Scratch - Marvel v Capcom: Revolution - Complete with tour video

[griffindodd]

Here's an initial mockup of how I see the bezels working. The red dot halftone actually turns with the monitor as it is part of the masking under the main bezel.

[TheShaner]

Wicked.

[griffindodd]

After much mental wrestling with the placement of dedicated sticks and the like, I have decided I need to create a modular controller. The idea is to have 3 'slots' 2 for the joysticks and 1 big one for the center area where the trackball goes.

I've been chewing over some design ideas in my head and have decided to go a slightly different route to the Doc modular design as it wouldn't work with my configuration. The modular panels will slide into the front of the controller and clip into place. If I can pull it off they will have a universal plug that hits a female socket at the top of the opening as the panel is clipped into place.

More too chew over on this one, but I know I need to do this if I am going to enjoy games like Paperboy and Ikari Warriors.

[TopJimmyCooks]

look into pogo pins for your swap panel connections.  more forgiving than a plug possibly. 

[griffindodd]

look into pogo pins for your swap panel connections.  more forgiving than a plug possibly.

They look perfect, now if I can find them in pre-built packs

[griffindodd]

Pogo pins seem nice but look very expensive.

I'm thinking a butchered M-F serial cable will probably do the trick well enough and it comes pre wired for $2 

[griffindodd]

Some more bits arrived today, unused second hand Trackball, Optipac and mounts, thanks Ron 



i hope I can mount this under the wood, I don't want that ass ugly metal plate on my CP

[mcseforsale]

Thing looks awesome!

I flush mounted the ugly steel plate, then stuck the CP overlay on top, then plexi.  You can't tell it's there:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119081.0.html

(except the damn reflections of the garage door tracks...  )


AJ

[griffindodd]

Thanks AJ I will definitely mnake use of your template.

[DNA Dan]

Very nice work on the bezel. Are those red dots just printed or are the illuminated? Can you see inside the cab during the rotation? I'd like to see how you did this. I always envisioned the bezel as a square/rectangle, but removing the uneeded area actually looks really slick with the pattern there.

Jimmy's your guy for the modular CP. His stuff is very clean. 

[griffindodd]

Very nice work on the bezel. Are those red dots just printed or are the illuminated? Can you see inside the cab during the rotation? I'd like to see how you did this. I always envisioned the bezel as a square/rectangle, but removing the uneeded area actually looks really slick with the pattern there.

Jimmy's your guy for the modular CP. His stuff is very clean. 

Hi Dan its all photoshop at the moment but I know how I am going to execute it. I like the idea of the illuminated dots but I think that may be a lot of work for a.small detail I had just planned for them to be printed.

Installed the glass channeling tonight and flush mounted the top monitor

[BadMouth]

Really like how this thing is so different from standard builds, but highly (possibly more) functional.   

[DNA Dan]

Hi Dan its all photoshop at the moment but I know how I am going to execute it. I like the idea of the illuminated dots but I think that may be a lot of work for a.small detail I had just planned for them to be printed.

With your marquee coming forward like that you could probalby slip in a black light or two and make those printed dots glow. You could also accent other parts of the bezel this way without having to use individual lights. Don't know if this would affect gameplay.

[griffindodd]

With your marquee coming forward like that you could probalby slip in a black light or two and make those printed dots glow. You could also accent other parts of the bezel this way without having to use individual lights. Don't know if this would affect gameplay.

Interesting idea, I'll have a think about that.

Speaking of lighting I started putting together the marquee back lighting panel this morning. Here's a video of the test strip I did, it's full RGB LEDs with a little extra summin summin...

 

[griffindodd]

Really like how this thing is so different from standard builds, but highly (possibly more) functional.   

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't really set out to do things differently, I just started building in a way that made sense in my head, hopefully some of these techniques will prove valuable to others in the future if they work out well.

[drventure]

Very nice on the marquee.

What LED Controller did you use? Looks like it works very nicely for keying off the music playing. Does it use a mic or audio in?

[griffindodd]

Very nice on the marquee.
What LED Controller did you use? Looks like it works very nicely for keying off the music playing. Does it use a mic or audio in?

It's just using a Mic, it comes with a remote so you can pick modes, change colors, brightness and turn it on and off, kinda fun http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RGRJ36/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01

[griffindodd]

Finished soldering up the LED board for the marquee tonight.

