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Part
One - How to Prepare Fabric for Scanning and Correcting Common
Fabric Scan Problems.
Software:
- Photoshop (or any image editing program with simlar features)
- Canvas (this tutorial will work with versions
5, 6, and I believe 7). You can try a full working version of
Canvas by visiting the Deneba
web site.
Hardware:
- Flatbed scanner. I use a Umax Vista S-12.
How to Prepare Fabric for Scanning
- Cut at least 3x3 inch squares of the fabric
you want to scan.
- You can scan a hunk of folded fabric (I
often do this when I start getting lazy).
- It's important that the fabric is not
wrinkled. Otherwise, the wrinkles will show up on the scanned
image.
How to Scan the Fabric
Note: These instructions use Photoshop,
and they are adaptable for use with most image editing programs.
- I use Umax's VistaScan through Photoshop
to scan my fabric. If you are unfamiliar with scanning, I recommend
your visit Wayne Fulton's Web site, A Few Scanning Tips.
Looking at the above, you can see three
problems that are common to fabric scans.
- The weave of the fabric is obvious and
distracting.
- The fabric is not as bright as it should
be.
- The file size is way too large at 1.15
megs.
How to Correct Common Fabric
Scan Problems
How to correct the weave of the fabric,
making it less distracting.
- In Photoshop's menu bar, select Filter,
Blur, and Gaussian Blur.
- Adjust the sliding bar to remove the fabric
weave.
How to adjust the brightness and contrast
of the image.
- At the menu bar, select Image, Adjust,
and Brightness/Contrast.
- Slide the bars as necessary to adjust
the brightness and the constrast to the desired level.
Here'e the adjusted fabric scan. Notice
how the image is improved.
Tip! From
one fabric scan, you can create a range of lights and darks simply
by adjusting the brightness/contrast feature.
Tip! Also
from this one scan, you can create a rainbow of colors by adjusting
the color balance bars. To do this, select the image (Command-A).
Then at the menu bar select Image, then Color Balance. By sliding
the bars, you can create different hues. It's that simple.
How to reduce the size of the file.
It is very important to reduce the size
of the file. Otherwise, when using your fabric fills in a drawing
program, you'll working file will be enormous and will cause
big problems.
- In the menu bar, select Image then Image
Size.
- Change the resolution to 72 dpi and the
image width to 1.0. Notice how the new file size is only 17k--a
huge difference from the original size of 1.15 megs.
View the image at 100% and make any necessary
tweaks to the brightness and contrast.
Here's the finished fabric scan, ready
to be moved to Canvas.
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Fabric
Scanning --a how-to tutorial.
