Warning: Undefined array key "HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE" in /var/www/minitokyo/www/includes/common.inc.php on line 360 Scan Tutorial Thread - Minitokyo

Scan Tutorial Thread

This thread is pinned.

page 1 of 2 1 2 Next » 26 total items

This thread is intended as a forum in which instruction will be offered and discussion will be encouraged regarding scans and the factors which affect their quality and therefore there suitability for submission. Also, tips, tools, etc. may be offered both by staff and members in order to aid others in their efforts to upload better and even the highest quality scans. Those who have had a scan deleted and are in need of more information may post a request here for help, however, it is important, as the thread grows, to look through it to see if your query has already been addressed.
_______________________
EDIT

Please Note, members should feel welcome and encouraged to post some of their helpful hints and techniques here for others who may be having difficulties or other scan-related issues.
_______________________

This first post will be to share with you a handy compression tool, the link to which is offered by Anther:


Quote by AntherCaesium is a useful program that give you the possibility to reduce the size of your scans without losing too much quality, you can chose the final quality you want.

After you download and install it, you can immediately use it. Open an image with the program and then on bottom left choose the percentage of quality you want to keep.
Personally, I suggest to not go under 75%, stay or go over 80% would be better if possible.

> link to Caesium here <

back07

back07

Awakening MODE

Thanks Hoo, that's very helpful
:)

I can't be the best without you by my side, back07
Signature Image

Scan quality is a crucial factor of which to be mindful when submitting scans. I'm sure that most of you would agree that it's very frustrating to submit one or more scans, just to receive a deletion notification on one or more of them. That is why pre-screening them yourself is so important. Click on the links below to see some examples of scans which have numerous jpeg artifacts. The images were increased in size in order to make the areas where they are located more readily visible. Additionally, some key locations are circled in red.

jpeg artifact example

jpeg artifact example #2

jpeg artifact example #3

jpeg artifact example #4

I sincerely hope that this information is helpful. If you have a specific question regarding scans that is related to what factors are considered during the assessment to decide whether or not they will remain in the gallery or be discarded please feel welcome, even encouraged, to ask.

angelxxuan

angelxxuan

ぬいぐるみ !

Hoo, how can you tell if a scan has been enlarged?

I have seen many types of scans and I have seen some scans go but sometimes the larger ones are kept due to better quality over all, or due to being self scanned. do tell, is self scanned kept in that department as well? as I am unable to provide proof due to this happening so long ago I am unable to find said scans this happened with, but I can remember it happening once, perhaps twice. or was it that the scan was in better quality? this came to me just now as I was thinking. it took place many years ago with one of the popular scanners aka Veteran Scanners.

BuBbLeS!


Signature Image

Thanks for the questions Bunny. I will address the first question at the end and provide an example of how to determine if a scan has been enlarged.

Quality always is most important. Larger scans that are of high quality are kept and the smaller ones of lower quality are discarded, unless the smaller scan is good enough in quality and it contains addition visual elements (not including geometric shapes borders, etc.) for instance, if a character's legs can be seen or their sword is more revealed than what is visible in the larger scan, etc. Often self-scanned submissions are better than their identical but larger counterparts because the larger scan was over-filtered and too much of the visual information, or detail is diminished.

Enlarged scans are not tolerated and generally result in a member being warned. It matters not whether the member enlarged it themselves or they found it at a site from where we may accept scanned images. Even if the site where the image came from is usually a trustworthy source where enlarged scans are rare, this is not taken into consideration as an excuse. Scans are normally enlarged for the purpose of being chosen as the larger scan. However, such an image is degraded in the process. Here is an scan which was purposely enlarged in order to serve as an example; a close-up view is also included with red circled areas to help illustrate what an enlarged scan looks like:

Enlarged Fairy Tail Scan

Enlarged Scan Close-up

Note, the above example was grossly enlarged so as to better illustrate what to look for. In a slightly enlarged image the results are more subtle and often a bit difficult to determine, especially with filtered scans.

angelxxuan

angelxxuan

ぬいぐるみ !

from what I can tell in those examples, enlarging them not only degrades them some in quality and cuts things out but it also looks like it puts more jpg artifacts into them as well, I can see why they aren't allowed around here. so, if a person could successfully enlarge them and make them better than there would be a better chance that these would be kept over the original? what about those who enlarge them just enough to make the text go away? or crop them? that's probably a better word to use here. I can remember a short time ago when there was a deletion of some cropped scans on the highly mature side, but in general, if they weren't mature in nature do you still keep them or typically let them go as well? even the mature cropped scans, just asking :) and thanks for this post and the help in understanding all this :)

BuBbLeS!


