Stone Scanning: Capturing the Perfect Image
Achieving the best and most accurate images of stone products requires more than just standard photography. Environmental conditions, improper scanner settings, and incorrect calibration can all impact image quality, potentially obscuring crucial details and unique characteristics of the stone. This is why high-quality scanning is essential in the stone industry.
In this article, we’ll explore how Standard Stones’ advanced tile and slab scanner – featuring 100 dpi image resolution and D50 color calibration – sets the standard for high-quality stone imaging. However, its popularity extends beyond just these features. To learn more about the Standard Stones scanner, contact us for a demo.
Benefits of High-Quality Stone Scanning
High-resolution stone scans benefit both manufacturers and customers in several ways:
For Stone Manufacturers
One of the most significant advantages of high-quality stone scanning is its impact on digital marketing. Manufacturers can showcase their products globally through high-resolution scans that can be:
- Sent directly to customers
- Uploaded to websites and online catalogs
- Used for inventory management and documentation
For Customers
Customers often want to examine a stone’s texture, veins, and patterns in detail. Some stones contain small brass-like particles that differ from the primary stone color. Poor scan quality can obscure these subtle elements, preventing customers from accurately assessing the stone’s true color and pattern. High-resolution scans enable customers to view every detail effortlessly, even without zooming in.
Shared Benefits
For architects and fabricators, high-quality stone scans can be integrated into architectural renderings and design software such as 3DS Max, allowing for highly realistic digital representations.
Even without rendering, these scans can be copied and pasted into design projects using various software applications, making them valuable for:
- Factory owners
- Fabricators (who cut, shape, and perform CNC operations on stones)
- Architects
What is a Calibrated Image?
Calibration enhances image clarity and accuracy, making it essential for high-quality stone scanning. A color-calibrated scanner ensures that stones appear in their true colors under standardized lighting conditions.
Many slab scanners allow users to adjust RGB (Red, Green, Blue), saturation, and brightness after capturing an image – similar to editing photos in social media apps. However, for professional stone imaging, such modifications are not ideal.
The Problem with RGB Modifications in Stone Scanning
Some companies manipulate lighting, RGB values, and other settings, misleading customers about the stone’s actual appearance.
For example, a company might artificially brighten a dark beige stone to make it appear desirable, light cream-colored variety, increasing its perceived value. Since lighter-colored stones are generally more expensive, this tactic inflates profits while providing inaccurate information to buyers.
Additionally, scanning stones at different times of the day and under varying lighting conditions (e.g., cloudy vs. sunny) alters the perceived color, further reducing image accuracy.
Standard Stones’ High-Precision Stone Scanner
Our tile and slab scanner are engineered to capture images at 100 dpi resolution—but why was this specific resolution chosen?
Research shows that when a person of average height (170 cm) looks down at the ground, their eye’s visual resolution is approximately 100 dpi. This means that images captured by the Standard Stones scanner closely match what the human eye naturally perceives from a standing position. Users can examine intricate details without zooming in, and when they do zoom in, it simulates stepping closer to the stone in real life.
The Standard Stones scanner is also D50 color-calibrated, meaning it adheres to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) D50 standard for color accuracy.
With D50 calibration, the scanner uses an internationally recognized color palette, where each color has a predefined RGB value. During calibration, the scanner automatically adjusts colors to align with the D50 standard, ensuring true-to-life color representation.
Should Screens Also Be Color-Calibrated?
In addition to using a calibrated scanner, the customer’s display screen should also be color-calibrated for the most accurate viewing experience.
For those without a calibrated monitor, special calibration devices (as shown in the third image) can be placed on the screen to adjust color settings using specialized software.
For example, the D65 calibration standard ensures that monitors display colors more accurately.
When both the scanned image and the display screen are calibrated, customers can view the stone’s true colors and details with precision—critical for architects and professionals working on high-end projects. Color calibration also applies to printers, ensuring that printed materials accurately reflect the stone’s real appearance.
Conclusion
High-quality stone scanning is essential for digital marketing and customer satisfaction. It ensures that textures, veins, and intricate details are accurately captured while maintaining color accuracy through standardized calibration methods.
The Standard Stones tile and slab scanner, with D50 color calibration and 100 dpi scan quality, provides industry-leading image precision, helping manufacturers, architects, and customers make informed decisions. For sample slab scans, please refer to the following link.
For more information, feel free to contact our team at Standard Stones.
