Marquee Colors and Pitfalls

[Woodshop Flunky]

I've been playing around with some art for my cab and I'm wondering if there is anything to avoid with a backlit marquee.

The marquee I'm working one has a lot of black in the background.  Is this going to end up gray when the thing is lit up?

Are there any colors to avoid?

Any, "I did this and wish I hadn't." stories?

I've attached a piece of art that is SUPER preliminary so you can have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

oh... and I was planning on using Game on Graphix if that makes any difference.

[darthpaul]

I'm no expert but if I had to do it again and I just might, I would stay away from too much black, it looks good unlighted but when the light is on, it looks gray. I used Game on Graphix, he did a great job.

[Woodshop Flunky]

Thanks.

Yeah... I was wondering how opaque the black really is.  I definitely don't want a washed out gray marquee.

[rikitiki]

if you look at the majority of marquees from the classics very few have much black to them.
DK, pacman, centipede, etc.
outlines mostly with lots of color fills inkjets/translites are ok and even screenprinted marquees
have limitations when doing alot of black if not done properly.

[Woodshop Flunky]

This past Saturday, I took my son to a friends birthday party at Chucky Cheese.  I took the time to look at some of the cabinets (and specifically the marquees).

There was one game there that had a lot of black in the marquee.  I don't remember the name of the game, but the black was SUPER black even though the color components were well lit.  It was a very nice marquee.

I would love to be able to get a marquee printed with truly opaque black components.

[dfmaverick]

I suppose you could just export the black background and have a second marquee of just the black printed up and sandwich it with the original so that you are doubling up on the blacks. Alignment would be the tricky part.

[Woodshop Flunky]

I suppose you could just export the black background and have a second marquee of just the black printed up and sandwich it with the original so that you are doubling up on the blacks. Alignment would be the tricky part.

I thought about having a mask image that completely occluded the light in some parts.  But, on the final background, I would like to have a deep blue to black gradient.   

What I might do is just design it the way I want it to look.  Then, if the blacks are washing out I can print a grayscale mask and sandwich it behind the marquee.  Some experimenting might do it.

Game on Graphix marquee is listed as less than $20, so if it doesn't work I won't be out too much.