So any anti cabin fever projects?

[Mike A]

I have both of my medium res monitors working as good as they are going to get. One looks really good and I shoved that back into my Championship Sprint cab.

The other one I think needs a rejuvenation or possibly a tube swap if this tube is just too far gone. That can wait.

I fixed up an amp issue with my Kicker PCB. That will be going in my Street Fighter cab.

I resurrected a dead Phoenix board (see what I did there?) I found sitting in the bottom of my Pleiades cab when I bought it. It just needed a good cleaning and some reflow. That is going in my Pleiades cab.

Connectors for my Time Pilot harness are coming in today. I need to wire in a spot for Gyruss's second speaker.

This week I have a project for someone else I need to finish up.

---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. Not bad considering I am still working full time.

[Mike A]

Okay. Gyruss is now in stereo. I just have to figure out where to put the extra speaker. I don't want to hack up this original cab. Maybe I will make a topper. Put both speakers up top. Hmmmmm.

[opt2not]

That’s not a bad idea.

[Mike A]

Maybe make it look like an old boom box on top

[opt2not]

Only if it involves a cardboard cut-out of John Cusack holding it up

[whammoed]

Finished my game room lighting.  Moved pool table light to be centered over table, added 4 can lights to TV/arcade area, and added light for my imaginary dart board  .

[opt2not]

Wow, whammoed sightings are plenty these days!

Are you still selling those Lightmite’s? I never did get around to grabbing a couple for my Robotron Cabaret.

[whammoed]

Wow, whammoed sightings are plenty these days!

Are you still selling those Lightmite’s? I never did get around to grabbing a couple for my Robotron Cabaret.

Plan to get the site back up once the dust settles here from the move.

[opt2not]

Wow, whammoed sightings are plenty these days!

Are you still selling those Lightmite’s? I never did get around to grabbing a couple for my Robotron Cabaret.

Plan to get the site back up once the dust settles here from the move.

If you got a couple on hand now, I could use them. Did a 10 million score attempt on a live stream recently, had a camera pointing to my control panel showing what my hands were doing. My start buttons lights didn’t show up at all. 

[shponglefan]

So two days ago I decided to start learning Blender.

This is my first attempt at modeling an arcade cabinet. With some practice, I may try to make a whole mini-arcade.

[shponglefan]

Finished my game room lighting.  Moved pool table light to be centered over table, added 4 can lights to TV/arcade area, and added light for my imaginary dart board  .

That is a sweet space! Nice work! 

[Ond]

So two days ago I decided to start learning Blender.

This is my first attempt at modeling an arcade cabinet. With some practice, I may try to make a whole mini-arcade.

Nice work for just two days learning.  Try a render with a little bit of perspective added?

[pbj]

My wife is a microbiologist so this is all being taken very, very seriously.

Home office looks awesome now, it was a shitpile before.  I have a rug and everything now.

Garage is still a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- pile but it’s usable for the first time in 2 years.

I picked up the game Dropmix really cheap.  It’s been fun. 

Been playing a lot of old console games, ignoring the arcade, pinballs, ps4, xb1.  Making my way into a lot of the pc engine library.  Comparing ports of the same game across multiple consoles.  Still firm in my smug conviction that Sega tended to win there.

Walking about 5 miles a day just to keep step count up.

Watching random people play games on Twitch.  Some bands I like have done concerts.

Cashed in my ticket insurance on Ministry / KMFDM / Front Line Assembly.  Super bummed about that.


 

[shponglefan]

So two days ago I decided to start learning Blender.

This is my first attempt at modeling an arcade cabinet. With some practice, I may try to make a whole mini-arcade.

Nice work for just two days learning.  Try a render with a little bit of perspective added?

Thanks.

Just curious, but what you mean by a bit of perspective? Do you mean a change in the angle?

[shponglefan]

Been playing a lot of old console games, ignoring the arcade, pinballs, ps4, xb1.  Making my way into a lot of the pc engine library.

Any good PC Engine games you're finding? Think I tried playing the Valis games at one time, but that's about it.

It feels like a forgotten console from the 16-bit era.

