Syracuse Architecture Technology

Equipment

• 2 tabloid-size (11x17") Epson Xpression flatbed scanners in the small computer lab (Room 004)
• 36" wide scanner connected to Zelda in the plot room (Room 013)

Flatbed Scanners

• Each scanner is connected to a computer. The computers are not connected to the network. To get your scanned files off the computer, copy them to a usb key, portable hard drive, or cdrom.
  


• To scan, use Photoshop. Click File, Import, Epson.
  


• If you get a ‘scanner not found’ message, make sure the scanner is on. The scanner power button is on the front left of the scanner. If that doesn't help, restart the computer.
  


• If you are scanning magazine or book photos, always use the 'descreen' option in the scanner control panel. This helps remove the wavy moire pattern. It may be necessary to further fix the image in Photoshop with a slight amount of blur, or through use of the despeckle filter a few times to get rid of the pattern.
  


• Save scans as TIF files if you do not want degradation of the image. If that is not important, then the JPG format may be more appropriate since it is highly compressable (although TIFs are as well using the LZW checkbox at the time of saving).
  


• If the computer refuses to eject your cdrom, shut down the computer and restart it. Then try again.
  


• If the scanner glass is dirty, ask a plot monitor to clean it (paper towels and glass cleaner are stored in the plot room closet).
  


• Please remove your scanned files when done. Files may be deleted after 24 hours.

36" wide scanner (Zelda)

• Scanning on Zelda must be done with the help of the plot monitor.
  


• Scans are saved to the S drive as TIF files. To retrieve your scans, log onto a lab computer, open My Computer, then open the S drive. The files should have your username as part of the filename.
  


• Scanned files are automatically removed from the S drive after 24 hours.
  


• Scan only clean paper--do not scan drawings with coarse material, sand, grit, charcoal, chalk, pastels or any powerdery-type material. This can damage the scanning glass and ruin the rollers.
  


• Drawings that have been coated with fixative spray must wait a minimum of two hours after being sprayed before scanning. This is to minimize the odor in the plot room. This time may be adjusted up or down at the discretion of the plot monitor.
  


• Three scan modes are available--line, photo, and photo+line. Line mode is 1-bit black and white and produces the smallest file sizes. Photo mode is 8-bit grayscale and produces much larger files sizes, but is better for capturing shading and detail. Line and Photo modes are saved as TIF files. Photo+Line mode is 24-bit color, saved as jpegs (to keep the file size down). Scanning can be done up to 400 dpi, although 200 or 300 is usually sufficient and produces more manageable file sizes.
  


• If your scanned file is squished or distorted in Photoshop, click Image, Pixel Aspect Ratio, Square. Then resave it.