My Control Panels..suggestions?

[Mctittles]

Hey everyone.  Second post!
Hopefully you all aren't sick of giving input on people's control panel ideas.  I've read quite a few posts myself looking through the history, but I'm not tired of it yet!  Anyway, it's a rotating panel thing so I have a few in the works.  Two of my panels might be taken for other controls like steering, so here are three that I have tried to put stuff on.  The main reason I wanted rotating panels is so it doesn't look like a mess when you walk up to the machine so I tried to make the number of buttons and stuff as slim as possible. 

All of these panels are 2'6" X 1'
Without further ado...


Here is my layout for fighting games.  I really can't see room for improvement on this one.  It was the easiest to design and I love the look so far...

This panel will be a dedicated 4 way stick for pac-man and the like.  The button layout around the stick is also set-up similar for asteroids, dig-dug, etc.  I added a third button to the left side for trackball games that require three buttons.  This layout isn't too bad, although I wonder about the trackball being off-center for aiming in golf/bowling games and also wonder if anyone will hit the stick.

This was by far the most difficult one to design.  My friend and I love Defender so I used exact measurements for the Defender button layout.  I noticed I will have to grind off a bit of metal from my J-Stick to get the pushbutton as close as the original but that should work.  The problem I ran into after getting defender correct was I need somewhere to put my spinner.  And Tron just HAS to have a right handed joystick.  So I opted to put the joystick more toward the center with the track on the left.  I also put some buttons around the trackball for Tron, Discs of Tron in hopes I can get used to that over the up/down track and trigger button.  My main concern with this panel is that you will be too far to the right playing defender.  I have a 22" monitor for the arcade but might feel weird.  Also the control panel looks a little messy in my opinion.  I tried a few ideas but this is the best I've come up with to fit the trackball/spinner/4 way dedicated/Defender layout/Tron layout and fighter panel within 3 areas.
Alright all for now!  From reading this board it seems like there are quite a few nice peeps here and it's good to be a member now.  Thanks for any input!

[MaMeNnO]

A rotating panel? That sounds like a complex build. Forgive me, but why not just easily changing CP's? I guess that's more solid and rigid then a rotating one.

Are the CPO's the final versions to be printed? I would give it a try to give it a more Arcade look.

Well, it's just my opinion.

[FrizzleFried]

Tron sort of REQUIRES a "flight stick" type of control or a top-fire type joystick.  I don't see that on your last panel.   All the buttons on the right confuse me too.

What is the button below the  joystick on panel #2?

Also,   you are going to want  to situate your trackball AWAY from any buttons....plus there is a rather large mounting plate to take in to account when positioning the trackball.  The way it is now,  the button to the top left of the trackball would be fully running in to both the mounting plate and the trackball unit itself.  It is large.

[destructor]

Forgive me, but why not just easily changing CP's?

What is more easy:
1. unscrew screws, disconect conectors, change panel, connect connectors, screw in screws
or:
2. rotate panel


And you can be sure that rotate panel will be solid if you make it solid.

-----------------

I don't see joysticks for 2-joysticks games. What hand you use for trackball, and what for spinner?

[leapinlew]

Forgive me, but why not just easily changing CP's?

What is more easy:
1. unscrew screws, disconect conectors, change panel, connect connectors, screw in screws
or:
2. rotate panel


And you can be sure that rotate panel will be solid if you make it solid.

-----------------

I don't see joysticks for 2-joysticks games. What hand you use for trackball, and what for spinner?

It's also more difficult to wire and making it solid is one of the major hurdles. Not to be quickly dismissed. If you make it solid, it won't be a simple matter of just "rotating panel" like you suggested. Rotating panels make for a very complicated build in comparison.

You can do it, I'm sure. It's just more complicated.

[Havok]

Forgive me, but why not just easily changing CP's?

What is more easy:
1. unscrew screws, disconect conectors, change panel, connect connectors, screw in screws

Umm.. I have swappable panels: one USB connection, and two panel clamps. I daresay I can swap a panel almost as quick as you would rotate yours. My only slowdown is that I have to put the panel away in my storage place in the back of the cabinet. (Easily accessable from the side, open the back door and put on the shelf)

However, I think rotatable panels are cool. If you can pull it off and make it solid, go for it!

[steveh]

what program did you use to design your contoller layout?  I am in need to do this, and i dont know what to do it in.

[destructor]

Umm.. I have swappable panels: one USB connection, and two panel clamps. I daresay I can swap a panel almost as quick as you would rotate yours.

What controllers you have on your panels? Do you have for example on first panel joysticks and on second spinner?

Another plus for rotate panels is that I don't must have another place in my room for panels. All is in cabinet. Possible is made 4 rotate panels in cabinet.

[leapinlew]

Umm.. I have swappable panels: one USB connection, and two panel clamps. I daresay I can swap a panel almost as quick as you would rotate yours.

What controllers you have on your panels? Do you have for example on first panel joysticks and on second spinner?

Another plus for rotate panels is that I don't must have another place in my room for panels. All is in cabinet. Possible is made 4 rotate panels in cabinet.

He could easily have a USB hub and connect everything to the hub. The amount of connections don't matter.

If you can do a rotate, go ahead. For my money, I would do swappable panels or multiple machines.

[Donkey_Kong]

When I first started looking at this cab building and I saw a few of those rotating panels I really thought they were truly 'all the rage'. I wanted to do one too. Then I made just a regular CP and that alone was hard enough as it is. The CP is the hardest thing on your cab. You will be going exponentially difficult with a rotater.

I would love to see ya go for it though...Good Luck man!!

[Mctittles]

Thanks for all the input!  Quick responses around here!
Ok, some feedback on everything you guys had mentioned.