[opt2not]

So two days ago I decided to start learning Blender.

This is my first attempt at modeling an arcade cabinet. With some practice, I may try to make a whole mini-arcade.

Nice work for just two days learning.  Try a render with a little bit of perspective added?

Thanks.

Just curious, but what you mean by a bit of perspective? Do you mean a change in the angle?

I think he means change the camera's FOV so it's not so orthographic (flat perspective).

[eds1275]

I finished a 2 year programming course in 3 months, just graduated, going to work on my arcade games I've dreamed up and also found an older version of Ramp and Roll (my old skeeball game I made) that will be a good starting point to continue working from (I lost my progress in a computer death) but plan to make it better than before with my newfound skills.

Also planning a bigger game project if I can get more people on board to help with art and stuff. This one might just be a dream so not looking for help until I can at least get it off the ground enough to know I'm committed.

[Ond]

So two days ago I decided to start learning Blender.

This is my first attempt at modeling an arcade cabinet. With some practice, I may try to make a whole mini-arcade.

Nice work for just two days learning.  Try a render with a little bit of perspective added?

Thanks.

Just curious, but what you mean by a bit of perspective? Do you mean a change in the angle?

I think he means change the camera's FOV so it's not so orthographic (flat perspective).

I do mean that    Camera settings are a part of learning any 3D package.  If you're aiming for a more photo real render then introducing some perspective helps.  Some of those orthographic sketch-up renders of cabinets I see make me feel all irritable     For profile renders - side, front etc orthographic may be preferable. 

I'm in a virtual Zoom class all day today.  I will be bored.  Feel free to distract me in any way....... 

[pbj]

Decided to join the parade of bored men in my neighborhood and pressure wash my sidewalks.  Have a dumpster washer that needed a new plug.  15 minutes in, the gun starts leaking.  Spend an hour or so disassembling, adding Teflon tape, reaasembling, over and over.  Quits leaking!  Put it back together... pipe inside the gun cracks.

$40 for a replacement gun or $150 for a new pressure washer.

Sigh.

[shponglefan]

Nice work for just two days learning.  Try a render with a little bit of perspective added?

Thanks.

Just curious, but what you mean by a bit of perspective? Do you mean a change in the angle?

I think he means change the camera's FOV so it's not so orthographic (flat perspective).

Ah, understood. I've yet to really muck around with the camera options in Blender, so this was done using default settings.

Though my ultimate goal is to try to make some low-poly dioramas, which seem to always have a more orthographic look to them. I suppose it evokes a more miniature appearance.

[shponglefan]

Also planning a bigger game project if I can get more people on board to help with art and stuff. This one might just be a dream so not looking for help until I can at least get it off the ground enough to know I'm committed.

What sort of game were you thinking?

[shponglefan]

I do mean that    Camera settings are a part of learning any 3D package.  If you're aiming for a more photo real render then introducing some perspective helps.  Some of those orthographic sketch-up renders of cabinets I see make me feel all irritable     For profile renders - side, front etc orthographic may be preferable. 

There seems to be a big divide between different types of render. Personally I'm more drawn to the low-poly look which seems to be more cartoony and consequently not very realisitic.

OTOH, I've seen some crazy good realistic renders out of Blender. I imagine those must take a lot longer to create.

[Ond]

I do mean that    Camera settings are a part of learning any 3D package.  If you're aiming for a more photo real render then introducing some perspective helps.  Some of those orthographic sketch-up renders of cabinets I see make me feel all irritable     For profile renders - side, front etc orthographic may be preferable. 

There seems to be a big divide between different types of render. Personally I'm more drawn to the low-poly look which seems to be more cartoony and consequently not very realisitic.

OTOH, I've seen some crazy good realistic renders out of Blender. I imagine those must take a lot longer to create.

Poly count is not so much the issue; any 3D style game has a perspective view with adjustable FOV.  It’s possible to have low poly with hi-res texture applied which is the way game engines run.  Being free, Blender is a great 3D program with tons of features.  Highly detailed photo real renders are about Hi-res textures, good lighting setup and a suitable render engine like Vray or others.  High-poly count also helps for fine details.  Occlusion and normal maps are used to 'fake’ details on lower poly models.    

opt2not will step in any sec now....   

