Star Wars Marquee

[jabbathehut]

Hi all!
I've been inspired to make a Star Wars inspired arcade cabinet. For SOME reason...

In any case I thought I would share my Marquee design. It is inspired by a banner from the early days of Star Wars, which was painted by Ralph McQuarrie–who was the concept artist for the movies.

Feel free to use it if you like it–I'd be happy to send you a larger copy of it. And of course if you have any feedback on it that's great too.

[yotsuya]

That's awesome! Nice to see some originality!

[Le Chuck]

Are you going to do the side art in the same retro style?  That'd be pretty awesome to see!

[yotsuya]

Are you going to do the side art in the same retro style?  That'd be pretty awesome to see!

+1. I know you should be able to find the concept art online.

[jabbathehut]

Thanks. Yeah I was planning to use some of the concept art for sideart and the control panel. I want to keep it very retro. All going toward making my first cabinet. Which will be a bartop single player (still somewhat in the planning stages...) currently the marquee is the most finished part of my project. 

[Le Chuck]

Thanks. Yeah I was planning to use some of the concept art for sideart and the control panel. I want to keep it very retro. All going toward making my first cabinet. Which will be a bartop single player (still somewhat in the planning stages...) currently the marquee is the most finished part of my project. 

Don't laugh, that's more than some folks here and once you get the ball rolling it's hard to stop.   

I'd really like to see somebody take a swing at the ROTJ cabinet since it's the least popular/commonly seen of the original SW cabinets.  That profile really lends to some nice retro art too.

[jabbathehut]

Oh I think I've definitely caught the Arcade bug.
 
The ROTJ Cab is neat. I think I may use some of the art from that, or take it and use it as some inspiration for some sideart or something. There is just so much concept art from Ralph McQuarrie that is out there. It's hard to decide what to use.

Also Le Chuck. Your Darkade Cabinet is Awesome. Excellent artwork and great control panel layout and artwork. It was why I decided I had to do a Star Wars theme.

I noticed you used a laptop what power source did you use for powering the buttons and stuff?

 I am also using a laptop, and as such, don't have a conventional pc power supply to splice into. So I was wondering how you solved that.
Additionally I was hoping to use RGB lit buttons, and an Electric ice trackball, (haven't decided which buttons to go with, I love the novegems but they're sold out... I may wait though I hear they're coming out with a new version). Hopefully all my crazy goals are achievable for a beginner such as myself. 

Funny story about the donor laptop, I got it for free (my favorite price) and it's a macbook that had half of its screen tore off–Funny seeing as I didn't need the screen anyways–Have to love the perks of working for a computer store. I plan to install XP on it given that all the emulators seem to be better supported. Should work well I think.

[Le Chuck]

Thanks man, always happy to inspire.  Warms the cockles of my heart and all that jazz.   

The buttons are not LED or anything so they don't need any external power.  The encoder is one of the cheaper USB ones from GGG.  For the few things that I needed separate power for (for me servos, for you your LEDs depending on how many you run) I used a powered USB hub. 


This is the back of the project before I finished it up.  You can see the power brick for the laptop, a smart strip (carefully hacked down to half size) USB hubs, the wall-wart to run my LED marquee, and all kinds of nonsense.  If you run mad LEDs I'd probably just bite the bullet and go with a wall-wart to power them all since you won't have a power supply to splice into the 5v.

All your goals are very much achievable on a first build.  Just go slow.  My first build wasn't my best but, naturally, but it did the job for a number of years (until and evil moving company demolished it). 

[jabbathehut]

I thought even regular push buttons used 5V?

Or was that just something you ran off the USB hub?

And do you just splice into a USB cord (coming out of the hub)or do you splice into the 'wall wart' that the USB hub came? I know this is such a noob question but we all start somewhere.

[Le Chuck]

The buttons wire into an encoder.  The encoder gets all of its draw from the USB or PS2 port its plugged into.  There will be no need to splice any USB cables. 

As for LEDs if you are using an LED controller board (available from our friendly retailers) it will also get its draw through the cable or you can jack the power right onto the board.  Rather than talk big picture it'd be helpful if you gave a list of what you're thinking about ordering and we can help you fit it all together and tell you what you're missing. 

[jabbathehut]

I was thinking of a minipac from ultimarc with the wiring harness (to ease the learning curve and make wiring easier)

And then a Led wiz to control the novagem rgb buttons and trackball. Would there be a issue mixing the brands of keyboard encoders and led controllers and buttons like that? I think they all run on the same voltages..

[Le Chuck]

Well they all run on isolated circuits.  The microswitches are wired into the encoder and the LEDs will be wired into the LED controller so you don't have to worry about that aspect.

[jabbathehut]

Ah that's kinda along the lines I thought it would be. Thanks for confirming that. I feel like I'm finally ready to order all the arcade parts. Except that I'll have to hold out for the buttons that I want. 
It will all be worth it. 

