I've had an idea fermenting for a while, and I think I might have a way to move this forward. Please forgive the Frankenstein's monster of a collage I've put together. I had an idea a while back of having an in-flight view, but I was never fully satisfied with the concept, so I never took it forward. I ran into a print company the other day that makes business cards on clear acetate, with 4 colour printing, and it gave me an idea. What if I made pilot cards in a couple sets: backdrops, and cockpits. You pair the two together, layering them one over the other in a clear sleeve, and presto, instant customization for your favourite pilots. this is the concept. Interested to hear what you think.

Jesus! You can't raise the awesomeness forever, can you?

I've had an idea fermenting for a while, and I think I might have a way to move this forward. Please forgive the Frankenstein's monster of a collage I've put together. I had an idea a while back of having an in-flight view, but I was never fully satisfied with the concept, so I never took it forward. I ran into a print company the other day that makes business cards on clear acetate, with 4 colour printing, and it gave me an idea. What if I made pilot cards in a couple sets: backdrops, and cockpits. You pair the two together, layering them one over the other in a clear sleeve, and presto, instant customization for your favourite pilots. this is the concept. Interested to hear what you think.

Jesus! You can't raise the awesomeness forever, can you?

haha thanks, I just need to sort out a method of printing them that works. Lots of places will do clear plastic, but a lot of them require massive print runs, which I can't do, so it's just a bit of a searching process.

It is difficult for my mind to come to terms with how awesome this would be.

I should add as well that this is also an option, although of course the transparency of the cards becomes critical. I'll try it when I finish arrangements with a printer.

I should add as well that this is also an option, although of course the transparency of the cards becomes critical. I'll try it when I finish arrangements with a printer.

You've taken this to a whole new level! Such a cool idea!

I've had an idea fermenting for a while, and I think I might have a way to move this forward. Please forgive the Frankenstein's monster of a collage I've put together. I had an idea a while back of having an in-flight view, but I was never fully satisfied with the concept, so I never took it forward. I ran into a print company the other day that makes business cards on clear acetate, with 4 colour printing, and it gave me an idea. What if I made pilot cards in a couple sets: backdrops, and cockpits. You pair the two together, layering them one over the other in a clear sleeve, and presto, instant customization for your favourite pilots. this is the concept. Interested to hear what you think.

Feasibility idea:

You make your own side art cards and leave the overlay template clear where ever it falls over the stats of the ship. So a side art card is card 1 and then you put a clear overlay on it that allows the stats to be viewed through it and perspectively puts you in the cockpit. You would then only need to keep the overlay generic to each faction (ball cockpit layout for Empire) and flat canopied (for Rebel and Scum) and print 2 cards (AA side art and clear cockpit overlay) instead of 3. Means less smaller individual ship runs and larger print runs for the clear card as you would print one clear ball cockpit to cover most of the Empire faction.

You could also do a clear overly for the standard cards as well (wouldn't look as nice but same reasoning as above)

This layering works with side art cards and makes them look awesome. Are you going to do an x-wing cockpit overlay? (BTW this overlay idea is new and falls under game accessory so you could print and sell these!)

one more idea. Print company may allow me to print with inline foil, which would let me print holographics such as this:

Seriously, though. Where do I hand in my kidney? I'm Irish, so it's especially resilient to alcohol. Is some of my liver needed as a deposit?

Seriously, though. Where do I hand in my kidney? I'm Irish, so it's especially resilient to alcohol. Is some of my liver needed as a deposit?

I'm going to get some made, and once I do, and know the process, I'll go about figuring out how to get them out. I can't sell them or recoup costs in any way, so it just takes some planning, as I'm a student on a budget

holy F-K I'm in love.

sometime you've just got an idea, an itch you have to scratch. This was one of them. It's a bazillion miles off, it's only a very fast sketch to get the idea off my chest.
For those interested, project order is (with some large overlap, I tend to have two seriously on the go at once):

1. Fenn Rau
2. Old Teroch + 3. This card below
4. Keyan Farlander + 5. Gold cards
6. Interface cards

Seriously, though. Where do I hand in my kidney? I'm Irish, so it's especially resilient to alcohol. Is some of my liver needed as a deposit?

