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Main => Artwork => Topic started by: Gamester on July 16, 2009, 01:15:33 am

Title: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 16, 2009, 01:15:33 am

Hello,

I'm working on a WWII themed cabinet, and am playing around with ideas for my CPO.  Here's a couple designs. 

If I went with the first design, P1 would be blue translucent buttons and P2 would be red translucent buttons.  For the second design, I would use all blue translucent buttons for the players.  In any case, the admin buttons would be clear translucent (I already have the buttons).

I've considered taking a sort of Axis vs Allies approach too (i.e., integrating artistic elements from both sides), but just haven't found the ingredients to make anything I could get excited about thus far.

Comments or suggestions are appreciated...

Title: Re: WWII Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 16, 2009, 08:32:24 pm

Well it's back to the drawing board.  I did some full sized mockups and didn't like the first design (too grainy), and the second design was too dark. 

Definitely lots of trial and error involved with this process...

Title: Re: WWII Themed CPO
Post by: FunkyAndroid on July 17, 2009, 01:52:50 pm

Too bad that first pic didn't come out clear enough.  That's a sweet idea for a CPO though!  I'm interested in seeing the final product.

Title: Re: WWII Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 17, 2009, 05:50:19 pm

Quote from: FunkyAndroid on July 17, 2009, 01:52:50 pm

Too bad that first pic didn't come out clear enough.  That's a sweet idea for a CPO though!  I'm interested in seeing the final product.

I decided not to give up on the first design so easily, and I've been playing around with it some more.  Amazing things can be done with Photoshop filters and such, so I'm hopeful I can make it into something I can be happy with.  If not, I'll take a step back and go another direction.  The problem with this subject matter compared to more traditional cabinet themes (arcade characters, sci-fi, etc.)  is that there's not a huge amount of high quality, high-resolution color artwork to work with.  And what there is often does not lend itself well to an arcade cabinet because of the often drab colors.  Now, if I wanted to make the thing in black and white, I'd have no problem...  ;)

Title: Re: WWII Themed CPO
Post by: wooowman93 on July 17, 2009, 11:16:43 pm

Here is a cool picture you could use
(http://media.gameparty.net/show/bf1942/wallpapers/1280/B17_1280.JPG)

Title: Re: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: TOK on July 19, 2009, 08:31:48 pm

I like this kind of theme and not too many people use it, so when I saw your post I immediately remembered someone who did this a couple years ago. Took a little bit of digging around, but I found the thread. I loved the first Mustang overlay, but maybe it will help give you some alternate ideas since it won't work for you.

Unfortunately, this guy hasn't been on in over a year.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56281.0

Also, there is a very famous Mustang called Old Crow. If you do a google image search for that name, you will find a ton of images of various Mustangs in A through D variants attempting to duplicate its appearance.

Title: Re: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 20, 2009, 01:17:01 pm

Thanks for the link TOK, I appreciate it!  That's a cool cab.  I think I want to put more emphasis on the planes for mine.  His seems to be more about the accents, the plane itself seems to be a relatively small element in his design.

I think I may still use the Mustang design.  I've been massaging it a bit in Photoshop, and I think I'm getting close to something I can be happy with.  I'll know for sure when I print out another full sized mockup.

'Course after that I still have to cook up a marquee and then decide how I want to handle side art...   :dizzy:

Title: Re: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 20, 2009, 06:09:05 pm

Okay, here's another revision of the Mustang design.  Changed the dark screens to a light gradient around the control areas, added some motion blur to the background to (a) give the illusion of speed, and (b) to help smooth out some of the grain that was in the background before.  Also added the black line to the outside border to make it consistent with the other outlines.

I think I'm getting close.  I'll probably do a full size print of this tomorrow to see how it looks.

Title: Re: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: FunkyAndroid on July 26, 2009, 04:05:07 am

How'd the full size print turn out?

Title: Re: WWII Warbird Themed CPO
Post by: Gamester on July 31, 2009, 03:14:39 am

Well, after lots of tweaking and frustration, I just could not get the look and quality that I wanted.  So, I've decided to shelve this theme idea for now.  I may revisit it again on a future project.

BUT, I have decided on a new theme, and my project is going full steam ahead.  You can see the details here:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=94891.0

Thanks for all the feedback everyone...