Joes Shop  | 19 Nov 2012 2:48 p.m. PST |
Looking for shareware or inexpensive program for making my own counters for use as 'markers', etc. in miniature games. Thanks in advance for any assistance! Regards, J. P. Kelly |
 Waco Joe | 19 Nov 2012 2:55 p.m. PST |
A good starting place:
link And if you are good at photoshop clones there is GIMO
link |
| Major Bumsore | 19 Nov 2012 2:55 p.m. PST |
OpenOffice Draw.
It's free! |
| Cherno | 19 Nov 2012 3:30 p.m. PST |
"And if you are good at photoshop clones there is GIMO
link" It's called GIMP, of course ;) I second the suggestion of using a dedicated graphics editing program like GMIP or even Photoshop if you can get your hands on a cheap copy. I made a lot of custom counters for my board and miniature games; I typically print them to glossy or matte photo paper and then glue it to 1.5mm finn board before cutting. I wish I had a laser or die cutting machine! :D |
| normsmith | 20 Nov 2012 2:53 a.m. PST |
Suggest an older version of Serif's DrawPlus, really cheap but very capable. I'm on version x4 and it does all my DTP stuff. |
| 1815Guy | 20 Nov 2012 1:05 p.m. PST |
Yes Serif is good. They are in Nottingham iirc. |
| Joes Shop | 20 Nov 2012 3:04 p.m. PST |
Thanks to all who responded! Regards, J. P. Kelly |
pellen  | 23 Nov 2012 12:57 p.m. PST |
I recommend Inkscape. It's a free vector drawing application that is really easy to work with. Also I made a free extension for it to make countersheets, so if you get bored with manually doing the layout and entering values for every counter, you can just draw a template and read in values from a spreadsheet. More on boardgamegeek. I just released a 2.0-prerelease that could use some more testing. ;) link |
| Last Hussar | 24 Nov 2012 3:47 p.m. PST |
What sort of counters? I've made lots of good ones using Word and Paint. Never got the hang of GIMP etc May I make a further suggestion. Get a pack of self adhesive vinyl floor tiles. – 30cm/12" square. When you print off the sheet of counters stick them to the tile, cover in clear sticky back plastic and chop up (the last bit being the hardest). Gives a good weight to them. |
| Lfseeney | 27 Nov 2012 3:18 a.m. PST |
Cyberboard is good for making prototypes as well, might want to take a look. Lee |
| John D Salt | 09 Dec 2012 8:34 a.m. PST |
Margard wrote:
OpenOffice Draw.
It's free!
Seconded. I've tried the freebie Serif DrawPlus, and after a day ro two went back to OpenOffice. There isn't really that much you need you need to be able to do to produce counters -- it's just pictures and writing in boxes. I use an inkjet printer on plain A4 paper, fix the paper to grayboard using spraymount or UHU, and cut by hand, but a decent cutter would probably be a more sensible investment than more software. All the best, John. |
