Critique my button surrounds

[CoryBee]

What do you guys think?



I have been messing around with adding button surrounds to my control panels and have settled on using the stroke option in Photoshop which has been working out beautifully.

Any experts want to tell me if I am doing well or otherwise

[kiwasabi]

Seems a little thick to me. I haven't done this on control panels before (or seen it done before) but I have a graphic design background. I'd try it at about 50% its current size and then re-evaluate.

[CoryBee]

Thick? Hrmmmm..... I was actually thinking it could be a smidgen thicker..... 

By the way the buttons end at the black circles if that wasn't clear.

[Unstupid]

I'd go either without or a thin black surround.  What color buttons you using?

[CoryBee]

There wont be black surrounds around the buttons, this is what it would look like for this particular setup



And it will have the street fighter colors,

RED WHITE BLUE
RED WHITE BLUE

Tomorrow I take the art in for this build to Office Depot and then to Home Depot to get more acrylic because I am running out.

But that is not important cause I am trying to perfect the button surrounds, not the overall art for this CP.

Making sure I get the size right of the first surround and then the second one, and even if I should use a second one. This is all so I finish my master template for both Half Size machines and my Full Size ones (the art pictured is for a full size)

 

[kiwasabi]

Thick? Hrmmmm..... I was actually thinking it could be a smidgen thicker..... 

By the way the buttons end at the black circles if that wasn't clear.

It might be because I like the background art and the surrounds further cover that up. Personally I'd go with a more subtle stroke around the buttons but I'm fairly minimalist. Do you have examples any one else has done that we can compare to?

[Unstupid]

Is that your button layout?  are you using a metal CP with the dustwasher underneath the CP?

[CoryBee]

Is that your button layout?  are you using a metal CP with the dustwasher underneath the CP?

Using wood. Dust washer on top, the surround for the joystick is null, it will be covered by the dust washer. It is only there because it was carried over by the slagcoin template I created this from.

[CoryBee]

It might be because I like the background art and the surrounds further cover that up. Personally I'd go with a more subtle stroke around the buttons but I'm fairly minimalist. Do you have examples any one else has done that we can compare to?

What do you guys think about a bit less opacity?



Maybe not? Or make it more see thru?

I have some button surrounds in my head but I can't recall any links. There was one recently that had two spinners and a blue colored theme that pushed me over the edge to work out making button surrounds and a master template for my builds. Cant remember the link.....

[ppv]

It looks clean, but to be frank, I would forgo the surround with this type of artwork. It just breaks up the images IMHO.

Still, transparent seems a bit better to me.

[lcmgadgets]

I think translucent looks better, but, yeah, I wonder if anything is needed at all.

[BadMouth]

I think the translucent doesn't look as good. 

The slightly translucent edges look good.
Definitely ditch the whole thing around the joystick.

I scanned the whole thing for places where the button placement and artwork clashed, but there are one.
I like it! 

[monkeychunkuk]

Ohhh that's control panel is awesomeness care to share your PSD file with me

[blashyrk]

Really nice artwork, Go for the second option, or maybe a little less opacity 

[shponglefan]

I prefer the transluscent version since it does a better job of tying the underlying art into the button placement.

I would also emphatically recommend keeping some sort of borders around the buttons for that very reason.  Without the button borders, the look is that of a piece of art with some arbitrary buttons drilled in places.  It will end up looking more random and less unified.

(As a side rant, one of the biggest mistakes people make in CP/art design is not taking into account tying buttons to the underlying artwork.   If the whole thing is treated as a unified piece of visual art, the end result is much more aesthetically pleasing.)

[yotsuya]

I think I'm in the minority, but I'd keep the surrounds and ditch the artwork completely. I'm more of a fan of classic, simplistic control panels. I think the artwork belongs on the marquee, bezel, and sides. 

[CoryBee]

It looks clean, but to be frank, I would forgo the surround with this type of artwork. It just breaks up the images IMHO.
Still, transparent seems a bit better to me.

Really nice artwork, Go for the second option, or maybe a little less opacity 

I prefer the translucent version since it does a better job of tying the underlying art into the button placement.

(As a side rant, one of the biggest mistakes people make in CP/art design is not taking into account tying buttons to the underlying artwork.   If the whole thing is treated as a unified piece of visual art, the end result is much more aesthetically pleasing.)

I think the translucent doesn't look as good. 
The slightly translucent edges look good.
Definitely ditch the whole thing around the joystick.
I scanned the whole thing for places where the button placement and artwork clashed, but there are one.
I like it! 

Thanks fellas. I think I will keep the translucent sides and just a hint of translucent center surrounds to help tie the art together. It is just for this build but I assume I will have to tweak it for any other builds as well.

Ohhh that's control panel is awesomeness care to share your PSD file with me

- Straight Layout -

- Curved Layout -

The idea behind my PSD file is that I now have a "Master Template" that I can use on any of my Full Size Control panels. Both Straight and Curved layout are available. Now that I have the surrounds and drilling locations I can just modify it slightly with a different art layer and\or button surround colors.

