[NA] manipulating documents

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
I could swear I read about a program that would take a jpg of a document that had been photographed 'slightly not flat' and make it flat again.

In case that description doesn't hack it.. think of a sheet of 8.5x11" paper that was placed on...maybe a pillow....so that it is no longer 'very flat' as it would be on a countertop or desk.
Its not egregiously curved but you can tell from the photo that it is really no longer a flat sheet of paper. One end might be an inch higher than the other end.
 
I've got Lightroom and Photoshop so if the document is not too sensitive then PM me and I can give it a go.
 
put it under a heavy book larger than the page for a day
 
Dunno what equipment you have available to you, but the photo app on Samsung phones does a good job of auto-detecting documents, identifying their edges, and digitally "flattening" them as you describe. I use that feature all the time now instead of my increasingly obsolete flatbed scanner, though the scanner is currently still more efficient for processing a stack of double-sided pages.
 
asicer said:
Have you tried the "Scan documents" feature of the built-in Notes app on a modern iPhone?
Click to expand...
That works very well for affine transformations (ie, camera is not quite plumb relative to the paper) as long as the lighting is good and there's some contrast between the paper and the background... but I don't know how it will handle a curved sheet of paper.
 
So it sounds like you have the jpeg, but not the original doc? Try printing it, then scanning with one of the solutions above. I use the Scannable iOS app which meets my needs.
 
GeorgeC said:
That works very well for affine transformations (ie, camera is not quite plumb relative to the paper) as long as the lighting is good and there's some contrast between the paper and the background... but I don't know how it will handle a curved sheet of paper.
Click to expand...
Depends how "perfect" you want it to be. Yes, the built-in camera tool I have works best with an off-angle photo of a flat sheet (correcting a trapezoid shape back into a rectangle), but it does an okay job with other irregularities (like a tri-fold document that's not perfectly flat, etc.) In those cases it makes things "better" but certainly not "perfect" (page will look rectangular, but there will still be shadows and some text might look "stretched" or "shortened", etc.) -- still very readable by a human, though.
 
Van Johnston said:
So it sounds like you have the jpeg, but not the original doc? Try printing it, then scanning with one of the solutions above. I use the Scannable iOS app which meets my needs.
Click to expand...

Yes.
Do you mean iScanner, EvernoteScannable, Scannable Simply..., Adobe Scan etc? Which app?
 
asicer said:
Have you tried the "Scan documents" feature of the built-in Notes app on a modern iPhone?
Click to expand...

I updated Notes and when I open the app on my iphone (ios 16.5) it does not offer a Scan Documents button. Suggestions?
 
<Ollie has entered the chat>
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I updated Notes and when I open the app on my iphone (ios 16.5) it does not offer a Scan Documents button. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Open Notes, create a new note, press the camera icon (row above the keyboard) and a menu should pop up with one of the options being "Scan documents". Note that this mode has an auto-shutter feature.
 
A sheet of plexiglass will make it flat without generating glare. I use ScannerPro for jobs like that and it will automatically take the picture when you have the cell phone level and the image centered. I do that for invoices and email to our treasurer for immediate payment.
 
kshaw said:
it will automatically take the picture when you have the cell phone level and the image centered.
Click to expand...

It's amazing. All these things I didn't know I didn't need.

Seriously, that is pretty cool.
 
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