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KyleMacNeill Inner circle 2757 Posts |
The design tool is great fun to play around with. Well done Chris!
Kyle |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Vlad, I didn't mean that you make your own cards and sell the physical cards. I meant that you should consider selling the digital designs as design files, just as I already offer a couple of interesting designs like the Tommy Wonder Squeeze effect. That way others who are not that good with design can build on your work buy the design files and then print them out.
I think a Tarot design with some built in features for the mentalist would be awesome. That could be of interest to many I imagine. The market of gaffed Tarot cards is wide open. I have never seen anybody offering anything in that space. Just ideas. The tools and materials are available today to take this into all kinds of directions.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Spellbinder, I will at some point write a short instruction manual for the tool. For now, please ask questions here and I will answer. The first steps should be self-explanatory:
- select a sheet template - then click on any card in the template and design front and back If you let me know what you want to do I can describe ways to achieve it with the tool.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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bobbyk Special user Florida 683 Posts |
Chris, As you know, I have been playing with the design tool for a couple days and I want to thank you for making this available. What a great idea and I appreciate your sharing it with us.
For those who have yet to check out lybrary.com you I would encourage you to do it soon. Lots of great material up there and Chris stands behind what he sells! Best to all, Bobby |
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Troels Loyal user Denmark 205 Posts |
Chris,
The design tool is wonderful. At first look I was a little confused, but after very few trials everything fell into place. When you add the possibility of uploading your own immages it is difficult to imagine what NOT could be done with this tool. Now I just need the right printer!!! Troels |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Currently the uploading of your own images is a bit limited in the sense that you have to upload them in the correct size and orientation. For the second version of this tool I am hoping we can add a few basic image operations allowing one to crop, scale, and rotate an image.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Card-Shark Inner circle Germany 1758 Posts |
Chris, congratulations to the tool, it seems that you got A LOT of inspiration by my online card configurator as it pretty much looks similar to mine.
http://www.card-shark.de/index.cfm?page=34&lang=en Vlad: if you are a graphic artist and have designs for Tarot cards already done: I have blank face and double blank Tarot cards produced that look old but where you can print onto them without removing the coating. They are already cut out and have an old look printed on, so when your design is added, it automatically looks old. If you design your own artwork and provide the the graphics in a certain way, it can get pretty cheap. Just PM me if you want to find out.
Expert in playing card production for magicians.
The Person Who Says It cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt The Person Doing It! Chinese Proverb |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Card-Shark, we have studied a number of online tools. There are quite a few, but none allows one to download the finished design, because they are all operated by card makers or card manufacturers who try to lock people in to buy from them My tool is here for anybody interested, regardless of if you are using my tools and supplies or not.
And adding the download feature was a hell of development process to get everything just perfect. On top of it we have a sheet level that no other tool I know supports. All the online tools I know deal with a single card, not with an entire sheet. So yes, we took ideas from tools we studied, added our own features and made everything work nicely and intuitively. That is how good software development works.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Card-Shark Inner circle Germany 1758 Posts |
Both tools supply the features they are built to. You supply card stock and other stuff necessary to produce cards, I the complete service.
So your tool does not lock people in to buy from you... Interesting. Your tool seems to have taken a lot of effort, this is for sure, and for that I congratulate you. I just had to find out how intuitive my design tool was that you copied this part 1 to 1. What other card configuration online tools did you study as there are others around? OK, I don't want to blame you or push this any further. You put a lot of thoughts and effort into the whole project, it deserves to be a success. Best success with your idea.
Expert in playing card production for magicians.
The Person Who Says It cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt The Person Doing It! Chinese Proverb |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
If you look at the whole of the tool then it is obvious that we did not copy any single tool, because the Lybrary card designer is unique the way it is. We took certain features we liked from other tools we know and found online. If you search for custom playing cards you will find some tools. We also mimicked graphic design tools which are not online.
