Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
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- Shteve0
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Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Hi all
I've recently been mucking around with Artscow as a printing service and last month tried out a printed pitch on a product they sell as door mats. Here's a quick look at the result; I wasn't disappointed (though in my latest design I've used bigger squares and abandoned the embedded dugouts).
The material is half rubber, half some sort of wiry felt. It's real purpose at point of manufacture is as a doormat, and it's apparently cleanable with hot soapy water without losing any of the colour. Certainly it feels robust and permanent enough.
The bottom layer is rubberised and non-slip, so good for pub tables. It's not likely to get accidentally bumped, at least.
The top layer is ever so slightly glossy. I honestly don't know how to describe this stuff... it's like a compacted fibre, sort of a soft version of the scouring side of a dish sponge. It's got a satisfyingly grass like quality to it. Frankly, it’s *much* more awesome in real life than this picture communicates…
Finally, size. My original print was slightly smaller than a full sized blood bowl pitch, as necessitated by the inclusion of dugouts alongside the main pitch. A full BB field averages 29mm width squares; the squares in the copy pictured are between 26mm and 27mm. Overall it doesn't feel too small for 25mm and 30mm bases, but it's probably not ideal to be running with a load of 40mm bases on this thing (though that's also true of the boxed pitch). With that in mind I’ve revisited the design and built in an increase in the size of the squares to a little over 28mm for the templated version available from artscow.
Since printing the test copy out, I've actually created a series of templates to allow anyone else interested in getting their hands on one of these to choose from a range of preset colour combinations, add their own logo and order a custom pitch directly. The mat is usually US$30 plus delivery, but there's often a special deal on that brings that down significantly, and at the moment that deal is 20% off and free shipping on everything in the artscow store (Coupon Code: MDYRSALE14, Expiry Date: 27/06/2014).
So, if anyone else out there is keen to try out what amounts to a pretty cost efficient pitch option, here's how to get your hands on one of your own.
1) Visit my gallery link below. Pick a colour set you like, then you can either print as is, or you can add a logo. NB: Chrome doesn't work for this part, you need microsoft silverlight and internet explorer.
http://www.artscow.com/user/steve-arthurs-1949339
2) To add a logo, edit your chosen template before adding to cart.
You'll be taken to a screen that looks a bit like this. Upload your logo using the Album tab in the top right hand corner. At this point you're probably going to want to zoom out of the pitch so you can see what you're doing. Use the slider in the top left hand corner.
Then, select and drag your logo from the right hand pane to the green box in the middle of the pitch. Make sure your image has a transparent background if it's not square.
If you want to muck around with the logo further, you'll need to dig into the layers. Click on the main area of the pitch and "send to back" using the editor bar (pictured bottom right). You should then be able to alter the image freely, moving it up or down, zooming in or out etc (see the final screenshot). If you do though, remember to check you're happy with the layer order at the end of editing; besides the background of the pitch itself, you'll need to ensure the small crosses and pitch markings are the right way round (my preference is crosses on the top, logo second and pitch markings last).
When you're done, scroll back to the top of the page and hit the big red "add to cart" button.
Enjoy! Hope this is useful to somebody somewhere! If you get stuck and need some pointers, just ask and I'll help if I can.
Cheers
I've recently been mucking around with Artscow as a printing service and last month tried out a printed pitch on a product they sell as door mats. Here's a quick look at the result; I wasn't disappointed (though in my latest design I've used bigger squares and abandoned the embedded dugouts).
The material is half rubber, half some sort of wiry felt. It's real purpose at point of manufacture is as a doormat, and it's apparently cleanable with hot soapy water without losing any of the colour. Certainly it feels robust and permanent enough.
The bottom layer is rubberised and non-slip, so good for pub tables. It's not likely to get accidentally bumped, at least.
The top layer is ever so slightly glossy. I honestly don't know how to describe this stuff... it's like a compacted fibre, sort of a soft version of the scouring side of a dish sponge. It's got a satisfyingly grass like quality to it. Frankly, it’s *much* more awesome in real life than this picture communicates…
Finally, size. My original print was slightly smaller than a full sized blood bowl pitch, as necessitated by the inclusion of dugouts alongside the main pitch. A full BB field averages 29mm width squares; the squares in the copy pictured are between 26mm and 27mm. Overall it doesn't feel too small for 25mm and 30mm bases, but it's probably not ideal to be running with a load of 40mm bases on this thing (though that's also true of the boxed pitch). With that in mind I’ve revisited the design and built in an increase in the size of the squares to a little over 28mm for the templated version available from artscow.
Since printing the test copy out, I've actually created a series of templates to allow anyone else interested in getting their hands on one of these to choose from a range of preset colour combinations, add their own logo and order a custom pitch directly. The mat is usually US$30 plus delivery, but there's often a special deal on that brings that down significantly, and at the moment that deal is 20% off and free shipping on everything in the artscow store (Coupon Code: MDYRSALE14, Expiry Date: 27/06/2014).
So, if anyone else out there is keen to try out what amounts to a pretty cost efficient pitch option, here's how to get your hands on one of your own.
1) Visit my gallery link below. Pick a colour set you like, then you can either print as is, or you can add a logo. NB: Chrome doesn't work for this part, you need microsoft silverlight and internet explorer.
http://www.artscow.com/user/steve-arthurs-1949339
2) To add a logo, edit your chosen template before adding to cart.
You'll be taken to a screen that looks a bit like this. Upload your logo using the Album tab in the top right hand corner. At this point you're probably going to want to zoom out of the pitch so you can see what you're doing. Use the slider in the top left hand corner.
