README

This tool splits double pages scanned of a book by detecting the white separation of the pages (the margin) and the binding.

See below for installation instructions.

Usage

Currently, only jpg images are handled.

Copy your images into the input directory.

Requirements:

only JPG files
the image must have room for 2 book pages (2 writtens or 1 written page on one side + 1 blank page on the other)
the page margins (separation between pages) MUST be located around the center of the image (~ the central third of the width)
the binding may be visible, (can help the detection when straight and well visible)
portrait images will be rotated to landscape

source ENV/bin/activate # virtualenv

# by default, all images found in input dir will be splitted.
python main.py

# options and arguments
python main.py [ --verbose ] [ --debug ] path/to/image1 path/to/image2

Splitted pages will be found in output dir, with respect of the page numbers (when a number is found in the input filename).

The script detect the page separation (the margins) as a bright band near the middle of the page, with an optional dark line inside (the binding of the book).

Tips to improve results :

input images should be fairly straight (not too skewed)
the separation should be near the middle (not too off-centred)
a white and enough large band, should be visible (with an optional thin dark column for the binding)
avoid manual annotations or any trace inside margins
increase contrast between text and background
try in black and white

Configuration

You can change default input/output dirs or output filenames pattern in the constants.py file.

Installation

You'll need a python 3.x environment, and virtualenv.

Then :

virtualenv ENV
source ENV/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

PythonMagick

You'll also need to compile PythonMagick.

For example, with MacOS :

# install dependencies
brew install imagemagick pkg-config libtool make
brew install boost-python --with-python3 --without-python

# download pythonmagick source code
git clone git@github.com:ImageMagick/PythonMagick.git
cd PythonMagick

# compile (this takes a while)
./configure
make
make install

Symlink package into ENV.

For instance:

# (source dir may differ for your installation, if you're not using python 3.5 for instance)
ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/PythonMagick \
      ENV/lib/python3.5/site-packages

License

Please see LICENSE for licensing details.