If your like me and you just got your brand new glossy steelbook and you like scanning the front, back or even the inside and submitting those scans for adding to the Collection Manager you've come to the right place.
Let me just start off by saying that HDN is very grateful for your contributions to the Collection Manager (CM) and once submitted and applied to a title that they are visible to anybody that has access to the CM.
First off we accept images scanned by a flatbed scanner only and we will not use your images if they were taken by a camera. We need a perfectly flat image on the glass so we can display them in the CM. The reason being is that if taken with a camera there will always be some focal issues that make part of the image unreadable. By scanning your steelbook, FuturePak, Digibook or whatever against the glass of your flatbed scanner, it is imaging all aspects of that object at an equal length.
I'm guessing you will know how to scan objects with your flatbed scanner so we will skip that and move on to what you should do after you have scanned them.
The first thing you will need to do is scale your images down to the proper dimensions and also make sure the file size (kb) are not to large. We want them to load as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm going to walk you through steps on what you need to do so your images reach that criteria. I'll give you scenarios for both Windows and Mac so there is no one left out. (Sorry, no love for Linux)
Now that you've resized your cover scans you'll need to rename them to a format that is acceptable for placement in the CM. Here are some guidelines to follow when renaming your scans.
Once you've resized and renamed your cover scans your now ready to submit them for admission into the CM. Just open the spoiler below and send your scans to the email address provided. That's all there is too it.
Thank you for your patience
Let me just start off by saying that HDN is very grateful for your contributions to the Collection Manager (CM) and once submitted and applied to a title that they are visible to anybody that has access to the CM.
First off we accept images scanned by a flatbed scanner only and we will not use your images if they were taken by a camera. We need a perfectly flat image on the glass so we can display them in the CM. The reason being is that if taken with a camera there will always be some focal issues that make part of the image unreadable. By scanning your steelbook, FuturePak, Digibook or whatever against the glass of your flatbed scanner, it is imaging all aspects of that object at an equal length.
I'm guessing you will know how to scan objects with your flatbed scanner so we will skip that and move on to what you should do after you have scanned them.
The first thing you will need to do is scale your images down to the proper dimensions and also make sure the file size (kb) are not to large. We want them to load as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm going to walk you through steps on what you need to do so your images reach that criteria. I'll give you scenarios for both Windows and Mac so there is no one left out. (Sorry, no love for Linux)
The first thing you need to do is download a free software called FastStone Photo Resizer. Direct link to FILE. It's completely free (No Adware, No Spyware). Next I'll explain how to use it which is very simple.
Install FastStone Photo Resizer, once installed open up the application and the image below is what your presented with. I've numbered the steps that you need to take to do a simple setup of the software.
Advanced Options
Now you back at the screen in the first image above. Select your output folder where the converted files will be saved. I always save to a different directory than the one with the original files so it doesn't overwrite them. I do this in case I make a mistake or something happens, my original scans are untouched. Now click on "Convert" and a box will popup and you will see it's progress.
An example for file size. Was: 5.8MB, Now: 116KB.
Install FastStone Photo Resizer, once installed open up the application and the image below is what your presented with. I've numbered the steps that you need to take to do a simple setup of the software.
- In box 1 click the little button to the right of your breadcrumb box and search for the directory that contains your newly created scans. Once you have them pulled up in the large box you can proceed to step 2.
- In box 2 make sure that JPEG is your output format.
For Quality select either 80 or 90 %, next under Color Subsampling select High (Smaller File Size). Now click OK.- Back in the image above in box 4 check on "Use Advanced Options Resize" and click "Advanced Options". Now proceed below on how to set your advanced option.
- Check on Resize.
- Select Resize based on one side.
- For Predefined Side select "Long Side".
- Now for Filter select "Bicubic".
- Type in exactly "700" for the size in pixels.
- Now click OK.
Now you back at the screen in the first image above. Select your output folder where the converted files will be saved. I always save to a different directory than the one with the original files so it doesn't overwrite them. I do this in case I make a mistake or something happens, my original scans are untouched. Now click on "Convert" and a box will popup and you will see it's progress.
An example for file size. Was: 5.8MB, Now: 116KB.
Mac users have even more simple than Windows users, you won't need to download any software at all. Next I'll explain how to resize and resample your scans to an appropriate size.
After you scan your images and there sitting in the directory that you specified just double click on one image (Unfortunately you can only resize one image at a time, no batch resizing) and your presented with a preview of the image.
After you scan your images and there sitting in the directory that you specified just double click on one image (Unfortunately you can only resize one image at a time, no batch resizing) and your presented with a preview of the image.
- First thing you want to do is select the red box labeled 1. This button opens the "Edit Toolbar".
- In box 2 select the "Adjust Size" button.
- With the box that appears like in the image below you want to make sure that "Pixels" is selected.
- In the "Height" box type: 700
- In the resolution box type: 150 (Note: If your image already has a resolution less than 150 pixels/inch, you won't need to adjust this field - just leave as-is.
- In the lower red box you can see what size it is and then what it will be after the resize is complete.
- Now click OK. That's it, now your image is resized to the appropriate size.
- If you scanned an image of the inside of the case then your image will be wider than it is in height. In this case just place the 700 in the "Width" field instead and your image will be the appropriate size.
- Do not include empty spaces anywhere in the file name.
- Do not use dashes anywhere in the file name. A dash looks like this: - This is unacceptable.
- "THE", "AN" or "A" should NOT precede the name of the title. The reason behind this is for internal alphabetical sequencing in our directories. "TheHobbit" should just be named "Hobbit".
- Anywhere that you think needs a space or a dash needs to be an "Underscore" instead. The underscore looks like this: _
- Only JPG files are accepted. DO NOT submit PNG, BMP, TIFF, GIF or any other image format. It won't be accepted and your scans will be deleted.
- All file names need to start with the country of origin two letter abbreviation. US, UK, DE, FR, CA and so forth. For a complete list of country abbreviations click HERE.
- All file names should have what type of case it is. If it does not have what type of case it is, there will be a delay in adding it to the CM as research will have to be made to determine what it is.
- Do not use accented characters such as: é ã ň
- Do not abbreviate the entire file name. It will take time to figure out what it actually is and this could delay the entry process.
- DE_Hobbit_AUJ_Steelbook_front.jpg
- TW_Underworld_Awakening_3D_Steelbook_back.jpg
- UK_Descent_Steelbook_inside.jpg
- KR_Leon_(QrtrSlip)_Steelbook_front.jpg
- TW 47Ronin_(CE CoverB)_Steelbook_back.jpg (can you find the spaces?)
- Aliens_Digibook-back.jpg (can you find the country prefix- NO! and is that a dash- omg!)
- UK_Brave_front.jpg (What kind of case is this? Steelbook? FuturePak? ???)
- AU_TheHobbit_TDOS_back.jpg (is that a "THE" at the front? That's a no no!)
- DE_STTNGS1_Steelbook_front.jpg (it should read DE_StarTrek_TNG_S1_Steelbook_front.jpg)
Once you've resized and renamed your cover scans your now ready to submit them for admission into the CM. Just open the spoiler below and send your scans to the email address provided. That's all there is too it.
Thank you for your patience
