Software To Flatten a Photographed Book? 172
davidy writes "I have photographed some pages of a book for reading on my PDA. This is much faster than scanning and I don't have to carry the heavy books. However, the photographed books are not as nice: curved, skewed, and shadowed, as opposed to the much flatter, cleaner scanned books. I have searched for software that can flatten the pages for better reading on the PDA. So far I have come across Unpaper and Scan Tailor. Unpaper doesn't seem to have a windows GUI, and Scan Tailor doesn't unskew well. I remember reading about Google's technique of converting books to e-books with a camera and a laser overlay. Is there any home user software that can do a similar job without the need for a laser overlay or other sophisticated (and patented) technology?"
Re:sooo.... (Score:2, Funny)
Aye, this Ask Slashdot sounds more like "Doctor, it hurts whenever I do this." The traditional response to such nonsense is, "well, then don't do that!"
Next question?
Re:sooo.... (Score:5, Funny)
He can easily get his tiny 10 megapixels camera into the book store, but he would be stopped immediately if he tried to bring his scanner instead.
Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:5, Funny)
Also, avoid being seen by the bookstore clerks.
Re:Depending on the book of course... (Score:2, Funny)
I'm surprised that Google doesn't do this, it would be SO much faster than scanning each page one at a time.
Yeah, I don't see why they don't just slice the spine off that one-of-a-kind 16th century book so they can scan it in. That's such an easier way to do it. And I have NO idea why a library would have an issue with that.
Are people around here really this dumb?
Here you go (Score:2, Funny)
You're welcome.
Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:1, Funny)
Yeah, a dumb fucking computer nerd thinks software is the best solution for every fucking problem. sheesh.
Re:Snapter (Score:1, Funny)
If only there were some kind of device [newegg.com] to hold a camera. Maybe something with three legs that retract for easy storage and some hinges for holding the camera at different angles....