And yes, certainly this tool can be used without buying anything from Lybrary.com. You can design a gaffed card with it and print it out on a blank playing card. You can also use your own cardboard and cutting tools. It is quite useful the way it is. No purchase necessary at the Lybrary. And I am completely fine with it. Eventually those really interested in making their own cards will find out the pros and cons of the various methods and will choose whatever works for them best. And if they choose my tools and supplies then I am certainly pleased, but I am equally happy if people find the tool useful and have their own way of making their cards.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Voldemort Special user Florida 562 Posts |
Card shark,
You should give it a rest. The tool on lybrary lets you design a card from the ground up allowing you to upload your own images and designs. Does yours do that? No it doesn't. Chris' tool also allows you to download your creations and print them yourself. Does yours do that? No it doesn't. I have to pay you upwards of $6.00 a card to get them printed out using your tool. I'd call those huge differences. I know that it bothers you simply because this is one more thing negating the need to order cards from you, But theres no need to accuse Chris of stealing from you. (Which is what you are doing). Where did you get the idea for your tool? It seems like every time someone posts something on here about a new deck of cards or custom made cards, You always show up and spout off about how your cards are better or how someone has taken your ideas or about how much more you know than everyone else. (Which I believe was dis-proven with the whole "How many layers do playing cards have?" debate in which you were shown you don't know as much as you think you do). It getting old, and I know that you have lost me as a customer because of it. Far be it for you to congratulate Chris on the work he put into this wonderful FREE tool that is now available for everyone to use with no obligation. Sad.
"Flight from death"
Buy the WILD AT HEART e-book to help Rachael Columbini here: http://www.lybrary.com/wild-heart-p-76110.html |
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-08-01 03:24, Card-Shark wrote: Card-Shark, Thank you my friend for the information. Right now I am trying to gauge whether mentalists, bizarreists, or magicians would be interested in gaffed Tarot cards. In my experience, MANY card effects are INFINITELY stronger with Tarot Cards and the sleights not much more difficult. But, I still think that the number of people that would be interested in gaffed Tarot would be QUITE small. I do have some designs - some VERY dark actually - and others more "conventional." As I proceed to gauge interest, I will be in touch. In fact, I will be even if I make them just for me. Ahimsa, Vlad |
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Card-Shark Inner circle Germany 1758 Posts |
@Voldemort: I never accused anybody of stealing but talked about inspiration. That is fine. Perhaps you also have seen that I wish Chris all the best with his tool. Actually it makes me proud that his tool uses roughly the same visualisation, as it shows that my approach wasn´t bad. It surely has more features built in and I guess more will come. I did not follow this thread for several weeks and was surprised when I had a couple of minutes to follow up. And I wrote what I thought.
If you come up with a new effect that is inspired or based on an idea of another magician you name your sources, right? At least most magicians do that and if not, it will be discussed very fast in another thread in the Café. I am not perfect nor is anybody else. I learned from Chris that playing cards are built up in two paper layers. I was more than suprised as the three layer theory is widely spread within the magic community and even professional card splitters would bet on that. The microscopic views of Chris completely convinced me. Now if I am meeting (well known) card magicians and they tell me about a card setup of three layers I always tell them how I found out the hard way how cards really are setup and why everybody thinks it should be three layers. Isn´t hole life a learning procedure? A forum is nice to communicate but it never is "live". So very often discussions are blown up to several pages that stay visible forever what would have been said within 5 minutes with a beer at the bar. I just smiled when I saw Chris' tool as it went a step forward and continued an idea I had a few years ago. Respect. I know how difficult programming is and I was not able to provide a printable file for myself as the Flash file would not have been color correct. So after I receive designs I have to rebuild them with another tool. As already said in an earlier posting - Chris did a great job, I am interested what will come up in his next version. Printing cards is not my main business - for God´s sake. It would kill me if I would have to live from that as it is difficult and very time consuming. Comparing my service with Chris approach of printing cards is like comparing a car repair by a mechanic with providing tools and great instructions to do it yourself. In the first case you pay the service and can be sure that your car will be fixed. If you are talented enough, have time and fun doing it by yourself nobody will blame you for doing it by your own with the same result. @Vlad: just contact me by time, I am interested...
Expert in playing card production for magicians.
