This is just a rough guide on how to scan miniatures on a flatbed scanner.

The method for scanning miniatures discribed below will work on most of the newer scanners.  I don't have any information on other scanners so all I can suggest is that you just give it a go on whatever flatbed scanner you can get your hands onto. I use an Acer 610plus (it's nothing special and I don't particularly recommend or damn it).

Firstly I set the scanner controls to scan at 200dpi and I use "colour enhance" (on MiraScan 32) to get slightly better colour separation and sharpness (even though most monitors won't resolve beyond about 72dpi).

The next step is to wipe the glass of the scanner with a clean (non greasy) soft cloth (an old washed plain T shirt is ideal), so that no spots are caused by dirt or dust particles.

Then all you have to do is place the miniature directly on the glass and place one of those small polystyrene boxes that come with some of the the larger Citadel models.  Any smallish white (as pure white as possible) box will do.

To cut down on harsh dark shadows near the figure it is best that the "roof" of the box that goes over the miniature should be about a centimeter above the model when it is set down over the model.

By using a white box as a cover for the miniature while it is being scanned, softer shadows are created.

The programs that remove backgrounds, tend to need a little contrast to be able to identify between what you want to remove and what you want to keep.

It just makes things easier to manipulate later.

The pictures below are examples with dark backgrounds.  If a dark background is used it can lead to problems with removing the background (which doesn't matter if you want a black background).  Notice how the gun blends in a bit too much with the darker backgrounds.

Also if you scan light or white objects on a dark background it can lead to thin dark shadows on the edges of the mini and those dark edeges might get removed (eating into the actual image of the mini itself) with the background if you chose to remove the background.

Being able to remove backgrounds is only important if you want to change the background colour or if you want to merge the picture into another picture.

It doesn't really effect the image of the model istself, if you use any of the backgrounds.  The background you scan with, really only effects the ease, with which you remove the background.

The picture on the right was scanner without the scanner lid down It leads to a slightly redish background).