11 replies to this topic

[StandingFirm]

I have some older books and documents in by print library that I would like to scan and then make modules from them. I don't have a scanner. What should I look for in a scanner if I want to scan documents and make modules? Will I need anything else in order to accomplish this? Thanks!

[Josh Bond]

You need 3 things:

• The ability to remove a book binding--or cut the binding off. See the video.
• The ability to physically scan the document. I recommend a sheet fed scanner. See the video.
• The ability to OCR the document so that the physical image is converted to digitized text. Thus, the picture of Apple is turned into editable text with the letters "Apple" that you can edit in Microsoft Word. This is achieved through software like Omnipage, which comes with many scanners. I like Omnipage but occasionally use Abbyy. Google either for more information.

Check out this video:




And this one:

[jonathon]

I don't have a scanner.

As an alternative to a scanner, a high quality digital camera on a tripod can be used.

Regardless of which is used (camera, scanner) there is a learning curve.

jonathon

[david psalms]

if it is english OCR will recognize the characters. what about in the case of foreign languages especially the indian languages. the script is totally different. is there way to make OCR recognize these characters.

[jonathon]

Is there way to make OCR recognize these characters.

There is OCR software designed for Indus Valley Writing Systems. I don't know what is available for Windows. I don't know what is available for Mac OS X.

For Linux, both Cuniform and Tesserect can "correctly" parse some Indus valley Writing System. "Correctly" in quotes, as accuracy is roughly 90%.

I'd also suggest verifying that the software can scan Hebrew and Greek text.

jonathon

[roarkdal]

Has anyone done  Thayer's Greek Lexicon of the New TEstament,  the 600 page work,  for downloading?

[DSaw]

Hi is this what your looking for

http://www.biblesupp...h-kjv-analysis/

[APsit190]

Hi Josh,

It was really interesting to see in the two videos the different ways to remove the binding. The second method was right up my alley as that took no effort to do, whilst the first method was painful to see. The poor bloke was fair busting his foo-foo to get it done. You could see the sweat running offa him.

 

The only thing wrong with the second method was that the bloke didn't have a Makita circular saw. Now, every tradie  (Kiwi for tradesman) knows that Makita power tools are the only ones to have because that is what God uses .

 

So, are you are Circular Saw user, or are you into busting your foo-foo?  (Somebody on this site is a really bad influence on me).

 

OK, now to be a bit serious. Very good ideas there for how to do it. I always wondered how all these things were done both effectively and sorta quickly. Now I know, I think I might invest some money into buying one of those scanners. Might be one on Trade Me.

 

Blessings,

Edited by APsit190, 13 July 2014 - 05:50 PM.

[Josh Bond]

On Ellicott's Commentary, I used a power saw, like this:

 

http://www.homedepot...ws/N-5yc1vZc2d7

 

You secure the book, and bring the arm of the saw down to cut through the book binding.

 

I have a Fujitsu Scansnap for a sheet-fed scanner and I scan at the highest quality setting.

 

That's the easy part. The hard part is the actual digitization and subsequent comparison to the original document.

 

Having said all that, though, outside of a few minor books, I have nothing else large in progress. We've made modules of all the public domain content that seems worthwhile. There's a few resources that would make great modules, like the Speaker's Commentary, but I lack the Greek and Hebrew expertise to digitize those portions.

 

I do have Peake's Commentary about a week or two away from completion. Beyond that, I'm largely done with OCRing for now.

[Hiroshi.Rio]

Taking advantage of the topic which is a good configuration to scan a book (DPI, b&w or grey etc.)?

 

I have a epson L210 multifunctional and I scanned a book to read on iPad but a simple 100 pages book created a +200mb file.