[PL1]

And do you just splice into a USB cord (coming out of the hub)or do you splice into the 'wall wart' that the USB hub came? I know this is such a noob question but we all start somewhere.

The answer on where you are going to power your LEDs depends on:
  1. Always on or switched via controller.
  2. How much current they will draw.

Most LEDs will draw around 20 mA.

The 5v unpowered USB hub port spec is 100 mA.

The 5v powered USB Hub port spec is 500 mA.

You can reduce the current draw by running 12v LEDs off 5v like this circuit -- 14 buttons + 3-LED trackball drawing only 81 mA.

I've also tested running 6 black-rimmed 12v LED buttons from Paradise off 5v provided by the KADE and that configuration draws only 30 mA and provides a good level of illumination.


Scott

[jabbathehut]

I was planning on using a led controller likely a led wiz. And either electric ice 2 or the hopefully soon to come novagem 2 RGB buttons. Still deciding the exact number of buttons I want to have lightable. (Thinking 8 minimum) this is for a single player Bartop. And I may find some other buttons for admin use.

If I understood correctly you said 20 mA per led so this should result in 60 mA (at peak) per button. If I have 8 of those it would draw 480 mA if all colors are on full brightness. Should work off of a powered hub alright although I'd need another for powering the electric ice trackball (not sure exactly what power that draws?)

I think my understanding of that is correct. Chime in if its not.

Or I could find an appropriate 'wall wart'. What kind of power does a wall wart provide? That may be the way to go.

I admire your ingenuity of rigging up something that runs on next to no power. But since this is my first build I'm sticking with the K.I.S.S. philosophy. I don't have to be super energy efficient.

 I imagine I may eventually build a second machine or perhaps more. Those I probably would be braver with  since I'd have experience.

[PL1]

I was planning on using a led controller likely a led wiz. And either electric ice 2 or the hopefully soon to come novagem 2 RGB buttons. Still deciding the exact number of buttons I want to have lightable. (Thinking 8 minimum) this is for a single player Bartop. And I may find some other buttons for admin use.

If I understood correctly you said 20 mA per led so this should result in 60 mA (at peak) per button. If I have 8 of those it would draw 480 mA if all colors are on full brightness. Should work off of a powered hub alright although I'd need another for powering the electric ice trackball (not sure exactly what power that draws?)

I think my understanding of that is correct. Chime in if its not.

Sounds like you're on-target for the EI2's.

From the GGG NovaGem page:

Power Requirements: 100ma @ 5v DC Per button.

The new ones may or may not have the same current draw.   

Or I could find an appropriate 'wall wart'. What kind of power does a wall wart provide? That may be the way to go.

"Wall wart" is a generic term for an AC to DC converter.



Check the one you are planning to use for voltage and current ratings.

The current rating needs to be a bit higher than the total you calculate so you aren't running it at absolute maximum power.

An extra 50-200 mA should be plenty of wiggle room.

I admire your ingenuity of rigging up something that runs on next to no power. But since this is my first build I'm sticking with the K.I.S.S. philosophy. I don't have to be super energy efficient.

LED controller = K.I.S.S. compared to daisy-chaining    

Using pre-fab daisy-chain wiring from Paradise to connect power and ground to single-color LED buttons is less complicated than wiring and configuring an LED controller IMHO.  YMMV.   




Scott

[jabbathehut]

Should've noticed those drew more power...

An electric ice trackball looks like it pulls 100 mA as well. So a somewhere around a minimum of 1 Amp oughta do it.

And you're right Single LEDs that are always on would be simpler. I just know that if I didn't go for RGB controllable buttons--that my inner geek would not be satisfied. I do of course know what he meant by wall wart. I always have called them bricks.

As for keeping it simple. Eh I know I'm not. I looked at the diagram to step the 12v leds off 5v... It's probably not as bad as I originally thought. With the stuff I want I'm largely going with off the shelf stuff. And should be able to follow along and do everything correctly. I meant more that I wouldn't have to put together all my own wiring and solder in resistors to LEDs and all that fun stuff that I'm avoiding... All the stuff I want should work as long as i don't mess up the wiring. Which hopefully will be "straight-forward".

What I should do it just go with regular buttons since this is my first time. But... I want the ones that light up with pretty colors 

The advice is much appreciated all of you guys have been helpful to a lowly noob such as myself   

[PL1]

I just know that if I didn't go for RGB controllable buttons--that my inner geek would not be satisfied.

The heart wants what the heart wants.   

What I should do it just go with regular buttons since this is my first time. But... I want the ones that light up with pretty colors 

As far as the easy-to-wire single LED lights go, I use them as admin buttons w. printed inserts -- they aren't that great as player buttons compared to Happs or GGG Arcade Primes IMHO.

You have already acknowledged that you want the RGB blingy goodness.

