May I ask what scanners / equipment / software you're using in the utena art book project? I'm an artist and half the reason I rarely do traditional art is because I'm never happy with the artwork after it's scanned in. But the level of detail even in the blacks of Utena's uniform were all captured so beautifully! And even the very light colors are showing up so well! I'd love to know how you manage!
You know what's really fun? This used to be something you put in your site information section, the software and tools used! Not something that's as normal anymore, but let's give it a go, sorry it's long because I don't know what's new information and what's not! Herein: VANNA'S 'THIS IS AS SPECIFIC AS MY BREAK IS LONG' GUIDE/AIMLESS UNEDITED RAMBLE ABOUT SCANNING IMAGES
Scanning:
Modern scanners, by and large, are shit for this. The audience for scanning has narrowed to business and work from home applications that favor text OCR, speed, and efficiency over archiving and scanning of photos and other such visual media. It makes sense--there was a time when scanning your family photographs and such was a popular expected use of a scanner, but these days, the presumption is anything like that is already digital--what would you need the scanner to do that for?
The scanner I used for this project is the same one I have been using for *checks notes* a decade now. I use an Epson Perfection V500. Because it is explicitly intended to be a photo scanner, it does threebthings that at this point, you will pay a niche user premium for in a scanner: extremely high DPI (dots per inch), extremely wide color range, and true lossless raws (BMP/TIFF.) I scan low quality print media at 600dpi, high quality print media at 1200 dpi, and this artbook I scanned at 2400 dpi. This is obscene and results in files that are entire GB in size, but for my purposes and my approach, the largest, clearest, rawest copy of whatever I'm scanning is my goal. I don't rely on the scanner to do any post-processing. (At these sizes, the post-processing capacity of the scanner is rendered moot, anyway.) I will replace this scanner when it breaks by buying another identical one if I can find it. I have dropped, disassembled to clean, and abused this thing for a decade and I can't believe it still tolerates my shit. The trade off? Only a couple of my computers will run the ancient capture software right. LMAO. I spent a good week investigating scanners because of the insane Newtype project on my backburner, and the quality available to me now in a scanner is so depleted without spending over a thousand on one, that I'd probably just spin up a computer with Windows 7 on it just to use this one. That's how much of a difference the decade has made in what scanners do and why. (Enshittification attacks! Yes, there are multiple consumer computer products that have actually declined in quality over the last decade.)
Post-processing:
Photoshop. Sorry. I have been using Photoshop for literally decades now, it's the demon I know. While CSP is absolutely probably the better piece of software for most uses (art,) Photoshop is...well it's in the name. In all likelihood though, CSP can do all these things, and is a better product to give money to. I just don't know how.
NOTENOTENOTE: Anywhere I discuss descreening and print moire I am specifically talking about how to clean up *printed media.* If you are scanning your own painting, this will not be a problem, but everything else about this advice will stand!
The first thing you do with a 2400 dpi scan of Utena and Anthy hugging? Well, you open it in Photoshop, which you may or may not have paid for. Then you use a third party developer's plug-in to Descreen the image. I use Sattva. Now this may or may not be what you want in archiving!!! If fidelity to the original scan is the point, you may pass on this part--you are trying to preserve the print screen, moire, half-tones, and other ways print media tricks the eye. If you're me, this tool helps translate the raw scan of the printed dots on the page into the smooth color image you see in person.
From there, the vast majority of your efforts will boil down to the following Photoshop tools: Levels/Curves, Color Balance, and Selective Color. Dust and Scratches, Median, Blur, and Remove Noise will also be close friends of the printed page to digital format archiver. Once you're happy with the broad strokes, you can start cropping and sizing it down to something reasonable. If you are dealing with lots of images with the same needs, like when I've scanned doujinshi pages, you can often streamline a lot of this using Photoshop Actions.
My blacks and whites are coming out so vivid this time because I do all color post-processing in Photoshop after the fact, after a descreen tool has been used to translate the dot matrix colors to solids they're intended to portray--in my experience trying to color correct for dark and light colors is a hot mess until that process is done, because Photoshop sees the full range of the dots on the image and the colors they comprise, instead of actually blending them into their intended shades. I don't correct the levels until I've descreened to some extent.
As you can see, the print pattern contains the information of the original painting, but if you try to correct the blacks and whites, you'll get a janky mess. *Then* you change the Levels:
If you've ever edited audio, then dealing with photo Levels and Curves will be familiar to you! A well cut and cleaned piece of audio will not cut off the highs and lows, but also will make sure it uses the full range available to it. Modern scanners are trying to do this all for you, so they blow out the colors and increase the brightness and contrast significantly, because solid blacks and solid whites are often the entire thing you're aiming for--document scanning, basically. This is like when audio is made so loud details at the high and low get cut off. Boo.
