Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Everything Else => Topic started by: ChadTower on May 08, 2007, 03:09:28 pm
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I'm in the middle of a paving stone patio project in my yard. Saturday I laid out a grey right angled path from my front door to where will be a roughly 15x10 patio made out of the same type of stones.
I mentioned to my wife today that I was tempted to put an 8 bit Mario right in the middle of it. Surprisingly, she was all for it, so now I may have to do it.
The first thing to do, I assume, is to find a suitable 8 bit image with well defined square pixels. Then I need to plan out how to manage colors with the paving stones.
Any and all input/questions/advice/telling me how to do or not do this is welcome. I can get pics of the area in question and exact measurements in the next couple of days.
Something like this, perhaps, but without the other stuff...
(http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/mario_peg_kits_c.jpg)
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/tsucharski7/mariopainting1.jpg)
(http://www.techepics.com/files/super_paper_mario_02.jpg)
(http://www.boomspeed.com/pr0vidence/babymariosmall.jpg)
(http://www.core77.com/blog/images/mariopxl.jpg)
(http://shinymedia.headshift.com/images/photos/uncategorized/mario_mouse_shop_1.jpg)
(http://design.weblogsinc.com/media/2006/04/250px-Super_Mario_Bros_box-1.jpg)
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I would use this mario...
(http://www.techepics.com/files/super_paper_mario_02.jpg)
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:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
I was googling the same stuff at the same time.
EDIT: that's only three colors... very possible.
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Also cool, but don't see a way to get green without somehow dying the bricks:
(http://downloads.startpause.com/Articles/Links/8bit.jpg)
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I'd say do the link and you can just paint the bricks. I'm sure you will make the front page (and probably get dugg) if you do it.
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Oh, I definitely want a Mario if I do it, but depending on size, there may be room for something else. I would worry about how paint would hold up on paving stones that are outdoors and get walked on a lot.
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I agree that painting would be the best way to go. You could do a new one every once in a while. Just hit it with a power washer and start over. ;D
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Not with paving stones... a power washer would wash away the paving sand between them and dislodge the stones.
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Okay, if I go with this one:
(http://www.core77.com/blog/images/mariopxl.jpg)
12 x 16 = 192 blocks
4 colors (3 in Mario, 1 in background)
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Okay... here are two pics, one of the walkway from the front door just laid down, and one of the area at the end of it where the brick patio will be. I'll probably replace that lamp post in the process too.
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Hm. Looks doable.
http://www.americanpavers.com/Shape%20Spec%20Sheet/Square%20Spec.pdf
http://www.americanpavers.com/colors.aspx
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We went over to our local source for pavers and ran the numbers against the colors they have... turns out, the only pavers they have in truly distinct enough colors are 4x8 (nontumbled). To use those I'd have to use two bricks for each pixel, making each pixel 8" by 8". Sadly, that would make Mario 8' wide and 10'8" tall. That's too big, it would dominate the front of our house.
My wife and I agreed that using pixels in the 4" range would be best. That would give us a Mario 5'4" tall and 4' wide. I haven't been able to source any 4" square pavers, though. The local source had 6" pavers in less impressive color selection than the 4x8 stones, which would produce a lightly colored Mario of 8' tall and 6' wide. Bigger than I want, not as much color as I'd like, so don't want to go that way.
The only way I've come up with so far would be making 4" blocks by cutting the 4x8 blocks in half. That would give us good colors and 4" blocks. Inconsistent edges on the cut sides would be a potential drawback and I do not want to cut 96 bricks in half (best case) at a minimum without being sure the results will be what we're looking for.
So, for now, the search continues for the right materials.
EDIT: Ed, that vendor has some really good potential 6" stones... but all of their locations are in FL. :banghead:
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I see you have the necessary equipment for the job... ;D
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I have a crew of Doozers doing half the work for me. They work really cheap, but every time they build something, a red fuzzy thing eats it on me. I don't get it.
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Are those skinny bushes in the background the area the plow guy took out?
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No, those are the ones I put in when I tore out the driveway. You can tell where it was because the stupid soil settled deeper than anticipated. I have to tear all that lawn up, fill it, and level it. Those bushes aren't quite as bare as they look, they just bloomed a little later than the ones on the sides.
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Ah, so that's the entry/exit where people used to drive through your yard?
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Yep, that's where the motorcycle jackass used to cut through and go through the driveways that are still there... going to effort to go around the kids' toys in the process.
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I have a crew of Doozers doing half the work for me. They work really cheap, but every time they build something, a red fuzzy thing eats it on me. I don't get it.
I think they prefer radishes to the dozer creations, at least that's what I seem to remember them venturing into the garden for and risking there lives.
I totally loved that show.
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That walkway looks pretty good ChadT. Good luck with the Mario creation. :cheers:
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I've got a even better idea...
