So many questions, so few answers Member since Nov 2010 876 Points Moderator
With the issue of scanning album covers, can we have a section on how to use ICE (composite image editor) for the likes of people like myself with limited knowledge (until the penny drops), I think this would be a great help and get images on a lot quicker.
So many questions, so few answers Member since Nov 2010 876 Points Moderator
Sorry for delay, at daughters for lunch, beats cooking.
I used “New Structured Panorama” , as I thought “New Panorama” would be in one line, although “New Panorama” worked great with some holiday photos’ in one line.
I thought “New Structured Panorama” would line up the pictures correct, which it didn’t and could not change.
More advice would be appreciated.
I've only got record shops left... Member since Jan 2013 34 Points
Yes "New Panorama" - not "New Structured Panorama".
And do make sure you allow an overlap with each image when you scan. ICE sorts the images out whether upside down or facing a different way... just so long as there is an overlap to work with.
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7148 Points Moderator
I've never tried doing them separately, I believe you should do it all at once. To open the multiple images hold down CTRL as you click on the file names and then Open.
You should then just set the Crop lines where you want them (come just slightly inside the edge of the album for best results - sometimes you will get a black line down the side if you cut it too fine), resize (using the boxes at the bottom) and then Export it out - et voila!
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7148 Points Moderator
Oh and if the resultant image breaks the 250Kb file size limit (which it sometimes does if there is a lot of detail or colour on the image) then Export it again and drop the image quality to about 85%; that should sort it.
Turning rebellion into money since 1962 Member since Nov 2009 6556 Points Moderator
No expert (on anything IT) but I think you would be better to export at max size then edit as necessary (further croping, contrast, etc.) in something like paint.net and save at that point adjusting the resolution and the image quality down as needed.
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7148 Points Moderator
Yeah you can do that if you wish.
ICE is fine for the cropping but if you need to alter brightness/contrast or so on you would then want to open it up in your chosen image editing software (I'm a GIMP man myself).
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3730 Points Moderator
Picture Disc Scans:
...And other 12" scans work better with only 3 photo components, not 4.
The more photos you add to a panorama of a circular image, the more you confuse ICE, giving it too many reference points to reconcile.
It's better to scan in a kind of "Mercedes Badge" scheme of three:
Majority of the disc from upper right, majority of the disc upper left, then majority of the disc from the bottom, with the disc centrally located on the scanner glass, and making sure the images overlap at all point all the way round the edge of the disc of course, to avoid "Bites" out of the finished panorama.
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3730 Points Moderator
Straightening Warped Panoramas:
Having had trouble with Stevie Wonder's: Songs in the key of Life back cover, with the hinged edge of the gatefold appearing (And actually, as it happens!) to bend out at the edges, I tried succuessfully the following:
I took two more scans, one each of the entire length of the top edge of the album cover, and one of the bottom... corner to corner in both cases. Obviously this meant placing the album cover on the scanner glass diagonally, with the edge of the album running bottom right of the glass to top left, giving two scanned images of triangular sections of the cover, I then simply added these to the other four Photo components (Six in all of course), and it straightened it out by giving ICE a template of how the four corner scans related to each other.
Lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink. Member since Feb 2012 7148 Points Moderator
Magic Marmalade wrote:
Straightening Warped Panoramas:
Having had trouble with Stevie Wonder's: Songs in the key of Life back cover, with the hinged edge of the gatefold appearing (And actually, as it happens!) to bend out at the edges, I tried succuessfully the following:
I took two more scans, one each of the entire length of the top edge of the album cover, and one of the bottom... corner to corner in both cases. Obviously this meant placing the album cover on the scanner glass diagonally, with the edge of the album running bottom right of the glass to top left, giving two scanned images of triangular sections of the cover, I then simply added these to the other four Photo components (Six in all of course), and it straightened it out by giving ICE a template of how the four corner scans related to each other.
You can also fix this by using the Perspective Tool in GIMP (or equivalent in other packages) whereby you simply drag the corners of the image to square it off. Bit easier!
If you're not lost... It's not an adventure! Member since Jun 2014 3730 Points Moderator
Thanks... didn't fancy typing that into the search box!
It occurs that many who may want to scan images might not know what ICE is...
seeing reference to it around the site here, but like me and GIMP, who are not familiar bedfellows ( ) may be bemused.
(I'd hate to think anyone in this cold weather coming in with a shovel full of snow
and planting on their scanner!).
I use ICE (Image Composite Editor - downloadable from Microsoft) with Photo Gallery editing... it embeds itself in the Gallery prog when you download it, so you don't have to open ICE as a separate program and import images.. it fixes to the "Create" tab at the top.
I'll have a look at GIMP a little more closely a bit later.