What I get instead is as much detail as possible, but also at a volume that needs correcting:
Cutting off the unused color ranges (in this case it's all dark), you get the best chance of capturing the original black and white range:
In some cases, I edit beyond this--for doujinshi scans, I aim for solid blacks and whites, because I need the file sizes to be normal and can't spend gigs of space on dust. For accuracy though, this is where I'd generally stop.
For scanning artwork, the major factor here that may be fucking up your game? Yep. The scanner. Modern scanners are like cheap microphones that blow out the audio, when what you want is the ancient microphone that captures your cat farting in the next room over. While you can compensate A LOT in Photoshop and bring out blacks and whites that scanners fuck up, at the end of the day, what's probably stopping you up is that you want to use your scanner for something scanners are no longer designed to do well. If you aren't crazy like me and likely to get a vintage scanner for this purpose, keep in mind that what you are looking for is specifically *a photo scanner.* These are the ones designed to capture the most range, and at the highest DPI. It will be a flatbed. Don't waste your time with anything else.
Hot tip: if you aren't scanning often, look into your local library or photo processing store. They will have access to modern scanners that specialize in the same priorities I've listed here, and many will scan to your specifications (high dpi, lossless.)
Ahem. I hope that helps, and or was interesting to someone!!!
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The Scanning Technology
Freddy has a special feature on his eyes that allows him to see ticklish spots on humans. But how accurate is this interesting technology? Freddy sets out to test it out.
Part 2 to Day 10: Interrogation.
This fanfic was suggested by UndertaleSansLuv3. I hope you enjoy!
Freddy took Gregory over to the front of Roxy Raceway. “I have something to show you, Gregory.” Freddy told Gregory.
“Okay. What do you want to show me?” Gregory asked.
“Well…Do you remember when I told you about the bunny’s armpits being ticklish?” Freddy said.
“Yeah. And when I asked how you knew, you said you’d tell me later.” Gregory added.
“Well…I want to tell you now.” Freddy said.
“Do you have X-Ray vision?” Gregory asked eagerly.
Freddy turned towards the left wall beside the Roxy Raceway entrance. “Watch the wall. And don’t look directly into my eyes.” Freddy told him.
Gregory nodded and looked to the wall. Freddy looked at the wall, and turned on his scanner. A bunch of creamy white lines in the shape of a grid, started scanning the top of the wall, and slowly went down the wall to the bottom.
“Whoa…” Gregory muttered.
Then, the grid turned off and some text showed up on Freddy’s left eye screen.
[ERROR OCCURRED. PLEASE RETRY]
Freddy smiled. “Error occurred. Because the wall isn’t shaped like a human.” Freddy told him.
“COOL!” Gregory reacted. Gregory sprinted up in front of Freddy. “Do it to me! Scan me!” Gregory begged.
Freddy nodded and scanned Gregory’s body with his scanner. When the white grid disappeared, a picture of the labeled human body and a set of messages showed up on his eye screens.
[TOP 3 TICKLE SPOTS:
-BACK
-NECK
-TOPS OF FEET
BOTTOM 3 TICKLE SPOTS:
-BACK OF KNEES
-PALMS
-EARS]
Freddy smiled brightly and read the text out loud. “Your back is your worst spot?” Freddy asked.
Gregory widened his eyes and nodded. “Yeah. It is.” Gregory replied.
“Good to know. Can I try tickling you?” Freddy asked. “I want to test how accurate my scanner is.” Freddy told him.
Gregory smiled and nodded. “Sure!”
Gregory laid himself down and Freddy gently turned him onto his stomach. “Is this okay?” Freddy asked.
Gregory nodded. “It’s good.” He replied.
Freddy headed to the upper back and started gently scratching from the top of his back to the lower back. Gregory squealed and tried to arch his back, but to no avail. He turned his head to the left and laughed, showing Freddy his smile in the process.
Freddy smiled back at him and skittered 8 of his fingers all over Gregory’s back.
Gregory squealed super high-pitched. “EEEEEEEHEHEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” Gregory laughed.
Freddy chuckled as he listened to Gregory’s piercing laughter. “Goodness…You would be able to call dogs over with that laughter.” Freddy teased.
“SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!” Gregory shouted.
“I would rather not shut up. I would like to tease you until your face turns a bright red.” Freddy told him.
