Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Built a scanner? Started to build a scanner? Record your progress here. Doesn't need to be a whole scanner - triggers and other parts are fine. Commercial scanners are fine too.

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dtic
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by dtic »

Nice job with this script! I quickly glanced the most recent code. One tip: You can detect most installs of GraphicsMagick with a function like this.

Code: Select all

get_gm_path() {
;search install folders for gm.exe , since gm updates risk break registry filepath lookup
prog := StrReplace(A_ProgramFiles, " (x86)", "") ;Program Files path in any locale
Loop, Files, % prog "\GraphicsMagick*" , D
 binpath := A_LoopFileFullPath
Loop, Files,  % prog "(x86)\GraphicsMagick*" , D
 binpath := A_LoopFileFullPath
if FileExist(binpath "\gm.exe")
 return, % binpath "\gm.exe"
}
The path can also be read from the registry but GraphicsMagick updates have at times broken that feature so I use the above type of lookup instead.
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Mohib
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

dtic wrote: 17 Jun 2017, 09:17 Nice job with this script!
Thanks, but really it's all interface window dressing, and a few useful enhancements, to the half a dozen lines you provided that are the guts of the original scaling process.
dtic wrote: 17 Jun 2017, 09:17 One tip: You can detect most installs of GraphicsMagick with a function like this.
Brilliant. I've updated the script to try the auto process, and fall back to the hard-coded path if the auto detect fails.

; V2.4
; -- Changed -- Try and automatically find path to GraphicsMagick executable
.
. .
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Mohib
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

I just posted an interesting observation, I had not realised before, about scanners which fix the platen's x & y position relative to the camera position (like many (all?) V platen scanners) as compared to TIFLIC, which does not fix it.

Essentially, since the TIFLIC platen is not fixed relative the camera, neither is the book and so smaller books, with smaller type, can be positioned in the centre of the camera's field of view (rather than being forced to one side as with fixed platens) so the camera to be zoomed in unitl the page fills the image (which is not possible with a fixed platen/camera design).

This means for smaller books -- like paperbacks which often have small type -- fixed platen/camera designs don't allow the full resolution of the camera to be used to image the page, which of course reduces the image quality of small pages if you have to enlarge them to see them better and/or also compromises OCR quality of smaller type on smaller pages. So this maybe an important consideration, when choosing a scanner design, if one is scanning a lot of small books with small type (like paperbacks)

Full details and schematics showing the issue here:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3430&p=20751#p20751
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daniel_reetz
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by daniel_reetz »

Great work on this design Mohib. As I mentioned in the other scanner inspired by your scanner, I think the elastomeric page retainer idea is really cool.
Konos93a
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Konos93a »

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GenioDiabolico
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by GenioDiabolico »

I have built this design. I've scanned one paperback and one hardback so far to get the feel for it. It works after a fashion, but I'm still trying to solve the issues of physical drift of the book as I turn the pages. I'm experimenting with clamping dowels and creating some physical framing to hold the book still. I am excited as I have 20 years of Asimov's Science Fiction magazines, hundreds of unread hardcovers and many things like that. Once I get these scanned and archived, I will finally feel comfortable to get them out of my house. Defeating my packrat tendencies FTW!

I did also cut a few different lengths of the upright tube because the original 19" length put the camera farther from the book than I liked. If I need to, I can swap them out in a few minutes. I also had to spray paint the frame black as I could only find the connectors in white locally and the white was reflecting on the platen.

As I tweak the details, I will post a big blog wrapup and link it from here. I have all the other OSes from Mohib, so I needed OS X and Android equivalents, bash scripts and such. Ultimately I will document everything.

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dpc
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by dpc »

It works after a fashion, but I'm still trying to solve the issues of physical drift of the book as I turn the pages. I'm experimenting with clamping dowels and creating some physical framing to hold the book still.

Put one of these under the book and your problems will be solved.
GenioDiabolico
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by GenioDiabolico »

dpc wrote: 23 Aug 2018, 12:24 Put one of these under the book and your problems will be solved.
I had something a lot like that and it still slid around enough to be a problem. I made a few tweaks last night and it seemed to work better.

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dpc
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by dpc »

Glad to see you got things "squared away".

You must not have tried the same silicone material that I'm using. The Siconi pads that I have are about as sticky as double-stick tape. I can put one of those silicone pads on the door of my stainless steel refrigerator and it will hold the weight of a book (see photo below). I use these on the self-adjusting 'v'- shaped cradle on my large scanner and they do a great job at holding a book's cover to the cradle's Formica surfaces.

Image


That textbook in the photo weighs 3.5 lbs.
GenioDiabolico
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by GenioDiabolico »

You sold me. What I was using was not that sticky. Just ordered the Siconi and will give it a shot. I'm just doing experiments right now. Eventually I have several hundred science fiction digest sized magazines that I want to scan and dispose of, so anything that makes this faster and more repeatable is to the good.

Thanks!

d
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