[CatherineB]

I am looking for a program that will allow me to make playing cards both front and back. I have tried doing so with the program I have now, but I just cannot get the front and back of the 'cards' to line up so that when I cut them out they actually look like a card.

I just don't know if there is a program that will do this, and if there is, if it will be free. Does anyone know of any program that will do this? Or have any suggestions that work in Fireworks on how to do this (an OLD version of fireworks, 97 I believe)

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I just didn't know where else to put it.

[Kirby]

Playing cards as in like 9 of clubs? Or like a trading card type? If its a trading card, use this: http://www.readwrite.../trading_cards/ Its really for a school project, but I think its decent.

[CatherineB]

I will check it out. The cards aren't like the 52 pack or uno or anything like that, but rather for an old game that we haven't been able to find another one of. It is called optile and we like to play it occasionally but both boards and cards are not in good shape. the boards are useable, but the cards are practically in pieces so I want to try to make new ones. With the frequency we play the game, they don't have to be able to withstand a lot, I just want to be able to line the front and back of the cards up so I don't have to glue anything.

thanks for the link and I will let you know if it works :) Just checked it out, and it wouldn't work. but thanks for helping.

I have tried lining the cards (well placeholders for the cards) up but I think either my printer or my program resizes the images to fit on a page and I haven't figured out how to line things up *grr*

[Valen]

GIMP is a free image manipulation program, like photoshop or paint shop pro. About the same learning curve, too.

Edited to add: Whatever program you use, it helps to set it up to display measurements in inches instead of pixels if you're intending to do artwork for a specific size when printed. That way you know exactly how large it should be when you're ready to print. Also, print preview never hurts, especially if you require a specific layout (for folding or whatever), so you can see before wasting ink and paper if it's set up correctly.

This post has been edited by Valen: 13 April 2011 - 06:59 PM

[CatherineB]

Valen, on 13 April 2011 - 06:48 PM, said:

GIMP is a free image manipulation program, like photoshop or paint shop pro. About the same learning curve, too.

Does it allow you to make front and back images lined up? I already have an image manipulation program i know how to use, but I just can't get the front and back images lined up. I have tried, but I don't know whether it is my printer or fireworks, but one oft he two seems to be resizing the image or manipulating the margins so they don't line up properly.

Thanks for the tips. :) I have been doing it in inches when I can. The pages I am trying to print should be smaller than a standard piece of paper. I also managed to find print preview in fireworks, but that doesn't really help me a whole lot. I have just never tried doing something like this before and am just not sure how to go about it.

[Valen]

CatherineB, on 13 April 2011 - 07:00 PM, said:

Does it allow you to make front and back images lined up? I already have an image manipulation program i know how to use, but I just can't get the front and back images lined up. I have tried, but I don't know whether it is my printer or fireworks, but one oft he two seems to be resizing the image or manipulating the margins so they don't line up properly.

I'm guessing your flipping the paper around and printing on the back after printing on the front? Been a while since I've used fireworks, so I can't recall if it uses layers. GIMP does. Make a new layer on top of the old, to make sure they're in exactly the same spot, then hide whatever layer you don't want printed on that side.

IE: Have one layer called cardback, and put the design for the back of your card on it. Then create a new layer (which will automatically be transparent), call it something like cardfront, and put whatever design you need. You can click the layer to show or hide, or you can adjust it's opacity temporarily, to make sure the two are still lined up correctly. Do the same thing when you're printing, hiding cardfront when printing the back, and then hiding cardback when printing the front. It should print in exactly the same spot, provided you're careful when you re-insert the paper so that it's not going in tilted or anything.

Hope I've helped more than confused >.> Like I said, it's been a while since I've looked at fireworks, but if you're using a '97 version, you might want to consider giving GIMP a try. It's got a lot of features that a '97 version of any program wouldn't. And there are tons of tutorials on the web to help you out.

[CatherineB]

Valen, on 13 April 2011 - 07:27 PM, said:

CatherineB, on 13 April 2011 - 07:00 PM, said:

Does it allow you to make front and back images lined up? I already have an image manipulation program i know how to use, but I just can't get the front and back images lined up. I have tried, but I don't know whether it is my printer or fireworks, but one oft he two seems to be resizing the image or manipulating the margins so they don't line up properly.

I'm guessing your flipping the paper around and printing on the back after printing on the front? Been a while since I've used fireworks, so I can't recall if it uses layers. GIMP does. Make a new layer on top of the old, to make sure they're in exactly the same spot, then hide whatever layer you don't want printed on that side.

IE: Have one layer called cardback, and put the design for the back of your card on it. Then create a new layer (which will automatically be transparent), call it something like cardfront, and put whatever design you need. You can click the layer to show or hide, or you can adjust it's opacity temporarily, to make sure the two are still lined up correctly. Do the same thing when you're printing, hiding cardfront when printing the back, and then hiding cardback when printing the front. It should print in exactly the same spot, provided you're careful when you re-insert the paper so that it's not going in tilted or anything.

Hope I've helped more than confused >.> Like I said, it's been a while since I've looked at fireworks, but if you're using a '97 version, you might want to consider giving GIMP a try. It's got a lot of features that a '97 version of any program wouldn't. And there are tons of tutorials on the web to help you out.

Thanks I have tried that and yes Fireworks does have layers and frames. One thing that might be the problem is with the paper not being inserted properly. Thanks for that, I will have to check that out.

I have considered gimp, but I know how to use FW and I am on dialup and I think last I checked gimp was a larger download and so it was never really worth it for what I do, which lately isn't much with FW.

I will try that and see if that is the problem. I might have just had the paper holder not the correct side.

EDIT: I really shouldn't try to do stuff if I haven't had a good nights sleep, I just tightened the paper holder and while there is some discrepancy, it is not enough to cause problems. It looks like I have to fiddle with the margins some, but not much. *sigh*

anyways thanks for the help and mentioning the paper thing. And one of these days I will try Gimp out. I have heard of it a LOT :)

[User221]

To a certain extent the ability to print exactly on both front and back might vary on the printer you're using.

My only suggestion is this...Let's say you have six cards that could fit per page. If you were to create a template of those six cards that were equidistant all around the edges and symmetrical wouldn't it be possible to just print on one side and then print on the other and adjust the template as needed?

The reason why I suggest it is because I used to do a lot of printing with oddball paper designs.

[CatherineB]

User221, on 13 April 2011 - 09:17 PM, said:

To a certain extent the ability to print exactly on both front and back might vary on the printer you're using.

My only suggestion is this...Let's say you have six cards that could fit per page. If you were to create a template of those six cards that were equidistant all around the edges and symmetrical wouldn't it be possible to just print on one side and then print on the other and adjust the template as needed?

The reason why I suggest it is because I used to do a lot of printing with oddball paper designs.

That is what I was trying to do, I have a design with 13 cards on it (the cards I am trying to duplicate aren't that large). I found out that my templates are good. I just needed to adjust the paper holder to the width of the page. I had it apparently just a little bit larger than the standard size of a paper. I adjusted it to just barely larger than the paper, in fact it might even be just slightly smaller. When I then printed a sample page the two sides were almost exactly even. There was some difference, but it was so slight that I can live with it.

thanks for the suggestions and help. Like I said, I really need to stop trying to do things while I am still asleep. It never even occurred to me yesterday that hte problem was with the paper position rather than the program.