Photoshop has had its Select Subject feature for some time, and it improves with each new version. But if you’re out and about with just your iPhone, what do you do when Photoshop is out of reach on your desktop? Of if you don’t have a subscription to Photoshop? Scan Thing, an app for iOS (both iPhone and iPad), could well be the answer.
Scan Thing is capable of scanning documents and turning them into readable text, and of straightening up and enhancing paper documents. But its most interesting feature is its ability to scan objects, and automatically cut them out. Here’s how it works.
Scan Your Thing
Point your camera at an object – and it can be just about any object – making sure it is entirely framed within the Scan Thing markers (left). Then tap the screen, and in a couple of seconds the object becomes detached from it background: you can move the phone around, and you’ll see the object floating in the middle of the screen (center). Tap the Save button to save it to your Photos, and when you open it on your computer you’ll see it has been saved as a PNG file with transparency (right). Note how the app has correctly identified this unusual object, despite its having been photographed agains a fairly complex background.
All Sorts of Things
Scan Thing can recognize a surprising range of objects. The hand is a perfect cutout, truncated only by my Apple Watch. When photographing the Watch by itself, however, it correctly interprets it and removes the hand and wrist. It also makes a fair stab at cutting out complex objects, such as this figure of St Michael: it even, more or less, manages to identify and capture the delicate scales held in his left hand. It does, however, lose parts of the cloak and stand.
Scanning People
Scan Thing works surprisingly well with photographs of people, correctly interpreting what’s person and what isn’t, and removing them from their background. Note that it has, curiously, decided to omit the Apple Watch again from this wrist. When you zoom in to the image, you can see that, as well as having a rather soft edge, some parts of the head have been omitted: the neck below the ear, the glasses frame on the left, and some of the hair.
Unfortunately, Scan Thing doesn’t capture the original image as well, so replacing those missing portions can be problematic. Hopefully, future versions will capture the original along with the cutout, allowing users to correct any issues after capturing an image.
Fixing Errors
Some mistakes are easy to remedy once you’re back at your computer. Here, Scan Thing has correctly identified this mirror on a wall, although it has created some semi-transparent areas both within the reflection and at the bottom of the frame (left). The simple solution is to duplicate the object a couple of times, which strengthens the opacity (center). When viewed on a colored background, it’s easy to tidy it up (right).
Scan Thing isn’t perfect, but it’s a huge amount of fun and it is, by far, the quickest way to make cutouts from the world around you. The app is free to download and try out, after which there’s an in-app purchase of $4.99 which unlocks unlimited scans forever: no registration, no subscription, and the scans never leave your phone (unless you want them to).
This article was last modified on December 13, 2021
This article was first published on December 13, 2021
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