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Blueprints

Blueprints

Blueprints can be viewed as amped-up Templates. These are ready-made collections of cards configurations that apply to a single Series. Blueprints allow for importing a pre-made customization for a Series, and can include any of the following:

  • Named Fonts - e.g. Fonts with files
  • Templates
  • Series customizations
  • Episode customizations
  • Source Files - e.g. logos, masks, Source Images, etc.

Example

Don't want to spend an hour of your life combing through the Pokémon Wikipedia in order to determine which specific Episodes apply to which specific seasons? Blueprints allow you to just take the hour of my work and apply everything with the click of a button.

All Blueprints are hosted on the companion repository and anyone can (and is encouraged to!) submit a Blueprint for availability across all of TCM. This process is described below.

Viewing Blueprints

There are two main ways of browsing Blueprints.

  1. Searching for the available Blueprints for a specific Series. This is done by going to the Blueprints tab on a Series' page.

  2. Viewing all available Blueprints for all Series. These are accessed by going to the new/add Series page.

Some Blueprints will also have multiple preview images. This will be indicated by a slight animation when the preview is hovered over. Clicking on the image will then cycle through the available previews.

Importing Blueprints

Note about Font Files

If the Blueprint has any Named Fonts that include custom font files, you might be prompted to download the Font file from a 3rd party website. This is sometimes required as a Font's license might not allow it to be redistributed by TitleCardMaker.

TCM will import the rest of the Font customizations for you, so just be sure to upload the Font files before you start Title Card creation.

By Series

To import a Blueprint for a Series, simply open the Series' page and then open the Blueprints tab. Click Search, and TCM will look for any available Blueprints for this Series. If any are available, a preview will show the details.

On this card will be a preview of the Blueprint, as well as what customizations will be imported. This can be any number of Fonts, Templates, or Episode overrides.

After picking the Blueprint you like, simply click Import and TCM will download and apply the Blueprint for you. Once it is completed, the page will refresh.

After a Blueprint has been imported, you are free to make any edits to the Series, Templates, or Fonts as you see fit. TitleCardMaker will not override your changes with the Blueprint settings unless you prompt it to do so by re-importing the Blueprint.

Browsing

If you'd like to browse all available Blueprints, go to the new Series page (the /add URL) and scroll down to the Blueprints section. After clicking Browse Blueprints, preview cards for each Blueprint will be shown.

This is covered in greater detail here.

Sharing your own Blueprint

In order to help other TitleCardMaker users, it is encouraged to share any Blueprints you think would be valuable to others. This process is designed to be as easy as possible.

Submission Checklist

If you just want a quick checklist of what to do for your Blueprint submission, see below:

  • Export your Blueprint within the TCM UI.
  • Choose an effective preview image.
  • Create an issue on the Blueprints repository (this should be started for you).
  • Fill out the issue form's required data:
    • Series name, year, your username, and the description
    • Copy/paste the contents of the exported blueprint.json file in the Blueprint File field.
    • Upload and verify any Font files' licenses permit the files to be shared - if not, see below.
    • Include any Source Images in a .zip and make mention of them in the description.

Exporting the Data

Once you've customized a Series' Cards to 🤌 perfection, open it's page in TitleCardMaker, and then go to the Blueprints tab. Click the Export button, and TCM will do a few things:

  1. If the Series (or any linked Templates or Episodes) have a Named Font it will copy any Font files

  2. Search for and copy a random available1 Title Card for the Series

  3. Convert the Series, Templates, Fonts, and Episode customizations into a Blueprint "object" written as JSON

  4. All of the above data is bundled (and sub-bundled) into a .zip file and downloaded through your browser

  5. Finally, TCM will open a new tab to GitHub and begin filling out the Blueprint submission form (if you are logged in).

It is important to note that TCM cannot automatically detect when a Source Image should be included in a Blueprint export. Because of this you will need to manually copy and zip the files you would like included.

Editing the Blueprint

Before submitting the Blueprint to the repository, it's best to double-check the data in the Blueprint submission.

  1. Review that the preview images are appropriate, and representative of the Blueprint. You may also include multiple previews if the Blueprint has various different styles. If you are submitting multiple Blueprints for the same Series, I recommend selecting different preview Cards so there is variation.

    No Preview Image Present?