Yeah that should be bright enough 

[Drnick]

Ahhhh, so bright, Can't see.    I love the way the light was so bright it reflected right off the lens of the camera and reappeared half way up the uprights.  Normally only see that in movies with bright headlights

[rablack97]

Turn em off and take a pic.

Did you use the same led strips as your RGBs....

I decided to use led strip lighting in my marquee for the first time, but I dont like the individual how each individual light shows up behind the marquee.

Was wondering if you found a way to diffuse the light so each led isn't so defined.

[drventure]

Was wondering if you found a way to diffuse the light so each led isn't so defined.

I've had pretty good luck just putting a sheet of white paper over the LEDs, then make sure the LEDs are a couple inches back from your marquee.

You could also take some plex, run a sander over it and put that between the marquee and leds.

[rablack97]

Was wondering if you found a way to diffuse the light so each led isn't so defined.

I've had pretty good luck just putting a sheet of white paper over the LEDs, then make sure the LEDs are a couple inches back from your marquee.

You could also take some plex, run a sander over it and put that between the marquee and leds.

Awesome, thanks...........Worked perfect.....I had some extra plexi, the sanding idea worked.


Oh yeah.............trousers messed again .....headed out for therapy....

Awesome work man..................

[griffindodd]

Yeah they are the LEDs from the video above, so you can change them in all kinds of ways. The photo was with them set to white at full power. They sit about 3-4 inches back from the plexi, and they are quite densely packed so I'm hoping that the light is even enough from them. I'll be lining the space between the lights and the marquee with foil and the marquee will be printed vinyl applied to the back of the plexi. Nice to know that the trick of sanding a second piece of plexi will help if indeed it does turn out that I need that.

[griffindodd]

Decided to do some bezel and masking work today.

First I started out with the disk that's going to mask the rotational area of the main monitor. I settled on foamboard as it was thin, very light and quite rigid.

Marking out a 26" circle without a compass is a bit of a pain, but this worked out


Creating the opening for the screen was a challenge as the monitor's outer dimensions share the center of rotation with the circular mask, but the screen itself is offset within the monitor bezel so I had to match that offset within the circular mask to make sure everything turned inside the tight frame exactly right.

Test fit, seems like my measurements and math were right (that's a first)


Making the art for the circle required some of the same gymnastics as I wanted a fully black frame masked around the monitor screen.

Large format printout at the local Staples


Time to see if it all lines up as I thought it would...and phew yeah it did.


Lets drop it in place and see if it all looks the way I hoped...


Pretty happy with the outcome of this, the disk is stiff and level without drooping and the finish of the banner paper they used to print it gives a nice matt surface.

Next, the bezels for both areas.

[griffindodd]

Spent some time working on the bezels tonight. I thought I might be able to piece together the backglass bezel with photo paper printouts from my printer but splicing together photo paper even with accurate registration marks still leaves a noticeable join line. I spent 20 years as an Art Director so I've done my fair share of paste-ups but this just wasn't going to give my the perfection I need for this piece. There's only one way to do these bezels properly and that's reverse printed clear vinyl applied directly to the back of the glass. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do it this way due to the difficulty of lining up the masking properly but if I want this to look perfect then that's the way it's going to have to be done. 

[PL1]

So you already ruled out paint and double-masking on the underside?

By that, I mean you mask out the center circle with cardboard and neatly trimmed blue painters tape, then add another layer of cardboard/tape for the dot pattern.

Spray red for the dot pattern.  Once that dries completely, carefully remove the second mask and spray black.

Seems like it would work -- not sure if it's up to your standards, though.   


Scott

[griffindodd]

No Scott, the circle mask is fine, there's a second mask which is a layer over the top of the circle that works in conjunction with the circle mask to create the full effect. This mask has to also be as rigid as the circular one and follow the same lines as the glass and monitor, but it has to be paper thin to work properly so it won't work with the foam core. I tried with stiff paper but it sags in places. It's hard to describe in words, it looks like this....

[PL1]

I see what you mean. 

How about using 2 layers of glass/plexi and vinyl -- plus paint if needed?

1. Top glass/plexi - thinnest reasonable
2. Printed vinyl - either sandwiched between layers 1 and 3 or attached to layer 3
3. Lower glass/plexi - thick enough to not bend/distort
4. (If needed) Painted black "inverted plus" on underside of layer 3 to bring the visual block/mask as close to the rotating surface as possible.


