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| Electronic skin for multi-colored buttons |
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| Yvan256:
--- Quote from: RandyT on September 08, 2012, 12:32:50 pm ---Looking at the links you posted, you can "color" me skeptical. [...] A flat disc inside a clear button is still not the "color changing button" you envision. There are also the ever present burdens of cost. [...] you are talking about a quarter million dollars just to see if the result is something people not only want, but would be willing to pay for. [...] It's an interesting technology, and makes for an equally interesting topic of discussion. But my opinion is that anything particularly usable in the way you wish it to be, is a minimum of 5 years away, but probably more. [...] RandyT --- End quote --- I couldn't agree more about the cost, the current state of the technology (see YouTube video IWrSPbfpeZI, I can't post a link without the forum trying to embed the video directly inside my post) and the limitations. And yes, a single flat colored disc inside a Sanwa OBSC-30 would also be very far from the goal I'm thinking about. The two main problems with the current LED lighted buttons, in my humble opinion, are that it's extremely hard to have evenly distributed light when the thickness of the plastic varies throughout the molded parts and the emitting of light itself. Maybe with a different type of plastic it the diffusion would be better, the light would be reflected back inside the plastic and the result could look "colored" instead of "lighted/glowing". Or maybe there's going to be advancements in electrochromic color that will allow dynamically controlled multi-color plastic in a few years. --- Quote from: RandyT on September 08, 2012, 12:32:50 pm ---If I had that kind of investment, there would be a lot of new innovations coming to this hobby, and realistically, this wouldn't be one of them. --- End quote --- Do you have anything cool in development that you might want to share with us? ;D |
| AndyWarne:
I dont really understand how this would work. The best that could be done with this is a small round disk which sits under the button surface. What happens to the surround of the button? This would need to be a fixed color. The disk would be covered by a transparent cover which is necessarily reflective so that light reflected from it would mask out a lot of the color of the disk. The disk would need to move with the button plunger so how to get the wires to it? A whole lot of other potential issues too many to mention make this, for me, a complete non-starter I'm afraid. Furthermore, properly designed buttons dont have any real issues with color evenness. Its true to say that when LED-lit buttons are photographed, there is an exaggeration of any uneven color but in reality its not really an issue. Plus a button which has no transparent component, and is all milky-translucent will not have any kind of xmas tree appearance. |
| Yvan256:
--- Quote from: AndyWarne on September 09, 2012, 03:15:00 pm ---I dont really understand how this would work. The best that could be done with this is a small round disk which sits under the button surface. --- End quote --- That would be the minimum, least expensive and less complicated solution. Really not ideal, as you say. --- Quote from: AndyWarne on September 09, 2012, 03:15:00 pm ---What happens to the surround of the button? This would need to be a fixed color. The disk would be covered by a transparent cover which is necessarily reflective so that light reflected from it would mask out a lot of the color of the disk. The disk would need to move with the button plunger so how to get the wires to it? --- End quote --- This technology is totally reflective, so the light reflected from the transparent cover would look no worst than a regular button with a printed insert. As for the wires, buttons don't move that much up and down, I'm thinking that thin enough wire would be flexible enough to not be abused by the stress of moving all the time. I remember the wires in the controllers of the first Nintendo consoles being some kind of thin foil wrapped around a small rope of some kind. --- Quote from: AndyWarne on September 09, 2012, 03:15:00 pm ---A whole lot of other potential issues too many to mention make this, for me, a complete non-starter I'm afraid. Furthermore, properly designed buttons dont have any real issues with color evenness. Its true to say that when LED-lit buttons are photographed, there is an exaggeration of any uneven color but in reality its not really an issue. Plus a button which has no transparent component, and is all milky-translucent will not have any kind of xmas tree appearance. --- End quote --- Indeed, those Ultralux buttons being white when turned off is certainly a big advantage. As far as I remember, the only white buttons on most arcade cabinets were the "Player Start" buttons, the main action buttons were always colored. |
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