[HN Gopher] DIY Book Scanner
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       DIY Book Scanner
        
       Author : KolmogorovComp
       Score  : 93 points
       Date   : 2024-01-05 09:11 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.diybookscanner.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.diybookscanner.org)
        
       | jbaiter wrote:
       | Writing the software for an earlier version of this was one of
       | the first open source projects I ever did, with an early 0.1x
       | release of React, fond memories So great to see the project is
       | still alive.
        
       | pronoiac wrote:
       | Yay, the forum is back online!
        
       | ethanpil wrote:
       | Remember when Google was cool and not evil and released their
       | book scanner project for free?
       | https://code.google.com/archive/p/linear-book-scanner/
       | "Google hereby grants to you a perpetual, worldwide, non-
       | exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated
       | in this section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to
       | sell, sell, import, transfer, and otherwise run, modify and
       | propagate this design..."
        
         | mdaniel wrote:
         | The link that's less likely to be sunset due to someone's
         | random whims: https://github.com/google/linear-book-
         | scanner#readme
        
       | BeetleB wrote:
       | The original creator of this had to suspend all activities when
       | he got a job at Apple.
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27364737
        
         | TaylorAlexander wrote:
         | Apple I believe says this in their contracts but in California
         | (idk if this worker was in CA) it's illegal to prevent
         | employees from working on projects on personal time using
         | personal resources, aside from maybe carve outs for competing
         | things. It actually really sucks that apple acts like workers
         | can't moonlight, I've had some friends who didn't do it out of
         | fear of retribution despite it being enshrined in CA law.
        
       | Syzygies wrote:
       | This should be easier in software, reconstructing a 3D model of
       | the relaxed open book from a stereo or multiple photos, then
       | using AI to "upsample" to the scalable PDF document most likely
       | to produce the modeled image.
       | 
       | I was part of a font consulting company during the Postscript /
       | Truetype font wars, and we reconstructed fonts from scans or
       | earlier digital formats. Most of the work was fixing bad data.
       | This all should be easier now; think of Peter Jackson cleaning up
       | the "Let It Be" sound, leading to the Beatles releasing one more
       | track.
       | 
       | It baffles me that book images don't get this quality of
       | attention. As a mathematician I spend a lot of time reading old
       | journal articles that look terrible.
        
         | jzb wrote:
         | From the front page of the link: "The easiest way to avoid page
         | curl in your images is to flatten the pages by pressing them
         | against glass or acrylic. While there are some computer
         | algorithms that can help dewarp the pages after capture, it is
         | always more reliable to just capture flat pages in the first
         | place."
        
       | KolmogorovComp wrote:
       | Cool to see this reposted! I see on the forums are using
       | dedicated compact cameras. Are they still better than
       | smartphones?
       | 
       | I also wonder if using the LIDAR from iPhones for example could
       | significantly improve the flattening process.
        
       | mdaniel wrote:
       | The submission from 2021 with quite a bit of commentary:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27361815
        
       | jerdthenerd wrote:
       | I was interested to see how they solved automated page turning...
       | but none of the designs appear to address this?
       | 
       | Sounds like a repetitive motion injury waiting to happen after
       | you get done scanning Fountainhead.
        
       | zwayhowder wrote:
       | I made one of these during my MBA. I spent close to $2000AUD
       | including the two Nikon mirrorless cameras I purchased. I am not
       | particularly handy and made it out of spare 2x4 lumber I had so
       | it wasn't light.
       | 
       | But it worked, I scanned about two dozen short term library books
       | that I needed to reference frequently during my course at a cost
       | of about $85 per book. If I'd purchased the time limited ebooks
       | they would have cost $125 each, and been scattered across 3
       | different bookstore apps.
       | 
       | I would scan while watching tv and could do approx 1000 pages per
       | hour.
       | 
       | I also learned that I should not do carpentry and potentially
       | saved tens of thousands by hiring a handyman or carpenter for
       | home diy...
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _DIY Book Scanner_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27361815 - June 2021 (124
       | comments, and btw a great thread)
       | 
       |  _DIY book scanning_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=991897 - Dec 2009 (7
       | comments)
        
       | zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
       | That guy posted this on here when it was new. Also he's from my
       | town
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-07 23:00 UTC)