Scott

[griffindodd]

Yeah they are all good solutions but I just don't have that kind of thickness to play with and I have a decent distance to bridge without bowing, the fact that it's a nearly horizontal plane is turning gravity against me 

I'm going to order some glass from 1dayglass today and then see from there.

[mcseforsale]

What thickness are you trying to stick to?

AJ

Yeah they are all good solutions but I just don't have that kind of thickness to play with and I have a decent decent to bridge without bowing, the fact that it's a nearly horizontal plane is turning gravity against me 

I'm going to order some glass from 1dayglass today and then see from there.

[griffindodd]

My glass channel holds up to 1/4" thick but I need a little play in there for screw heads.

I went ahead and ordered glass for both screen areas and decided to get glass for my marquee also as I was already paying for the shipping, $110 shipped for everything seemed pretty good for the amount of glass I am getting...

Shape: Square/Rectangle
Glass Type: Tempered
Glass Thickness: 3/16"
Glass Tint: Solar Gray (Light Gray)
Edgework (Step 1): Seamed Edge
Option: No Tong Marks   
Width: 27"
Height: 22 3/4"
$37.33

Shape: Square/Rectangle
Glass Type: Tempered
Glass Thickness: 3/16"
Glass Tint: Solar Gray (Light Gray)
Edgework (Step 1): Seamed Edge
Option: No Tong Marks   
Width: 27"
Height: 11 1/4"
$22.17

Shape: Square/Rectangle
Glass Type: Tempered
Glass Thickness: 3/16"
Glass Tint: Clear
Edgework (Step 1): Seamed Edge
Option: No Tong Marks   
Width: 27"
Height: 5 5/8"
$18

[griffindodd]

So, what do you guys think of this, obviously not to scale but I was just playing with the idea of using height in the controller to separate zones. The trackball is a modular panel that you can swap out for other large controller.

[harveybirdman]

IF the Kodan Armada mother ship and the Millenium Falcon had a child....

pretty neat, but I liked your first design better.

Besides this has no place for the PBR 

[rablack97]

Too trekky looking, first design looks cleaner. Sometimes too much is not a good thing....

  no bueno..........trousers un-messed this time.......

[Le Chuck]

I kinda like it, but I'm a huge fan of both the Kodan armada and the Millennium Falcon.  I think the upper deck would not work that great considering your screen is laid back.  Also, you're already doing great stuff with a rotating monitor, why not rotating joys for some 4 way 8 way love and ditch the dedicated stick?  Seems like this is in desperate need of feature creep   

[griffindodd]

Lol I love all the descriptions, hilarious.
the project
Yeah you could call it feature creep, but I also dont want to spend the best part of $3k on something that doesn't play all of the games I want it to. Also for me this project is about building something way beyond anything I ever realized I could make, so pushing myself into more complexity is also part of the fun.

[rablack97]

Understood.......I guess to me the new design is a bit blocky looking.

Yet......as i've said before, its your baby and we are just giving our opinions, it's gonna be in your house.....LOL, when in doubt ask the Mrs. the first expression on her face will tell it all.

She's either gonna say That's nice....or the dreaded.....What is that for?  Thats code for dont you put that in my house...

The way your going with this whatever you do is gonna be nice......

By the way your a liar........I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING?  I'm calling....oh wait there's no icon for Bull****......

[griffindodd]

lol, I guess I must be lucky, my wife doesn't really give me any grief about that kind of thing, as long as she can play it too she really wouldn't care. In fact I pointed out that this may become an ongoing hobby and we may end up with our own arcade, she laughed and replied 'whatever makes you happy dear' so I guess that's a good thing

[stuckpixel]

I dunno dude - starting to look rather franken-panel. Wouldn't you be better off going with a U360 or a ServoStik to handle your 4 way needs? The days of needing a dedicated 4-way are kind of long gone IMO.

I think your first CP design was far superior. I also feel like, from your render, your 3P and 4P would have a very hard time viewing the screen well (with the unorthodox angle it's mounted at).

My .02.

[PL1]

+1 on the comments encouraging you to use the original layout.

What if you added a couple of Neutrik USB feedthrus and had some gamepads/standalones for P3 and P4 for the rare occasions they are needed?

This would also allow you to plug in an analog flightstick/SW yoke or other standalones with specialized layouts like Battlezone, Tron, Defender, Q-Bert, etc.


Scott