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Converting a scanned-in "analog" image back to a digital "original"

  • Thread starter Thread starter IcyManipulator
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IcyManipulator

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I have a very large piece of artwork in my possession. The artwork was originally drawn in high-resolution on a computer, but a true digital copy of the original is not available to the public.

My copy of the artwork is large enough such that the original pixels can just barely be distinguished by the naked eye. I would like to scan it in at extremely high resolution, or take photos of it (multiple photos of various sections may be necessary for enough resolution). Afterwards, I am wondering if Photoshop, some available filter, or other image-processing program would be able to analyze this ultra-resolution scan and reconstruct a perfect copy of the original digital image?

The idea is that if I can see the original pixels with my eye, Photoshop should be able to likewise deduce all the original pixels of the original digital image, and reconstruct it as such via some algorithm, in the original resolution.
 
You don't mention how big the copy is but personally I would scan the copy in part by part making sure to leave an decent overlap on each of the scans. I would then take the multiple scans and stitch them together. The stitching software I use (and I've tried a few) is Microsoft ICE. It's free and does a great job. You will then end up with a large jpg or tif which you can then open in Photoshop. Most scanners come with software that allows you to choose the final output resolution so depending on what res you choose you're gonna end up with a pretty large file (Megabyte-wise) but Photoshop can handle that (given time).
 
Thanks for the reply, Rupert.

Although you didn't really address my main concern. My main concern isn't really related to the large size of my image. I am concerned with digitally processing the scanned image, using Photoshop, or a filter, or any other software. Because my scanned image would be in ultra high resolution, and the "pixels" of the original image should be visible. But I don't want all the extra information, since I know my image was originally drawn by someone on a computer to begin with.

I would like to be able to tell Photoshop to look at the "pixels" and find where they are, then color them back in, and turn the final image into a perfect digital copy of the original image (before it was printed out physically and scanned back in by me).

I've been doing some more thinking on this matter though, and I suppose if I just downsized my ultra high resolution scan to the exact original resolution (I can count the pixels by hand), I might luck out and this "perfect restoration" could automatically occur.
 
Good heavens! I can't imagine why you would want to go to all that trouble.

In truth the pixels probably wouldn't match exactly, but you can certainly give it a shot.

One note.... I'm sure you're not doing this, but it must be said. An attempt to duplicate artwork not done by you and sell it is not only illegal, it's wrong. We are all artists here of one level or another and having our own work copied and passed off as someone else's doesn't make us happy. As I say.... I am sure you're not doing that yourself, but we don't want anyone reading this to think it's OK.
 
When I said artwork I didn't mean it was an original, unique piece. It's a commercially-produced item related to a popular show and I presume the original artist's rights to the drawing have been forfeited to the company that owns this brand. No one even knows or cares who the original artist is, unfortunately.

However it so happens that there are only several copies of this item in existence. I have one of the only ones. I like this picture and would like to scan it in to look at whenever I want. If my item gets destroyed in a fire or something then the nice picture would be gone forever.
 
I haven't yet scanned in or taken any photographs of my item. I am still debating whether or not I will do it before it gets framed. There is a low quality photograph of this exact same item on the internet taken by the previous owner or the company that produced it to show that the item existed.

Are you asking because you are curious what the item is, or for some other reason?
 
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