First time, stand up cabinet

[shwnicus]

Finally getting started on my first cabinet.  Thank you for all the help from other questions I've had, you all have been a huge help.

Standard, two player with trackball.  I have plans to add support for two optional player add-on panels, which I'll post later once the cabinet is done.  In the meantime, the extra two players will just suffer with USB game pads.

My mock up panel, including some sketches of the free hand steampunk motif I plan on painting.  Just finished cutting the holes.  Used a rotozip for the tball hole (and it shows  )since I'm too cheap to pay near $50 for a 2 7/8" hole saw I'd use exactly once.  My 7 yr old son and I are about to start priming it.  Side panels are cut, primed and painted.  It's humid here, I need to get the mdf covered before it starts absorbing too much.  Then to the routing.  Will try the rotozip, but I'll probably end up renting a router.

[RetroGreg]

Looks like you're basing this off of the taitorama. I really like that project. Looking forward to seeing more.

[talkgeek]

Do you have some a sketch up of your overall cab design?

Subscribed, looking forward to seeing your progress!

[shwnicus]

I am embarrassed that I did not state the inspiration of the side panel, it is indeed inspired by the Taitorama.  Give credit where credit is due!  I loved the rounded opening.  This one is a little shorter with the eventual bezel sitting deeper in the cab.

The rotozip is decent for notching, but not so good at routing mdf.  I'm off to find a router for an hour's work.

I'm also 85% sure I'm going to add a 4way stick and two leaf buttons in the center / top of the control panel.  I'd left the space open there to eventually do so, but after looking over the list of games my family has asked for and finding over half are 4way, I may as well pull the trigger (pun intended) now while the panel is free.

[shwnicus]

does anyone know if (and how)  I can rotate the images in the first post?  I have no idea why the first two are up-side-down and the last is side-ways.

[shwnicus]

Got in a car accident and got concussion, so had to avoid power tools for a bit.  Finally got a little more progress.

[Gatsu]

D@mn dude. Hope for a speedy recovery for you. Progress is looking good though.

[shwnicus]

Progress!

[shwnicus]

Seem to be having issues attaching files.

[shwnicus]

Still can't get them to attach.  Let's try the dropbox. 

"Mame in Black" is getting close to done!  The marquee is just a cardboard cutout until I can order the quality print.  I'll probably pass on a bezel given the speaker layout.  Not sure about the kick plate, but I do want to add the GGG coin door graphic to the panel just below the control board.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vx4t2fmzvlhv3av/photo%204.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8ktkbc7ddmh0p1/photo%203.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2oknl4cv7y7s5ua/photo%202.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oozvpr7e9l02xgy/photo%201.JPG?dl=0

[shwnicus]

Hi again,

Are there any image experts in the house?  This is the image I'd like to use as the center of my marquee with black on the sides, or perhaps a star field.  I only have "gimp" at my disposal, and the best resolution I could find for the source was at 72 dpi.  I don't think I'll get a quality print shop to work on anything under 200dpi.  Any ideas?

thanks very much!

[PL1]

Have you tried Vector Magic?

Once you convert the file to vector format, you can resize it without "jaggies" then change it back to raster format if you want to edit it further.


Scott

[Generic Eric]

Gimp for raster
Inks cape for vector
Sketchup for 3d

[yamatetsu]

If everything else fails :

- Google for Corel Draw trials

- download CorelDraw Graphics Suite X7

- install & start it

- drag your picture into it

- in the menu, choose 'bitmaps', then 'mode', then 'Black and White (1-bit)'

- you'll get a window, choose 'LineArt' as conversion method, set the threshold to 108 by moving the slider or clicking in the box and typing it in

- click on 'ok'

- you'll get a pretty jagged picture on top of your original

- move the mouse pointer on the picture, right click and choose 'Outline Trace' and then 'High Quality Image'

- you'll get a window, wait a bit and then click on 'ok'

- you now have a vector image that you can resize without quality loss

- you can save the pic by going into the 'File' menu, then 'Export'

[EMDB]

I imported the gif in Vector Magic and converted to a vector file (*.ai). You can use this in Adobe Illustrator. I also exported the vector to 300 DPI (*.jpg). As the original image is quite blurry the result is not super sharp but you could clean it up in Gimp a bit if you want.

[shwnicus]

WOW!  thanks, so much!

[shwnicus]

Thanks so much for all the help!  Finally have what I want ready to send to the printer:

[shwnicus]

Opinion time!

I'm so smitten with how the marquee graphic turned out, I'm thinking of using the star field for a bezel, cpo, or both.  Or would that distract from the overall "in black" theme?  What do you think?

[BadMouth]

I think it would add a lot to the monitor bezel.
I'd do something different on the CP though.

[AzureKnight]

I think a star field would make a great bezel.  I tend to like a subtle bezel actually.

For your CP I would suggest something like this movie poster.   You could either leave it as is or maybe convert it to more of a silhouette style.  Each set of player controls could have K or J set just below them.



Another variation on that..you could extend the star field from the bezel onto the CP and have it fade away as it passes under the player controls.



Just some brainstorming, feel free to hate the idea 

[shwnicus]

It's been a while, but after a new monitor, a computer change, and sound system change this cabinet is finally what I am going to call "done".  I decided to go all black with a clear glass thanks to the size of the monitor.  Thanks for all the great advise throughout the process!

[shwnicus]

Not the best pictures, but enough to get the idea

[shwnicus]

The marquee is backlit, but washes out in pictures so I just turned the light off

[Locke141]

I like it.

It's nice and simple.