X Minus 2 Customs Card Printer

[Xorlof]

X Minus 2 Customs Card Printer

The X Minus 2 Card Printer is the easy way to find and print customs cards right from a website, up to 3 per page, with no downloads or graphics editing required. Currently only C3G, C3V, and SoV cards are supported, but we're going to add cards from other individuals and customs groups too! (If you want your customs added, PM me for details).

>> Click Here to Load <<

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Requirements: Any of the 3 previous versions of the "big 4" browsers. At the time of writing that means you need at least Internet Explorer v9, Chrome v32, Firefox v26, or Safari v5. Chrome is strongly recommended if you have the choice.

How to use

1. After loading the webpage, just click through the green categories listed on the left to see the available cards.
   
2. Click on the names of the cards you want added to your print job. The cards will show up in a grid in the main area on the right.
   
3. If you want to remove that you've already added, just click on the picture of the card.
   
4. When you have all that you want printed added, select whether you want two or three cards printed per page using the option below the list of cards. Three is the default if you skip this step.
   
5. Now do a print preview and verify that everything will print how you expect it to. Assuming all looks OK, hit print! Here's an example print preview (from Chrome):

Problems / Questions / Solutions

I need to create a PDF so that I can take the file somewhere else for printing

Spoiler Alert!

Some day I may create a built-in option to generate PDFs, but for now you have to tell your browser to do it for you.

If you're using a Mac, open up the printing screen. In the lower left corner you can select the option to save it as a PDF instead of printing.

If you're using Windows, the solution will depend on what browser you're using.

• If using Chrome, hit the change destinate button on the print screen and select "Save as PDF."
• If using Firefox or Internet Explorer, you will need to use a PDF print driver. If you don't already have one, try PrimoPDF. Download and install it. Then when you want to create a PDF, hit print in Firefox/Internet Explorer and select "PrimoPDF" as the printer. Anything sent to this fake printer will be saved as a PDF instead of printed.

Make sure whoever prints the PDF for you prints it using the "Actual Size" (not "Fit") setting in Adobe Reader.

The printed cards are slightly too small

Spoiler Alert!

A few notes that should help:

• If you're using Internet Explorer, do a print preview before printing and set the print size to 100% (i.e., turn off "shrink to fit" on print preview page). Turn of headers and footers to avoid it overlapping the cards.
  
• If you're using Firefox (with Windows), turn off "shrink to fit" (i.e., set scaling to 100%) in the print preview box. You also must turn off headers and footers.
  
• I don't think this ever happens using Chrome or if you're using a Mac with any of the supported browsers. If that understanding is incorrect, please let me know.
  
• If printing from a generated PDF, be sure to have Adobe Reader print it at "Actual Size" (not "Fit").
  
• If you are not in the United States (and using A4 size paper), you must use the print 2 cards per page option. Printing 3 per A4 page is not supported, but something I can look into if there are requests and someone thinks they have a printer that can print with only a few mm of margin on the left and right sides. It can fit, just barely.

Part of a card is cut off when printing

Spoiler Alert!

This can happen when printing 3 cards per page with Firefox/Windows. I think Firefox/Mac is OK. Firefox can be made to work though. Here are the steps:

First, turn off "shrink to fit" (i.e., set scaling to 100%) in the print preview box. Also turn off headers and footers in the print setup box. Check to see if that helped by doing another print preview. If it did, great. If not, you've encountered a bug that is in current versions of Firefox when printing to most printers. Printing 2 cards per page will work fine. If Firefox has this bug with your printer and you really want to get 3 cards per page, print to a PDF file instead of your printer (see above). The PDF printer does not have this bug. You can then print the PDF file as normal.

Markers/tokens printed along with a card are overlapping a neighboring card

Spoiler Alert!

Some cards (e.g., C3G's Absorbing Man) have markers included with the card. When printing 3 cards per page these markers can sometimes overlap with the neighboring card. I do not have an automatic fix for this problem, and it will probably be quite a while before I implement one.

If the card only has markers in a couple of corners you may be able to change the order of printing the cards to avoid the overlap. If there are markers on all four corners, that's not possible so your only options are to either print 2 cards per page or insert a "blank card" (found in the Miscellaneous category) as the middle card on a page with one of these troublesome cards. That has the effect of limiting you to two cards on that page with the other pages still able print 3 per page.

What's an unlock code?

Spoiler Alert!

It's a password that members of customs groups use to unlock/load their pre-release cards into this web app so they can print them. Without a code, you can only see the publicly released cards.

Planned features:

• More cards!
• 2 sided printing (partial support added)
• A convince-the-commercial-printing-company-(Office-Depot,-Staples,-etc.)-into-thinking-this-PDF-does-have-an-OK-to-print-for-personal-use-allowance-so-they-are-much-more-likely-to-print-it-for-you-instead-of-hassling-you-about-it-containing-Marvel/DC characters" feature.
• Ability to bookmark a list of cards (low priority)
• Additional filters (e.g., lookup by wave / by name)
• Card search?
• Print glyph decals on separate sheet
• Your suggestions!

