scanning for publishing

[aimeekitty]

ok. So I need a new scanner (mac compatible)

The main reason is that my current one is kinda dinky and I need to be able to scan higher resolution for my book.


How high resolution, or type of scanner, would be best for getting a highquality print-worthy scan? (ie good enough to send to a publisher)

Comments

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

When I worked in printing we had a room full of drum scanners to get stuff ready for print. Unfortunately drum scanners aren't really home items...you'd have to have a service scan for you. Nowadays there might be flat scanners that have similar quality at the pro level. Super expensive but they are probably all Mac-compatible (the printing places where I worked always had Macs and SG/Unix machines).

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I guess what I need is a middle of the road one then. good enough to get a "pretty good" print worthy scan, but not costing a million dollars and being huge.

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

That should be pretty easy then. My info may be a little old but we were usually equipped with Epsons for more casual (but still high-quality) scanning. If the scanner is decent quality then you just need to scan at a high enough resolution for printing. If you know who you'll be going to for printing you can ask them what they recommend/are used to working with as far as resolution since I've seen it vary from service to service.

This site has a good explaination of the process though!
http://www.bairarteditions.com/pages/tutorials/epsonprinting/resolution.html

[kayjkay.livejournal.com]

The only time I've ever seen anything scanned over 600dpi was for the animation archives at ASIFA. They scan the originals at 1200dpi. Most magazines are printed at 300-400dpi along with most graphic design. So most regular flatbeds are good.

I've liked and had Epson in the past, but CANON is also really nice. They've both given me nice printworthy scans.

[kayjkay.livejournal.com]

Will also note, the graphic design at my college was done on flatbed.

[zimbach.livejournal.com]

If you're doing black and white line art, whatever resolution you scan it at, the scaled output will have to be 1200 ppi (pixels per inch), in bitmap (one bit) mode. You can scan at a higher resolution if the printer's imagesetter works at a higher resolution, but there will be little visible difference unnless you have used shading films with dot screens. Sometimes you'll get moire interference if the screen is at an incompatible pitch.

If you'll be printing in grayscale or process color, your scaled output resolution should be twice what the printer's halftone screen is.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

mmm... well, MOST of the drawings I'll be scanning for this book will be black and white line drawings, but there are a few with some pencil grayscale (very few. Maybe I should re draw them in black and white?)

[bonegoddess.livejournal.com]

dude...I use a $65 Epson refurb I got on eBay. works fine for me :) (made 4 books with it already)

[taeha.livejournal.com]

Most of the scanners you can buy these days are of high enough resolution to be suitable for what you need. Look for at least 36 bit depth, preferably 48-bit, and higher hardware scanning resolution (ignore optical or software resolution).

For printing, your files should be at 100% the size they'll be printed at (such as 6" across) and exactly 300dpi. I personally like to scan at about 600dpi, do all of my correcting and clean-up, and then reduce the size to the final.

Hope that was helpful! You shouldn't have to spend too much on a decent scanner, although a larger bed size will drive the cost up a bit. 8.5"x11" is the standard, larger than that can be kind of hard to find.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I'm ok with normal 8 by 11 approx.

totally helpful! I may buy one tomorrow!

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

I have an epson perfection 2400 that has worked great for the past 3 years.

Stay way from cheaper brands like Microtek. They always crapped out after a year or less on me. If there's one thing you want to work well if you're an illustrator it's your scanner.