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Terminology

TitleCardMaker uses many specific terms throughout this documentation and within TCM itself. Most of these will be explained as your progress through the tutorial, but to help alleviate some confusion (and to serve as a reference), here are the core concepts:

Title Card

The core "thing" which TCM revolves around. These are customized images which are the output of (created by) TCM. These are files which exist on your server in the config/cards directory1.

Source Image

An un-customized "raw" image from TMDb, Plex, etc. which TCM takes as inputs. You can think of these as the background of a Title Card on which TCM adds layers of text, images, effects, etc. to create a finished Title Card. These are files which exist on your server in the config/source directory.

Card Type

A specific type (or layout) of Title Card. Generally, two different card types can be easily visually distinguished, and each card type will have a unique set of customizations (called extras) which can be used to adjust the look of the Card.

Example

For example, the follow images are two different card types - the Tinted Frame and the Anime card type.

As different types, each card allows unique customization. For example, the Tinted Frame card type gives options to adjust aspects of Frame, while the Anime card type has can have Japanese kanji added to it.

Font (or Named Font)

A set of custom properties - such as color, size, spacing, etc. - which can be created and customized within TCM to change some aspect of the text appearance on a Title Card. Fonts are defined in the TCM database, but any custom Font files live in the config/assets/fonts directory.

Template

A grouping of Title Card settings which makes editing the appearance of multiple Series at once easier. This can be thought of as a way to copy-paste settings.

Sync

This can be used as a noun or verb. A Sync (noun) is an object which defines how how to add Series to TCM automatically by communicating with Emby, Jellyfin, Plex, or Sonarr. To Sync (verb) is the act of "running" a Sync and communicating with Emby, Jellyfin, Plex, or Sonarr to add new Series.

Blueprint

A pre-made set of card customizations for a specific Series. These are created and submitted by TCM users with the idea of making and sharing Title Card customizations easier. These can contain Fonts, Templates, and even Source Images. Blueprints are imported directly within TCM.

Confused?

If a specific idea is not 100% clear to you, it is often far easier to learn by using TCM, rather than reading about it. There is very little downside to simply playing around with TCM. If you'd like, you can also ask for help on the Discord.

  1. By default, this can be changed. ↩