You might as well buy the RGBs now instead of deciding to upgrade your panel in 6 months.

Just tell yourself that you're saving time and money by not having to re-do the panel.   

Be sure to do the RGB wiring before you wire the switches to the encoder -- once the panel is playable, progress almost always slows or stops.


Scott

[Felsir]

Be sure to do the RGB wiring before you wire the switches to the encoder -- once the panel is playable, progress almost always slows or stops.

This is so true.

[jabbathehut]

Got all my parts! Mini-pac with wiring harnes, Ultimarc U360, Electric ice trackball, 8 Electric Ice buttons, 2 chrome light up buttons (for Player 1 start and pause, and shift functionality), Novagem fake coin button, and a led wiz. Phew lot's of wires!!!  .

 Also tested out my 17inch lcd Dell monitor(which can rotate–I may not use it for that though), works well, but mac mame seemed to drop frames if I rotate it . Need to load Windows XP on my donor laptop (A Macbook, that had it's top half ripped off) and of course: test it to make sure it handles everything...

Got some Forstner bits on order as well as a Star Wars Illustrations book that I hope will inspire the rest of the artwork for my cabinet.

I'm gunna make a test control panel just so I get a feel of all wiring it all together, get an idea of if it all works the way I want, before I go and shove it in a bartop.

I've got a bit of work cut out for me.

Still need to find an appropriate power source, the 8 electric ice buttons draw something like 100 mA apiece, same with the coin button, and the trackball is 330 mA I think–I'm not sure what the two chromalite buttons are (they can take up to 12V if I want the maximum brightness) I couldn't find a mA rating for that. If my math serves me (with some guessing on the chromelite) All this would take around 1430 mA, which should put me on target for a something like 1.5 amps or a little more, does this sound right? Any recommendations on wall-warts what is easiest for me to set up?

[jabbathehut]

New post here, partly for bumping purposes, and to show you all the origin of my marquee, and the artwork I plan on using for the sideart. First the banner: this apparently was painted by Ralph McQuarrie, and he only made one, it now resides at Rancho Obi-Wan, I came across it online, and knew it was what I wanted to make my logo from.

The second picture (If anybody knows of a higher resolution version of this one, it would be very helpful–because I love it–But it's low RES... :-( ) I will probably add the old style logo to it, and do some accents around it so that it looks like it belongs in a old arcade. After some very needed practice to my photoshop skills.

[jdbailey1206]

Hey Jabba,

I was always fascinated with Ralph's work.  I added a couple more of my favorites's at the bottom.  I would steer clear of Photoshop if at all possible and use a vector based program like Inkscape.  It will give you a clearer picture and keep you away from bitmap/pixel based images.  And in the end no one will hold it against you if you use the two pics you have as a start and take some creative licensing with your cabinet artwork.

[jabbathehut]

I was hoping that since I was doing a bartop sized cabinet that I may be able to cheat and just use Hi-Res bitmap images, which should be doable as long as I manage to keep the DPI around 200-300(I may be wrong–but I don't think printers can go above 300DPI? ). As much as I wish I was as good of an artist as Ralph, or some of the other early artists, I'm not, and I think that making a cabinet with 'original' artwork pays homage to the guys who came up with this stuff in the first place.

And I tried looking for a higher res of the one you posted of Luke Starkiller and Darth Vader, but the one I found looked like it had been stylized in photoshop. I may still be able to find a higher res one.

On the topic of vector art, I'm not sure I'd have the patience to trace every line on these images, and I don't know how vector handles gradients/shading. I've seen some ways to "automagically" convert vector stuff, (I haven't checked, I might imagine illustrator could do a conversion for you?). Does converting a image to vector work, is it easy, is it a nightmare? If it's a moderate amount of work, I'd be willing to dive in and tackle it.

[jabbathehut]

I looked into trying to vectorize these. A friend who is a graphic designer felt it was basically impossible. (Well to do it while preserving the original style) it might be possible to use these as a base for vector artwork like jdbailey memtioned, but I think I'll avoid it. Here's to hoping I find a couple more high res images.

[jdbailey1206]

Jabba,

I Googled 'Ralph McQuarrie Star Wars Posters' and came up with a slew of his work.  If it was up to me I would ask your friend if he would create some artwork that resembled Ralph's.  Artist's don't usually like to do this but if your friend is willing you won't be pigeon holed into putting something that is generic on your cab and you can have complete creative license.  Keep going I'm really excited to see how it comes out in the end. 

[jabbathehut]

It'd be nice in a way to have something truly original, but I like the feel of the original stuff. I just have to do my best to make sure that it won't look like total crap if I get it printed. And I am hoping I can make that happen. I'm playing with ideas for now and am just trying to play it by ear. If I have to change direction I'll do it. But my heart is kind of set on using stuff made directly from the originals, which I'll admit does somewhat pigeon hole me.

Like that last poster too.