Mustek Scan Express Question

[Vangald]

Hello,
I am new to animation. I have a Mustek Scanexpress A3 scanner that I got when I was playing around with drawing comics. I just got a basic light box from lightfoot that handles 10f animation paper. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get good clean yet fairly fast scans for my pencil tests?

Is there a way to save a guide of some sort for scanning so that I can just scan the area that has the paper as apposed to the full length of the scanner?

And on top of all of that what software do you suggest I use for pencil testing?

[WillW]

Hiya. on the program question, If you want to spend money then Digicel is a good program to go with, I've not used it much myself though. Or there's a free piece of software called MonkeyJam that hasn't got as many decorations as Digicel but has the basics for what you need to display pencil tests on a computer.

digicel home page http://www.digicelinc.com/

MonkeyJam home page http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/download.html

[DNethery]

I have a Mustek Scanexpress A3 scanner that I got when I was playing around with drawing comics.

I just got a basic light box from lightfoot that handles 10f animation paper.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get good clean yet fairly fast scans for my pencil tests?

Is there a way to save a guide of some sort for scanning so that I can just scan the area that has the paper as apposed to the full length of the scanner?

And on top of all of that what software do you suggest I use for pencil testing?


As I recall the Mustek ScanExpress was VERY SLOW. It was about 4 years ago that I used one , so they may have improved the drivers since that time.

Generally speaking when scanning line art to make a pencil test you can make the scanning process go faster and get smaller file sizes by scanning in B & W mode (or greyscale mode) rather than full color. For viewing pencil tests on your computer made with a program like MonkeyJam or Digicel Flipbook a pencil test can be 640 x 480 resolution , and for that size you don't really need to make the scans any higher than 72dpi or maybe 96 dpi at most. (however, when scanning final clean-up art for coloring you would need to scan at least 300 dpi, but that's another topic for another day).

I don't recall exactly what the Mustek scanner interface was like ... if memory serves it was very basic . Does it allow you to make image adjustments prior to scanning ? (Threshold in B & W mode or Brightness and Contrast in greyscale mode) . Another thing you could do is scan via an application like Photoshop and make the adjustments there.

Or use a scanning software like VueScan (http://www.hamrick.com/) to scan. (not sure if VueScan works with the Mustek ScanExpress drivers . Download free trial of VueScan to test before you purchase.

Whatever you use you should adjust the image quality so that the white of the paper is as light as you can get it without washing-out the image, and the lines of the drawing as dark as you can get them without getting too blocky or thick.

"Is there a way to save a guide of some sort for scanning so that I can just scan the area that has the paper as apposed to the full length of the scanner?"

Yes, if you use VueScan or Photoshop to scan. You can save the default marquee settings and other settings (threshold or brightness/contrast settings) so that every time you scan a new set of animation drawings it will be the same size. (center and tape-down your pegbar on the scanner and don't move it ... EVER. Have a dedicated peg bar just for the scanner.
Lightfoot sells a Tape Down Peg Bar (http://www.lightfootltd.com/product_info.php/cPath/27/products_id/412) for $20.00.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jL0PYTVd-Zs/Sgx_rZWQQXI/AAAAAAAAA9M/p-XcIVIZv8s/s400/scanners%20copy.jpg

As mentioned, if you're just looking to make pencil tests from your hand-drawn artwork then the free MonkeyJam (http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/download.html) software works fine (but note that MonkeyJam is Windows-PC only) A good pencil test program for Mac (and Windows) is Toki Line Test (http://www.tokitest.fr/english/tokilinetest.html). And as previously noted Digicel Flipbook Studio (http://www.digicelinc.com/flipbook.htm) works very well, too. Digicel gives you the options of coloring your artwork and doing camera moves too, which neither Toki Line Test or MonkeyJam can do.

[dartzy]

\Or use a scanning software like VueScan (http://www.hamrick.com/) to scan. (not sure if VueScan works with the Mustek ScanExpress drivers . Download free trial of VueScan to test before you purchase.

Is VueScan a good scan software for pencils? A lot of the work I do for illustration and such, I scan into my Mac and I'm forced to use the software that it comes with (Silverfast)-which is horrible for pencil art. Was wondering if you had used this software you mentioned?

Thanks,

Kelley

Just an update: I tried the demo and will be purchasing this software to use with my scanner. For me- and everyones needs are different- it scans faster, the controls are a lot easier and the actual scans of pencil in particular are MUCH better than Silverfast, the software provided by Umax, my scanners maker. For the cost, its definitely worth looking at. I run it on a Mac G3, if anyone is curious.

