How To Scan Enclosure?

[Schappy]

Im trying to scan my enclosure but with little success.

I just got a big blur.

Are there certain settings you have to use?

Should I put something over the scanner since the lid doesnt fit on top?

[~arph]

Erm, I believe nowadays you just take a photo with a digital camera

[philbinator1]

Im trying to scan my enclosure but with little success.

I just got a big blur.

Are there certain settings you have to use?

Should I put something over the scanner since the lid doesnt fit on top?

It could be because the light is getting in around the enclosure, because it's not flat.  ~arph is right, just take a good quality
digital cam photo then muck around with it in some paint application if you need to eliminate the background or whatever.   

[Schappy]

Sorry for the dumb question but how do you parlay a digital photo into a workable template that is the right size.

[~arph]

Crop it. then resize to correct width. Most photo edit programs also support mm or inches besides pixels.

but, are you trying to copy original artwork? 

[PRR]

Scanners focus "at" the glass. Whatever touches the glass will be in focus; focus quality gets very bad very quickly for stuff above the glass.

Here's a scan of a book, one end on the glass, the other end propped-up on a 1.5" thick pocket camera.



The names are fairly clear. The faces are way fuzzy. The title is almost illegible even though the letters are 2" high. Then on the camera, the back is fairly clear but even the rounded corners and thumb-indent are fuzzy. (Image was reduced for posting; the flaws are clearer at full size.)

Outside light is a minor detail. I did this with cover wide open. You see that the fuzzy areas are also dark, not light, except the far edge of the camera which is near a window.

Take all the knobs and buttons off so you can get the face ON the glass.

Or use the camera. Have good light: two 60W lamps on the desk, or the north side of the house at mid-day. Press the "flower" button: this jiggers the lens for flower-size object focus. Then bring it into Paint, FotoChop, Irfan, Gimp etc and rotate, crop, bright/contrast, color bump.

[Schappy]

I want to scan the enclosure just for drilling measurements for now.

Do you guys use this image for layering your artwork?

[DougH]

Use google and find the pdf datasheets for the Hammond enclosures. They are available from the Hammond website. Then you can import them (or dump them from a screen capture) into whatever drawing program you are using to do the drilling templates. Scale them to the proper size and use the enclosure dwgs as "background" for figuring out where to drill your holes.

[MikeH]

I want to scan the enclosure just for drilling measurements for now.

Do you guys use this image for layering your artwork?

I did mine initially by drawing a box, printing, adjusting, printing, adjusting... etc.  Took a little time, total waste of paper (although I could print 4 times one one sheet), but that was before I knew I could do this:

Use google and find the pdf datasheets for the Hammond enclosures. They are available from the Hammond website. Then you can import them (or dump them from a screen capture) into whatever drawing program you are using to do the drilling templates. Scale them to the proper size and use the enclosure dwgs as "background" for figuring out where to drill your holes.

[Schappy]

I will use the datasheet for my other boxes but I dont see a 1790 on the hammond website.

I have Adobe illustrator.

Can I just draw a box with that program or photoshop?

[SpencerPedals]

You can make a new file in photoshop that is the exact size as your box.  So if you open a new file that is 5" by 7", for example, there's your box, minus the rounded corners.  I highly doubt you'd want to drill anything in the corner.  There's the low-tech route.

[glops]

I scanned a bunch of boxes and imported the files into Photoshop to do layout/graphics.  Was doing a reverse etch and wanted to see the curve on the corners of enclosure.  Worked great.

[Schappy]

Im not going to drill in the corners but would like to maybe have the artwork be able to fit.

[DC9V]

You can make a new file in photoshop that is the exact size as your box.  So if you open a new file that is 5" by 7", for example, there's your box, minus the rounded corners.

Even better, use M$ Publisher. You can draw rectangles with rounded corners, circles with the centre marked (great for drilling templates) and so on. Makes designing labels or templates so much easier.
There are free alternatives like Scribus or OpenOffice Draw, but I don't know if they are as practical as M$Pub for that particular use. It might be worth a try.
Here's an example of what you can do with Publisher (and that's an old version):

[mattthegamer463]

I measure to find the middle of my enclosure, mark it, and place graph paper with a line on the paper running right along the center line, and design out from there.  Then, once I have all the markings, I scan into photoshop and turn it into a cleaned up digital copy, insert text, and then reverse and invert to make an etch transfer.  The tactile placing of knobs and components in real life before moving to the PC makes it really easy to place things ergonomically and attractively.

[Schappy]

DC9V,

Would you not be able to do that in either photoshop or illustrator?

[hday]

If you're scanning anything shaped a way that doesn't scan well, you can try covering the object with a piece of heavy cloth. This will block out a lot of the background light and reflections, and hopefully give you a slightly crisper scan.

If you've already got a drilled box, you can measure the whole thing with a ruler, but it's sometimes easier just to scan the enclosure, usually when the holes are very off center. I like to mock up my art first in Illustrator, then drill using a sticker version of my artwork, then apply the actual graphic later.

[DC9V]

DC9V,

Would you not be able to do that in either photoshop or illustrator?

I suppose so... I never really tried. Photoshop has a way of giving me a headache after more than 10 minutes spent trying to make it do what I want, so I only use it to touch up graphics. I've never used Illustrator though.
Publisher is totally different from Photoshop, it's meant to make page layouts so it's much more intuitive and faster when it comes to moving stuff around, editing...
I'd say that making a label with Photoshop would be like building a model house with clay, whereas with Publisher it'd be like using Lego bricks. But then I've always liked playing with Lego

*Please note that this post is by no way an endorsement for Bill Gates or his company*

[Renegadrian]

This BMP should go right - just delete the dragon and you have a good template - that's the template I always use.
And yeah I use GIMP on Linux. Free and easy!

[Ibanezfoo]

I want to scan the enclosure just for drilling measurements for now.

Do you guys use this image for layering your artwork?

This is what I do.  I make my boxes out of wood and then slap them on the scanner to get a 1:1 image to mark up in photoshop.  I drill them before I scan them.   I just have a cheap Canon USB scanner and it works perfect.