Signature Image

Any type of enlargement (up-sizing via the use of an image manipulation program) is disallowed. Cropped images are, however, accepted, as long as the scan meets the other usual standards, its quality is sufficient, and the portion cropped out was not explicit or vulgar.

You are welcome, to be certain. Questions by any member or staff member are to be encouraged. Any one of the Scan Moderators may field questions as well. This thread is to foster an education regarding scans and it is also intended as a method whereby the process of determining what may remain in the gallery may be better understood.

LuluOokami

LuluOokami

Sir Lulu

Are anime themed playing cards ok to scan and upload? I know I have two different decks and one if I remember the same pic is used for 7 of diamonds as the 7 of hearts and so on. So I wondered in a case like that would it be ok since there was a different suit, but the rest the same to upload them?

I know they would be similar to this, but where that has the joker symbol one might have the 6 of hearts or a different suit.

AMNESIA#617044

Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution"

Yes, if they meet the minimum size requirements and are of adequate quality they are OK to upload. However, if the only difference in the cards is the suit or the number (or K, Q, J, Joker) then only the first submitted or the best in quality will be retained. For example, if the character is the same, same pose, same clothing, etc., and the only difference is that one is of the suit clubs and the other is of the suit diamonds, then only one of them will be kept.

LuluOokami

LuluOokami

Sir Lulu

K I had thought that might be the case and I had then thought I know I see on walls a difference in looks and wondered if you couldn't put the other suits like that so people did get to see all the suits.

Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution"

back07

back07

Awakening MODE

Hoo, i'm still confused, how ecchi scans stored/keeped in MT. Is there a specific requirement ?
I just upload "Nyotaika" scan and it got deleted.

The reason is " It featured a subject in poor taste. This includes, but is not limited to: sexually suggestive scenes, sexually provocative imagery of children, culturally motivated hate, and excessive violence or gore"

and what about this scan ?

Himegoto Union#653480

Yobai Suru Shichinin no Harame#653631

Himegoto Union#653610

Seishojyo#649760

Maken-Ki#655813

isn't that meet the condition of the reason too?
please explain Hoo and sorry for my bad english

thanks ^^

I can't be the best without you by my side, back07
Signature Image

Don't worry, I can understand your English well enough. The main thing to remember is there is a boundary between hard ecchi and hentai. If clothing is "wet" in certain areas or otherwise very transparent then certain details are exposed that cause them to be deleted from the gallery. If you, or anyone would like I may respond to a PM regarding more details that, although helpful in understanding better the specific criteria which determines whether a scan is unsuitable, may not be fit for public consumption in this forum. Thank you for your question.

back07

back07

Awakening MODE

Okay Hoo, that's very helpfull
:D

I can't be the best without you by my side, back07
Signature Image

Pinyan

Retired Moderator

Pinyan

blergh

I have some difficulties with enlarged scans.
For example if there's a scan that's been upscaled just slightly, I can't always tell if it's been edited. And to hide the altering of the size you can use filters too.

So how can you tell the original one from two (or more) different sized versions of the same picture? What if the scanner didn't reduce the scan size in the process that much and/or used little to no filters so the correct one is bigger but doesn't look as good up close (e.g. the paper texture is more or less visible)? and then the smaller version is the truly edited version. which is kept? is bigger better as long as there's no visible marks of enlarging?

example
scan 1 (100% size)
110%
130%
scan 2 (150% and filtered)

so if there was a case where scan #1 or #2 is uploaded in hope to replace the other one and the uploader of the new version claims to be the scanner, how would the case be solved? I know, #2 looks bad but I have seen that kind of self-scans by some people..

Sorry to bring up a subject that has been kinda dealt with already in this thread :x

It's no bother, really Pinyan. If it is the exact same picture (meaning from the same scanned original it's relatively easy. There will be small printing irregularities that will be easy to spot from one to another, such as a bit of fuzz a small thread, hair, or blotch. If it is present in both and one is bigger it is likely that the larger one is an enlarged duplicate unless it was submitted later by the same person to replace the older scan which was smaller and may have been scanned from an older scanner unit. Also, if the scan is from the same official source but scanned from two separate pages from different copies of the same art book, then it will be less suspicious and the page will not have been placed on the scanner in the exact same position. Oftentimes, the scan will be official also and without text and/or have additional visual information. It is normal for such scans to be larger than the other near-duplicate scan. In all three of your examples I could see a small line or mark on the lower right. That's the best way to tell that a scan is from the same original source. However, if a scan is enlarged to 150% of its original size and then filtered, the over-filtering necessary to hide the re-sizing diminishes greatly the quality of the scan. That's why many of the "larger" submissions are discarded and the smaller ones with more detail are retained. It is not always easy to spot an enlarged scan, that is why we Scan Moderators will get together and scrutinize submissions in order to reach a consensus regarding which scans to retain. This is especially true with enlarged scans, because we don't want to issue a warning unless we are quite certain.

