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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Gradius on June 20, 2004, 06:39:14 am

Title: How does artwork work?
Post by: Gradius on June 20, 2004, 06:39:14 am

Hi. I'd like to know how artwork works. I mean: is is some kind of semitransparent sheet over the monitor?

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: Generic Eric on June 20, 2004, 07:40:30 am

well in the old days, maybe even still, it was a piece of glass that was painted.

some mame cabinet builders tend to use plexi glass or lexan.  or reuse a bezel from their favorite game.

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: Gradius on June 20, 2004, 08:56:23 am

Yes, but if it's painted, how on earth can we see the bitmaps on screen? Because when I play Space Invaders in MAME I can see the ships clearly over the painted background.

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: Snarbald on June 20, 2004, 01:56:15 pm

Didn't some versions of space invaders have transparent cellophane give the illusion of a color game?

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: krick on June 20, 2004, 06:01:28 pm

Space Invaders used a mirror that reflected the monitor image.
You weren't looking directly at the monitor...

http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/s/sp/space_invaders.html (http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/s/sp/space_invaders.html)

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: spriggy on June 20, 2004, 06:13:56 pm

In relation to 'Snarbalds' comment...

I am currently restoring a 1979 Cosmic Gueriila UR. This game was just an interesting spin on the Space Invaders platform (Quite good actually).  The early cabinets used a B&W monitor, however had different colored strips of acetate overlayed directly onto the monitor to give color to the characters on screen.

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: danny_galaga on June 23, 2004, 07:43:20 am

snarbold might not be old enough to remember. but i am  :D :-[
space invaders was one of the first machines i played. i remember wondering why they would bother with the cellophane when the colour tv had been invented. didn't know about economics when i was a little lad  ;)

Title: Re:How does artwork work?
Post by: RayB on June 23, 2004, 11:36:08 am

Quote from: Gradius on June 20, 2004, 08:56:23 am

Yes, but if it's painted, how on earth can we see the bitmaps on screen? Because when I play Space Invaders in MAME I can see the ships clearly over the painted background.

A Bezel is artwork that goes AROUND the sides and top/bottom of a monitor. Therefore, there's no paint in the area where a monitor picture is displayed.

The Space Invaders art you're talking about is "background art". And the way THAT works is as described above. It's a painted mirror and the video graphics are then reflected off of it, giving the illusion of graphics mixed with artwork.