Author Topic: Pleae critique my cp artwork! (Read 12503 times)

AceTKK · « **on:** April 04, 2003, 05:02:47 pm »

Well, it's finally finished. Before printing I would like to get some suggestions and feedback from all the people who helped me so much. I will be the first to admit that it is a *blatant* rip-off of Motorfish's amazing design (http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=3066) but I did actually redraw it from scratch myself. I started in AutoCAD to produce the geometric figures I wanted. Then I exported into Illustrator 10 and added coloration to the paths. Finally, I finished up in Photoshop 6 by adding the fills, text, and background layers. I think it came out pretty well, what do you think?

AceTKK · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:06:26 pm »

Oh, and I have a question for anyone with printing experience. Can a high-quality printer reproduce the transparent fill around the joysticks with acceptable results?
I can always go back and make it solid, but it looks much better at 50% opacity. FYI the original image is 31" x 15" at 300 ppi.

-Ace-

CitznFish · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:18:52 pm »

have you posted this before/ i swear I saw this a month ago on this message board.

AceTKK · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:26:24 pm »

He-he, I guarantee you're thinking of Motorfish's panel. Check the link at the top of the thread.

In the spirit of imitation being the greatest form of flattery I hope Motorfish doesn't mind the similarity of my design. I added some personal touches and changed some of the coloration but the actual control layout is almost identical.

I owe thanks to oscar controls as well for his great reproduction of the MAME logo (www.oscarcontrols.com).

-Ace-

Luxury · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:31:28 pm »

holy mackeral thats a lot of buttons! seriously - a seperate button for fps? what in the world do you need that for?

citznfish - i think that quite a few people are being 'inspired' by motorfishes design lately. i thought the same thing.

CitznFish · « **Reply #5 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:32:22 pm »

ahhh...all i se are red 'x's on that link. Looks good though, i really like the color scheme...

marcoval · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:35:37 pm »

Feel no guilt on the ripoff, it was a cool CP and I can't say I didn't want to take some ideas from it. Honestly I would be flattered!

AceTKK · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:37:07 pm »

yah, I really don't need the Show FPS on my control panel but I like the look of 7 buttons in the program controls section. Also, all the the Program Control buttons will be 1" Wico blue illuminated pushbuttons (smaller than normal buttons).

-Ace-

rampy · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:37:08 pm »

I see it fine... It is cool (as is/was motorfishes) I too would almost want to copy it (but aren't/won't)

Only critique I can give you is the white text that spans two background colors... example: mouse/trackball buttons is half on the blue and half on the black... I'd either shorten the phrase/text or make the blue splurge larger to accomodate.... (same thing for the trackball text)

just my opinion, and you did ask for critique =P

rampy

EDIT: although it may look just peachy full size/in person so take what I'm saying w/grain of salt.

CitznFish · « **Reply #9 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:44:00 pm »

I get red x's when i look at the motorfish thread referenced in this thread...

AceTKK · « **Reply #10 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:44:25 pm »

Thanks for the input Rampy. I will try expanding the light blue area under the text and see how it comes out. Does anyone know about printing the transparent part? Will it print out allright?

-Ace-

_Iz- · « **Reply #11 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:49:23 pm »

Can you actually fit all those controls under the panel? That trackball looks awfully close to the buttons and joystick...

AceTKK · « **Reply #12 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:54:44 pm »

yes, it will all fit . . . barely :-) I'm using a 2-1/4" trackball also in order to save some real estate.

-Ace-

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #13 on:** April 04, 2003, 05:55:07 pm »

Quote from: _Iz- on April 04, 2003, 05:49:23 pm

Can you actually fit all those controls under the panel? That trackball looks awfully close to the buttons and joystick...

It can be done no problem ! assuming there is not trackball mounting plate..
the artworks looks nice...(ala motofish).

Cue-Ball · « **Reply #14 on:** April 04, 2003, 07:20:43 pm »

That looks really sharp, Ace! I do have a few suggestions though....

Instead of having "Capcom Config" and "Neo-Geo Config", why not just label the buttons accordingly - ie: 1 2 3 above the first row and A B C D below the 2nd row. This is how i'm planning to do mine and it just seems to make more sense (to me, at least).

Also, do you really need "360* Spinner" and "Trackball" labels? I would think those things are pretty self-explanatory. Even the 8-way and 4-way labels are really unnecessary since you have arrows on all the sticks. Removing these little labels would tidy things up a bit and make for a cleaner look.

