Open-source software to split scanned negative sheets into individual frames
Asked 7/31/2020
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2 answers
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I’m looking for open-source software that can detect individual negatives in a flatbed scan and export each frame as a separate file. My scans include very small formats such as Kodak Disc and Minox negatives, so the tool needs to handle small rectangular frames, arbitrary rotation, and ideally deskew/rotate them automatically before saving. If there isn’t a ready-made tool, what image-processing approach would be used to build this myself?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
1
GIMP can probably do that with the Divide scanned images script. I'm not sure how it would handle the Kodak disc, but perhaps by tweaking the settings (partially outlined in this blog post) you can get it to work.
The first steps are outlined on the DivideScannedImages Github page:
- Download and install the latest version of GIMP
- (Optionally) Download deskew.exe to GIMP’s plugin directory.
- On my Windows computer this is C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins
- Download DivideScannedImages.scm (from this repository) and copy it to the GIMP scripts folder.
- On my computer this is C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\share\gimp\2.0\scripts
- Restart GIMP. You should now see the "Divide Scanned Images..." listed at the bottom of the "Filters" context menu (accessed from the menu bar). Click on it.
- For batch-processing a directory of scanned pages you can also access a batch-mode ”Batch Divide Scanned Images…” in the Filters -> Batch Tools sub-menu.
Originally by user9161. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9161
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A practical open-source option mentioned is GIMP with the Divide Scanned Images script/plugin. It’s designed to split a scan into separate images, and with the optional deskew helper it may also help correct rotation before export. Based on the answers, that’s the closest ready-made solution to try first.
For unusual formats like Kodak Disc and Minox, results may vary because the frames are tiny and can be rotated arbitrarily, so you may need to tweak the script/settings. If fully automatic detection doesn’t work well, a custom workflow would likely involve classic image-processing steps such as:
- detect frame edges or high-contrast borders
- find rectangular regions of a consistent size
- estimate each rectangle’s rotation angle
- rotate/deskew each frame
- crop and export each frame as a new file
So: start with GIMP + Divide Scanned Images as the existing open-source option, and if that’s not enough, the building blocks are rectangle detection, rotation estimation, cropping, and batch export.
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