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| meltman:
Hey guys. While brainstorming ideas for the next arcade I thought of an idea that I dont think I've seen executed. If someone has done something similar please post. The idea is to have black and white artwork on the side of the cabinet or a marquee, but when the cabinet is turned on have the artwork "spring to life" with colored illumination behind it. Is this even feasible? I'm sure it would take some serious LED power and a dark room to really be noticeable but I thought I'd ask the community if they've seen examples of this in the wild. |
| BadMouth:
It's very expensive, but EL sheet would work and has been done. http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?25078-Arcade-Electroluminescent-Panel (it's just white light in that example, but it comes in different colors) It would take an awefull lot of EL $heet or LEDs to light an entire side. Maybe just certain elements? It would definitely work for a marquee. An opaque ceiling light panel might be a cheap way to experiment with the idea. I have no idea how the stuff cuts though. |
| meltman:
Pretty interesting. I dont like that EL degrades over time though. I've played with the stuff in the past. That's *close* to what I was envisioning but not quite. I was thinking of having the artwork be visible in black and white and light up the color through the black and white to produce the color image. That light-up control panel you linked does throw some new ideas into the mix. Since I'd have some depth to work with I could use LED's and a diffuser to achieve the same effect without the expense and degradation of EL. That and I'm not *too* keen on having high voltage directly under the control panel. One spill away from a bad night I think. |
| mcseforsale:
What about side-lighting plexi, then applying the art to it, then another sheet over the top? How big are we talking? On my CP, the buttons are illuminating the edges of the plexi: Get a 1/8" piece of plexi, print only the black portion in some sort of vinyl (most sign shops can do this) to use as a mask and lightly "frost" the exposed area with some 2000 grit emory. Then apply your art and another sheet of 1/8 and you'll be golden. Apply LED tape to the outside edge and only the frosted part will light up. I'll be making some arcade signs this way this summer when it's too damn hot to work outside. AJ AJ |
| wp34:
There was a prototype of something somewhat similar to what you are describing done here - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105795.0 I've been playing around with a concept using EL Tape but I'm mixed on the results. If you get something going please post pics! |
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