My $0.02. Looks great either way.

shmokes · « **Reply #15 on:** April 04, 2003, 07:34:40 pm »

I was kind of under the impression that those labels were there for OUR benefit so we'd know what was going where, but would not be on the final panel. If that is not the case Cue-Ball is right. Make it the case, IMHO. Lose the labels.

AceTKK · « **Reply #16 on:** April 04, 2003, 09:36:22 pm »

I see what you mean. I put the labels there more for the sake of my friends who might not recognize a spinner when they saw it. The trackball is really self-explanatory though. OK, the labels are nixed.

I appreciate the feedback,

-Ace-

Justin · « **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2003, 01:52:25 am »

If your friends cannot recognize a spinner, then why are they your friends?

I kid, I kid!!!

Frostillicus · « **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2003, 07:43:11 am »

That looks great - I dig the colors and of course motorfish's was excellent, too. Maybe just a little too much text for me, though i too have clueless friends (I would not leave them alone with my cab for anything, though, so they would probably just ask me: "what's a spin-her?")

Pixelhugger · « **Reply #19 on:** April 05, 2003, 01:24:57 pm »

When printing, the transparent areas should reproduce prefectly provided you use a good printer. I printed my overlay on an Epson 1270 6 color photo printer and it looks like I cut it out of a coffee table book. The gradations and transparency effects I gave it in Photoshop reproduced perfectly. I can only imagine a service bureau like Kinkos could do at least as well. Also- I imagine you'll be keeping all your vector art as such and not rasterizing it when you print, correct? (IE not flattening it into a JPEG or PICT or something.) I'm sure you know that makes a HUGE difference, especially for smaller type.

Great work. Now I'm wishin I'd labeled my buttons, it's a bit cryptic as I laid mine out...on the other hand, if it's even captured - the information will be safe.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #20 on:** April 05, 2003, 04:26:10 pm »

I'm gonna vote against the majority: I like all of the labels on everything. It looks clean on your example, so I'd say keep 'em.

AceTKK · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2003, 12:29:47 am »

Yea, I'm still debating over keeping the labels. I do think they give the panel a "neo-technical" kind of look which works well considering the nature of the project. On the other hand, the trackball and spinner labels specifically throw off the symmetry of the artwork. I'm going to have to tinker with it a little more.

-Ace-

rampy · « **Reply #22 on:** April 06, 2003, 08:15:45 pm »

Quote from: AceTKK on April 06, 2003, 12:29:47 am

Yea, I'm still debating over keeping the labels. I do think they give the panel a "neo-technical" kind of look which works well considering the nature of the project. On the other hand, the trackball and spinner labels specifically throw off the symmetry of the artwork. I'm going to have to tinker with it a little more.

-Ace-

Just to restate/clarify my opinion... I *like* the labels... would just suggest doing some tweaking of those "problem" labels (or the swooshes underneath...

Good luck!

rampy

cyberphox · « **Reply #23 on:** April 06, 2003, 10:13:55 pm »

I also love the labels. I wish you would send me the file you made this from. My control panel has to look like that. I'm even installing Illustrator to try and learn how to make something that sweet.

AceTKK · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2003, 12:27:58 am »

The original file is right around 40 megs in size (it's 31" x 15" at 300 dpi). I don't mind sharing the image but I don't have any way to distribute it. If someone has an ftp site I wouldn't mind uploading it (I'm on 56k so it will probably take all night).

-Ace-

Rahzel · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2003, 01:22:36 am »

Looks really nice Ace, just wondering what color buttons are you going to use? The famous red, yellow, green, blue colors for neo-geo then like all black for the other 3?

AceTKK · « **Reply #26 on:** April 07, 2003, 02:47:58 am »

I'm pretty much set on all black fire buttons at this point. The program controls buttons will be different; illuminated buttons. I'm going to change the color of the lens in these to match one of the colors in my artwork, probably the light blue.

-Ace-

cyberphox · « **Reply #27 on:** April 07, 2003, 05:09:25 am »

AceTKK..if you're willing..I just emailed you with a place to upload..it would be a great learning tool for me

jginiso · « **Reply #28 on:** April 10, 2003, 12:37:53 pm »

any info on if/where the illustrator files were posted?

