Make Your Scanner a Great Design & Production Tool

Rating:
Summary: Review by Scanning Basics Teacher
Review: For four years now I have made reference to Make Your Scanner a Great Design & Production Tool, and it's previous version, in my Scanning Basics non-credit classes at a local community college. I refer to the page for finding the sweet spot on your scanner because it explains how "noise" can be introduced into a scan. That, and some other technical information, has been useful to me in preparing for my class. The target audience of the book is graphic artists/designers; I believe it meets the needs of that group. However, my classes are attended by family members doing geneologies, librarians, or small business owners who want to scan for the internet. The book does not contain enough examples geared to their needs.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Useful Books on My Shelf
Review: For four years now I have made reference to Make Your Scanner a Great Design & Production Tool, and it's previous version, in my Scanning Basics non-credit classes at a local community college. I refer to the page for finding the sweet spot on your scanner because it explains how "noise" can be introduced into a scan. That, and some other technical information, has been useful to me in preparing for my class. The target audience of the book is graphic artists/designers; I believe it meets the needs of that group. However, my classes are attended by family members doing geneologies, librarians, or small business owners who want to scan for the internet. The book does not contain enough examples geared to their needs.

Rating:
Summary: May Not Be The Best For Beginners
Review: I bought this book feeling that it would take the mystery out of scanning. It did not. The problem is that that the autor uses terminolgy that is never referenced in your run of the mill scanner manual. The author talks about SPI and other terms but my scanner manual only references dpi. This book will be a disapointment to those trying to gain some basic knowledge of how to scan.

Rating:
Summary: The best scanner book I've seen so far.
Review: I have several books on scanners and scanning, and I don't think any of them come close to matching this one in the clarity of the text and the illustrations used to make the point. The only drawback I could find was that I do wish the authors would all get together and use the same terms when talking about dpi, spi, lpi, and ppi. It makes it pretty difficult for us right-brain folks to be able to sort it all out. However, I still consider 'Make Your Scanner a Great Design Tool' to be very useful and a worthwhile investment, particularly if you are getting into doing any sort of image-tweaking for optimum results. I have recommended it to several artists who want to scan their work.

Rating:
Summary: The best scanner book I've seen so far.
Review: I have several books on scanners and scanning, and I don't think any of them come close to matching this one in the clarity of the text and the illustrations used to make the point. The only drawback I could find was that I do wish the authors would all get together and use the same terms when talking about dpi, spi, lpi, and ppi. It makes it pretty difficult for us right-brain folks to be able to sort it all out. However, I still consider 'Make Your Scanner a Great Design Tool' to be very useful and a worthwhile investment, particularly if you are getting into doing any sort of image-tweaking for optimum results. I have recommended it to several artists who want to scan their work.

Rating:
Summary: excellent tool for professionals, educators, & students!
Review: I recently taught a graduate level course, entitled "Architectural Graphics", at Lawrence Technological University in the School of Architecture. The students used Michael's book as a reference tool related to the course study. The course was an introduction to Desktop Presentation related to Architecture. Most of the students had very little, if any, previous exposure to digital graphics related to architectural presentations. Michael's book proved to be a valuable tool in providing tips on scanning, photo manipulations, and output.

Students were required to upgrade their computer systems as well as purchase software for class projects. Typical hardware additions included: Zip Drives, color printers and flatbed scanners. Required course software included Adobe PhotoShop 5.0, PageMaker 6.5, and Macromedia Freehand 7.0 or 8.0. The course was set up as a series of short projects designed to understand digital input via scanning, software image manipulation using PhotoShop, page layout using both PageMaker and Freehand. Students experimented with project output on a variety of inkjet and color laser printers. Both my students and I found this book to be very helpful in all aspects of this course.

Additionally, my partners and I have greatly benefited from both editions of this book in our architectural practice over the last five years. We have referred to Michael's book for reference for digital representation of architecture. The basic ability to scan properly is a must for any digital design professional. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants their presentations to outshine the competition!

Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Useful Books on My Shelf
Review: I reference this book every time I scan a difficult photo. I think it is an excellent guide for designers, especially those working with small clients who can't afford professional photography. The book has advice on how to work with common "problem photos", which is a great help when you need to get a usable image out of a snapshot with poor lighting.

I see the other reviewer's point about too much space being taken up by discussion of various types of scanners. It would have been nice to see less about scanner types no one uses and more space devoted to techniques for improving scans. Still, the information that is there is very useful.

The information is directed at print designers, but many of the tips are useful for the Internet in a general sense. It would be nice to see specific advice for online images, but maybe that's for another book. All in all I found it a very valuable resource and have recommended it to several other designers.

Rating:
Summary: question
Review: I was disappointed in this manual as I expected more of a level suitable for a beginner. I felt like a beginner skier on an advance slope. Not much fun and lots of levels of usefullness not appropiate for beginners. I wished the reviewers had a way to indicate the level of usefullness. Prehpas in a year or two I will feel the way the excellent reviews the manual got which promtede me to purchase it. If you are a beginner this is a higher level manual then I found useful.