[opt2not]

Nope, you got it right, brotha Ond. No need for me to pile on. Besides, I heard good things about Blender. It’s come a long way over the last decade. I haven’t checked out the latest version yet, but I know a lot of indie teams are using it now.

[shponglefan]

I do mean that    Camera settings are a part of learning any 3D package.  If you're aiming for a more photo real render then introducing some perspective helps.  Some of those orthographic sketch-up renders of cabinets I see make me feel all irritable     For profile renders - side, front etc orthographic may be preferable. 

There seems to be a big divide between different types of render. Personally I'm more drawn to the low-poly look which seems to be more cartoony and consequently not very realisitic.

OTOH, I've seen some crazy good realistic renders out of Blender. I imagine those must take a lot longer to create.

Poly count is not so much the issue; any 3D style game has a perspective view with adjustable FOV.  It’s possible to have low poly with hi-res texture applied which is the way game engines run.  Being free, Blender is a great 3D program with tons of features.  Highly detailed photo real renders are about Hi-res textures, good lighting setup and a suitable render engine like Vray or others.  High-poly count also helps for fine details.  Occlusion and normal maps are used to 'fake’ details on lower poly models.    

opt2not will step in any sec now....   

Oh when I say "low poly", I was thinking more of the aesthetic term, not the technical term.

Though I suppose slapping detailed textures onto renders isn't in keeping that aesthetic. Maybe I'll make some pixel-art style textures and use those instead. 

[shponglefan]

Nope, you got it right, brotha Ond. No need for me to pile on. Besides, I heard good things about Blender. It’s come a long way over the last decade. I haven’t checked out the latest version yet, but I know a lot of indie teams are using it now.

I'd been curious about it for years, but was always put off by the UI horror stories. The UI overhaul they gave it for 2.8 seems to be decent, though. So far haven't had any real barriers in learning it.

[Ond]

Nope, you got it right, brotha Ond. No need for me to pile on. Besides, I heard good things about Blender. It’s come a long way over the last decade. I haven’t checked out the latest version yet, but I know a lot of indie teams are using it now.

I'd been curious about it for years, but was always put off by the UI horror stories. The UI overhaul they gave it for 2.8 seems to be decent, though. So far haven't had any real barriers in learning it.

I always thought it looked tricky to learn, not too user friendly.  I might take another look at it then.  I'm all for free programs like that, Gimp etc. even though I use non-free equivalents.  Good on you for perservering with it.

[eds1275]

Also planning a bigger game project if I can get more people on board to help with art and stuff. This one might just be a dream so not looking for help until I can at least get it off the ground enough to know I'm committed.

What sort of game were you thinking?

a third person horror, silent hilly or along those lines. I'll be trying to get a character moving around before I look into it any further

[opt2not]

Nope, you got it right, brotha Ond. No need for me to pile on. Besides, I heard good things about Blender. It’s come a long way over the last decade. I haven’t checked out the latest version yet, but I know a lot of indie teams are using it now.

I'd been curious about it for years, but was always put off by the UI horror stories. The UI overhaul they gave it for 2.8 seems to be decent, though. So far haven't had any real barriers in learning it.

I always thought it looked tricky to learn, not too user friendly.  I might take another look at it then.  I'm all for free programs like that, Gimp etc. even though I use non-free equivalents.  Good on you for perservering with it.

Hey Ond, if you using Gimp check out Glimpse. https://glimpse-editor.org/
It’s a branch of Gimp but with better UI.

[Howard_Casto]

Just on the 3d tools advice, I'm not a huge fan of blender.  It could be that I didn't give it enough of a chance, but back in the day we did all the 3D arcade models using 3dsmax and occasionally maya.  They have great spline and extrusion tools which are useful for doing models of arcade cabinets.  This is just an amateur talking though... blender might be a good alternative after all. 

[pbj]

Hm.  Glimpse looks interesting.  I noticed that Gimp had totally redone their UI, right around the time I finally got comfortable with the old one....