AceTKK · « **Reply #29 on:** April 11, 2003, 12:59:29 am »

I uploaded the big Photoshop 6 file (unflattened, so all the layers can be edited individually) to cyberphox's ftp site. Try e-mailing or PMing him to get a copy (I'm stuck in 56k so I can't host the file myself).

-Ace-

cyberphox · « **Reply #30 on:** April 11, 2003, 03:26:02 am »

Yes...kudos and a big thanks to AceTKK for taking the time to upload this.
I'm on dsl so if anyone needs it..give me a shout!

djsting · « **Reply #31 on:** April 11, 2003, 05:48:17 pm »

cyberphox, I would like it!

saint · « **Reply #32 on:** April 12, 2003, 02:46:43 pm »

If someone will email me the link on where to get it, I will make it available here on the BYOAC downloads page...

Thanks!

--- saint

Quote from: AceTKK on April 11, 2003, 12:59:29 am

I uploaded the big Photoshop 6 file (unflattened, so all the layers can be edited individually) to cyberphox's ftp site. Try e-mailing or PMing him to get a copy (I'm stuck in 56k so I can't host the file myself).

-Ace-

saint · « **Reply #33 on:** April 15, 2003, 12:09:11 am »

Posted for download!
http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/FinalOverlay.psd

AceTKK · « **Reply #34 on:** April 15, 2003, 01:31:18 am »

Awesome, thanks Saint!

-Ace-

jginiso · « **Reply #35 on:** April 17, 2003, 03:57:51 pm »

Quote from: saint on April 15, 2003, 12:09:11 am

Posted for download!
http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/FinalOverlay.psd

Has anyone else had problems opening this file? Ive downloaded the 30+MB file several times and each one freezes photoshop. I'm using Photoshop 6, XP, 256MB. I have no problems opening larger files Ive created myself...Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

AceTKK · « **Reply #36 on:** April 17, 2003, 07:57:06 pm »

FYI it took me almost 10 minutes to open the file in PS 6.0 on my athlon 1.4, 256 ram machine.

-Ace-

Cue-Ball · « **Reply #37 on:** April 17, 2003, 08:27:30 pm »

If you're having trouble opening the file you probably don't have nearly enough RAM. I haven't downloaded it myself, but if it's 30MB in Photoshop format then it's probably much, much larger than that when expanded into memory. If it's 31"x15"@300dpi...

31" * 300dpi = 9300 pixels wide
15" * 300dpi = 4500 pixels high
9300 * 4500 = 41,850,000 pixels total
assuming it's 32 bits per pixel (may be 16 or 24, but i doubt it)
41m pixels * 32bpp = 1,339,200,000 bits

So, assuming i did my math correctly (no guarantees

) you're looking at a file that's roughly 160MB uncompressed in memory. Multiple layers will make it even larger. If you don't have 256MB of RAM don't even bother trying to open it. If you have 256MB+ then give it some time because it's probably still going to hit the hard drive cache pretty hard.

Aceldamor · « **Reply #38 on:** April 17, 2003, 11:12:42 pm »

Mine opened just fine...I'm running Win XP pro, XP 1900 w/ 512 mb ram, Photoshop 7

Thanks to both Ace for making it available and Saint for letting us use his bandwith

I'm wondering if there are any tutorials out there...I want to make own but use elements from this one...

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #39 on:** April 18, 2003, 12:10:26 am »

I'm on an Athlon 1133 with 256MB of RAM, and after chugging the hard drive FOREVER, it did open just fine. Thanks much AceTKK for creating/uploading and Saint for hosting!

cyberphox · « **Reply #40 on:** April 18, 2003, 01:24:06 am »

and thanks to cyberphox for bugging the hell outta him in the first place to get it and then giving it to saint...oh wait that's me isn't it....

Honestly i have a p3 866 with 512 megs and i swear it was open in less then a minute??

AceTKK · « **Reply #41 on:** April 18, 2003, 02:59:12 am »

It's the 512 MB of ram you have cyberphox. since I only have 256, Photoshop had to write to the swap file on the hard drive when opening / saving the image.

On a related note, this is the first project that has really taxed my computer. I'll have to upgrade before even thinking about designing any cabinet side art.

-Ace-

cleric · « **Reply #42 on:** June 01, 2003, 01:53:07 pm »

U are the man AceTKK

THANKS FOR SHARING...

Must ppl in this forum must see you as a example..
SHARE IS GOOD.

Get things from itself and must time ask money for that is BAD.


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