Scanner alternative?

AF
Posted By
Alec_Fehl
Jun 25, 2007
Views
361
Replies
9
Status
Closed
Anyone know of an alternative scanner to the HP ScanJet 4600? This scanner had a see-through top and you could place oversize items on the floor, then place the scanner on top of them. You could scan your artwork through the see-through glass. This allowed you to scan oversize items and stitch them together in Photoshop. A great photo showing this is on the following page: http://support-it.epfl.ch/page57115.html (scroll down to see it).

Every scanner I find on the market now has the scanner glass sitting down inside a slightly beveled frame – so it is impossible to scan oversize items as they cannot lay flat while scanning.

—
Alec Fehl, MCSE, A+, ACE, ACI
Adobe Community Expert

AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007 PowerPoint: Comprehensive Course (Labyrinth Publications)
Welcome to Web Design and HTML (Labyrinth Publications)

CO-AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007: Essentials (Labyrinth Publications) Computer Concepts and Vista (Labyrinth Publications)
Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs (McGraw-Hill) Internet Systems and Applications (EMC Paradigm)
Related Tags
alternative scan

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

P
Phosphor
Jun 25, 2007
Nice signature.

Uhhh…what was the question again?

(In other words: it’s pretty bad when your sig takes up as much or more room than your question).

😐

Have you considered a light box and a camera? That’s what all the big kids use these days, from what I hear.

🙂
AF
Alec_Fehl
Jun 26, 2007
Actually – I have not considered a lightbox and digital camera because that is not an appropriate solution for my needs. But – hey – I appreciate your wit and charm and willingness to help without sarcasm or condescension.

—
Alec Fehl, MCSE, A+, ACE, ACI
Adobe Community Expert

AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007 PowerPoint: Comprehensive Course (Labyrinth Publications)
Welcome to Web Design and HTML (Labyrinth Publications)

CO-AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007: Essentials (Labyrinth Publications) Computer Concepts and Vista (Labyrinth Publications)
Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs (McGraw-Hill) Internet Systems and Applications (EMC Paradigm)
FN
Fred_Nirque
Jun 26, 2007
that is not an appropriate solution for my needs

How so?
AF
Alec_Fehl
Jun 26, 2007
Cost, physical space, and ease of use. I need a cheap-o scanner. And when laying a piece of artwork flat with a scanner like the 4600 on top – I don’t have to worry about reproducing an exact angle as I would if I were shooting with a camera.

—
Alec Fehl, MCSE, A+, ACE, ACI
Adobe Community Expert

AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007 PowerPoint: Comprehensive Course (Labyrinth Publications)
Welcome to Web Design and HTML (Labyrinth Publications)

CO-AUTHOR:
Microsoft Office 2007: Essentials (Labyrinth Publications) Computer Concepts and Vista (Labyrinth Publications)
Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs (McGraw-Hill) Internet Systems and Applications (EMC Paradigm)
P
Phosphor
Jun 26, 2007
All kidding aside, the regulars here on the WebX AdobeForums kind of roll their eyes when they see such a pretentious signature.

We visit mostly via browser, and sigs like that are generally irrelevant to the discussion taking place and are a waste of good electrons.
RB
Robert_Barnett
Jun 26, 2007
Enough with the signature already. You talk about him talking up a lot of space. Well, you just took up more complaining about his signature.

As for the scanner, I think that was just a fad HP was going through. I have never seen any other company do anything like it. I don’t think for the the most part that it ever really caught on.

I have been scanning 12×12 scapbook paper for a friend of mine (she does digital scapbooking but likes the designs on the real world papers) and with my Epson V700 I have to scan each page in two halves. I then use the Photoshop CS3 Auto-Align Layers and Auto-Blend Layers options to put them together. I have had no issues of any kind doing this.

I am in the process of scanning in a large litho print of a friends sailboat in the San Francisco bay artwork. The litho is 35" x 48" I am having to scan it in many peices with overlap. But so far I am gotten about half of it done and assembled (again in Photoshop CS3 using the same functions as for the 12×12 paper) and it coming out very nice. I scan in a few peices more and then run a test stitch (I want to see if Photoshop CS3 has any limits on the number of image layers it can put together. So far so good. If I did run in to a problem, I would assemble the image by stitching 1/3 of the image at a time and then stitching the 3 1/3 peices together in to the final full image).

Robert
AF
Alec_Fehl
Jun 26, 2007
Thanks. The problem I have with my current Epson scanner is that the glass is set down and surrounded by the beveled frame – so artwork does not lay flat. This causes shadows and distortion when scanning in sections. Especially true of oversized hard-backed artwork, like paintings on wood or a framed canvas. Is there no flatbed where the scanbed – glass and surrounding frame – are truly flat? (In an effort to save all "those electrons" I have shortened my signature considerably.) —
A
RB
Robert_Barnett
Jun 26, 2007
Very true. However, if you scan with enough overlap and use the two functions I mentioned in Photoshop CS3 those shades are magically removed. Everything I have scanned in from the 12×12 paper to the litho had those shadows and every shadow from every stitching and test stitching I have done was removed when running the Auto-Blend Layers after running the Auto-Align Layers option. Works great.

Robert
PF
Peter_Figen
Jun 26, 2007
Flatbed scanners generally have enough depth of field to let you add another piece of glass to shim up to your bevels, if they are truly a problem.

Must-have mockup pack for every graphic designer 🔥🔥🔥

Easy-to-use drag-n-drop Photoshop scene creator with more than 2800 items.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections