Antropus' Retromachine (new images added 3.9.08)

[Antropus]

Hi,

I feel a little embarrassed posting my machine here because unlike you guys, that constantly post amazing and inspiring cabinets and CPs that you started from scratch, I live in an apartment and don't have the space and/or tools to build my own

BUT, just like you, I LOVE arcade games and always wanted to have my own machine at home, my very first one.
So, while I wait till I get a home where I will have the space to build one from the scratch, I decided to just buy some ready made stuff, assemble it, add additional wiring and components, create my own custom retro artwork and configure the whole system/front end to run transparent, with no visible windows components.

I'll post more details later but for now, here's a little list of components used on it:

- mameroom UAII cabinet
- mameroom CP that mimics the Classic SlikStik (comes with KeyWiz Max 1.5, Turbo Twist 2, Happ controls/buttons and illuminated translucent trackball)
- Happ $0.25, 2 players working coin door
- 27" Multi-sync Betson Imperial (Kortek)
- smart strip for one button power solution on the whole cabinet
- 1 TB hard drive
- Dual Opteron 248 2GB computer
- ArcadeVGA2 and a ton of custom generated .ini files for mame. Games running at original refresh rate are just GORGEOUS!
- mala frontend and Maximus Arcade front end (I'm using mala the most but Maximus is actually a very powerful/easy to use front end too!)
- Windows XP SP2 with changed shell to boot straight into the front end, 1 Pixel mouse cursor, custom boot screen and other optimizations
- 1 Happ illuminated big button for power/hybernate the whole cabinet
- compiled version of mame 0.123 to eliminate all disclaimer screens
- custom artwork printed by mamemarquees (still in progress... I hope it will be delivered till the end of the week).

So, all components are brand new and the machine feels really tight! I love this thing and can't wait to apply the artwork on it.
For now, here are some pics showing the machine how it looks right now, a photoshop'd version showing a pre-viz of the artwork applied, some close-ups of the artwork and the details on the control panel produced by mameroom.  I hope you don't mind my temporary Ratatouille marquee, from a movie poster that I had!

-Kris 

[Antropus]

Some close-ups.

[Antropus]

Just out of curiosity, I'm a CG artist/digital sculptor and this artwork is based on part of a 3D artwork I made in 2004. You can check the original 3D complete artwork here:

http://www.antropus.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=0 (click on the image to see it bigger)

You can check my complete gallery, showing a lot of my 3D models here: http://www.antropus.com/gallery/

Click on the images and thumbnails to see larger versions.

Cheers,
-Kris

[TOK]

Nothing to be embarrassed about, that looks badass! I'd never guess that was a kit cab with the artwork on there. 

[Antropus]

Hey TOK, thank you very much!

I just got an email from Scott from mamemarquees that said the artwork is on it's way! I'll get everything by Thursday, by UPS. So, in about a week I should have the whole thing applied and then I'll be able to post the real complete thing instead of a Photoshop'd version. I'm excited to see it. I can't wait

-Kris

[Fozzy The Bear]

Very nice Kris,
                         If you hadn't actually said so, then I would never have guessed that that second picture had been photoshoped to put the artwork on. The shaddows and tonality on there are very very impressive. I thought I did good work with it, but you are clearly an absolute photoshop master.

The cabinet is very nice too....  Good luck applying the artwork for real!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Antropus]

Thank you Julian!

[javeryh]

Looks awesome!  Before applying the CP art is there anyway for you to recess the trackball mounting plate and then cover it?   

[Antropus]

Thanks javeryh! I've seen the great work you've done on your machines. Really cool stuff!

No, unfortunately this is not possible at this point because even the artwork was designed to include the ugly trackball plate on it
I thought about it too but I felt like it kind fits the whole "retro look". One day I'll build one from scratch and then redesign the buttons/sticks positions and put the trackball exactly in the middle. The way it is mounted right now, a little to the right, breaks a lot of design possibilities. This is another reason I decided to keep it as is.

-Kris 

[Antropus]

Ok, no more photoshop tests. This is the real deal now. I received the artwork from mamemarquees last Thursday and I gonna tell you, AMAZING WORK those guys did!!! I'm really impressed by the quality of the materials, color and overall look. Top notch work that I like to recommend to anyone that are still thinking about it. Really guys, it's worth every penny spent.
I applied the whole thing, those immense stickers with absolutely no bubbles whatsoever. I followed the directions, peeling about 2 inches and using a soft towel I was applying the artwork using zig-zag motion, starting always from the middle. It looks perfect, thanks to the high quality thick vinyl they used.

I'll post a bunch of pictures to show how the machine turned out and also some pics showing the application process.

You have to see this thing live. It looks really sweet.
I hope you like it.

-Kris

[Antropus]

Some more...

[Antropus]

Here some pics showing the artwork printed by mamemarquees (again, amazing work they did!) and a little of the application process. If you do it slowly, you can get absolutely ZERO bubbles on the whole process.

[UnforgivenII]

Hey Antropus, I am doing a similar setup with that cabinet and monitor. Can you tell me where you got your monitor bezel from ?

[Drnick]

Maybe you will get lucky, but that was a 5Yr old Necrobump and Antropus has not been active since
 July 10, 2011, 08:26:43 am