[Drnick]

Hm.  Glimpse looks interesting.  I noticed that Gimp had totally redone their UI, right around the time I finally got comfortable with the old one....

HAHAHAHAHA, So True

[shponglefan]

Tried another Blender experiment today.

This time I went for a deliberately chunky, low-poly look. I initially tried scaling the actual textures to get a highly pixelated look, but that didn't work so well. Ended up trying to paint a rough approximation in Photoshop.

Not sure if this really works, but it's fun to experiment!

[shponglefan]

Just on the 3d tools advice, I'm not a huge fan of blender.  It could be that I didn't give it enough of a chance, but back in the day we did all the 3D arcade models using 3dsmax and occasionally maya.  They have great spline and extrusion tools which are useful for doing models of arcade cabinets.  This is just an amateur talking though... blender might be a good alternative after all.

I'm not overly familiar with other 3D software, but I'm finding Blender not too bad as I get used to it.

I've started to figure out a workflow for doing an arcade cabinet that involves importing and tracing the sideview of the cabinet, extruding into a 3D model, further extruding the sides, and then tweaking the geometry. All told it could probably take minutes to quickly model a cabinet once I get the steps down.

[eds1275]

In my experience, blender has one hell of a learning curve. For architectural stuff I wish that Sketchup played nicer for poly counts because it's so fast to build stuff in it and I wish I could use it for games. Would be great to make buildings in Sketchup and then texture it in blender! It's been a few years since I looked into what SU was doing so I am gonna go take a peek shortly

[shponglefan]

In my experience, blender has one hell of a learning curve. For architectural stuff I wish that Sketchup played nicer for poly counts because it's so fast to build stuff in it and I wish I could use it for games. Would be great to make buildings in Sketchup and then texture it in blender! It's been a few years since I looked into what SU was doing so I am gonna go take a peek shortly

Unfortunately SketchUp is not what it once was. After Google sold it off, the company that now owns it (Trimble) has taken things in a different direction. It's now primarily a web-based application and the free web version has less functionality than the old SketchUp Make desktop application.

This was a big reason I decided to try Blender, because I wanted a desktop 3D modeling tool to replace the old SketchUp. I am finding Blender not as difficult as I thought it would be and much faster to do things with than I expected.

I think it will serve as a reasonble SketchUp replacement, although minus the huge library of ready-made objects that SketchUp has.

[pbj]

I can't justify buying another mini console.  I've got a Famicom, SNES, 2017 Genesis, 2019 Genesis, countless Pis.  And Covid has shut off delivery of the TG16 mini anyway.

So I dusted off my old original Xbox.  Grab a copy of Big Ass Emulator Disc... it's easily found.  The emulators are creaky and from 2004.  Because all the main menu does is point to a directory and its respective default.xbe file, you can easily drop in an updated emulator and not break anything.  You'll just have to update the rom paths and tweak the skin.

And that's how I got a copy of MednafenX PCE from 2017 on an original Xbox today.

 

[Howard_Casto]

I might get the tg-16 mini later on because I doubt I'll ever get a real one as they are still stupid expensive and I think the menu on the mini looks nice.  It depends upon how easily it can be hacked and if they knock it down from a ridiculous $100  for the console and one controller.  I'm not running emulators off the xbox though.... Having a forty pound 2ftx2ft brick in my entertainment center doesn't sound like fun in 2020. 

[pbj]

All this locking in has me browsing old consoles.  Seems like the prices have spiked even more.  You can get a decent PCE multicart for $35.  But that single controller port and composite output has me unexcited.  Looks beautiful via component on my Xbox on my CRT, though.

Realizing BAED came out in 2004 really had me pondering life today, though.

 

[Howard_Casto]

Like most non-Nintendo consoles, the tg16/pce has native rgb out, you just need a cable and appropriate upscaler.  But yeah that's the problem with tg stuff.... the console comes with jack and squat, so it adds up pretty quickly.  I'm thinking it'd be around $300 to get a decent setup, so in that respect the mini is a bargain.