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<DIV>----- Original Message ----- <B>From:</B> <A
title=ted@quadvideotapegroup.com href="mailto:ted@quadvideotapegroup.com">Ted
Langdell</A></DIV>
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style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>Don Norwood might have some suggestions on method and image sizes/pixels
per inch, etc.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ted<BR>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>Hi Ted :</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I've tried lots of different scanning methods over the years, trying to
find a good balance between file size and image quality. Hardware and
software have both improved so much that it's far easier than it used to
be. In fact, I need to re-scan many of the brochures on the website to
bring them up to current standards. My goal is for all future scans
to include searchable text within the PDF, but none of the documents I
have on-line currently have that capability.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In general, I usually start with a 300 DPI scan which is OK for
text and most pictures, but higher resolution may be appropriate depending on
the quality of the original. These are stored as either jpeg's with
minimal compression or as bitmaps where higher quality is desired. This
gives me a hi-res image (but large size) file from which to generate the
desired format. Then if I need a jpeg intended for screen
viewing, I'll reduce the original to 96 dpi, resize if needed to fit
the screen, and use a good bit of compression to further reduce the file
size. The exact amount of compression is often determined by
experimentation to see what looks acceptable. I think you'll find that
with most software, starting with a hi-res scan and then generating a lower res
compressed file will give a much better result than just doing a low-res scan to
begin with. Be aware however, that some scanner software will do this
automatically depending on what options are selected, such as moire filtering or
descreening.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Most of my scans end up as pdf files, but again, the exact "formula" for
producing them depends on the intended use. The ones that I have on the
web site are usually not intended for printing, and so they are down-sampled
to generate a smaller file that still looks OK on a computer screen.
These are also image files that do not have searchable text. By converting
to searchable text, only the non-text portions of the scan will be stored as
images, and so the overall file size can be greatly reduced.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bottom line is that just like with modern video gear, there are so many
different "tricks" and possibilities with digital processing that you just need
to be familiar with your software. A scan can be as quick and easy as a
mouse click, or as involved as you care to make it. Correction of color,
gama, brightness, contrast, geometric alignment, descreening, detail enhancement
etc etc etc can be fully automatic or can take lots of time if you
want to do it yourself. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Don Norwood<BR>Digitrak Communications, Inc.<BR><A
href="http://www.digitrakcom.com">www.digitrakcom.com</A></DIV>
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