illuminated surrounds in a lit room - should I bother?

[Hubble]

Hey, everyone! Have used this board as a resource for years but only ever put together a console on a rolling cart with a monitor on a stand. A recent electrical mishap destroyed my iPac and blew the circuits on my spinner and trackball. The wife was so sympathetic she said "well, maybe this is a sign that now is a good time to build that full cabinet you always wanted"  . . . and I took off like a gazelle with planning and parts 

Before I go any further, I really need to nail down the style, because it will dictate a lot of parts and budgeting. I really like the nice, clean, minimal look of the CP that is on the banner of Ultimarc's website, especially the way he's using all-black buttons and ONLY illuminating the surrounds.



The blue neon grid is cool too, and that's probably what I would model after for the CP and side artwork.

But the main question i have is about those black buttons with illuminated surrounds. I admit this is kind of subjective, but was hoping for advice. The cabinet is going to be in a well-lit room where the lights CANNOT be dimmed. That's the only place where we have space for it.

If you cannot dim the room lights, is there any point in doing illuminated surrounds? Or will they just be drowned out by the ambient light? Has anyone done this? Did it look nice, or did it turn out to be a waste?

Many thanks in advance!

-Hubble

[leapinlew]

Angled joysticks eh? I don't know that I've been to his Andys site in a while. I'm sure this will go over like a lead balloon.

My 2 cents. Lit buttons aren't worth it at all. In this case, they are even more not worth it because the outside button ring will need to be the milky white as seen here: https://www.ultimarc.com/arcade/buttons/goldleaf-pushbuttons-rgb/ If your cabinet can work with the white looking buttons, then I suppose it wouldn't be as bad.

[Hubble]

Thanks for the input! Yeah, not sure what I thought about the angled sticks, but mine would just be a 2-player. I'd only take the overall aesthetic, color, etc.

I did notice that milky white image on the site, but wasn't sure if that was REALLY what they looked like, or if they just photographed bad for the website.

I found this post elsewhere on the forum:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,59359.msg1273650.html#msg1273650

 . . . with the look I wanted (illuminated surrounds on black buttons), and it does not seem to have the problem you described. Looks pretty good, IMHO. Different brand of button? Someone asked about the brand in the post, but received no reply. Are these sourced from someplace other than Ultimarc? Anyone have any idea where?

[Howard_Casto]

Well that's just hideous.  Imho buttons look bad when they are spaced too far apart.  With that layout you are already risking that and to make matters worse the black centers with the translucent surrounds make them look even further apart than they actually are.  I think it's one of those deals where it seems cool on paper, until you actually build it. 

[yotsuya]

Thanks for the input! Yeah, not sure what I thought about the angled sticks, but mine would just be a 2-player. I'd only take the overall aesthetic, color, etc.

I did notice that milky white image on the site, but wasn't sure if that was REALLY what they looked like, or if they just photographed bad for the website.

I found this post elsewhere on the forum:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,59359.msg1273650.html#msg1273650

 . . . with the look I wanted (illuminated surrounds on black buttons), and it does not seem to have the problem you described. Looks pretty good, IMHO. Different brand of button? Someone asked about the brand in the post, but received no reply. Are these sourced from someplace other than Ultimarc? Anyone have any idea where?

BYOAC Soul Brother #1 Neph made those, back when you had to do those by hand. He’s a pioneer.

[yotsuya]

Angled joysticks eh? I don't know that I've been to his Andys site in a while. I'm sure this will go over like a lead balloon.

That is why people pipe up when that design shows up.  No one wants to keep perpetuating that.

[Titchgamer]

You can buy that style of button:

https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/seimitsu-psl-30n-5w2-5v-illuminated-screw-in-arcade-button.html

Not cheap though!

As for my personal opinion I think they can look great, They can also look like ass it totally depends how they are used.

You will probably struggle to see the full effect in a well lit room but just do what I do and turn the lights off when you are playing

[fuchi_jeg]

It really depends on the look you are going for. When I originally designed my control panel I planned on using lit buttons for each player. Once I decided on an overall theme I eliminated the led buttons. My goal was to make a cabinet that looked classy and streamlined  like it was designed in the late 80's/ early 90's.  Lit buttons, wild color combos, and  the LCD had to go.  If you are making something more contemporary  with a LCD and modern looking graphics I say go for it.

[Hubble]

Thanks for the link, Titchgamer - even if I am cooling on the idea, it's good to know where to go to find these. Thinking about this going from "on paper" to the real world, it definitely seems like it won't be as good an idea for the look I want, especially given the ambient lighting in the room. Also, at $10 pre button, that's not the place I want to put the money.

I think the final straw is that all the LED buttons that are translucent seem to also be flat, and I really wanted to stick with concave buttons since it's what I grew up with.

fuchi_jeg: that's a really helpful way to put it. I'm definitely looking for streamlined. It does not need to be old-school authentic, but I don't want it to be "busy" and modern. The LED buttons would have just been one color per player, no attract mode, no flashing patterns, etc. Now that I've thought about it, I think I can get the same look/feel with an all-black cab and some simple accents on the CP art (rings around the P1 and P2 button sets, a nice gradient, etc.)  If I pick a simple "electric" pallette in green or blue, I think I get the feel I wanted without the hefty investment in the LED lights.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

[Arroyo]

These are what you are looking for:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/il-industrias-lorenzo/il-psl-lcv-series/898_il-psl-lcv-convex-button-clear-white-black-plunger

And there are also the Player 1-4 start buttons as well, just keep scrolling till you get to them:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/298-il-industrias-lorenzo

There are drop in LED solutions as well for the buttons from the same company.  I can link them if you’d like.