    If TCM did not include a preview file in the zip, then there were no valid Cards for it to export. You can use an existing Card in its place, but make sure it is of high quality and is not blurred or grayscale.

    Changing the Preview

    TCM only automatically chooses a Card for you in order to be helpful. You can pick any Card you'd like for the preview.

  2. Verify the actual contents of the Blueprint. Any customizations can be edited, removed, or adjusted. But to prevent any errors, it's best to edit these values within TCM itself and then just re-export the Blueprint.

  3. Verify the Licenses for any exported Font files. Please only upload the file if the author's license is listed as open and/or free for public (non-commercial) use and distribution.

    If the Font is public, then you are free to include the Font file itself inside the Blueprint. Please take note (either the URL or a screenshot) of the License to be included in the Issue if needed.

    If the Font is not public, do not include the Font file in the Blueprint. Remove reference to this file from the blueprint.json file, and you can include a URL where TCM users can find the Font themselves under the file_download_url field. For example:

    blueprint.json
    {
    "series": {},
    "episodes": {},
    "templates": [],
    "fonts": [
        {
            "name": "Better Call Saul",
            "file": "script-casual-normal.ttf", // (1)!
            "file_download_url": "https://www.google.com/" // (2)!
        }
    ]
}
    1. Delete this line.
    2. Add this line with the URL for your specific Font.

    If you cannot find the applicable license for a Font, assume the Font is not public and follow those instructions.

  4. Grab any Source Images that are instrumental to the Blueprint (this is most often a logo file) and zip them into a .zip file.

Submitting the Blueprint

With this Blueprint, the next (and final) step is to submit it to the Blueprints repository.

  1. Open a new issue on the Blueprints GitHub repository (this might have been started for you).

  2. Fill out the form with the relevant information.

  3. Paste the contents of the exported blueprint.json file into the Blueprint File field.

  4. If your Blueprints includes any custom Font files:

    If your Blueprint does not have any custom Font files, you can skip this step.

    If you have at least one Font file - then you need to drag/drop or attach that zipped file into the Zip of Font Files field.

    Why is this necessary?

    This is required because GitHub only allows directly uploading files of specific extensions, and Font extensions are not on that list.

  5. Upload the preview Title Card(s) into the Preview Title Cards section of the form.

  6. Click the Submit new issue button.

Success

After the issue is created, there is an automated action that will validate your submission (check for syntax errors, bad file uploads, missing preview, etc.). If this passes, then your work is done and the Blueprint will be available within TCM shortly.

Sets

Blueprints can also be part of Blueprint Sets. These are simply groups of Blueprints which are all associated with each other. For example:

Viewing Sets

When a Series is associated with a Set, it will be noted on the Blueprint on either the Series page, or the main Blueprint browser.

Creating a Set

If you would like to create a Set with some of your existing Blueprints, this can be done through the repository, just like creating a new Blueprint.

  1. Create a new issue.

  2. Give the set some title - e.g. "Marvel Cinematic Universe".

  3. Identify which Series and Blueprints you want to add to this Set, and navigate to them in the main repository folder structure.

    1. After you've found the Series, go to the numbered subfolder for the Blueprint - you should now see a blueprint.json file (along with some other files).

    2. Click Ctrl+Shift+. (Cmd+Shift+. on MacOS) to copy the path of this folder.

  4. Paste the path you just copied into the Blueprints section of the form.

    Example

    The path should start with blueprints/ and end with some number. For example:

    blueprints/M/Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)/0

  5. Repeat steps 3-4 for each Blueprint you want to add, making sure to put each Blueprint on a new line. You must specify at least two Blueprints.

    Got them all?

    Double check you have added all the Blueprints you want in the Set. Currently there is no "automated" way to add existing Blueprints to a Set after it's been created - meaning I will need to manually edit the database.

  6. Click the Submit new issue button.

Success

After the issue is created, there is an automated action that will validate your submission. If this passes, then your work is done and the Set will be available within TCM shortly.

Adding to a Set

If you are submitting a new Blueprint and would like to add this to an existing Set, then find the Set ID from the table at the bottom of the main repository README. Specify this ID in the Blueprint submission form when you are filling it out.

  1. TCM will only grab Title Cards that are not blurred or grayscale, and not any Cards from Specials (season 0). ↩