What imaging software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images automatically?

What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.

And lo, Ebike Charlie emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.

I don't think there's such a thing as a program that does this
*automatically*. If there were, I'd be out of business!

But hey, for $60/hour I'd be happy to help you out with that problem.
http://www.fisheyemultimedia.com/

By the way, what you describe is tedious and difficult work in many
cases, it requires not only fitting the pieces back together, but
restoring the bits within the cracks that were lost in order to
produce a smooth image. I do use Photoshop for this.

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com

"Ebike Charlie" wrote in message
ups.com...
What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.


Automagically? I doubt it.

If you use a scanner and then stitch it back using a panorama program like
PTGui, use a lens focal length of some ridiculously high figure, like 1000mm
or higher if the program will accept it. Use rectilinear projection. Use
something like 1200 dpi or even higher for the scan setting.

Autopano does nicely too.

I am sure others will offer other advice.

"Rudy Benner" wrote in message
...

"Ebike Charlie" wrote in message
ups.com...
What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.


Automagically? I doubt it.

If you use a scanner and then stitch it back using a panorama program like
PTGui, use a lens focal length of some ridiculously high figure, like
1000mm or higher if the program will accept it. Use rectilinear
projection. Use something like 1200 dpi or even higher for the scan
setting.

Autopano does nicely too.

I am sure others will offer other advice.


OOPS

Cancel everything I said, it will not work on torn fragments, no overlap.

In article . com,
"Ebike Charlie" wrote:

What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.

You cannot do this with software.

put the photo back together as closely as possible and secure with tape
on the back, scan the result at the highest resolution possible and
re-touch the joints between the pieces with PhotoShop.

I am sure there are people who will do this for you, but it will be a
long process and might cost well over a hundred dollars.

--
There are two ways to spell Ockham/Occam. Britannica prefers the former.

Rudy Benner wrote:
"Rudy Benner" wrote in message
...
"Ebike Charlie" wrote in message
ups.com...
What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.

Automagically? I doubt it.

If you use a scanner and then stitch it back using a panorama program like
PTGui, use a lens focal length of some ridiculously high figure, like
1000mm or higher if the program will accept it. Use rectilinear
projection. Use something like 1200 dpi or even higher for the scan
setting.

Autopano does nicely too.

I am sure others will offer other advice.


OOPS

Cancel everything I said, it will not work on torn fragments, no overlap.


Some Pano software will let you align the segments manually, but
automatic aligning requires overlap in every case I have seen. The
moral of this story is 'don't destroy the photos in a fit of anger in
the firs place'.

Ockham's Razor wrote:
In article . com,
"Ebike Charlie" wrote:


What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.


You cannot do this with software.


It's impossible for me to imagine that intelligence services have not
developed software to reconstruct shredded documents.

In fact:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3937/is_200309/ai_n9291123

Here is some literature on related subjects:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V03-4F6CMR3-5&_coverDate=04%2F01%2F2005&_alid=511253380&_rdoc= 1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=5635&_sort=d&view= c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_useri d=10&md5=0a1cdf914b3dd99fd78a9621cc3d5cce
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=513400.513410

but as far as I know you are right, there is no consumer-friendly
application that will do it.

timeOday wrote:
Ockham's Razor wrote:
In article . com,
"Ebike Charlie" wrote:


What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.


You cannot do this with software.


It's impossible for me to imagine that intelligence services have not
developed software to reconstruct shredded documents.

In fact:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3937/is_200309/ai_n9291123

Here is some literature on related subjects:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V03-4F6CMR3-5&_coverDate=04%2F01%2F2005&_alid=511253380&_rdoc= 1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=5635&_sort=d&view= c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_useri d=10&md5=0a1cdf914b3dd99fd78a9621cc3d5cce

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=513400.513410

but as far as I know you are right, there is no consumer-friendly
application that will do it.

Using PhotoPlus, I used it's extract function to isolate pieces of torn
text sheet. You then paste as new layer as needed to make a composite
image, moving/rotating individual layers as needed. I haven't tried a
photo yet, but that should be similar since fragment would be clearly
selectable from white background if using saved scanned image.
Dave Cohen

timeOday wrote:
Ockham's Razor wrote:
In article . com,
"Ebike Charlie" wrote:


What PC software to stitch back torn [scanned] photo images
automatically?

Hi, is there any really good software that will assemble a jig saw
puzzle of torn photographs into a whole image? And, do the torn pieces
have to be scanned or photographed one at a time, or not? Thanks for
all suggestions. Some of the photographs' pieces may be small, like
ones that have gone through a document shredder, but other pieces are
large and somewhat regular shaped, like a square.

If there is a scanner or a digital camera that has software included
that reassembles documents and photos, I'd be interested in hearing
about the cameras or scanners as well.


You cannot do this with software.


It's impossible for me to imagine that intelligence services have not
developed software to reconstruct shredded documents.

In fact:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3937/is_200309/ai_n9291123

Here is some literature on related subjects:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V03-4F6CMR3-5&_coverDate=04%2F01%2F2005&_alid=511253380&_rdoc= 1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=5635&_sort=d&view= c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_useri d=10&md5=0a1cdf914b3dd99fd78a9621cc3d5cce

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=513400.513410

but as far as I know you are right, there is no consumer-friendly
application that will do it.

Maybe NSA or the CIA would share their government funded implementation
with you. Grin.