Button colo(u)rs and plexiglass

[cowpaste]

I want to use that template that SNAAAKE pointed me to, but I'm having a problem deciding what color buttons to order. I saw some project that used the "Neogeo" color scheme, and I thought that looked nice. The only problem is that I forgot where the site was. Does anyone know the colors and order I'm looking for?

Also, it seems to be quite popular to cover artwork with plexiglass. That leads me to a few questions. First of all, how do you get that artwork on there in the first place? Is it just a printout from a normal printer? Do you just glue it on afterwards? Secondly, after covering a controller with plexiglass, doesn't that mean the joystick will end up being much much shorter? How do you get around this? I know routing works, but is that the only way? I want to try and avoid that.

[Brad Lee]

For using plexi, I believe a good way to do it is to make a sandwich that is about 3/4" total thickness.

I'm using 1/8" lexan and 5/8" wood, and the printed CPO will be squished between them.

[TazMan]

Also, it seems to be quite popular to cover artwork with plexiglass. That leads me to a few questions. First of all, how do you get that artwork on there in the first place? Is it just a printout from a normal printer? Do you just glue it on afterwards? Secondly, after covering a controller with plexiglass, doesn't that mean the joystick will end up being much much shorter? How do you get around this? I know routing works, but is that the only way? I want to try and avoid that.

I think most people get the art printed to size on a wide-format printer from like a Kinkos or Printer Service Bureau.  As far as attaching it goes, probably could use a little spray adhesive around the edges; but, it should be held in place fairly well being sandwiched between the Lexan and the CP with the buttons, etc, going through it.  The Lexan sheets are normally no thicker than 1/8" inch, so it shouldn't make the joystick "much much shorter" - Hope that helps and Good Luck!

[Minwah]

I'm pretty sure the NeoGeo colors are:

Button A (far left): Red
Button B: Yellow
Button C: Green
Button D (far right): Blue

Hope it helps  

[Darkstalker]

"I want to use that template that SNAAAKE pointed me to, but I'm having a problem deciding what color buttons to order. I saw some project that used the "Neogeo" color scheme, and I thought that looked nice. The only problem is that I forgot where the site was. Does anyone know the colors and order I'm looking for?"

I'm going straight black for all the buttons except for the coin and start buttons, which are green and white respectively.  Use whatever YOU think will look best with the cabinets.  Just keep in mind what you want someone looking at; the buttons, or the artwork underneath.
If you're going to have labels on all of your buttons (Like SFII cabs had for example), and a "compass" around the joystick, then I would suggest multi-colored buttons.  Otherwise I'd pick one color that blends in more with your cp picture so the controls don't stick out like a sore thumb.  That's only my opinion though..

"Also, it seems to be quite popular to cover artwork with plexiglass."

Lexan would be a better way to go...Plexi has a tendancy to crack and chip when you try to drill through it, and it's not as resistant to physical abuse as much as Lexan is.  Sounds anal retentive with the correction, but there is a big difference between the two.

"First of all, how do you get that artwork on there in the first place? Is it just a printout from a normal printer?"

I'm looking at getting the side art for my cab here...

http://www.angelfire.com/clone/mameart/

...and making my own CP overlay and marquee and printing those at Kinkos.  I'm going to make the picture a bit larger than the control panel, and just trim it down to size with a knife once I have it in place.  Since I don't have any artwork or text that has to line up with any of the controls, it's not going to look odd if it's slightly off square (Although I'm going to attempt to put it on straight of course).



"Do you just glue it on afterwards?"

Since it's just high-quality printer paper, I'm just going to use some spray adhesive to hold the paper in place, then screw the lexan sheet overtop to anchor it.  I suppose glue would work, but glue and rubber cement won't hold paper to wood or metal very well, and they have a tendancy to wrinkle paper from the moisture in the glue.  IMO it's the Lexan overlay that really holds the picture in place, the spray adhesive is just there to keep it from moving around while your working with the cp and Lexan.

"Secondly, after covering a controller with plexiglass, doesn't that mean the joystick will end up being much much shorter? How do you get around this? I know routing works, but is that the only way? I want to try and avoid that."

Only 1/8" shorter than it would be without the Lexan.  Using a router on the underside would be the only way to make up the difference.  I'm not sure arcade cabinets with lexan overlays do this, so it might end up actually being taller than a "real arcade cabinet."  I'll have to talk to a friend that works at a local arcade to see if I can take a peek at the underside of a panel and see.

[SNAAAKE]

here is what my local arcade has.(almost all the machine).


yellow  green  blue
yellow  green  blue


try this setup..its funky(the machines look nice).

And yes...routing is the only way.you print from kinkos in vinyl(cheaper) then use spray adhesive).

luck luck

[Chris]

My button colors were mostly determined by the cabinet, as I wanted to use the existing controls as much as possible.  Thus, I ended up with each player having a four-button diamond (I don't play 6-button fighters), with the top green, the bottom red, and the two sides blue.



I did find, though, that casual players would get confused by the two blue buttons, so I recently changed one of them to purple for each player.  I was going to put a yellow one in, to match the Neo-Geo color scheme, buy I thought the yellow would stand out too much on my CP, and the purple goes better with the control panel artwork.

--Chris

[eightbit]

All my buttons are different colors and it helps when your playing with someone that hasn't played before to tell them what color to press.