Scanning Magnetic Card Artwork.

[twistedsymphony]

With cards being much harder to come by and project like the card emulator that Winteriscoming has created I feel that we should start collecting high resolution scans of the various cards available for each game.

With these in place it would benefit any future projects aimed at making new reproduction cards. Similarly any new card emulation systems might benefit by using a small screen to show a virtual representation of the card for a more authentic experience.

I personally don't own any of these cards but I do know that in the future when I tackle my driving cab I will likely want to include a simulated card reader. On more than one occasion I've bid on cards just for the sole purpose of scanning them for prosperity. Sadly I've been outbid every time, though I will continue to try...

Consider this my plea for anyone who has these cards to consider scanning them. If you don't have a scanner and would be willing to let me borrow them I'd be happy to scan them and send them back to you.

Beyond marquees, cabinet art, pops, and instruction cards are hard enough to come by and these cards seem completely overlooked. And unlike Marquees the cards are being used up day by day. I'm hoping we can capture these before they're all gone.

 

[defor]

I've got TONS scanned from the 2X6

Tekken 5 JPN Set A (3 of 5)
Tekken 5 JPN Set B (5 of 5)
Tekken 5 Export/USA (5 of 5)
Tekken 5 JPNPromo (1 of 1)
Tekken 5 DR JPN Set A (5 of 5)
Tekken 5 DR JPN Set B (5 of 5)
Tekken 5 DR JPN Set C (5 of 5)
Super Dragon Ball Z (5 of 5)
Druaga Online JPN (5 of 5)
The Idolm@ster JPN
Battle Gear 3/Tuned JPN (1 of 1 KEY)

I think i've got a few others too unscanned, I'll have to check.

 

[winteriscoming]

Where can these be posted? I can scan the few blank ID3 and WMMT cards I have. I've also probably got all variants of DOC in my pack of 100.

 

[twistedsymphony]

Where can these be posted? I can scan the few blank ID3 and WMMT cards I have. I've also probably got all variants of DOC in my pack of 100.

I typically host all my own stuff so I'm not sure the best hosting location for files like that... google drive or dropbox maybe?

 

[winteriscoming]

Seems like a central repository would be ideal for a project like this. I'd be much more motivated to contribute if there were a place I could just go and dump files without having to sign up or make sure I'm providing correct links to my piece.

 

[defor]

I'm more than happy to set something up if so desired- what are the standards we're hoping to achieve here? 1200dpi, 600? raw scans, or processed and cleaned up scans? also how is everyone doing color calibration? preheat lamp, then scan IT8.7/2 target?

 

[twistedsymphony]

how is everyone doing color calibration? preheat lamp, then scan IT8.7/2 target

As someone who has nagged people for scans of rare art on more than one occasion I think you'll find most people don't even own a scanner, nevermind knowing/using/owning a calibration sheet.

 

[defor]

As someone who has nagged people for scans of rare art on more than one occasion I think you'll find most people don't even own a scanner, nevermind knowing/using/owning a calibration sheet.

totally- was just curious if there was any specifics we wanted to adhere to

 

[twistedsymphony]

IMO, take what we can get... shoot for at least 600dpi, and collect both raw scans and cleaned up/vectorized work as well.

for reproducing cards obviously higher res is better, but if we're building a software interface then even 100dpi scan are usable... but even crappy scanners support at least 600dpi so that seems like a fair bar to set.

Is there a good calibration guide online somewhere? if people are willing to go the extra step it'd be nice to make it as easy as possible.

 

[defor]

The big things I aim for in quality when scanning is:

DPI- ideally scan at least 2x your targeted resolution
FORMAT- save as something lossless, PNG, TIFF uncompressed, TIFF zip compression, avoid PDF like the plague while doing initial scans.
WARMUP- if you have a classic fluorescent scanner, make sure you warm up the lamp before scanning for a few minutes, or you can experience color shift from one end of the scan to the other, and successive scans will be different
COLOR- disable ALL color correction on your scanner (usually using Advanced mode or similar gives these options, while Basic or Easy modes do not
COLOR PART 2- this is out of the realm of most people, but scanning a known reference target (a calibration image with B/W and RGB imaged to a real PHOTO) like the IT8.7/2 sometime during each of your scan batches is important as it will allow you to calculate accurate color and brightness curves for your scanner, which WILL vary from day to day. If you do invest in one of these, make sure to store it in darkness- also if you buy a used one, make sure it's not too old- they will be dated, and the color is known to shift in at least 20 years, faster for some of the older targets.

All this being said, the first 4 should be easily doable by most people, the last one, is simply a matter of money. IT8.7/2 targets are mad overpriced, but they do last a long time.

 

[defor]

found some of the old scans from my 2x6 cards and I've made a chart of what I have/don't have-I'm gonna have to redo all the scans (for a lot of reasons) and I've also got to add some stuff that I only had the photos from auctions I won or whatever.

Not included (for lack of examples) are:
- Zoids Infinity
- Zoids Infinity: EEX Plus
- Battle Gear 3 (Key)
- Battle Gear 3: Tuned (Key)
- Dragon Chronicles
- Dragon Chronicle Online: Great Sky Battle
- Cobra the Arcade
- Train with Everyone: Whole Brain Training



I'd really like to know what the unknown named Tekken 5 card set promotion was...