Virtual Cabinet Design

[Zobeid]

As I get into designing control panels and other things, one problem was that a lot of the tools other people pointed me toward didn't work on my Mac.  I'm also not familiar with the heavy-duty modeling tools, and I know they've got a steep learning curve.  So I improvised.

First I turned to OmniGraffle for laying out my control panel.  The great thing about this program is that it's very easy to move things around and try different layouts.  I went through about 25 revisions before I figured it out completely.   Some examples. . .

http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/CP01.png
http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/CP08.png
http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/CP18.png
http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/CP24.png

So far, so good.  But the next problem came after I decided I wanted a rotating LCD monitor.  I couldn't pull an existing cabinet plan off the shelf, I had to design my own.  This was a 3D problem.  I felt intuitively that everything should fit into the dimensions I wanted, but I needed a way to verify it.

I went into Second Life and started building.  The biggest hassle was constant unit conversions, because everything in SL is measured in meters!  But anyhow, here's what I ended up with:

http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/mame/mockup_01.jpg

Rotating 19-inch LCD, inclined back 40 degrees.  Full-sized speakers and marquee.  My chosen control layout, with no awkward "front porch" hanging off the cabinet.  Dimensions similar to a classic Defender machine.

Here's a close-up of the control panel:

http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/mame/mockup_02.jpg

It looks like everything should fit, and not be too cramped together.  Next I take the side panel off. . .

http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/mame/mockup_03.jpg

Again, my concern is that there's room for the monitor to rotate.  Looks like it should fit.  Notice the admin buttons tucked under the CP box!  So if you want to exit the game, you can reach under there. . .  but you'll never hit it by accident, and it's not taking up space on top of the CP.

Next I compare with a typical human figure, wondering if the CP height will be comfortable, monitor height and angle will be comfortable, marquee won't block the view of the screen, etc. . .

http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/mame/mockup_04.jpg
http://zobeid.zapto.org/caviar/image/mame/mockup_05.jpg

Looks good so far. 

[MazzMn]

SecondLife to build cabinets...what a great idea!

In trying to build a cocktail cabinet, a friend and I were trying to imagine how or where our knees would bump into the cabinet, I wonder if comparing a virtual cabinet (to scale as you have done) against my avitar would have helped the situation?
Not that you need another tool, but I've seen several written up with Google Sketchup and that would certainly work on your mac
http://sketchup.google.com/

[Zobeid]

In trying to build a cocktail cabinet, a friend and I were trying to imagine how or where our knees would bump into the cabinet, I wonder if comparing a virtual cabinet (to scale as you have done) against my avitar would have helped the situation?

It could be helpful, but with a couple of caveats.

Firstly. . .  SL may be a 3D environment, but you're looking at it through a 2D monitor with no depth perception and without many of the cues we normally use to judge distance and sizes in real life.  When comparing two objects, it's best to put them right next to one another, and then position your camera facing them evenly from the side.

Secondly. . .  Don't trust the size of anybody (including yourself) or anything in SL unless you've measured it.  Everything in SL is made to Wonky Scale.  Ceilings are 20 feet high, most avatars are seven feet tall walking around on exaggerated, stilt-like legs, and they don't realize there's anything odd about it.  I even found an arcade with classic games in SL -- and the game cabinets were the size of kitchen refrigerators.  Yet they didn't look that odd at first glance, because there was nothing to compare them against.

Not that you need another tool, but I've seen several written up with Google Sketchup and that would certainly work on your mac
http://sketchup.google.com/

SL was a natural for me because I've already been using it for a few years and was basically familiar with the building tools there.  I just discovered Sketchup a couple of days ago, so I'm very interested in learning to use it too. 

[MazzMn]

Zoebeid,
Have you seen the Insert Coin Arcade in SecondLife? Just bumped into it. They have reproduced some classic arcade machines and have developed some new games. The traditional games can't be played in SL yet, just provide links to flash games playable via a browser. However, it was a nice touch playing the sounds of many arcade games...sort of simulates walking through an arcade back in the day

Here is an SLURL http://slurl.com/secondlife/Flotsam%20Beach/115/182/22

[Zobeid]

Have you seen the Insert Coin Arcade in SecondLife? Just bumped into it. They have reproduced some classic arcade machines and have developed some new games.

I found that a while back, it's pretty neat.

I do think it's funny that the cabinets are so huge.  They're about nine feet tall, and my six foot tall avatar has to stand on a box to reach the controls and play them.

[coltchillin]

i like the chick.

[DJ_Izumi]

I mean this not as an insult but I can't get it out of my head...

"You might be a furry if; You use SecondLife to do CAD Design."

[TOK]

I guess I'm doing this all wrong. To get my control panel height, I stood with my arms comfortably bent and measured the distance to the floor. The rest of the cab design was done using this amazingly sophisticated tool that rendered it in about 10 minutes.


 No virtual chick butts, but 3 MAME cabs and 2 dedicated.