I went with this tan-ish color to match the bricks and stuff in the back as it consumes most of the pictures color.

I think I'm in the minority, but I'd keep the surrounds and ditch the artwork completely. I'm more of a fan of classic, simplistic control panels. I think the artwork belongs on the marquee, bezel, and sides. 

I agree, thanks for the tip. Sounds like more work though 

Maybe I will try my hand at some more custom work, need to hone my photoshop skills first though and learn some new techniques.

[yotsuya]

Cory-

I like looking though these for inspiration:

http://www.arcadeartlibrary.com/arcade_art/categories.php?cat_id=6&sessionid=4e54449091d15f8e1c67a4c1c13386c0

I think it's important to note that even the most elaborate panels artwise still took button placement into account, so you didn't have stuff obscured or cut out.

[Caparo8bit]

imo thats a no....!

[monkeychunkuk]

Thank you!!!!

[CoryBee]

imo thats a no....!

- Fixed that for you -

And what is a "no"? Buttons surrounds at all, the art, etc.....

Thank you!!!!

No problem, I hope it helps. I was stumped when I first started making cabinets on how to go about getting perfect surrounds on the buttons.

Anyone interested in providing a tutorial on this subject to be stickied? I am willing to do it but I am a novice I think compared to those who do design for a living.

[CoryBee]

Just got the art printed. Went with solid inner surrounds and see thru outer ones.

[harveybirdman]

I realize I'm late to the party, but I generally prefer to see every face if a curtain call style layout is used.  Otherwise I say pic out your favorite two characters and feature their features prominently.

But you always do slick work these days Cory!

[CoryBee]

I realize I'm late to the party, but I generally prefer to see every face if a curtain call style layout is used.  Otherwise I say pic out your favorite two characters and feature their features prominently.

But you always do slick work these days Cory!

Thanks HarveyBird.

I am planning on doing more custom work in regards to the art aspect so look forward to more posts on this subject. I just need to teach myself more things and watch some more tutorials.

This is a common issue as well, the fact that my customers almost always want to choose their own art. I tell them straight up how I feel about it, the issues associated with certain choices (like hidden players, etc) so I feel no pain in covering up things when it is warned.

The customer is always right......even when they want stupid Jim Morrison on their control panel.....okay maybe he was very, very wrong.

[CoryBee]

Drill marks transferred to wood, holes drilled, acrylic cut, holes routed in acrylic, art sandwiched, buttons installed

 

What do you guys think?





No Flash

[Louis Tully]

.

[CoryBee]

Lookin' pretty sweet, Mr. Bee.    I really wanted to use that image for a control panel a while back but couldn't settle on anything. There was always something kind of... screwy about it to me. I wanted the SF logo centered but I didn't want Ryu to be a focal point because well, he's a dick.
You rocked it though. Good stuff. I think it'd also look kind of cool to use your placement but change the solid color around the buttons. Leave the outer outline you've got and just drop the brightness of the area around the buttons kind of like the area between the buttons of

piss poor example. That's just in my head though, actually seeing might be a cringe-fest.
 
It's early.

Thanks for the compliments, I think it turned out great for a real first time making one.

Adding a shadow around the surrounds is genius. I will see how that turns out and report back.

[CoryBee]

Something like this?

[Louis Tully]

.

[CoryBee]

Hmmm, not sure if I like the hard shadow.... No fading into the art?

[Louis Tully]

.

[CoryBee]

Well, what I was getting at was just the part around the buttons, the lighter tan color, in your image. In the example I put up, it's just a minor drop in brightness for an outline because I don't know what I'm doing in GIMP yet. Leave the outer outline you've got, the solid darker tan color and select the space within that outline and lower the brightness of the image like Honda's face.


Again, it could cringe-fest. Just an idea.

Hmmm. No idea what you are talking about. It is 3am though so yea...

[Louis Tully]

.

[Ginsu Victim]

(In response to the buttons installed photo...)
I think the surrounds are too thick. Covering too much art.

[yotsuya]

The customer is always right......even when they want stupid Jim Morrison on their control panel.....okay maybe he was very, very wrong.

[Drnick]

I gotta agree with Jim on that quote.  Except for 3 Times in the past 30 Years I have not had a haircut   

Anyway back on topic,  I Like the transparancy idea,  make the inner mostly transparent, make the border semi transparent.  Unfortunately I don't think that you will be able to please all the people with any one idea, but at least by trying out all the different ideas you get some time in on the software.  As you have pointed out "What the customer wants is always right even when it's wrong".

[Malenko]

looks familiar :p

[CoryBee]

looks familiar :p

You said that last time I used this art on my control panel

[Malenko]

Im just being consistent 

[Unstupid]

looks familiar :p

You said that last time I used this art on my control panel

I like how you did this one better!