What do you think, sirs?

--xorlof

 

[IAmBatman]

Awesome!

 

[Yodaking]

Fantastic!

 

[Yodaking]

Just did a trial run. Print Preview initially showed the cards were too big, with it spanning multiple pages for just the 3 cards. All I did was click 'fit to page' and then it shrank down to one page and was ready to go. I'm using Firefox on a Windows system. Thanks a lot for this Xorlof!! I'm way behind in my card printing and this will save me a ton of time and money once I get caught up. Not that you need the rep but I'm sending some your way anyway.

 

[caps]

Awesome, Xorlof!

 

[Xorlof]

Just did a trial run. Print Preview initially showed the cards were too big, with it spanning multiple pages for just the 3 cards. All I did was click 'fit to page' and then it shrank down to one page and was ready to go. I'm using Firefox on a Windows system. Thanks a lot for this Xorlof!! I'm way behind in my card printing and this will save me a ton of time and money once I get caught up. Not that you need the rep but I'm sending some your way anyway.

Firefox is particularly difficult. There are some instructions in the OP, but basically if you...

1) do a print preview, and turn off headers and footers,
2) select scale 100% (NOT 'fit to page'), and then
3) print to a PDF file

...you will see everything should be sized exactly right, (well, within 2/100th of an inch or so anyway). Selecting 'fit to page' by itself will result in cards being a bit undersized.

Only step #2 is required for Internet Explorer, but you can also do step #1 if you don't want to see the headers on the printout. NONE of that is required in Chrome. It gives web developers the control to make everything needed happen automatically.

 

[DanieLoche]

Awesome !

It's not exactly customs, but I think that the add of the army cards from my Picasa Album(s) web should be very useful for us (les Français ^^) . (If you want some help to add cards, I can help also )

And a suggestion : make some filters (per wave & per name at least).

 

[cwidje]

Our prayers have been answered! Thanks, C3G!

Spoiler Alert!

Now, who do I rep for this?!?

*edit* I'm using Chrome & the third card is always being shifted to its own page. Any guesses/suggestions? (I'm still using XP, if that matters.)

 

[MegaSilver]

Awesome Xorlof!

Now unto VC!

 

[A3n]

Great work Xorlof.

BTW I just had a thought that the next project might assist here with the wave grouping.

 

[IAmBatman]

All rep goes to Xorlof on this one! And he deserves a ton!

(Though A3n helped with a lot of the technical stuff too, so rep that guy as well!).

I think I might finally have a good reason to switch over to Chrome!

 

[MegaSilver]

There's been a massive security breach on IE, so you want to switch to Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Opera ASAP.

http://gizmodo.com/new-vulnerabilit...source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow


Also, Xorlof, what does the title mean, anyway?

 

[cwidje]

All rep goes to Xorlof on this one! And he deserves a ton!

(Though A3n helped with a lot of the technical stuff too, so rep that guy as well!).

I think I might finally have a good reason to switch over to Chrome!

I'm out of rep for both...

 

[Xorlof]

It's not exactly customs, but I think that the add of the army cards from my Picasa Album(s) web should be very useful for us (les Français ^^)

Your signature link goes to picassa's "my photos" area, which is *my* photos for me, not *your* pictures as intended. Send me the correct link and I'll have a look!

And a suggestion : make some filters (per wave & per name at least).

Added to the "planned features" section of the OP.

*edit* I'm using Chrome & the third card is always being shifted to its own page. Any guesses/suggestions? (I'm still using XP, if that matters.)

I'll try pulling up an XP box and see if I can replicate this. Does it look like the card would have fit on the first page, but Chrome just decided to bump it to the second?

I've tested it under Windows 7 with Chrome, Firefox, and IE, and OS X (Lion, I think?) in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, but apparently there are cases where there are issues. Hopefully I can replicate them to fix it.

Now unto VC!

Already working on it!

BTW I just had a thought that the next project might assist here with the wave grouping.

Details! ;-)

Also, Xorlof, what does the title mean, anyway?

It means I've not put much thought into naming. What's there was a placeholder that didn't end up getting changed. It is a bit of a nod to Old Time Radio, which I *love* and had a show called X Minus One, but I changed the end to Two for a particular (I think guessable by some) reason...

That said, if anybody has a cool name idea, please let me know!

 

[cwidje]

It's not exactly customs, but I think that the add of the army cards from my Picasa Album(s) web should be very useful for us (les Français ^^)

Your signature link goes to picassa's "my photos" area, which is *my* photos for me, not *your* pictures as intended. Send me the correct link and I'll have a look!

And a suggestion : make some filters (per wave & per name at least).

Added to the "planned features" section of the OP.

