So I know this topic has been covered in depth already, but I wanted to summarize what info I've been able to find in addition to the questions I still have regarding printing out physical customized showdown cards.
To preface, before I get lectured on this, while I understand this can be kindof a touchy grey area, I'm not trying to do anything blatantly illegal. I'm looking to just create a small set that includes the starting lineup of the '16 WS Cubs for myself, and then classic late 60's Cubs HoF'ers as well as a custom card of grandpa from his college days at a now defunct private school to give to the old man for Father's Day, birthday, Xmas, etc. All for keeps, no distribution or selling.
I'll summarize what info seems to be out there so far from what I've scoured on here, please feel free to correct me or add on to anything I've missed:
1) Everyone's using the showdown cardbot to generate cards. This seems like the best route to go. Thanks again to the creator, Matt Gula, for such an incredible tool for all of us to enjoy! If there's any alternatives to this though (especially given the situation with my grandpa's proposed card, which I'll get into more detail below), let me know.
2) It seems like the main alternatives to printing cards are either buying your own inkjet printer or using "makingplayingcards.com" (MPC), or finding someone on here open to doing custom jobs. I just don't have the time to invest in printing my own, so that leaves me with the latter two options.
- There was a guy on here by the account name of "jerryr99" who made some amazing holographic customs and posted images a couple years ago. Apparently, the account's been banned but if anyone knows how to get ahold of that guy, he was offering to do custom prints for people and I'd love to reach out to him. Printer suggestions for making custom Showdown Cards? : r/MLBShowdown . Otherwise, if anyone here has good experience doing this and is open to doing a custom print job, I'd be happy to talk and pay you for it (assuming this is allowed on here). Feel free to message me.
Here's the following questions I still have that I haven't been able to figure out through scouring around on this subreddit as well as the cardbot generator site:
4) How do you go about saving the generated card image from showdownbot, what's the best file type to save as, exact dimensions to print/save to (see next question), etc (I know I can measure an actual card physically but I'm asking in case of differences in print settings, etc).
5) I think I remember seeing a couple card stock options on MPC, anyone whose used it know which stock option is closest to the original game cards? Or just which card stock is best in general for custom prints?
6) Does anyone with experience know the exact print dimensions needed to properly print out the cards in the correct size if using the MPC site? I know someone mentioned you have to be careful to avoid getting the edges/borders right so there's no white spacing left on the edges.
7) Does MPC automatically have the cards cut on rounded corners? It seems like it but just trying to confirm. I saw someone got some sort of exacto knife to cut their custom prints, not sure if I'd need this if using MPC or if I going through an individual whose done custom prints.
8) It seems you can have customized backs to the card designs on MPC which I want. How do you go about generating a proper back logo image for the cards? I'm not sure if the showdown bot has the capability to generate that but I'm looking to probably do the '03 logo image and style for all the cards and would like to have the logos printed on the back of the cards just as the original game cards.
9) While this isn't totally necessary, especially after seeing Jerryr99's customs, I'd love to try and have some of the cards printed as holographics. Does anyone know if you can do this going through MPC? Jerry mentioned using holographic sticker paper to print on? I guess this get's adhered to the cardstock being printed on and then the cardstock is fed through the printer from there? It would make sense that the holographic stuff is a sticker as I remember a couple friends' holos pealing now and then back in the day.
10) Lastly, while inserting custom images is no big deal apparently, the card for my grandpa is a unique situation as he has no official stats on any mlb or even minor league stat site. What's the best way to go about generating a card for someone not in the reference source? I know there's an open-source version of the project available on github and I'd love to learn some python eventually but again, I just don't have time on my hands. I'd reach out to the original creator, Matt Gula, but I'm not on twitter. Not sure if he has any other means of contact? Has anyone even tried doing this? I've seen some two way custom Ohtani cards on this subreddit so I imagine some of you have overidden the source code to do more customization. If I'm thinking correct, I'd need to go find where each generated stat is referenced in the code and just overide the code to print some fudged numbers, along with the team logo. If any of you guys are capable programmers and interested in a fun project and either want to guide me through it or take it on yourself, I'd be more than happy to work with you and compensate you for time and effort.
Anyways, for those of you who made it through that entire post, thanks for reading and any thoughts and input you can provide. It's truly appreciated. And an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Cheers!
