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I have a large number of paper sheets to scan. Instead of an autofeed or flatbed scanner, I'd like to use my photo camera. After a while, it occurred to me that instead of making a photo for each page, I could install the camera on a tripod, set it to record video and then extract the images from the video.

That way, I'd just have to handle the papers: Pick one, place it in front of the camera, wait a moment, replace it.

Is there a Linux software to get all images without motion out of a movie? Kind of a non-motion-detection.

Aaron Digulla
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2 Answers2

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I like your idea. I guess I've found a way to do what you want.

Using ffmpeg to export frames at a given interval

You could install ffmpeg and then convert the video into still frames. 

ffmpeg -i input_file.mp4 -r 1 image_%4d.png

Controlling frame rate

The -r option takes one number as a parameter, namely the frame rate. So the argument for this option would be 1 divided by the time you hold the sheets in front of the camera.

For example:

  • Picking a paper every second, use -r 1.
  • Picking a paper every two seconds, use -r 0.5 – because 0.5 frames per second mean 2 seconds per frame.
  • ...

You would only have to synchronize this with your start time, so I'd suggest using a stopwatch.

Shifting the starting position

You can also "shift" the video by using -ss <some number>, where <some number> is the time in seconds from the start of the video. So using -ss 5 would start at five seconds.

If you need to shift it more precisely, using a hh:mm:ss.xxx syntax, thus specifying milliseconds in xxx, for example like 00:00:00.500.

Controlling output names and format

You can change the image_%4d.png to use more digits. %4d will output images like 0001, 0002, and so on. So this should be enough for most cases.

ffmpeg can also output to JPG, so you'd just have to change the suffix accordingly. I suggest using PNG though, for quality reasons.

Some tips

Try to use proper lighting. Set up a direct light source to the paper and set the camera to high contrast. You would maybe need to batch-edit the output files in order to crop them, remove color tint and sharpen them up.

You could use IrfanView to batch process them, or use a trial version of Adobe Lightroom.

slhck
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I am a professional VFX artist, and the best way to do it is just take stills. We still do this kind of thing on set for small pieces of film that need to look like live action but can't quite be filmed directly.

Even if you have a registration mark on your pages, it's hard to pull out the ones with motion blur. Your best bet (least time-consuming during AND after you take the images) really is still probably take a photo, move the page, hit the photo button again.

megpants
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