[Vangald]

Thank you all for the response. One more question. What would you say is the best scanning size for the marquee I will be saving to scan each 10f frame? I fear stretching of the image when I export it to an avi.

[DNethery]

Is VueScan a good scan software for pencils? A lot of the work I do for illustration and such, I scan into my Mac and I'm forced to use the software that it comes with (Silverfast)-which is horrible for pencil art. Was wondering if you had used this software you mentioned?

Thanks,

Kelley

Just an update: I tried the demo and will be purchasing this software to use with my scanner. For me- and everyones needs are different- it scans faster, the controls are a lot easier and the actual scans of pencil in particular are MUCH better than Silverfast, the software provided by Umax, my scanners maker. For the cost, its definitely worth looking at. I run it on a Mac G3, if anyone is curious.

Sorry I never answered your question about Vue Scan (http://www.hamrick.com/). I've been away for a while. In the meantime I'm glad you tried the demo for yourself. So anyway, I would have answered : Yes, it's a good scanning software. Recommended.

[DNethery]

Thank you all for the response. One more question. What would you say is the best scanning size for the marquee I will be saving to scan each 10f frame? I fear stretching of the image when I export it to an avi.

Well, it depends on the software you use. The animation software that I'm most familiar with, TVP Animation (http://paperless-animation.blogspot.com) , has options to resize the scanned image (with correction of the aspect ratio) so it fits into the frame correctly. I think the same sort of options are available in a software like Digicel.

You may lose a little bit around the edges of the image as it is cropped to fit the window of the application, but you should be working within a "safe area" anyway, so no essential information is drawn out at the edges of the paper.

I work on 12 Field (sometimes 16 field) , so the field guides I have are all for 12 field or 16 field. I don't know that I've ever seen a 10 Field guide (graticule) for sale , but I'm sure you could make one using a 12 field guide (http://www.awn.com/articles/anilayout/animation-layout-graticule-field-guide-and-labeling) as the basis. (most people use the terms "field guide" and "graticule" interchangeably, though to be technically correct they are slightly different . See the article Animation Layout: Graticule, Field Guide, and Labeling (http://www.awn.com/articles/anilayout/animation-layout-graticule-field-guide-and-labeling) .)

The traditional field sizes for standard 12 field probably don't translate exactly over to using 10 Field because the 12F paper (12.5" x 10.5") is proportioned differently than 10 F paper , but my guesstimate is that using traditional field sizes the maximum scannable area on a 10 F piece of paper (11" x 8.5") would be approx. 10.5" x 7.5" (actually probably closer to 10" x 7" to be safe) .

So let's say you are scanning your 10 Field paper on a peg bar . The part of the paper where the peg holes are will be off the edge of the scanning glass . Set your scan marquee to cover an area no more than approx. 10.5" x 7.5" (or maybe 10" x 7" ) . Save the settings.

At 72 dpi (adequate for a b & w pencil test using standard NTSC DV 4:3 ratio of 720 x 480 ) your scans of a 10" x 7" area would actually be sized at 10" x 6.667" (approx. 10" x 7") . 10" x 6.667" in inches at 72dpi = 720 x 480 in pixels.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_jL0PYTVd-Zs/S2GjoOdiOMI/AAAAAAAACu8/XKMPPK4Sg7k/s800/scan_10_Field.jpg

If you're using Digicel Flipbook for instance you would set your project size to NTSC DV 720 x 480 . But again , I think that Digicel can import your scans in and automatically resize them to fit the frame aspect ratio of the Digicel project window without stretching or compressing the image.

My advice is : Run Tests. See which scanning sizes work best for importing into Digicel (or whatever you are using) . The tests can also show you what is the maximum "safe" area you can scan. Maybe you can go slightly wider on 10 F than the maximum scannable area I'm suggesting. You can always scan wider (almost to the edge of the paper) then crop the images later to crop out anything on the edges that you don't want to show. (of course if you're fielded-in tighter at say an 8 field or a 7 field , or 4 field then you don't have to worry about the edges since you'll be cropping in closer anyway to get the tighter field.)


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* and remember when I'm talking about scanning in B & W mode at 72 dpi that is for pencil tests only , viewed at 720 x 480 or 640 x 480 size. If you are scanning final line artwork for digital coloring then you should scan at least 300 dpi for sharper line quality . Your 300 dpi images will be much larger .)

[Vangald]

Excellent! Thank you so much for the information.