datedStampGenertaor

A python tool using PIL to generate trasparent PNGs of a dated stamp, for multiple dates.

Purpose

This tool's objective is to solve a problem by automating a manual task.

In the context of signing digital documents, a stamp must be applied. This can be done digitally from an image from software such as ABBYY finereader. To make this image (PNG with transparency) this is the workflow :

• Apply the stamp to a piece of paper
• Scan the paper in high resolution
• Open the resulting image in Photoshop
• Mask the background to make it transparent
• Crop the image to only have the stamp
• Save as PNG

When then is a dated stamp, whith a changeable date within the stamp impression, it means every date must be converted to a digital PNG individually. This is time consuming.

What this tool does

Using PIL, this tool picks from a previously scanned collection of images to combine them into a realistic looking stamp. The stamp is separated in parts:

• Outside ring
• Day
• Month
• Year

The tool iterates through every date and generates, then saves the corresponding stamp. It picks from different variations of every eement to make a unique stamp each time.

Weaknesses

• This tool generates impossible dates (such as 31 february)
• This tool needs to be supplied with a lot of input data (approx 2h work in photoshop)
• This tool does not use OOP