A new scanner design using plastic tubing

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cday
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by cday »

arpadlabadi wrote: ABBYY did a great work. However, one drawback of ABBYY FineReader 12 Professional (£99 GB Pounds on amazon.co.uk) is that it does not support batch OCR/conversion of multiple files. I think this feature is very important for those scanning books, and not only archiving single documents. So in order to get this feature - as far as I understood - one should buy the ABBYY FineReader 12 Corporate Edition (a single license costs £149 GB).
ABBYY FineReader 12 Professional (the lower-priced version) will process multiple image files in the same folder in the same process if they are selected when the 'Open' button is used... :D

The batch processing in the Corporate Edition would only be required if it was desired to process multiple folders of images to produce multiple output files as a single operation.

On the detail of the image quality, manual adjustments can be made in ABBYY if the 'Edit Image' button is pressed, and the 'Brightness & Contrast' and 'Levels' adjustments would be worth exploring. However, a better first step as you recognise might be to try to improve the quality of the source images, both the colour balance and the evenness of the illumination. The evenness of the illumination sets a limit to the enhancement that can be obtained using 'Levels', for example to minimise bleed through from the other side of the page.

Edit:

The 'Photo Correction' adjustment includes a 'Whiten Background' control which is probably the first enhancement to apply, and that enhancement and some others can be automatically applied to all images using the 'Options' > 'Scan/Open' tab.
arpadlabadi
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by arpadlabadi »

Thank you for these useful pieces of information.

Arpad
BruceG
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by BruceG »

Hi David
I expected the input file was side ways, but now I am unsure it was. I just downloaded the glossary file in the later posting which in DIY sideways but when downloaded is upright. So I repeated the process in OmniPage with the original IMGP file making sure it was sideways. OpmniPage turned the page right way up and this time instead on only selecting the left page as text and ignoring the rest as before it also selected part of the right page as a picture, which is easily deleted.
Trust this is clearer.
I also had a look at glossary & page(2) files. I use InFix as a pdf editor. It is able to delete the bluish hue in text but not in pictures. I have had the same problem in pdf files from InternetArchive, which I would like to OCR and made smaller and be able to index/catalog multiply files. I would like to be able to remove the hue from pictures. Does anyone know how?

see the 2 attachments to see how Infix is able to deal with the bluish hue
page(2) white paper.pdf
(122.98 KiB) Downloaded 621 times
glossary white paper.pdf
(27.89 KiB) Downloaded 504 times
I have used OmniPage for some time now, it originally came with a scanner and I have updated over the years. I have not yet built a PVC scanner so I still use a flat bed scanner. I now scan to pdf which result in a single relatively small file. Although recently I used a camera on a tripod taking 2 pages at a time (a big mistake) files were about 4meg each. I see Arpad's book has over 700 pages which will make a large file in OmniPage and I expect ABBYY.
Bruce
BruceG
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by BruceG »

Hi
As cday suggested some things can be done to reduce the hue of page(2) I have tried a few things in OmniPage. For a action some times there is a reaction as you can see in the attached. Photographs are the most difficult. In trying to fix them in some the text colour changed. This is not difficult to fix for one page but 700+. Better to fix the lighting in the first place as cday suggested.
Would be interested to see what anyone with ABBYY can do.
page(2) cleanup3.pdf
(119.42 KiB) Downloaded 546 times
page(2) cleanup5.pdf
(116.02 KiB) Downloaded 449 times
page(2) cleanup6.pdf
(57.26 KiB) Downloaded 539 times
cday
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by cday »

BruceG wrote:As cday suggested some things can be done to reduce the hue of page(2) I have tried a few things in OmniPage. For a action some times there is a reaction as you can see in the attached. Photographs are the most difficult. In trying to fix them in some the text colour changed. This is not difficult to fix for one page but 700+. Better to fix the lighting in the first place as cday suggested.
Would be interested to see what anyone with ABBYY can do.
Could you say whether the original printed page(2) is black and white or in colour?
dpc
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by dpc »

The way I'm currently handling problems like this is to photograph a blank page before shooting the rest of the book. That page is then used as a background (i.e. white) reference and I have a pixel processor that uses that page as input and color corrects each scanned page accordingly. I did this mostly to compensate for uneven light levels across the platen, but it can also tackle some white balance problems like that bluish hue you're seeing. I don't know if there are free tools to do this sort of thing but it isn't that complex of an operation.

Obviously it's better to spend a little extra time up front in your scanner design (lighting type/methods) and camera setup to get this correct rather than have to attempt to adjust it later in the post-processing. In your case, play around with your camera's white balance. That's the likely cause of your bluish tint.

BTW, should we consider moving the ABBYY and post processing discussion to another thread? We seem to be drifting somewhat from the original topic.
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davidlandin
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by davidlandin »

I agree that this discussion of OCR and post processing is off topic, and it should be continued elsewhere. Unfortunately I haven't found a suitable thread, so maybe it needs someone to start a new one . . . .

David Landin
BruceG
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by BruceG »

dpc
I would say the original of Arpad's page(2) scan (on page 19) is in colour. Look at the heart diagram. The mouth photo I am not sure about.
When taking photos from a tripod I have used just indirect sunlight and added a desk lamp when required. I had other problems (book moving etc) but not a colour hue.
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davidlandin
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by davidlandin »

I've made a couple of modifications to the latest version of the scanner.

The main change has been a widening of the platen angle to 110 degrees. The main reason for this was that it opens the book just that bit more and thereby enables the cameras to see text better close to the gutter.

This change of angle meant that I had to make some other changes. The two sides of the plastic are now held together with a wide V-shaped strip of aluminium - one at the front of the platen and one at the back.

I was able to get my Acrylic supplier to chamfer (trim / cut) the inside edges of the platen to 125 degrees. This then provides an internal angle of 110 degrees. The calculation is:

125 + 125 = 250 degrees 360 degrees - 250 = 110 degrees platen angle

Changing the angle to 110 degrees does necessitate some further changes in the dimensions. If you want details, please ask.

Also I've changed my thoughts on anti-glare plastic. I found that the coating actually slightly distorted the text. and this was especially pertinent with small font sized text.

Using "shiny", rather than anti-glare, plastic results in a higher amount of reflection, and so I've had to mount the lamp at a higher position above the platen.


David Landin
Attachments
platen 110 degrees.jpg
BruceG
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Re: A new scanner design using plastic tubing

Post by BruceG »

David
New details would be good. I have put off making a scanner for too long. Its time for action.
thanks
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