OT...Scanning Prints/Drawings

[elevmike]

Ok so I have some OLD old old drawings that I sent a runner to Kinko's with to get scanned onto a CD. Problem is I'm not sure what file format to have them scanned into, (jpg, tif, or bmp etc... Iv'e noticed that if I scan a drawing in jpg, and made some changes using MS Paint, the image becomes more and more blurred every time I save it.

The purpose for this exercise is mark up the drawings and print them as needed etc.. Question is which file format would best preserve the clarity of the drawing after many "saves"?

Thanks, Mike

 

[Tom Jenkins]

Actually, I find scanning into Adobe as PDFs is the best bet. If you have Adobe you can actually enter text and baloons and all kinds of markings in Adobe, then save it as a new file name, preserving the original and your markings.

 

[akreel]

I think tif. The file size will be large, because they're not very compressed. But, I think certain versions of CAD can even convert tif files into drawings (a PAINFUL process).

I once did a project on CAD modified Tifs. There were about 500+ 36"x40" (or whatever the closest standard size is) drawings. That worked out reasonably well.

AK

 

[pstephens]

Mike,

If you normally generate drawings using a CAD system, the ideal method is to scan the old drawings in vector format so they could be imported into your CAD system, and saved in its native format.

If you're stuck with using a raster image (jpg, bmp, tif), keep in mind that compressed image file formats, like jpg, are "lossy". Every time the file is closed (compressed), and re-opened (uncompressed), image data is discarded. With the better graphics programs (MS Paint is not one of them), you can select the level of jpg compression. The lower the compression, the lower the incidence of image deterioration.

Your best bet would be to stay with a standard, uncompressed file-type, like tif. Although, if these drawings are very large, you may have some HUGE files, if scanned at a high enough resolution to make them comfortably legible.

Paula

 

[elevmike]

Tiff or tif

Ok so tif it is, Thanks for the quick response, My runner is at Kinko's right now so I'll let him know..

The drawings are like 20 years old, changes will be very moderate, mostly to remove coffee stains, and make minor alterations. I'm not going to bother with the CAD thing just use a drawing editing program.

Thanks all...

Mike.

 

[elevmike]

Tom, I don’t have Adobe but I think I'm gonna get it. I usually use PDF995 to create a PDF file, but it's limited.

Anyway part of the problem is that these are Blue Prints, and in poor shape. I was looking for a better way to preserve them and dress them up a little.

So this is what I did: I scanned a portion of them into a tiff (uncompressed file) The original scan is 20 Mb. So I opened the file with MS Paint, and erased all the smudges, fold lines etc.. and now the file is 10 Mb. (significantly smaller). Also after saving the file over and over a number of times I found that there is NO discernable distortion.

So I'm having the origionals (24 x 36) scanned at Kinko's at 300 bpi. I'll then dress them up, try to save the dress up version on pdf, and post them on our server so our field guys can download them when needed.

I'm going to test this with a few drawings, and if it works out, I'm off to the scanner shop.. (Kinko's charges like $100.00 for 5 pages)

Thanks for all the input, Mike.

 

[93lt1]

Re: Re: OT...Scanning Prints/Drawings

If you normally generate drawings using a CAD system, the ideal method is to scan the old drawings in vector format so they could be imported into your CAD system, and saved in its native format.

Similar to that method...

I found a program on the web that will convert a .bmp image to a .dxf. I used it to get a "line drawing" of a company logo.

If your scanned images turn out pretty clear, you might be able to convert them to bitmap, run them through this program and possibly come out with an "Autocad compatible" drawing.

This program is pretty old. The user manual is dated '93 but it worked fine on my up-to-date Win2K machine.