You'll notice that your cursor has changed to a four-pointed star. Paste your copied image by pressing CTRL+V or using the menus. Now re-open the "Master" image and, if you can't see the right hand edge, scroll sideways until the picture part is only half showing at the left hand side - you'll see why in a minute. Instead of the keyboard, you can, of course, use the Edit menus or the icons on the main toolbar for this. Step 3: Open the next scan (the central one), press your CTRL and A keys together (CTRL+A) to select the whole image then CTRL+C to copy it. Click on OK and your new enlarged canvas will appear.
Here I'm changing 384 to read 1150 and the depth from 590 to 650 pixels. From the top menu select "Image" then "Attributes" and change the dimensions to your new figures. If, like me, you have additional scans across the bottom, you need to increase the depth of the image also. Multiplying this by the number of scans across the image (three in this instance) will provide more than enough width because the three actually overlap. Step 2: Note the width of the image as it is now (that's 384 pixels in this case as I've reduced the original size so you can see it better). Once something is pasted and positioned in MS Paint it cannot later be separated out, so we need to be able to revert to the original if a major error occurs. We could have used the original file but didn't for reasons of safety. This "Master" file is going to become the canvas on which you paste and position all the other images. Step 1: Open the scan of the top left part of your image and "save as" another name - just to humour me, call it "Master". Making your scans.Basic techniques with MS Paint. With the instruction to "keep everything square" in mind - scan all parts of your image, naming and saving them all as separate images for now, then read on. Similarly, when you turn the drawing through 90° to scan the bottom edge, the drawing must be exactly square to the edge of the glass and the scans must overlap each other and the those above. Remember - your second scan must overlap the first and the third scan must overlap the second - it doesn't matter by how much but more is better. Give your scans useful names - I use "pic_tl", "pic_tc" etc - to designate "top left", "top centre". For web use there's no point in scanning graphite pencil work in colour and by discarding all colour information your file size will probably be reduced by two thirds - this is important as all five scans may add up to 30MB or more (For print use, scan in colour at 300ppi). Scan #1: Top, left hand end of the print and scanned in greyscale. It may seem sensible to just butt the pieces up to each other but overlapping them will prove to be far more beneficial - as you will see. Each scan has to overlap all the scans surrounding it. If the lid will come off your scanner, this will keep its hinges out of your way - just lay it on top of your drawing before you scan.Ģ: Your scans must overlap. My new Microtek has too-shallow a lip so I drew some lines across the case either side of the scanning glass and line up with these instead. My old Primax Colorado had a raised edge around the glass and I used to push the edge of the artwork up against it. All of my Limited Edition prints are stored as 300ppi greyscale TIFF images, all have been joined using Adobe PhotoDeluxe (later by Photoshop 6 and now CS6) and all have invisible pixel-perfect stitching.Īrt (A) face-down on scanner glass (B) and pushed up against case edge (C) so it lies square to the glass.ġ: The most important consideration is that your image must be completely square to the bed of the scanner. Excellent joined images can be accomplished at high resolutions.
All the illustrations of my Limited Edition prints on this website were produced this way - and there's not a join to be seen!īut don't be fooled into thinking that basic software produces basic results. No, these scans are primarily for website use or perhaps home-produced brochures or greetings cards where the image is greatly reduced.
Well, even the humble MS Paint can produce excellent results, but I should say right now that we are not trying to scan at mega-pixel resolution for Fine Art printing - for such scanning you should be paying for professional expertise. The bad news? There isn't any although I realise you may be questioning the quality that can be achieved (and probably my sanity - you won't be the first). I now use Adobe Photoshop 6 in an up-to-date computer but I've used the following methods quite satisfactorily in my old Pentium II, 166Mhz machine. Possessing a super-computer with state-of-the-art imaging software might help but it is by no means essential. Multiple-scanning does not require a degree in Rocket Science.