Throughout this process, I will often write file or directories as /some/document (using the forward slash /). Although this is the correct way to specify filepaths on Linux and MacOS, Windows users should interpret these as their Windows counterparts - i.e. \some\document.

I also do not know your specific file layout, so a lot of the file references here are relative to the TitleCardMaker directory created in step 6. This means when I write source/some file (for example) that is within the TitleCardMaker directory, wherever you choose to install that.

Text that is formatted as:

some_command

Is a command, and is intended to be run in the terminal (sometimes called console). For MacOS and Linux, this is the Terminal application:

And on Windows this is Powershell:

There will also be text, often referred to as YAML that will be written like (notice the highlighting and use of colons :):

stuff:
  other_stuff: 123

This is YAML, and can be written as normal text in whatever plain text editor you have (such as Notepad or TextEdit).

NOTE: When writing things text in YAML files with a colon followed by a space (: ), this must be entered in quotes. So for example: Avatar: The Last Airbender would need to be entered as "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

NOTE: It is important, when writing your own YAML and copying the YAML from this tutorial, that you use the spacing as shown. YAML files use indents to detect what information is underneath or "an attribute of" other info.

Doing this for any arbitrary Linux distribution is not feasible for me to describe here, but there are likely many articles that can help with this.

Follow this guide on installing using homebrew.

Go to the python homepage and download the latest installer version of 3.9.x, the 64-bit version. Run the installer, and be sure to select the Add to Path checkbox during installation.

Then you will need to enable Powershell scripts, follow the instructions here to do this.

Follow these instructions.

Follow these instructions, I personally recommend using homebrew.

1. Download the 64-bit Standalone Installer from here.
2. Run the installer, and click through until you get to the "Choosing the default editor used by Git" step. I strongly recommend changing the default editor to something other than Vim (such as Sublime Text, Notepad++).
3. Continue clicking through until you get to the "Adjusting your PATH environment" step and make sure that the (Recommended) option of "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" option is selected.
4. Finish the installation.

Depending on your Linux distro, you might be able to use whatever package manager comes installed. Some of the common installations are detailed here. For example, on Debian, and Ubuntu, the following command works:

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

Follow the ImageMagick installation and setup instructions listed here.

Download the Windows Binary Release from the ImageMagick website.

During the installation, be sure to check the Add application directory to your system path and Install legacy utilities (e.g. convert) boxes (see below). The other options are, well, optional.

ImageMagick can also be installed in a Docker container. The installation of Docker is not covered here. The container I use is dpokidov/imagemagick.

You will need to mount/pass the necessary volumes 1:1 for both the Maker and your Media directories, in order for the Maker to work. For example, if you have installed the Maker at /Documents/TitleCardMaker/, and your Media is at /Documents/Media/, then you can mount using either of these commands:

docker run --name="ImageMagick" --entrypoint="/bin/bash" -dit -v /Documents/:/Documents/ dpokidov/imagemagick
docker run --name="ImageMagick" --entrypoint="/bin/bash" -dit -v /Documents/TitleCardMaker/:/Documents/TitleCardMaker/ -v /Documents/Media/:/Documents/Media/ dpokidov/imagemagick

The specific directories shown above might not be (and probably aren't) applicable to your installation, you just need to make sure the following directories are mounted:

• Your installation directory for the TitleCardMaker
• All locations where you want the Maker to create cards (i.e. your media libraries)

Copy the below text and save it as preferences.yml in the TitleCardMaker folder.

options:
  source: ./source/
  series: ./tv.yml
  episode_data_source: sonarr
  
plex:
  url: YOUR_PLEX_URL
  token: YOUR_PLEX_TOKEN

sonarr:
  url: YOUR_SONARR_URL
  api_key: YOUR_SONARR_API_KEY

tmdb:
  api_key: YOUR_TMDB_API_KEY

imagemagick:
  container: ImageMagick

Adding your Plex configuration details allows the Maker to automatically refresh the metadata of a show after it's created title cards. This can also be used to automatically create cards for all series in your Plex library, but that behavior is detailed here.

If you are not using Plex, or do not want the Maker to automatically set the title cards within Plex, delete the entire plex section. If you still want Plex to pull in the cards the "manual way" (i.e. matching filenames), you will need to configure Plex to use local assets

If you are using Plex, replace YOUR_PLEX_URL with the URL of your Plex server; and YOUR_PLEX_TOKEN with your Plex X-Token - the process to get this is detailed here.

Adding your Sonarr configuration details allows the Maker to automatically get episode titles (these can also come from Plex or TMDb), and improves the accuracy and speed of the automated image gathering process. This can also be used to automatically create cards for all series in Sonarr, but that behavior is detailed here.

If you are not using Sonarr, delete the entire sonarr section. In this case, you'll also need to change the episode_data_source setting under options to either tmdb or plex (see more here).

If you are using Sonarr, replace YOUR_SONARR_URL with the URL of your Sonarr URL; and YOUR_SONARR_API_KEY with your Sonarr's API key. This API key can be accessed via Settings > General > Security > API Key (see below). For each series you want to get episodes from, you need to make sure to add it within Sonarr.

NOTE: The provided Sonarr URL should be the API v3 type of URL, so if you access Sonarr at http://192.168.0.1:8989, then you should provide http://192.168.0.1:8989/api/v3/ as the URL

Adding an API key for TMDb allows the Maker to automatically download source images for title cards (these can also come directly from Plex), logos for summaries, and translated episode titles.

If you are not using TMDb, delete the entire tmdb section. In this case, you'll need to find and download your own source images (or , which is covered in Step 11.

If you are using TMDb, replace YOUR_TMDB_API_KEY with your personal API key from TMDb. To get the API key, follow TMDb's instructions.

If you are using ImageMagick within a standalone docker container, then this section is required. You can leave it as-is if you named your container ImageMagick (as shown here).

If are are not using ImageMagick within a docker container, then you can delete the entire imagemagick section.

Copy the below text and save it as tv.yml in the TitleCardMaker folder.

libraries:
  TV:
    path: ./media/TV/

  Anime:
    path: ./media/Anime/
    card_type: anime

series:
  Mr. Robot (2015):
    library: TV
    font:
      color: "#CE3F39"
      file: ./fonts/MR ROBOT.ttf
    seasons:
      0: "specials_0.0"
      1: "season_1.0"
      2: "season_2.0"
      3: "season_3.0"
      4: "season_4.0"
  
  "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019)":
    library: Anime
    translation:
    - language: ja
      key: kanji
    seasons:
      1: Finding my Life's Purpose
      2: Mugen Train
      3: Entertainment District

  The Mandalorian (2019):
    library: TV
    card_type: star wars
    episode_text_format: "Chapter {abs_number}"

Create a folder called fonts in your TitleCardMaker installation directory, and then download the Mr. Robot font from here, and save it at fonts/MR ROBOT.ttf.

For the example, we'll assume you have two Plex libraries called "TV" and "Anime", and that they live under the Media directory.

There is a lot of detail here. All aspects are explained in greater detail here.

Create a folder underneath source called Mr. Robot (2015). Within that folder, copy the below text and save it in a text file called data.yml:

data:
  Season 1:
    2:
      title: eps1.1_ones-and-zeroes.mpeg

Create a folder underneath source called Demon Slayer - Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019). Within that folder, copy the below text and save it in a text file called data.yml:

data:
  Season 3:
    10:
      title: Never Give Up
      kanji: 絶対諦めない

Create a folder underneath source called The Mandalorian (2019). Within that folder, copy the below text and save it in a text file called data.yml:

data:
  Season 1:
    2:
      title: "Chapter 2: The Child"
      abs_number: 2