Then, select and drag your logo from the right hand pane to the green box in the middle of the pitch. Make sure your image has a transparent background if it's not square.
If you want to muck around with the logo further, you'll need to dig into the layers. Click on the main area of the pitch and "send to back" using the editor bar (pictured bottom right). You should then be able to alter the image freely, moving it up or down, zooming in or out etc (see the final screenshot). If you do though, remember to check you're happy with the layer order at the end of editing; besides the background of the pitch itself, you'll need to ensure the small crosses and pitch markings are the right way round (my preference is crosses on the top, logo second and pitch markings last).
When you're done, scroll back to the top of the page and hit the big red "add to cart" button.
Enjoy! Hope this is useful to somebody somewhere! If you get stuck and need some pointers, just ask and I'll help if I can.
Cheers
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- Loki
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Hmm this seems a bit intresting.
Good job on the templates Shteve0 but if you wanted a background other than the 'worn grass' does anyone have any links to image files of the right sort of resolution to use as backgrounds. I know I have seen 'printable' pitch files before.
D
Good job on the templates Shteve0 but if you wanted a background other than the 'worn grass' does anyone have any links to image files of the right sort of resolution to use as backgrounds. I know I have seen 'printable' pitch files before.
D
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- Shteve0
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
If you find a texture you like, I'd be more than happy to knock together a mockup template for you
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- Milo
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Very nice design, Shteve0. How does it roll/fold up? Is it heavy?
And can you upload versions of your template in red/yellow and blue/yellow?
And can you upload versions of your template in red/yellow and blue/yellow?
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- Milo
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Connexion, as he noted, with the current code shipping is free:
The mat is usually US$30 plus delivery, but there's often a special deal on that brings that down significantly, and at the moment that deal is 20% off and free shipping on everything in the artscow store (Coupon Code: MDYRSALE14, Expiry Date: 27/06/2014).
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- DixonCider
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
very cool! we had a local company do pitches for our tournament and everyone loved them. we may have to try this company next summer though
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- ChenZhen
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Very cool! Thanks for sharing it with the community!
We were looking at options for our league, and had seen some roll up battlemats on mouse pad like material. This seems to be a good option, for a great price.
Are there bigger options that could handle 40mm or even 35mm squares? I'll poke around on the site later (but at work right now).
We were looking at options for our league, and had seen some roll up battlemats on mouse pad like material. This seems to be a good option, for a great price.
Are there bigger options that could handle 40mm or even 35mm squares? I'll poke around on the site later (but at work right now).
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- Shteve0
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Pretty satisfyingly heavy, yes. They're fairly dense and robust but still very easy to transport. I'll try and weigh one a bit later. Rolling it up is fine (after a couple of weeks in transit it still kept a tiny bit of the rolled shape - see the image) but that flattened out in a day or two and didn't affect play. It's also fine to fold, though again after a day in transit with a tight fold a slight ridge was left in the material on unrolling.Milo wrote:Very nice design, Shteve0. How does it roll/fold up? Is it heavy?
Sure! I'll get on that in the next day or twoMilo wrote:And can you upload versions of your template in red/yellow and blue/yellow?
Excellent! Keen to hear and see those ideasconnexion wrote:Hadn't noticed the free shipping bit of the code! Holy crap, may just have ideas for a couple of fields!
Thanks man. It was actually inspired by Eucbowl getting something similar done for a tournament a couple of years back. I don't think there's any real difference between this material and the rubber-underside bar runner material they used, but I can't be sure without comparing the two side-by-side.burgun824 wrote:That's a pretty sweet idea ShteveO.
I did look at similar offerings from local printing firms but even at 10 copies of a pitch they looked like ending up around NZ$100 each. These are about NZ$30 each at the moment including delivery, so it's a massive saving. Obviously that offer code isn't going to last forever, but "free delivery" is a regular discount offering, so I imagine there will be a deal to be had whenever you come to pick some up.DixonCider wrote:very cool! we had a local company do pitches for our tournament and everyone loved them. we may have to try this company next summer though
Sadly not - the 30" long mat is the largest they have and I've used as much space as possible with these designs without encroaching on the bleed area. They have smaller mats though, and I have designs in the pipeline for a sevens pitch ($16 at current discount) and a streetbowl pitch ($16) as well as some dugouts.ChenZhen wrote:Are there bigger options that could handle 40mm or even 35mm squares? I'll poke around on the site later (but at work right now).
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- Shteve0
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
For info, I've just emailed Sp0n with a request to include his pitchside advertising in the background image. Watch this space...
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- Milo
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Shteve0, if I can make another suggestion: make a mat and include as many dugouts as possible on it, for someone to order and cut them out themselves. Then you could remove the turn and reroll counter spaces from the main board and replace them with score markers and a scatter table.
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- mzukerman
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
Oh come on, after reading this, who doesn't want a Blood Bowl pitch as a doormat? No offense Shteve0 - it's a great design. But I think you're missing the boat here. We need Blood Bowl Bling! Doormats, mazzuzahs, flags to hang outside, planter pots - oh my Nuffle, Garden Gnomes!!!!! This is a gold mine waiting to happen!
BTW, it is a cool pitch, but I'd use it as a doormat for the conversation starter...
BTW, it is a cool pitch, but I'd use it as a doormat for the conversation starter...
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- Myrmedon
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Re: Custom Pitches - US$24 delivered Worldwide
My artistic kung fu is rather limited on these type of things, any chance someone can knock up a place mat / bar mat sized dug out template?
Good work there SteveO been on the look out for a new board.
Good work there SteveO been on the look out for a new board.
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