I'm going to get some made, and once I do, and know the process, I'll go about figuring out how to get them out. I can't sell them or recoup costs in any way, so it just takes some planning, as I'm a student on a budget

I"m wondering if there's a way for a bunch of us that follow you and love your work to send you a donation to be able to get them printed seeing as your a student on a budget. If there's a way to do that without it counting as you selling them I would be willing to do that, it's sounds like some others here would be too!

I"m wondering if there's a way for a bunch of us that follow you and love your work to send you a donation to be able to get them printed seeing as your a student on a budget. If there's a way to do that without it counting as you selling them I would be willing to do that, it's sounds like some others here would be too!

I'd be all for it. I don't have any need or want to profit from it.

Dilemma

on standard cardstock, you can get 18 printed for around 20 dollars after shipping if you did the printing on your own. But it works really well, so all you need are the full bleed files. I really like this idea, I want people to use these cards if I like them, I make them for fun anyway. So it's not going to be an issue to give out print files, and the prototyping costs for me are low.

For fancier stuff like this:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/16/31349652652_734b2f9cae_z.jpg

You need to have a minimum print run of at least 500 cards. Custom setups using special effect inks or printing on holographic stocks is 100% out of the range of most people to do on their own, so it wouldn't even matter if I polished up some great print files to give out, people would still not be able to do them unless they themselves ran a print run of 500 (or depending on the layout 1000) on their own.

FFG clearly doesn't mind third party stuff in any way, I mean, there was just a podcast with Team Covenant who advertised their tokens and rules right in front of Frank and Alex who didn't bat an eyelid! And the plethora of third party stuff sold at tournaments adding to that. But Disney sued the pants off Space Rocks, and Disney holds the IP rights, not FFG. So I don't want to do anything illegal, and I checked with a lawyer friend, and although 20 card print runs is peanuts, 1000-card runs starts getting into more serious territory. I think technically they have to issue a C and D if they know about it, but I don't know. It's a third-party game accessory, and long as as the website where you get these things is clearly not for profit and also clearly not official, is it something nobody will take issue with? not sure.

(TLDR) Path forward

(and if you can think of a better alternative I'm all for it!!) is this.

Setting up something similar to SirWillis Workshop.

-Give away the files for free

-if you like it there's a tip jar

-tips are funneled directly into new projects and the prototyping costs

-In cases of large print run projects, when tips reach a certain point I can test out the prototyping of fancy holographic or plastic based clear cards as shown above and just mail them out in a big raffle to people.

food for thought.

I don't think I posted this here yet,

Nicholas Stohlman was the original artist on this, I was thinking it might be nice to convert some of the art used on the upgrade cards into full art cards similar to the ones they give out at tournaments.

I'll work on the interface so it's modifiable and then it should be easier to use it for any card. Just toying with some ideas here, it would need some more work to be print-ready, but it's nice to envision what it might look like.

50% done WIP
(anatomy and pose updated and refined.)

starting shading:

It may be worth pointing out that Fenn's armour has greaves...

It may be worth pointing out that Fenn's armour has greaves...

yea, absolutely!

The lower leg, also the pilot straps on the legs I haven't roughed in yet. I'm using this sheet from the TV show for references

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsrebels/images/6/61/The_Protector_of_the_Concord_Dawn_Concept_Art_03.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20160128015247

It may be worth pointing out that Fenn's armour has greaves...

yea, absolutely!

The lower leg, also the pilot straps on the legs I haven't roughed in yet. I'm using this sheet from the TV show for references

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsrebels/images/6/61/The_Protector_of_the_Concord_Dawn_Concept_Art_03.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20160128015247

That's how I know

blocking:

I cannot express in words how much I love your horizontal format.

But not seeing my most beloved 'Echo' in your to-do list, saddens me a little.

Simply amazing. What material did you print these cards on?

I cannot express in words how much I love your horizontal format.

But not seeing my most beloved 'Echo' in your to-do list, saddens me a little.

I have a drafted plan for an echo card funny enough, it's just I've got these to get through first!

Simply amazing. What material did you print these cards on?

I used 330gsm cardstock, but I've heard good things about plastic.

Love that he is cool as a cucumber. +1

I cannot express in words how much I love your horizontal format.

But not seeing my most beloved 'Echo' in your to-do list, saddens me a little.

I have a drafted plan for an echo card funny enough, it's just I've got these to get through first!

Amazing news. Take your time. Keep polishing and refining your technique to make the most awesome "Echo" card ever.