I hope that I answered your question satisfactorily, Pinyan.

Here is one that was obviously enlarged: open file

SilverCat-sama

SilverCat-sama

~The Dragonborn comes~

Quote by HooyaahOnly official Japanese anime/manga/game characters are allowed with the exception of official crossovers between American and Japanese characters or in the case of an official Japanese release such as the Iron Man Anime Series.

So, does Iron Man, Spiderman, n Deadpool allowed? even though we use their movie pictures (which is from America)? Since they are appear in official crossovers between American and Japanese characters. But can we use the non-japanese version (from their movies or western games, not their japanese version games)

merged: 08-15-2014 ~ 12:29am
Oh wait. So its just from official japanese release scans are allowed even though it was crossover between american? So, American release of those characters are not allowed, then. I see. Thanks for the info.

FinalFantasyFans

You are welcome Silver; thanks for the question. I'm happy to have helped and I'm pleased to know that you understand the policy now. Please don't hesitate to ask about anything related to scans by posting in this thread in the future, should questions arise.

Steffi1690

Moderator, Scanner

Steffi1690

~Living in my Dreamworld~

Well I still don't get why mine was removed with this one:


Elf Swordwoman

(mine is larger and has the better Colors!)
http://www.zerochan.net/1736503
Why should I even scan when it's useless anyway! It will be kept the "better ones"! Ts.. better ones yeah... I don't see what exactly is better in this one!

Anther

Retired Moderator

Anther

This one is bigger, compare for example the face http://gallery.minitokyo.net/download/662712 http://www.zerochan.net/full/1736503

Celebrate Minitokyo: Indy Art Contest!

Yes, your scan was considerably smaller, especially if you look at them side by side at 100% of their full size. Also, the duplicate scan that replaced that of your own had a bit more apparent visual information on the bottom and the left and right sides. Unless the color has been faded too much from filtering or drastically changed from the original scan, then "better color" is more subjective and is not a primary consideration in grading between scans. Had your scan been just as complete or more so and only slightly smaller, say 10 to 15%, then your scan would have remained in the gallery and the new scan discarded. If another scan had been submitted, even if your scan was considerably smaller, and your scan contained more visual information which was not contained in the other, then both scans would have been kept.

I assure you that, as Scan Moderators, we all endeavor to apply the same rules in each situation. Our primary goals are to remain fair and impartial, and to ensure that the quality of the scanned images submitted here at Minitokyo meet or surpass all of the requirements. In this way we strive to keep Minitokyo the go to resource for high quality scanned images.

Steffi1690

Moderator, Scanner

Steffi1690

~Living in my Dreamworld~

Nope don't see at all! I want upload anymore from this one here!

Alenas

Retired Moderator

Alenas

Gone.

Quote by Steffi1690Nope don't see at all! I want upload anymore from this one here!

I'm not a Scan Mod so sorry in advance for butting in this thread but since I also upload scans, I know a thing or two about them.

Steffi, your version is indeed smaller. I even did a comparison - I took the full accepted version on MT (on the left side) and full size version that you uploaded (on the right side) - LINK. The whole image was resized down to save the size since it would all be over 10 000 pixels big. As you can see, no matter how you look at it, your version is smaller, even with the white borders around the scan. If you look at the sizes of both versions even on Zerochan - LINK - you can clearly see that the MT accepted scan is 4487x5389 while yours is 4199x4035, hence - yours really is smaller. It's simple math.

Signature Image

back07

back07

Awakening MODE

how to know that unofficial/official digital artwork ?

thanks ^^

I can't be the best without you by my side, back07
Signature Image

Probably the best way is to determine whether a scan or other piece of digital art is official or unofficial is by locating the source by using a reverse image search. One may perform a Google search with the keywords "reverse image search" and find numerous results. Google reverse image search is kinda OK, but for manga and the like I prefer the add on for Firefox which includes SauceNAO and IQDB. It is important to note that occasionally explicit results will appear, so this tool should be used by adults only who aren't troubled by such images. For Firefox and Chrome the links for this tool may be found: here

page 1 of 2 1 2 Next » 26 total items

Back to Art | Active Threads | Forum Index

Only members can post replies, please register.

Warning: Undefined array key "cookienotice" in /var/www/minitokyo/www/html2/footer.html on line 73
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read more.