The Person Who Says It cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt The Person Doing It! Chinese Proverb |
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Magiguy Inner circle Seattle, WA 5467 Posts |
Chris,
This is an insanely good tool! I have been waiting for this ever since you first announced the project. I've tried a number of other on-line tools, but none come close to yours with regard to versatility (the image upload and save features are a welcome relief, and surprisingly generous). I returned from a two week trip out of country to discover your release of version 1 and, after playing around with it for a couple of days, I just wanted to offer my thanks for a job well done. |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Thank you for all the great feedback I have received for the online card design tool. It is very much appreciated. It was a difficult development and I am pleased how it has turned out and that it is functional and useful. I hope it lowers the entry hurdle to making your own cards.
Here are a couple of general ideas where I want to go with version 2. I would like to know from you which features you think would be the most important ones: 1) Allow custom sized cards. Right now the size of cards is fixed to poker size. Custom sizing would accommodate mini cards, jumbo cards, tarot cards, bridge size, business card size, ... 2) More designs to pick from: There is an almost limitless list of designs I could add, from ESP symbols to German Skat faces, to historic card designs and a range of back designs new and old. 3) Better support for uploaded images: Rotate, crop, scale, and pan images to make them fit the card size. 4) Adjusting colors: Add a color picker (similar to the one already implemented for the text color) to change colors of designs. This would be helpful to color match to existing cards as well as allow some cool color effects to have blue hearts for example. Add a customizable background color to do something different than white. 5) Generate vector output. Right now, the output file is a raster image. Ideally I would like to output a PDF with vector graphics but this will be quite difficult to achieve because Flash does not support PDF output. If you have any additional ideas please let me know here or per email or PM.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Chris,
I will be making the plunge in two weeks for all the accessories: card cutter, coating, stock, corner rounder, etc. You had mentioned the ink jet color printer that has been giving very good results. Since I am re-kickstarting my act along with pursuing a PhD, money is a bit tight at the moment. Would you say that the portable Canon Inkjet (I forgot the model) gives comparable results to a laser printer? Ahimsa, Vlad PS: My concern is that if I do the Tarot thing, we are talking about insane amounts of color and that color is a LOT more subtle than what is found on "normal" playing cards. |
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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
Those would make great additions to the tool, and if you add enough of them, would make it self explanatory and cut down the need for instructions. Still, a HELP indexed file would be needed at some point and it might be easier to start on it now while the program is still small and uncomplicated, then just continue to add parts and instructions simultaneously into the future.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
Vlad:
I was not happy with the intensity and clarity of color I was getting from my inkjet printing on the card stock. I am hoping to try a color laser printer with the card stock and see if it is an improvement.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
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Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-08-03 15:25, Spellbinder wrote: Spellbinder, I was afraid of that answer, but, not surprised. So, the quest for a color laser printer that is ALSO affordable commences. Ah well, who needs food anyhow Thank you my friend. Ahimsa, Vlad |
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Vlad, if you are on a budget my recommendation is to use the services of Kinkos or a Staples. As I have demonstrated they print beautifully on my cardboard and you don't have any printer investment costs. This gives you time to explore. It is less convenient than having your own printer but is the cheapest way to get started.
Regarding my Canon iP100 the biggest downside are the tiny ink cartridges. You can print about 15-20 sheets, front and back. And one cartridge costs ~$20. this is cost that will add up quickly if you intend to print a lot. On the other hand I like the paper handling a lot. Saturation of ink is good particularly for graphics. For photos this printer does not do so well. In general home printing with cheap lasers produces less strong colors than with a real printing press. The colors look a bit washed out. The black is typically perfect. Blue is ok but red is usually the biggest issue. You could resort to printing only Clubs and Spades to avoid issues but that is not always possible. My experience is that inkjet printers produce stronger colors than laser printers. Lasers produce a bit sharper and more defined print. Personally my solution to all color problems from matching colors to washed out colors is to print the entire deck. It is hard to notice anything if every card was printed with the same printer. Only on a side by side comparison with factory printed cards will you see a difference, but a spectator would never get to see such a side by side comparison if you print the entire deck -regular cards and gaffs.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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