Custom Artwork assistance for Meteor cabinet

[gonzojoey]

Level 42 recently acquired a beautiful Meteor cabinet (see original post here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79802.0) but the cabinet has no side art and looks a tad bare. Don't get me wrong, I think the cabinet is beautiful and clean as is...but it's just like an empty canvas waiting to be painted on. I made an attempt at producing some side art for him, but I'm not very good w/ Photoshop, so that's why I'm posting here. Below is a link to the original flyers for this game:
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=2394

I used the B/W image from the second flyer and came up with this image:
http://www.carolinaveedubs.com/Meteor%20copy.jpg

It's not great, but its a start. Level 42 asked if this same style image could be produced, but using the color image instead of the B/W one. I'm beyond my level of Photoshop knowledge, so any assistance any of you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Level42]

Indeed !

 

[Level42]

O and of course I will scan the marquee, bezel and CP for "all" the other owners of Meteors

[coltchillin]

that image (the woman @ the flyer) is not very suitable for vectorization i'm affraid.

so you would need a high-res version of it at 100% of the size of the actual print/side art. blowing up a scan of the flyer is not a good idea as it is a bitmap.

the logo would be traceable in illustrator though.

[waveryder]

what dimensions are required for this? A non Bicubic resize could blow the image up about x10 the original without much quality loss and then it could be easily cleaned up by hand.

[coltchillin]

what dimensions are required for this? A non Bicubic resize could blow the image up about x10 the original without much quality loss and then it could be easily cleaned up by hand.

i'd like to see that cause i never mess with blowing up bitmaps.

but if it works... 
in combination with the vectorized logo type it should make for some nice erotic side panel art.

but... why not have some hot chick dress up and strike that same pose? 

[waveryder]

i'd like to see that cause i never mess with blowing up bitmaps.

The resizing of bitmaps usually doesn't work well due in part to the "exploding" of pixels, Techniques have moved on a lot and you can now produce non bicubic enlargements of bitmaps.  (see image attached)

but... why not have some hot chick dress up and strike that same pose? 

Goodness yes! She reminds me of that Bob Walkin cover for "Game Over 2" Now there was a large breasted chick that could grace any cabinet!

Part 1:- Original arcade flyers scan
Part 2:- Non Bicubic resize with a small amount of cleaning.

[coltchillin]

nice!
you used the median filter to even out stuff like rasterization?

[waveryder]

nice!
you used the median filter to even out stuff like rasterization?

No just blending tool and my stylus.

[Level42]

Sorry, been away for a couple of days. That looks fine to me

About the size....well......the bigger the better I guess

But I could very well live with something a little bigger than the DK side-art f.i.

There is no other source material than that flyer I'm afraid. I think the real challenge would be combining the b/w picture from the backside of the flyer with the colored one making it possible to recreate it in the original colors etc. (so removing the cabs and text that are covering it.

I'm a total 0 with this so please excuse me if I explained it a bit weird....

Can't wait till saturday, it will be a long drive but I am _very_ anxious to pick it up
I can provide measures than too if needed....

[Level42]

O and do I have to add that I of course can pay a reasonable price for your work ?

I know one other guy here in Europe that also has this cab, he might be interested as well.

[coltchillin]

if you like and are not i a major hurry, i can trace the logo type.

[Level42]

Picking up the cab tomorrow, but I'm not in a hurry at all. Will need plenty of time to fix it anyway

By the Logo type you mean the Meteor word ? _Any_ help is much appreciated !!

[coltchillin]

...By the Logo type you mean the Meteor word ?...

yes.
i will post the file as soon as i traced it.

[Level42]

Thanks ! 

I picked up the cab yesterday, check out the pics here:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79802.msg837782#msg837782

[coltchillin]

as promissed, the logo trace...
i've tried to stick to the sloppyness of the original where i could
it's pretty accurate imo but some rounded corners etc i had to estimate.
colors may not be a 100% exact but 9 times out of 10 you'll have to correct them after test printing anyway.

change the .jpg extension into .ai

[Level42]

as promissed, the logo trace...
i've tried to stick to the sloppyness of the original where i could
it's pretty accurate imo but some rounded corners etc i had to estimate.
colors may not be a 100% exact but 9 times out of 10 you'll have to correct them after test printing anyway.

change the .jpg extension into .ai

Thanks !!!!!!!!! Great work !

[FrizzleFried]

...another crappy vectormagic conversion that took all of 2 minutes.

[coltchillin]

vectormagic rocks for some type of stuff though.
i've tried it on a couple of images and i only had to spend like half an hour each correcting it and deleting  unnecessary nodes.

for logo type stuff etc nothing beats tracing it in illustrator.

[waveryder]

for logo type stuff etc nothing beats tracing it in illustrator.

Thats for sure!!! Never been impressed with vectormagic due to its inbuilt resize of bitmaps. Each to his own I suppose. The meteor chick isn't really a suitable image to vector. Its clearly a canvas painting with very definite brush strokes on the curves, I studied those boobs closely, trust me on that one! You wont get any kind of truethful reproduction vectoring it. My £0.02

[jcroach]

Great cabinet and great find.  The bezel artwork is certainly needed for the MAME Artwork Project. I'm going to send you a PM.  Maybe you'd be willing to take some high rez scans of that bezel for the project.

[SNAAKE]

boobies 

[Level42]

boobies 

Yes those are breasts indeed. Good call !

[Level42]

In all seriousness:

OK, so if vectorizing it is not possible (or not looking good), is there a way to get it bigger with some acceptable results (I mean the whole image, not the boobies).

It doesn't need to be Centipede side-art sized....

[Level42]

...another crappy vectormagic conversion that took all of 2 minutes.

Well.....that doesn't look TOO bad IMHO.

You have the vector file there ?

If I could incorporate the Meteor text logo eps file with it, I think I would be happy enough...

Or Waveryder, could you do that work on the picture for the entire sheet ? Looks fine to me, what is the factor of enlargement on that ?

[waveryder]

Let me know the size you need and i'll enlarge it and give it a quick clean. You'lle have to move the cabinets out of the way yourself though. Let me know.

[Level42]

Let me know the size you need and i'll enlarge it and give it a quick clean. You'lle have to move the cabinets out of the way yourself though. Let me know.

Thanks Wave, I'll visit the cab ASAP (is in storage) to take the measurements.

There's also very good news ! I found the guy who submitted that flyer to TAFA and he will send me a high-res (300dpi) scan of it !  I bet that's already a lot better to work with

[Level42]

Got the files ! Big thanks to Dan who owns the original flyer and was nice enough to scan if for me at 300 dpi. I will drive by the cab this afternoon for some measurements.....

[venkman]

excellent project!

looking forward to seeing this, and i agree that the vectorised version of this doesn't look too bad!