*edit* I'm using Chrome & the third card is always being shifted to its own page. Any guesses/suggestions? (I'm still using XP, if that matters.)

I'll try pulling up an XP box and see if I can replicate this. Does it look like the card would have fit on the first page, but Chrome just decided to bump it to the second?

I've tested it under Windows 7 with Chrome, Firefox, and IE, and OS X (Lion, I think?) in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, but apparently there are cases where there are issues. Hopefully I can replicate them to fix it.

Now unto VC!

Already working on it!

BTW I just had a thought that the next project might assist here with the wave grouping.

Details! ;-)

Also, Xorlof, what does the title mean, anyway?

It means I've not put much thought into naming. What's there was a placeholder that didn't end up getting changed. It is a bit of a nod to Old Time Radio, which I *love* and had a show called X Minus One, but I changed the end to Two for a particular (I think guessable by some) reason...

That said, if anybody has a cool name idea, please let me know!

Well, whatever you may have did, it worked! I have absolutely no idea why, since I did nothing different... Thanks, Xorlof!

 

[Xorlof]

Well, whatever you may have did, it worked! I have absolutely no idea why, since I did nothing different... Thanks, Xorlof!

The only way I was able to replicate the problem is to switch Chrome's margin setting from "default" (which is the default ) over to "none." If if you leave all settings alone on the Chrome print page things should continue to work for you.

 

[Smithy Winfred]

Cool stuff, glad to see this got done in time for the new release. Someone might want to think about linking this thread to the first post of the promotions department, just so it doesn't get lost.

EDIT: After trying it out, is there any way to make PDFs using the program? I couldn't find it if there is. I feel like it would be necessary if you get the cards shipped out to be printed (which I do) and I need a PDF/similar file in order to send it to someone. Just a thought

 

[cwidje]

Cool stuff, glad to see this got done in time for the new release. Someone might want to think about linking this thread to the first post of the promotions department, just so it doesn't get lost.

EDIT: After trying it out, is there any way to make PDFs using the program? I couldn't find it if there is. I feel like it would be necessary if you get the cards shipped out to be printed (which I do) and I need a PDF/similar file in order to send it to someone. Just a thought

When selecting where it prints to, click "Save as PDF"

 

[Xorlof]

Cool stuff, glad to see this got done in time for the new release.

It actually came together really quickly. I started work on it April 19, after seeing A3n's post in the Snappleman PDF Generator thread. It seemed like a straightforward project, reasonably well within my wheelhouse, provided if I could get access to the C3G server, which A3n granted. It was ready to be released 4 days later. The old C3G server issue delayed it ultimately getting released until yesterday.

EDIT: After trying it out, is there any way to make PDFs using the program? I couldn't find it if there is. I feel like it would be necessary if you get the cards shipped out to be printed (which I do) and I need a PDF/similar file in order to send it to someone. Just a thought

As cwijde mentioned, if in Chrome, just change the destination to PDF. Otherwise, check the original post of this thread for instructions. Chrome's built-in functionality yields a superior quality PDF, but the other method's PDFs look good too.

 

[lefton4ya]

SWEET! This is way better than my GIMP Script-Fu to Combine any 3 cards 3/page. My I ask what languages and resources did you use to code?

 

[Xorlof]

The server side code is PHP, because it was available and convenient, not because I know it well. The client (web browser) does all of the work composing and laying out the pages, which is entirely handled by CSS rules.

JavaScript is pretty much only used to load the list of cards and add/remove them from the page as needed. That and a couple of other minor things.

This was done in a regular text editor--no IDEs because I don't have a PHP development environment ready to go.

 

[Smithy Winfred]

Cool stuff, glad to see this got done in time for the new release.

It actually came together really quickly. I started work on it April 19, after seeing A3n's post in the Snappleman PDF Generator thread. It seemed like a straightforward project, reasonably well within my wheelhouse, provided if I could get access to the C3G server, which A3n granted. It was ready to be released 4 days later. The old C3G server issue delayed it ultimately getting released until yesterday.

EDIT: After trying it out, is there any way to make PDFs using the program? I couldn't find it if there is. I feel like it would be necessary if you get the cards shipped out to be printed (which I do) and I need a PDF/similar file in order to send it to someone. Just a thought

Thanks a million! Can't wait to get some of the past two releases printed out.
As cwijde mentioned, if in Chrome, just change the destination to PDF. Otherwise, check the original post of this thread for instructions. Chrome's built-in functionality yields a superior quality PDF, but the other method's PDFs look good too.

 

[Dad_Scaper]

Great googley moogley this is awesome. Thanks, Xorlof!

 

[Smithy Winfred]

...Saint Walker hasn't been released, has he? Because he's on the printer...

 

[A3n]

...Saint Walker hasn't been released, has he? Because he's on the printer...

Thanx Smithy, that was probably missed because it was an earlier version as we decided to go with Blue Lantern instead of Saint Walker.