Card Template Assistance

I made a quick template with photoshop. Probably this is nothing you would need.. But anyways..

I remember reading from somewhere, that psd is valid for gimp also..
I'm not a pro with photoshop, so template is not perfect.. You can add symbols, draw them yourself, or find from net. If you take a black and white symbol from internet, set the layer style as "darkening", that way you get rid of the whites.

Put the background image on top of the layer that contains the dragon image.. There's a mask to cut the corners..

Note, I do not have rights to the BG image, i just took some dragon pic from google.
Hope you can use this.. If not, I'll use it myself some day :)

If you want to print the cards, create an image sized 1500x1050px , 150dpi. There you can put 8 cards (4x2) and print on A4.

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Miika

Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8g0-8_OPJcTNEVoMDdTMmtjRWM/view?usp=sh...

Even Microsoft Word can be used as a barebones utility for layout. I've seen professional quality work done with just that, and it is easy to use while you are learning to use more robust software. Keep in mind that unless you have a very good friend, programs like InDesign can be quite expensive. I should mention though that some universities offer massively discounted software packages to students.

Also with the template that Miika provided, keep in mind that the industry standard for color printing is 300dpi resolution. You can go as low as 200dpi with B&W, but doing your work at a lower resolution will mean having to redo everything when it goes to print.

You may just want to consider making an investment in getting the Adobe Creative Suite and learning how to use it, either with courses or books, whatever suits your learning style. It's crazy expensive, but depending on what your time is worth, learning how to use a professional program to create professional results will eliminate the frustration and time sink that you are experiencing. It may work out to sign up for community college courses in learning this stuff so that you can get the software at a student discount. Older editions are also cheaper, and the books for learning them are practically free. I used to fiddle around with Photoshop, but once I really got a handle on it, I could do so much more in a quarter of the time it used to take me. It maximizes your potential to show up for work with the best tools in your toolbox. Also, knowing Adobe is relevant on most résumés.

These issues seems to be little strange, when i'm more familiar with photoshop..
If you want to make just testing cards.. Go with not so finished look. Then when you are happy with all the cards and you are sure what you want to do, download a trial from Photoshop.. You'll probably notice, that most of your problems are gone..

For the masking issue, I made the card in Illustrator.. So it was nice and simple to set the box to 2.5x3.5 in and 5mm corners.. Then just copypaste it and ather stuff to photoshop. The mask is done on layer folder in PS. I created a layer folder, set a layer mask on the folder style. Selected the area what i wanted to be visible and filled it with white. Outside of the are I filled with black.. Then set anything inside that folder and it masks the outside not to be visible, but without cutting the image, so you can still move it around..

Take a moment also to get to know Inkscape.. Free software "similar" to Illustrator.. Easy to create lines, boxes curves etc.. If you take the time, even symbols can be done with curves. I made the shield and a sword quickly using Illustrator..

I'm not an expert in it, but I do use GIMP for 90% of my prototyping, so I'll throw in my advice:

1- Alignment: * I am trying to get the cards symmetrics exactly right, while leaving the margins correct. I am using the template from the printer as a layer at 25% transparency to ensure that it's correct. However when I line up the images that I create or "cut and paste" then move into line, there is always a difference in pixels of 3-5 that I can not resolve from one side or another. At 100% or 50% what the card in hand would be you can not tell but at 200% or PNP it may make a difference.

If there is a size difference, then scale the image to match the template. Open up their image, click "Image > Scale Image" and look at their resolution and their width/height. Go into "Scale Image" on your picture, and make sure the resolution matches. Then go into "Image > Canvas Size" and make sure your dimensions match theirs.

2- Color * When creating a text layer over the card I get the black color on 90-95% of the cards; however on some cards (even without the color of the card displayed as a layer) I get a OFF black, greenish/bluish. I have tried to correct many times without success.

When you click on the Text Tool (red arrow) it will use what you have as your foreground color (green arrow) for your Text color. However, once you've started typing stuff, changing the foreground color won't change the text color- you have to change it in the Text tool (brown arrow).

3- Scale * I have tried to apply the GRID to a template I've created but the grid does not align to the template due to the lines I imported being slightly off.

How can I change the Grid Overlay to match the template?

"Image > Configure Grid". The grid SIZE is how big the squares are. The grid OFFSET lets you change where the grid lays. Adjust one or both until it is how you want it to be.

4- Rotation * On some of the cards that have different fields for text (similar to the graphic that Miika shows) or symbols when I rotate the text or symbol area it will move off of the area it was originally on the card. When I move it back the alignment does not match-up with the other area near it.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, could you clarify? What are you trying to match it up to? Other symbols, or text, or a box, or a background? or something else?

5- Symbols * I have no clue on how to create in GIMP 2.8, I have been using MS Paint, copying to a new layer in GIMP 2.8 and from there anchoring the image and reinforcing it as it's own layer. It's challenging and time consuming but it works.

Open a new image in GIMP. Click "Layer > Transparency > Color to Alpha". Make sure that the color you choose is the same as the background color of the new image (the default is usually white, so this is generally easy). When you click OK, your whole image should show transparent (usually a patchwork of grey boxes). Draw your icons on this new image. When you've got it how you'd like, copy and paste your new icon onto the real card (probably on a new layer, or a layer specifically for icons). I would save the icon as a .xcf file, for future use.

6- Custom Lines * I want to use curves, (similar to Miika's curved box w/ a "Mask to cut the edges") but when I don't know how. I have used a 1100% magnification and actually selected the area and colored in pixel by pixel.

There are two ways- use the circle tool to select the area for your curve. If you want the curve to be outside the circle area, after making your selection, click "Select > Invert".

Or you can do it by using the path tool. Choose that and click where you want the curve to start, but don't release the click- drag a little bit away. Two "handles" should pop out of the dot you created. Now click where you want the curve to end, and drag a little bit away. When you click in this new location, the handles on the first click will disappear. Now you've got a wonky curve. Adjust the HANDLES. Each of the two dots you made has an "in" handle and an "out" handle (which, in this example, means only one of the handles on each dot will affect the curve you made). Click on the dots, then drag the handles around until the curve looks how you want it to. Once you've finished, click "Stroke Path", and choose your width, and it will draw along the curve you created.

7- Text Alignment * Flipping Text boxes for a game concept has become problematic as the text alignment does not work and I can not edit the text unless I un-flip the box.

Once you've flipped the text, use the Move tool to move it around to where you want it to be. Remember that you have to be hovering over the letters themselves to be able to move text with the move tool.

Really, for making cards, you want nanDeck. It takes a little to learn, but if you're serious about the game, such that you'll be making numerous little changes, you'll be happy you did it in nanDeck. When you find that just one card has enough text that you want to move the icon row in all the cards up by 4 pixels, the fact that you do this in just one place and then re-generate all the cards will make it clear to you why nanDeck was worth it.