How To Scanlation

How to Scanlate Manga

Manga characters

Manga are Japanese graphic novels with a distinct visual style. Manga have become very popular in the United States and can be readily found in bookstores, such as Hastings or Barnes and Noble. Scanlating is the process of scanning, translating and editing unlicensed manga from Japanese to English.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Manga
• X-Acto knife or box cutter
• Scanner
• Computer
• IrfanView
• Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro

1. 1
   Cut or debind manga using an X-Acto knife or box cutter. Cutting or debinding is a way of separating the pages of the manga so they can be scanned. Try to cut as close to the border as possible.
   
2. 2
   Open IrfanView on your computer. IrfanView is a graphics viewer, which can be downloaded for free on the IrfanView website. It is the program you will use to scan manga pages.
   
3. 3
   Click on "File" in IrfanView, then choose "Select Twain Source" to choose your scanner.
   
4. 4
   Click on "File," then select "Acquire/Batch Scanning," which will lead to a dialog box popping up. Choose single image or multiple images if you are scanning more than one page. Click on "OK," then choose which type of image you will be scanning: color picture for color scans, black and white picture or custom settings. If you choose custom settings, select 600 dpi for color scans. Choose 300 dpi and grayscale mode for black and white scans.
   
5. 5
   Scan the manga pages, then click "File" and "Save as," and save them in JPEG format.
   
6. 6
   Open a graphics software program such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro and edit the scanned images. The programs will allow you to crop, resize, clean images and further optimize your scans.
   

Tips & Warnings

• Microwave on high for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave to loosen the glue of the manga's binding, which should make it easier to cut apart.
• Use the batch scanning feature in IrfanView; it will save you time by automatically saving the files and renaming files.
• Images can be cropped in Photoshop by placing a marquee around the area you want to keep, then click on "Image," then "Crop."