Archive for 'Scanning' Category

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DocuPen on the Way

1 October 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Scanning

Quick update that I have a Planon DocuPen RC800 coming my way for review purposes. I really can’t wait to try this thing out on my own as I’ve heard very mixed reviews. It seems like a great solution for students, but does it really work?

We’ll see!

Review: Snapter Ice v2.0

11 September 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: Scanning, Software Info

We told you at the end of July that Atiz’s Snapter camera ’scanning’ application, re-branded as Snapter ICE V2.0, was being re-launched with the promise that the operational problems inherent in v1.0 had been greatly fixed and some new and improved functionality had been put in place. Well I thought it was about time I took a look at this new version just to see how it measures up against the old one. What I’m looking to find out is whether Atiz have fully ironed out those pesky operational problems and whether the application can now rightly claim a position of permanence in the Tablet PC student’s toolbox? Join me after the jump and we’ll get to work.

Snapter turns sub zero

29 July 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: News, Scanning, Software Info

You’ll remember back in April that we introduced you to Snapter, a software based scanning solution that utilises a digital camera as its primary means of input? Well Sarasin at Atiz has dropped me an email announcing that the software has been incarnated into a new version and renamed Snapter Ice 2.0. It seems our collective voice, and the testing efforts of power users such as Hugh Sung and Karla, have made Atiz sit up and listen. The biggest issues with the previous version i.e. poor recognition results and the inability to reposition the ‘border nodes’ in Book mode have apparently been bashed out and a valuable whiteboard recognition mode has been added (sweet!). The software also sports a new interface and is fully Vista compatible.

Humorous Book Snap-Scanning Tip

30 April 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Digital Books, Scanning

I checked our Wiki today to see what was up and got a good laugh under the Scanning a Book page. I think it was from a contributor with the username Marsm:

If the book has very glossy pages you can take pictures outside in the sunshine to avoid the text being blurred out by the flash of your camera. To do this, turn into the direction of where the sun is shining from and place the book on a small chair or box. Next, place a table next to the box so you can rest your right arm on it to keep the camera steady. Because the sun will probably make your display very hard to see, get an empty toilet roll and tape it onto the display until the sun is blocked out. This also adds to stability because you can place the roll on your left or right eye.

Snapter - an easy way to turn your papers digital?

25 April 2007 Posted By: Robert
Posted in: Scanning, Software Info

James over at jkOntheRun highlights a new piece of software that looks ideal for student use (especially those operating paperlessly). Atiz, the company behind the Bookdrive DIY (highlighted by alcuin in our forums a couple of days ago), have released Snapter - an application that allows you to ’scan’ a document into an elecronic format using nothing more than a digital camera.

OpticBook Works fine on Vista

28 January 2007 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Scanning

I have a Vista review in the works, but I just wanted to make a quick shout out that the OpticBook 3600 scanner works just like normal with Vista (yay).

With the number of students using this particular device to go paperless, it’s good to know there won’t be a stuggle to get it working ^_^. You never know what will break after an upgrade to a new operating system.

Let the scanning begin

4 August 2006 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Digital Books, Going Paperless, Scanning

As comes the end of summer, so comes the beginning of scanning. Are those of us who partake in this endless task of scanning book after book mad? Insane? Bored? Without a social life? OK, possibly, HOWEVER, we have our reasons.

Right now I am sitting in an apartment, far away from family and friends, in a town where the only place to hang-out is Subway, and the word “wireless” has yet to reach the local’s ears.

I do NOT want to spend time that I’m at home around family and friends working longer than I need to on homework or studying, or huddled in my room with the scanner by my side on a Friday night. Scanning and OCR-ing my books allows me to be more productive during the school year. So what if it means I spend the day or two flipping pages and pressing scan. The benefits of 1000+ pages of searchable text, the freedom of studying whenever and where ever I get a chance, and extra mobility I gain by dropping about 30 lbs of books is WELL worth the effort.

Not only does scanning my books let me have more free time later, but that free time means that if I need to, I can spend more time studying when it counts. If I have a test that’s freaking me out, if I have homework due in thirty minutes, if I have a class that is INSANE, I can get more studying done in less time because I’m well organized and ready for action.

No, scanning doesn’t save you time in the long run (unless you have a really fast scanner), but it saves you time when it matters most. That’s all I’m trying to say here.

My next couple posts will likely be on scanning and digital books because that’s what I’m currently messing with. I have two books right now, one that’s 750 pages and one that’s 900 pages. I’m guessing with my way of scanning (OpticBook + Acrobat) that will be about 8-10 hours of work. Not too shabby, but still quite the effort ^_^.

Scanning a book start to finish with MODI

11 January 2006 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Scanning

With my Adobe Acrobat trial long expired, I’m using Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) as my multipage-searchable-digital-book maker. I never actually did a whole book with MODI, just a trial chapter once to compare to Acrobat. I also cut the binding off the book for reasons I’ll go into later (another new experience). In the end, MODI gave me everything Acrobat did minus bookmarks and plus ink comments for the low price of free.

Summary:

• Why I removed the binding
• How to manually remove the binding
• What to do with the loose pages
• Scanner folder preparation
• BookPilor or Microsoft Office Document Scanning?
• Making a multipage TIFF - XnView
• Running OCR
• Making huge files much smaller
• The finished product

Digital History: a great site for digitizing the written word

12 December 2005 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Digital Books, Scanning

I was sent a link to a website called Digital History. It’s a book made into a website and is dedicated to “gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web” (you can purchase the book or use the free online version).

Check out the chapter labeled “Becoming Digital.” Extremely detailed, even if it’s more geared towards large scale projects (but who says five 1000 page books isn’t large scale ^_^).

Becoming Digital chapter outline:

• The pros and cons of digitization
• The different ways that text can be digitized
• The benefits and costs of marking up text

Scanning a book by removing the binding

27 November 2005 Posted By: Tracy
Posted in: Digital Books, Scanning

Forum member chocokid posted a great how-to on scanning a book by removing the binding first. Thanks for documenting the process!

…Remove the binding. The best way to go about this is to bring the book to Kiko’s and for about $5, they’ll cut the binding off. This saves you the trouble of ripping out each page one by one, which often results in ripped pages. If you decide to remove the binding yourself…good luck! Its been my experience that getting that glue off the page edges is nearly impossible. I prefer having the binding cut off because after your done scanning it, you may be able to have it rebound or you can use a 3hole punch and stick it in a binder and sell the book to a friend or online…

Read the entire post by visiting our forums!

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