved, you're probably looking at $10/roll but, like I said, if you value your time.
DeBabelizer is your FRIEND (Score:1)
Now if only I could get my file cabinets organized that easily. * Sigh *
Rustin
Canon ScanGear CS-U 6.2 Twain Driver (Score:1)
the pictures were scanned at 300 DPI by default. I'm not sure how configurable the settings are.
The process was more time consuming, as the computer had to analyze and crop the images.
Re:Canon ScanGear CS-U 6.2 Twain Driver (Score:1)
Multi-Photo Mode is a function used when scanning more than 2 photos with a single operation, and makes the scanned images appear individually in a new window.
If you place the photo obliquely, this function will make the adjustment automatically.
Operations
1. Place the photos on the scanner platen.
2. Start ScanGear CS-U.
3. In the ScanGear CS-U Simple Mode Main window, click the [Multi-Photo Mode] button.
4. [Multi-Photo Mode] wizard appears. Click the [Next] button.
5. After pre-scanning, croppings are performed automatically the same number times with the number of photos. During these procedures, do not open the document cover.
6. When the Multi-Photo Mode scanning is finished, the ScanGear CS-U main window appears. Click the close box to close ScanGear CS-U.
7. In the application software, the scanned images are opened. Save the images after adjustment if needed.
Placing the Photos
With the Multi-Photo Mode function, the gap between photos is detected using the rear white background of the document cover.
When you place the photos on the platen, note the followings;
Keep more than 1 centimeter between the photos.
Keep more than 1 centimeter between the photos and the edges of the platen.
With a photo that appears whitish overall, or around edges, this function will not work correctly.
With items other than photos, especially printed or manuscripted matter on white paper (documents or business cards), this function will not work correctly.
You may place the photos either vertically or horizontally and diagonally.
Up to 10 photos can be processed.
In the platen, the width of the letter size (215.9 mm) and the height of A4 size (297 mm) is processed.
Miscellaneous
Also note that, if ScanGear CS-U is launched from the application that cannot open 2 or more images at a time, an image on the entire platen is send to the application, when using the [Multi-Photo Mode] function.
ScanGear CS-U 6.2 (hereafter ScanGear CS-U) is a TWAIN-compliant scanner driver that communicates with and retrieves images from a Canon scanner connected via USB interface. ScanGear CS-U is designed to run under Windows Me, Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Professional, and can be used with the following scanners:
CanoScan N670U/N676U
CanoScan N1240U
ScanGear CS-U, however, is much more than just a scanner driver because it also provides many functions for adjusting and enhancing images. With Canon ScanGear CS-U driver you can:
Scan in Simple Mode, which allows you to set up a scanning job quickly, or scan in Advanced Mode which provides more options for setting up a professional scanning job.
Adjust image brightness and contrast
Adjust image tone quality
Invert image colors and create negative images
Rotate an image
Crop part of the image in the Preview Area for scanning
Set ScanGear CS-U to display the image from the previous session every time you open ScanGear CS-U
Set ScanGear CS-U to scan immediately the original on the scanner every time you open ScanGear CS-U.