First, drop one of these in every 4-6 feet in the middle of the sidewalk.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Glass_Brick_window.jpg/450px-Glass_Brick_window.jpg)
Drop one of these in each brick:
(http://www.ggsmark.com/UserUploadedImages/bwmini.gif)
And then have a chick party on national skirt day. I'd paypal $5 for that event.
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The only women around my house are my wife, mom, and my wife's relatives. :P
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Found a local place today with 4" stones... in enough colors. The issue there is that they don't normally stock them, and unless I buy them from stock, I have to buy a whole pallet. They have another store a half hour further that carries a much stronger selection, so I'll huddle with the wife and come up with the exact final plan for the patio as a whole, then decide if we go with 4" or 6". 6" is a much more standard size and would be easier to grab specific amounts rather than a whole pallet of each (which would be like 5x more bricks than we need).
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I've got a even better idea...
First, drop one of these in every 4-6 feet in the middle of the sidewalk.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Glass_Brick_window.jpg/450px-Glass_Brick_window.jpg)
Forget the cameras... Get a shitload of LEDs and a ledwiz and go nuts.
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That's what it made me think of too... you could put in any pixel style picture you wanted.
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Went outside yesterday with the wife to plan out the dimensions for the patio... bigger than anticipated, so maybe the 6" will work. I'll see how that size fits into the scheme. I can post some definite numbers soon.
I've been trying to work out the exact brick amounts of each color from that lego pic, keep coming back with a number other than 192, so I think I might just break out the kids' legos and put one together to see for sure. :laugh2:
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I came up with...
45 red
54 brown
44 beige
I didn't count the background.
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That's it, I was coming up 5 short on the red somehow. I recounted (again) and have 192 now:
45 red
54 brown
44 tan
49 grey (background)
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192 total
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The four upright bricks roughly mark off an 8' x 6' rectangle. That would be the size of the Mario grid if I used 6" stones. I think I can live with that in the overall size of the plan.
Of course, some of the capital has dried up, bills and such. But I'll do as much as I can until we get some back.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=51525.0;attach=76937;image)
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Just that spot because I tore up the driveway. The rest is good.
(http://www.eskimo.com/~tegan/blog/torvald/TrollMugshotFront.jpg)
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Chad, if you wanna clean that off with a hose, you'll need a nozzle.
What a dump
Found one for ya ::) :tool:
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What a dump
God you are suck a ---smurfing--- --cream-filled twinkie--. You make shorthair look like a genius and model citizen around here.
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great project! and the scrawny hedges at the end gave me an idea. you could make it a secret driveway! have hedges that electrically move outa the way when you want to come in or out. and since i bet you'll have that ---meecrob--- motorcyclist or some other start driving through your yard again (thats really weird) you can leave them open for a while and then once he starts doing it again,
close them!
then watch him crash into the hedges!
take video footage of course.
PROFIT!
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Heh. I think after all the effort to build this patio, if anyone parked on it, I'd have to slash their tires. :laugh2:
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I did a 20x20 + 4 x 10 ft wide walkway in my house in NJ with pavers. Excavated and broke up old concrete patio myself. Never again.
=J
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I don't mind this sort of work, myself, except for the major pain in the ass disposing of anything around here. One of the reasons I started this project was because I had a couple yards of sand from where I tore up the driveway and put in grass. Couldn't find any way to get rid of the sand without paying $100+.
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hehe. my uncle and cousin in holland had a similar dillemma when they were excavating their own basement. fairly popular to do their but of course pretty illegal without proper planning. they were smuggling the dirt out 'great escape' style and putting a bucket or two of it in the garbage each week...
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I'm 1/2 impressed with how you get things actually done around your place and 1/2 disgusted that I don't...
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hehe. my uncle and cousin in holland had a similar dillemma when they were excavating their own basement. fairly popular to do their but of course pretty illegal without proper planning. they were smuggling the dirt out 'great escape' style and putting a bucket or two of it in the garbage each week...
Lol yeah, they always say the dutch are cheap ---daisies---.
When I moved in my previous house I came home one night and almost ran over a guy pushing a wheelbarrow across the road (in the middle of the night). Then I noticed there were two and they were my neighbours getting rid of the earth dumping it on a temporary municipal dump (it was there during the build of the neighbourhood). The dump was at least 500 meters away from their homes. They excavated 64 m3 (2260 cubic feet) of dirt that way. It took them weeks.
They did all this digging so they could put sand under their patio's. Which makes me wonder looking at the pictures. Chad, shouldn't you put some sand under it? The other path too looks like it's put on some stony foundation. Won't you get trouble with uneven floors and water standing on it?
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That surface is sand. It's 4-5" deep and was the base under the asphalt that I tore up. It does look a little dark in that pic because it was wet (misty day).