A rotating panel? That sounds like a complex build. Forgive me, but why not just easily changing CP's? I guess that's more solid and rigid then a rotating one.

I actually would really not like swapable panels.  One reason is I don't want extra panels hanging on the wall or a shelf somewhere in our game room.  Another is I think there is more chance of stuff breaking this way.  I could see problems where new people come over and pull out a panel, while forgetting to unplug it and break the cord, or slip and drop it on the ground.  With a rotating panel I see less room for error on the user part, unless you purposely try to break it by being rough.  Also I'm completely sold on the 'cool' factor!

Are the CPO's the final versions to be printed? I would give it a try to give it a more Arcade look.

No, not at all.  The overlays are just random patterns I put on so I could tell them apart when working on this. 

Tron sort of REQUIRES a "flight stick" type of control or a top-fire type joystick.  I don't see that on your last panel.   All the buttons on the right confuse me too.

That's the panel I'm having the toughest time deciding on.  Tron and Defender get on my nerves!  The buttons on the right are measured to the same layout as Defender.  If you have ever played it, you'll know that it's controls are all over the place.  For Tron, I put buttons around the spinner to *hopefully* make up for the fact that I don't have a button stick.  Think it will be playable that way?

Also,   you are going to want  to situate your trackball AWAY from any buttons....plus there is a rather large mounting plate to take in to account when positioning the trackball.  The way it is now,  the button to the top left of the trackball would be fully running in to both the mounting plate and the trackball unit itself.  It is large.

Thanks for the tip.  I was not actually aware of a mounting plate that was needed.  For positioning I took measurements of my trackball.  Where the button is now according to what is not shown in the pic underneat the mounting board, it is in the corner of where on the trackball large things come out from the right and left making an L shape.  I'll have to look into this mounting plate thing.
Otherwise if I can fit it, do you think the buttons will interfere with gameplay?

what program did you use to design your controller layout?  I am in need to do this, and i don't know what to do it in.

The program I'm using is actually WAY overkill for what I'm using it for.  It's 3d Studio Max and I use it at work sometimes to design animations and realistic 3d renders.  It's pretty pricey (a few thousand $$!) and has a steep learning curve.  I'm using it because I'm already familiar with it so can start working on my design quickly.  If you need something to help you layout your panels or machine there are cheaper alternatives though.  milkshape 3d is a free 3d program off the top of my head.  If you look for CAD programs I'm sure you could find a cheaper alternative (by cheaper I mean $100-$200!) that is for CAD design only and not rendering realistic scenes.  I'm sure there are more free 3d things out there as well, I'd have to look.  You could download a 30 day trial of 3d max for your project, but if you have never used 3d before you might be spending most of that 30 days just learning how to get around in the program...

When I first started looking at this cab building and I saw a few of those rotating panels I really thought they were truly 'all the rage'. I wanted to do one too. Then I made just a regular CP and that alone was hard enough as it is. The CP is the hardest thing on your cab. You will be going exponentially difficult with a rotater.

You are scaring me!  Heh..  I know it will be difficult but I hope I have somewhat of an upper hand by designing everything to scale on a computer first.  I'm using the 3d program mentioned and putting every piece of wood and plexi-glass in the design to exact scale before I begin building.  That way I *hope* I can just print out the plans, cut the wood and go to work.  I'm hoping this way will cut down on the amount of mistakes...

[Donkey_Kong]

Dang bud the last thing I want to be remembered as here is the one to scare you from doing the rotater...

Prove the neigh sayers wrong...Dooooh-it! Doooit! You have er-eh...officially passed the IQ test to see if you can actually pull it off with your writing skills! You have our permission...now git er done!! Show us all what ur made of in the garage!

You'll do fine. "You know, if you put your mind to it...you can accomplish anything" Michael J. Fox -Back To The Future

[ahofle]

Are you absolutely restricted to 3 sides?  I would probably add another panel for the Tron/Spinner stuff and have the Defender panel on its own (they don't really share much in common to be on the same panel IMO).  If you can only do 3 sides, perhaps you could combine your #2 and #3 panels somehow (minus the optical controls) and then have a Tron/Spinner/Trackball panel.  You REALLY need a topfire stick at a minimum (preferrably a flight stick of some sort) for games like Tron.  This would also solve the problems of being off center playing Defender.  Just my 2 cents.

[Mctittles]

Thanks, I'm probably going to move it up to 4 sides.  The reason I was limited to 3 so far is because panel 4 was going to be a 4 player panel and 5 was going to be steering wheel.  However, I haven't been able to find a non-crappy way to make panel 4 turn into 4 player ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=61732.0 ).  So I'm going back to the drawing board on these panels.  I'll probably put the Tron/Spinner/Trackball on it's own panel.  I really want the Pac/Asteroid panel to be a clean as possible.  There is one annoyance here.  The game WACKO, which is pretty fun uses a trackball AND a joystick.  So...do I put the trackball in the center, joystick on the left, and spinner on the left or do I put the joystick center, spinner left and trackball right so you can use your right hand on the trackball for that game....
Decisions, decisions.  But that's half the fun of making a cabinet right!

[tranq]

Some tri-panel examples:


http://arcade.tomvanhorn.com/

http://rebirth.dgthompson.com/cppanels.html

[destructor]

5 was going to be steering wheel.

If you use TT2 or other modified spinner you can have spinner and steering wheel on one panel.

[Mctittles]

Good point.  I'd like to do that, but I'm going to add wheels somewhere down the road.  Right now I'm leaving the 5th blank and building everything but that panel.  Later when I decide what I want to play the most I'll put a wheel or analog something on the 5th panel...