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Know-It-Alls


G+_iyaz akhtar
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Know-It-Alls

Ron wrote in with his ideas about how to set up a portable book scanner:

 

Hi Iyaz...

 

This is my workflow for capturing books or large amount of pages on the go.  

 

Equipment:

Tabletop tripod,

 

Small clamps http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100022641?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100022641&R=100022641#.Ud7-jUHVB8E

 

Logitech C920 webcam

 

Book cradle " http://bindingobsession.com/2011/07/exhibition-mounts/ 

 

 

http://vimeo.com/22590570

 

 

Laptop Dell 6220 I7 with 16gb of ram and fast SSD drive.

 

 

Software

Paint Shop Pro and VLC media player.

 

Workflow

1.  Set up the tripod on the table.   Once the tripod is setup, I clamp it down.

2.  If available, put the book in a cradle.

3.  Set the camera up so that you capture on page.

4.  Take a video while you turn the pages.

5.  Save the video on the laptop.

6.  Play the video back on VLC.

7.  In VLC, capture individual pages using the VIDEO/Snapshot command.

8.  Import the individual pages into Paint Shop Pro.

9  Record a script with whatever editing you need to do on the individual pages.

10.  Run the script on all the pages.

11.  Convert the pages into whatever final format you want-PDF for me.

 

Issues:

1.  Getting to pages to lie flat.    (You can use a poster board from Office Depot )

2.  Lighting:  This is sort of hit or miss.  I could bring extra LCD lights, but haven't found a good one

3.  Locking the camera down.  I use the table top tripod and little clamps to lock the legs down to the table.

4.  Turning the pages.   Large book scanners using suction to gently turn the pages.   Not sure how to do that in a portable format.

 

 

You could also build a rig out of pcp piping.  Build a box and use 2 cameras, so you can capture the pages twice as fast.

 

 

Ron from Four N Source.  (The source for computer forensics.)

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100022641?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100022641&R=100022641#.Ud7-jUHVB8E

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