I tried to get rid of the asphalt the cheapass way... for months and months. I was throwing out 10-15lb of it a week with our trash and for a while was even taking small loads out and ditching them in gas station trash barrels whenever I filled up. I hadn't even scratched the pile after doing that for nearly a year so I finally rented a dump truck and took it to a recycling depot. The annoying part was that the recycling depot is only a quarter mile away so I paid $150 to rent a truck to move the pile 2 minutes down the street. When I got there the guy said I could dump it free since I was a neighbor, I thought that was really cool, until after the last load I asked him how much it would have been and he said $7.50.
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How did you get the asphalt in the truck.
HAHAHAHA >:D
ok, seriously, that was the last time I make a truck joke. ;)
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That was part of the project my kids loved. They got to whip asphalt chunks into the back of a dump truck with a huge metal CLANG. :)
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I just finished my backyard project this weekend (installing sprinklers and sod) and right now theres about 50lbs of rocks in my trash can. I figure since the trashmen don't even get out of their trucks anymore, but just grab the cans with the mechanical arm on the truck, they won't even notice its there.
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We're not even allowed to use cans... if the bag rips, the trash guys just leave it there, and we pay by the bag so I can't put out 150 bags.
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We're not even allowed to use cans... if the bag rips, the trash guys just leave it there, and we pay by the bag so I can't put out 150 bags.
Wow, that sucks. They actually give us 3 cans, one for trash, one for recycling, and one for green waste (like grass clippings or pulled weeds), then we can also have 3 extra bags of trash if necessary. We also get a voucher for 1 free truckload to the dump each year, which I haven't used yet, but I'm sure will come in handy one day.
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Our main issue is that we don't have dumps. The towns have to contract outside companies to pick up the trash and take it away. I have no idea where it goes. It's $125/year for the service and $1.25 each bag on top of that. Recycling is also picked up, free, if you have the trash service. Anything not regular recyclable has to be brought to the highway depot and the costs there vary by item type.
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Our main issue is that we don't have dumps. The towns have to contract outside companies to pick up the trash and take it away. I have no idea where it goes. It's $125/year for the service and $1.25 each bag on top of that. Recycling is also picked up, free, if you have the trash service. Anything not regular recyclable has to be brought to the highway depot and the costs there vary by item type.
That's actually not that not that bad of a price. I pay $18/month, with a maximum of 9 bags per week. You can use 6 bags/week and still be the same price as my service. If you have more trash, just use bigger bags. You can get industrial size bags that can fit like 4-5 kitchen size bags. ;D
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I'll bet they have volume / weight restrictions on teh bags....but good try ;D
We pay about $40 for 2 months of service, but also pay overage. We get to use cans, and they have that neato mechanical arm/lift to empty the cans...if they're the right kind. It's actually cheaper here to pay "extra" for their large can, than it is to use your own can/bags. I ran the numbers when we were replacing a broken can. If you don't use their can (at least around here) you have a hard limit of 50lbs on the garbage (no exceptions...I've had it left on the curb with a nasty note before) and they can't use their mechanical lift.
If you get their can, you can stuff it up to 120 lbs or so, and they will ALWAYS pick it up.
We're short on dump space here too, and have a HUGE recycling movement, as well as legislation on both businesses and individuals that require you to recycle. They don't patrol your garbage, but if above a certain % of your garbage is recyclable (and not recycled) they can, and eventually may start, fine you. right now, its only enforced for businesses, but the law is in place to regulate home waste as well.
:dunno
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Yeah, since the bags sit right in the open, it's pretty easy to spot the bags that are way over the size limit. The limit is a regular black bag techinically but I put out 30% larger contractor bags all the time and don't have an issue. The bag itself pretty much polices weight as a plastic bag won't hold 120lb.
I haven't had them refuse to take a bag because of weight yet but I haven't pushed it too far. I have had them leave bags behind because I forgot to put a sticker on them.
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Trash dudes will look past a lot of transgressions with a six pack or a $10 bill attached to the bags every quarter.
=J
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Trash dudes will look past a lot of transgressions with a six pack or a $10 bill attached to the bags every quarter.
=J
Anyone see that Malcom in the Middle episode?
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I tried to get rid of the asphalt the cheapass way... for months and months. I was throwing out 10-15lb of it a week with our trash and for a while was even taking small loads out and ditching them in gas station trash barrels whenever I filled up. I hadn't even scratched the pile after doing that for nearly a year
:o did you dig up the whole street? :o
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do you not have wheelie bins in amerikee? they hold a hell of a lot of stuff. no ones gotten outta garbage trucks in australia for about 15 years...
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Not everywhere, I guess. I've only ever seen those mechanical collection trucks on TV.
danny, asphalt is heavy, man. 15lb is only a very small bit. I had two small dump truck loads.
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I love my yard-it ends in a ditch that runs down to the train tracks. A couple years ago when I dug up a big chunk of it to install a patio, I just opened the fence and wheeled it down in a wheel barrow and dumped it all down the slope.
Much nicer than trying to find some place to haul it to...
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Now we know who to contact when we have bodies to hide.
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Stingray?
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We already hid his body.