“WHYHYHY?!” Gregory asked.
“Because seeing humans turn red from bashfulness is really funny.” Freddy told him.
Gregory was growing embarrassed from just hearing those words alone! It was so unfair. But so exhilarating at the same time! How was Freddy so good at this?!
Freddy moved his hands over to Gregory’s neck next. “Let’s see how ticklish your neck really is.” Freddy told him.
Gregory turned himself around onto his back and let Freddy place his fingers onto his neck. Gregory felt the cold nails on his neck, and squealed with surprise.
“EEEEHEHE! Yohou’re cold!” Gregory reacted.
“Am I?” Freddy asked.
“Yehehes!” Gregory replied.
“Well, people say that metal is cold.” Freddy told him. “So I suppose that’s why I’m cold to the touch.” Freddy added.
Gregory was already giggling like the child he is…and he wasn’t even being tickled yet! Freddy was only touching Gregory’s neck. He wasn’t even moving his nails! And yet, Gregory was letting out little fits of giggles. Was it anticipation? Freddy wasn’t sure. But Freddy was already 100% sure on one thing: This spot certainly belongs in the top 3 list.
Freddy finally decided to start scratching and dancing his fingers on Gregory’s vulnerable neck. Gregory threw his head back and laughed hysterically, accidentally opening up his neck even more in the process.
Freddy laughed. “Did you mean to expose your neck?” Freddy asked.
“NOHOHOHO…” Gregory admitted.
“Well, you did! And I’m going to tickle it!” Freddy declared before tickling his neck more.
Gregory snorted quite loudly and laughed with delight. He curled his neck to try and squish the fingers…but Gregory couldn’t squish them thanks to Freddy being made of metal. So it was fruitless.
“eEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE! NOHOHOHO NEHEHECK!” Gregory laughed.
“Why not? Is your neck really your second worst ticklish spot?” Freddy asked.
“YEHEHEheheHEHEHES!” Gregory replied. “IHIHIT IHIHIS.”
Freddy nodded and moved his hands to the back of his neck to try it out. Gregory leaned his head back again, to cover up his neck this time, and cackled with some snorts in between.
“Funny…my scan did not mention your ticklish spinal column.” Freddy admtited.
“IHIHI DIHIHIDN’T KNOHOW MY SPIHIHINE WAHAS TIHIHICKLIHIHIHISH!” Gregory admitted.
“How fascinating!” Freddy reacted. “It appears that though my results are not wrong, it is not as specific as I expected.” Freddy explained.
“GOHOHOHOOD TO KNOHOHOHOW.” Gregory replied.
Freddy soon removed his hands from his neck and looked at Gregory’s feet. “Will you please-”
“Sure! One sec.” Gregory said, taking off his shoes right away.
Freddy watched as Gregory untied the shoelaces and used his toe to push the heel of the shoe off his foot. He pushed the shoes across the floor a couple feet away. “Socks? Or no socks?” Gregory asked.
“Socks please.” Freddy replied. “I do not want to get your feet dirty. This place is a mess, and it’s not cleaned until the morning.” Freddy told him.
Gregory shrugged his shoulders. “I’m fine with getting my feet a bit dirty.” Gregory replied. “Besides: my dirty feet will be cleaned off the floor in the morning!” Gregory added. “The floor will get cleaned anyway…So…”
Freddy chuckled and shook his head. “Do what you want to.” Freddy replied.
Gregory giggled and removed his socks before putting them into his shoes. With the socks off, Gregory brought his feet out for Freddy to tickle.
And tickle, Freddy did! He gently dragged his nails across the tops of Gregory’s feet, and looked up to see Gregory’s reaction. Gregory had a wobbly smile on his face, and a fist over his lips in an attempt to hide the giggles. But as you could tell, it was not working.
“Why are you holding out on me, Gregory? I need to hear your laughter in order to determine how ticklish your feet are.” Freddy told him.
Gregory snorted and moved his fist down to the ground, loosening his hand so he could better balance his upper body on the ground. And right when he felt he had his laughter under control, Freddy did something evil: He moved his fingers down and began tickling the tops of his toes.
Gregory squealed and threw his head back with strong fits of cackles. “BAHAHAHAHAHA! HEHEHEHEY!” Gregory shouted.
“Wow! You’re even more ticklish on your top toes? Perhaps my scanner needs to be updated to include more specific ticklish spots.” Freddy told him.
“PROHOHOBABLY.” Gregory replied.
