Is there a 'fast' and simple way way to remove spots and smudges from an unshaded black and white image?

[Humility]

I searched witrh the searching thing for the terms "image clean up' and 'cleaning up spots and smudges' and didn't find anything adressing my question. As all the similar qiuestions were all far more complex then my problem, and so the answers were also complex.

My problem is this, when I scan in something it ends up with a lot of little black dots everywhere and pencil smudges, and so after sharpening it twice I have to spend upwards to half and hour just going over the whole image with the paint brush erasing these.

And so I was wondering if there was a plug-in or some method that in some way will magically remove all the dots and smudges really fast, saving me time. It would save me a lot of time if there was.

Like I tried creating a second layer all while and just went through all the blending options, but the only ones that got red if the spots and stuff also messed up the rest of my image. Making it impossible to color in.

I know there are image programs that can do that, so I know its not impossible, I was just hoping that paint.net had a way to do it or mimic the effects or really anything to save me time.

[nitenurse79]

Have you tried changing the scanners image resolution ? some scanners can scan a photo that is 200px x 200px and make it a large file. Try first resizing the image in PDN and se if that has any different outcome

[Humility]

It seems to either make more spots appear if I go one way or break up the lines if I go the other way.

[pdnnoob]

This might kill the drawing, but try median (Effects>noise>median)

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Try: Effect | Noise | Reduce Noise or even Effects | Blurs | Surface Blur...

If either of these don't work to your satisfaction you may need to try a plugin like these:

Smart Sharpen

or Overblur

or Bilateral Filter

[avim1968]

Hi

when I scan pencil drawings , I'm playing with the scanner Hue/Saturation OR Brightness/Contrast

before I scan. most of the time it makes all the noise scratches, spots and smudges, go away.

So I get a cleaner picture scanned.

you can also play with those settings after the scan in paint.net to remove more.

Avi

p.s.

My English is not the best so I hope I understood you correctly :-)

[Humility]

Thank you a lot for tryign but it seems like its just not a problem that can be solved.

Trying all of these, I noticed a pattern.

Median, Surface Blur and Hue/Saturation/Brightness all try to solve the problem in pretty much the same way. They either try to lighten the image so the 'fainter' spots and smudges will vanish leaving the main image there or they seem to just target the lighter smudges and stuff directly.

This doesn't work because the spots and smudges are often darker, as dark or mixed up inside the actual drawing.

Not that the lighter ones aren't a problem, but I can just use the bucket tool set on global to fix the lighter marks.

Or such as the case with the rest like smart sharpen, overblur and the bilateral filter, they try to take in a large number of factors which just don't apply in the simple unshades pencil sketch, resulting in either no effect at all or the image being broken up and scattered around like a jigsaw puzzle. Its just too simple for it to work.

I don't mention noise reduction because it didn't do anything. At all.

So thank you for your help.At least now I know for certain so it won't be hanging over me.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Humility

[pdnnoob]

All right then, if the darned picture is gonna be a pain in the neck like that...post it here and I'll give it something to think about

Edited July 18, 2012 by pdnnoob

[jim100361]

No offense, but did you try cleaning the glass on your scanner (remove it if necessary to clean both sides)?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Please do post a (link to a) scanned example.

We have wizards here who might be able to summon some magic.

[Humility]

It never actally occured to me to clean both sides before. Is there anything special I should be doing to clean it? Normally I just use a paper towel.

They aren't something I can post here due to privacy concerns. Anyway, its not a huge deal. I just wanted a way to save time as clean up takes ten to thirty minutes per page, with two pages per day, adding up to quite a lot of time over a week

But again, thank you,

[pdnnoob]

Before you open up your scanner, try scanning a clean sheet of paper. If you still see the spots, then go ahead and clean. If not, don't go through any unnecessary risks

It never actally occured to me to clean both sides before. Is there anything special I should be doing to clean it? Normally I just use a paper towel.

If you have any microfiber cloth, use that. If you don't know what it is, you probably don't have it. I would look it up, though. That stuff is amazing, and it isn't especially expensive either.

They aren't something I can post here due to privacy concerns

Quite understandable.

Here's a tutorial that might help you:

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Isoprophyl alcohol on a lint free cloth is what I generally use to clean stuff. This is a throwback to my cassette player days! Remember you used to get in there with a moistened cotton bud to clean the heads?

Strong fumes = use in a well vented area.

Apparently its also used in the manufacture of certain illicit drugs. So by 50ml and not 2 gallons!