New to book scanning--post processing software

Scan Tailor specific announcements, releases, workflows, tips, etc. NO FEATURE REQUESTS IN THIS FORUM, please.

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PJEFF99
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New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by PJEFF99 »

Greetings,

Kudos to all who are so passionate about book scanning! There is a lot of information in this forum--(though perhaps too much for me, a non technical person.....)

I am interested in scanning books from my book collection. BTW a couple of years ago I used the book scanners at my local college library, and they provided all the features I have noted below, however, because of the pandemic, college alumni are STILL not permitted in my local college library.

So I am trying DIY scanning.

However, I am interested in the following features in "post processing software" :

--Deskewing
--Page splitting (for when I scan both left and right pages in same image)
--dewarping
--auto cropping

I really don't think I need any other features, though I could be wrong.

I have seen a number of mentions of "Scan Tailor" but all the links I see to that software seem somewhat confusing.

I am NOT a tech wizard. I am just looking for freeware (or perhaps paid software, though of course I prefer freeware) that can do the things noted above. My concern is that if I go to "GitHub" or one of these places, it is really confusing, and I see lots of references to "code" and really technical stuff. Yikes!

Is there some way I can simply download a fairly basic software package that does the things I want, without getting into a huge number of technical issues? I have a laptop with Windows 10, 64 bit. That's about all I know about my computer. I welcome freeware, but woudl consider paid software that is commercially available, if it is just simple to install and use.

Suggestions on how I can obtain the software features noted above, are welcome!

Best regards,

Patrick
joseph73
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Joined: 10 Jan 2013, 22:02
Number of books owned: 1000
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Re: New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by joseph73 »

Hi,
Scantailor is freeware. You can use it on Windows 10. It does all of the things you listed and then some. It is powerful software, but you do need to have patience and a workflow to use it. The biggest effort will be to capture the book pages with decent quality. At a minimum, you will need a tripod, a camera, two goose neck adjustable lamps, a black mat, and also a piece of glass to keep the book pages fairly flat. The camera can be anything with good resolution. I'd say 30 megapixel or more. Each page will be 12-15 megapixel. You want to minimize the book curve, so you will place the piece of glass on top of each page and lift it to turn the page. This will capture two pages at once, but scantailor can separate the pages. Experiment using small pens underneath the book spine. Double AA or Triple AAA batteries also work. By putting them inside the spine, this will flatten out the page even more when you press down the glass. Scantailor will do the rest of the straightening. You will probably want a remote camera shutter release for the camera. This is the simplest setup that will get decent results. You should be able to do many books this way. But if you are doing more than several dozen, I recommend something better. Czur makes very good scanners that take much of the hassle out of book scanning.
As for scantailor, there are many versions, but Scantailor-advanced seems the most recent.

Some tips. You'll want a camera that can lock focus. You'll also want to use full-spectrum bulbs for light, either LED or CFL. Spend the money and get good ones. Lighting is very important.

You will need to navigate directories, learn scantailor, learn about file types, copy files. Since you said you are a non-technical user, I suggest spending a few hundred dollars on a Czur. The software is easier to use, and scanning is much faster. By the time you buy a camera, tripod, lights, bulbs, glass, etc. and all the little addons, you will spend a decent amount anyway. I'd only go the scantailor method if you are scanning a lot of color pictures and intend to use a good DSLR camera.
joseph73
Posts: 24
Joined: 10 Jan 2013, 22:02
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by joseph73 »

https://github.com/vigri/scantailor-advanced/releases

You download the zip file, and use a program like Winrar to unzip the program. No need to compile. There is no installer just the folder. The program is scantailor.exe.
joseph73
Posts: 24
Joined: 10 Jan 2013, 22:02
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by joseph73 »

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/et24 ... -scanner#/

I am not affiliated with them.
This is a link to their product. This more pro version uses laser guides to really straighten the pages. It does a better job.
The capture quality is fairly good, not as good as the German scanners, however. But it costs a fraction of the price. If you are just doing text mainly, and some graphics, it should be fine.

The other thing to consider: if these are common books and you are only doing a few dozen, you might just want to order copies and then destructively scan them (cut off the spine). Amazon has lots of cheap used books for a few $ a piece. Any cheap sheet-fed scanner like a Fujitsu will work.
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daniel_reetz
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Re: New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by daniel_reetz »

CZUR has had a lot of spamming activity here on the forum over the years, so for our legitimate users, please keep links to CZUR stuff to a minimum. Still, it's worth discussing from time to time.

It's also worth discussing how the various of technologies (laser straightening etc) were at one time all projects here.
joseph73
Posts: 24
Joined: 10 Jan 2013, 22:02
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: New to book scanning--post processing software

Post by joseph73 »

Thanks for the info. I appreciate all of the knowledge of this site and don't want to add to spam for sure. This site gave me the confidence to experiment with my own basic albeit effective scanning setup. I just point out that there *are* other options for less technical users. The people I see who post using scantailor seem to mostly all have moderately high to very high technical skills, some linux, scripting, etc., or are in the IT industry. My impression is that scantailor users need to have pretty good skills to use it and typically find ways to combine it with other software. I always ran scripts on my files to even out the light/dark, clean up the images, white balance, etc. I had scripts for different books, yellowing pages, enhancing poor typeset quality, shiny pages. At one point I was considering writing a program that read the copyright date and measured the yellowing of the pages to image process that. I was amazed how many book pages had schmutz on them (ink splatter, water damage, underlining, highlighting) which of course confused OCR.
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