“Alright.” Freddy said as he moved his nails up to the middle of his feet. Gregory’s strong laughter turned to fits of giggles instead. With the giggles being more gentle on the lungs, Gregory felt like Freddy was somewhat helping him recover.
After a few more minutes of foot tickles, Freddy stopped. “Now, to test out the spots that don’t tickle as much.” Freddy said.
Gregory nodded and took in deeper breaths as he watched Freddy move himself up to Gregory’s knees. “You mentioned the back of the knees, right?” Gregory asked.
“Yes. It is your least ticklish spot.” Freddy told him. “Or, that is what it says.”
Freddy lifted up Gregory’s left leg and started skittering his fingers under the knee. Gregory grew a little smile and even started to chuckle a little bit. But besides wiggling a bit, that was about all he did. It really proved to be the least ticklish spot on his body.
Freddy smiled and put Gregory’s knee down. He picked up Gregory’s right leg and started skittering his fingers under the right knee. Again, Gregory smiled and wiggled his leg around a bit, tittering and snickering. But that’s about the only reaction Freddy got out of him.
Freddy nodded and lowered Gregory’s leg back down. “So…Not really ticklish. Enough to make you smile if you’re pouting, but not for tickling.” Freddy told him. “Though, it could be a good aftercare spot to go for, if you still want tickles while you’re out of breath.” Freddy added.
Gregory nodded. “What about my palms?” Gregory asked, holding out his right hand.
“Well…I can try that spot next, if you would like.” Freddy offered, taking Gregory’s hand.
Gregory smiled and watched as Freddy placed his index finger onto his palm…and looked up at Gregory. “I’m gonna start off soft.” He said before starting to scratch really lightly. Gregory’s reaction was a little bit funny. He had accidentally whimpered into a little giggle, and curled his fingers as well. Freddy smiled at his reaction before scratching with 2 fingers at the same time.
Gregory smiled brightly and giggled in little bursts. It was funny to see Gregory all giddy from just a couple fingers on the palm of his hand. The two fingers was all it took to leave him all fluttery.
Freddy smiled a little brighter and gently let go of the boy’s hand. “Can I try the other hand?” Freddy asked.
Gregory nodded. “Sure!” He replied, offering his left hand. Freddy took Gregory’s left hand and started fluttering his fingers on Gregory’s palm with no warning this time. These 2 fingers were enough to make Gregory hang his head and giggle in response. It tickled enough to make him twitchy, yet silly in a way. It was quite cute, to be honest.
Freddy decided to spend just a little longer on the left hand than he did on the right hand. Gregory chuckled and tittered through every flutter and every scratch. It felt nice to just laugh without losing much breath. It felt really good, actually, especially after his 3 worst spots were targeted.
A few seconds later, Freddy stopped. He offered Gregory a hand up. When Gregory placed his own smaller hand in his, Freddy gripped his hand and pulled him up in one swoop.
“Thank you, Freddy.”
“You’re welcome, Superstar. But I still have to test out one more spot.” Freddy told him.
Freddy brought his hands over to Gregory’s left ear and gently scratched the ear flap. But…Gregory wasn’t giggling. He didn’t even twitch. He just looked over at Freddy’s hand as it tickled him. Freddy tilted his head and moved his fingers in front of the ear, near the ear canal and the upper jaw. But still, Gregory did not twitch or giggle. He just watched Freddy’s gaze as he tried to figure out the specific spot on his ear.
“Try behind the ear.” Gregory suggested.
“Behind the ear? Like…here?” Freddy placed his hand in the spot behind the ear and skittered his fingers there.
Almost right away, Gregory started squeaking and giggling in a higher pitched voice.
“There we go!” Freddy reacted.
“Ihihit tihihicklehes!” Gregory reacted. His smile was a little bit bigger and more toothy than before, and he was even flapping his hands around as he struggled to process the strange tickle spot.
“I can see that!” Freddy replied. “Maybe I’ll stay here for a bit.” He decided.
And that’s how Gregory’s high-pitched giggles could be heard throughout the one little corner of the pizzaplex. Freddy continued to tickle Gregory in that spot, and Gregory continued to fill the room with his giggles and squeals.
And Freddy didn’t mind listening to the laughter. He rather enjoyed it!
And as if it wasn’t obvious, Gregory enjoyed receiving the tickles. He enjoyed it so much, that Gregory would bring Freddy’s hand back to his ear so he could continue tickling him.
Gregory didn’t want Freddy to stop tickling. And despite the worry for Gregory’s lung capacity, Freddy didn’t really want to stop either.
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