The Vent and Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Out of curiosity, does onomatopoeia have small and large bowels or just one kind?

poot! fraaaaaaaaaaaap!

[DNSB]

The audience is rolling in the aisles trying to get to the exits! My work here is done.

[Rumpelteazer]

A while back I had scanned two cross stitch patterns of kits I had bought, both by the same manufacturer. That manufacturer prints the patterns on A3 sized paper and still the symbols are tiny. I use an app on my iPad for patterns, it can recognize the symbols and so you can easily highlight the symbol you want to stitch (no more searching and then missing one or two stitches).

According to the copy shop I go to the scanners/printers the customers can use themselves are 600dpi, the same dpi as the ones they use behind the counter. But the patterns I scanned came out very fuzzy when zoomed in. I had also made a mistake that for the Mucha kit I scanned two in colour and two in black and white, so that wouldn't work as good with the app as I want to (more manual work for me).

Earlier this week I went back and insisted they scan the patterns behind the counter, I didn't care it's a bit more expensive (four scans were less than €3). I just rotated them and merged all files on my computer and uploaded them to my app and it's 10 times less fuzzy than the scans I did before.

So I'm happy, but annoyed they insist the scanner are the same quality.

Next time I'm going into the city I'll have my other pattern rescanned as well. But first I'll have to see if all the symbols are recognized properly and enter the thread colours. I've still got a couple of hours work before I can start the actual stitching.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

So I'm happy, but annoyed they insist the scanner are the same quality.

DPI is easy to verify. Quality is something else.
Are the files you are getting back in PNG, I hope.
If it's JPEG it could be horrible artefacts.

Also, the 600 DPI doesn't say anything about the original resolution or optical quality.

If you like, PM me the file.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Renate

DPI is easy to verify. Quality is something else.
Are the files you are getting back in PNG, I hope.
If it's JPEG it could be horrible artefacts.

Also, the 600 DPI doesn't say anything about the original resolution or optical quality.

If you like, PM me the file.

Thank you. I now have a good working copy, though.

I had it scanned in pdf, that what's works best with the cross stitch app. It can read png, but that would mean manually setting up the grid and manually assigning thread numbers to tens of thousands of symbols.

I'm looking at getting an A3 flatbed scanner (probably the Plustek OpticSlim 1180, since it's the most affordable). When I lived in Utrecht there were several copy shops within walking distance, now I have to travel to Utrecht to go to one. So it's now worth getting my own scanner.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

When I lived in Utrecht there were several copy shops within walking distance, now I have to travel to Utrecht to go to one.

I know this is the rant thread, but don't get me going on copy shops.
Where the hell do they get the people and the technology?

I went into a copy shop expecting, "Use the self service there, pay for the sheets when done."
No, they took my flash drive and scratched their heads (and their derrières) for five minutes before telling me that they couldn't print a PNG.
Just print it on a piece of paper, scaled so that there is some amount of margin and that the result is legible.
"Sorry, we can only print PDFs."

I expect that a copy shop should be able to print a WordPerfect document from the depths of time, maybe not perfect, but legible.
You click "Open", then "Print".

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Renate

I know this is the rant thread, but don't get me going on copy shops.
Where the hell do they get the people and the technology?

I went into a copy shop expecting, "Use the self service there, pay for the sheets when done."
No, they took my flash drive and scratched their heads (and their derrières) for five minutes before telling me that they couldn't print a PNG.
Just print it on a piece of paper, scaled so that there is some amount of margin and that the result is legible.
"Sorry, we can only print PDFs."

I expect that a copy shop should be able to print a WordPerfect document from the depths of time, maybe not perfect, but legible.
You click "Open", then "Print".

The copy shop with the best service and knowledge couldn't scan my pattern, they admitted that their scanners just aren't good enough for the detail (they asked me how I use the scans) and referred me to the one of the other copy shops. I went to the nearest one, where I had originally scanned the pattern. The first time I went there I had to scan it myself ("it's the same quality") and accidentally scanned two pages in colour and two in b/w. They were fuzzy but the coloured scans were slightly better. I went back the second time, insisted they scan them on their big scanners and lo and behold the quality is ten times better, for only a little bit more money (I don't think €2.40 for four A3 sized scans is excessive).

But now I don't live in Utrecht anymore getting a pattern scanned will take me at least two and a half hours with travel and walking to and from tramstops. So it now makes more sense to buy my own scanner if the price is fairly reasonable.

[Renate]

A4 is pretty cheap at 91 € (for instance Canon LiDE 400).
You might consider "stitching" as that will be cheaper than A3.
Are most of your designs A3 or A4?

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Renate

A4 is pretty cheap at 91 € (for instance Canon LiDE 400).
You might consider "stitching" as that will be cheaper than A3.
Are most of your designs A3 or A4?

A lot of them are A3 or slightly smaller. I have a couple of smaller kits where it's A4 or letter sized.

My previous printer had a scanner and I tried to get a good scan but after several hours of trying I couldn't get it done. Mostly due to the fact that the hinge was on the long side of the lid, so I had to fold the pattern. A stand alone scanner usually has the hinge on the short side, so I can more easily move the pattern in the right position. I have some freeware apps where I can edit (crop, rotate, merge) pdf, but I would be so afraid of messing up; removing a line or column of symbols or having a line/column in twice. That would mess up my stitching project possibly beyond repair if I notice it too late.

So yes, an A3 scanner is expensive and there isn't much choice, but it would save me a lot of time and reduce the chance of messing up a patterns. I need to think about it. I already asked for advice on a Facebook cross stitch group.

I wish company printed their patterns on A4 paper, with not so tiny symbols. Eg instead of 4 A3 pages with tiny symbols have 16 A4 pages with bigger, easier to read (and scan) symbols. Even better; give a code with each kit which stitchers can use to download a pdf file of the pattern.

[Renate]

There's so much info in those charts it really should be reasonably possible to take a dozen photos and tell the computer to make you a clean chart.
Where the pattern is divided by sheets is problematical.

I did a totally different project which was fitting a lat/long grid to PDFs of forest areas in the US.
The PDFs are generated for printing on about A0 sheets (which are also available).
By making a correlation between pixels and lat/long I can display my position on a view of a "paper" map, complete with driving off the edge.
Most of the data in these maps is not available on Google and the like.
They are called Forestry Service "Motor Vehicle Use Maps".

Some of the maps are in UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) and others in lat/long in minutes.
Often they are rotated a small amount.

[ownedbycats]

The "solution" the building owners have for stolen packages is not a camera or anything that would cost them any money. Instead it's to force everyone to start picking up their packages.

Gee, thanks. The only fcking reason I have certain items delivered is because I don't have the strength to cart heavy things up three flights of stairs.

EDIT: Also the giant pothole in the parking lot is nearly a lake at this point. And the coin-operated dryer doesn't actually dry anymore.

[ownedbycats]

An embarrassing moment when voting I couldn't lift my right arm enough to get the ballot in the box. used left arm.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

An embarrassing moment when voting I couldn't lift my right arm enough to get the ballot in the box. used left arm.

Ouch! OTOH, you did the most important thing this election. You voted. Well done.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

An embarrassing moment when voting I couldn't lift my right arm enough to get the ballot in the box. used left arm.

Well, then you can't give the Trump salute.
Probably a good thing.

[DNSB]

when I was voting, one of the people was also there to vote was in a wheelchair and obviously had issues and one of the staff took the time to stay with him through the process. None of the scrutineers had any issues with this.