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Post by gauze on Aug 7, 2013 10:16:11 GMT -5
glip: it's just inkjet but it looks pretty good, maybe being 12"s from the eye it won't hold up though but it looks good on an arcade marquee. This will require testing.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 7, 2013 10:29:44 GMT -5
glip: it's just inkjet but it looks pretty good, maybe being 12"s from the eye it won't hold up though but it looks good on an arcade marquee. This will require testing. The screen print, when done well, really looks beautiful and I think is still the standard of an excellent result. But yes it is much more practical to use inkjet laser etc. ... One of the biggest problems with inkjet printing, at least in my experience printing on transparency film, is that the resulting overlay tends to FOG the vector graphics, which is very undesirable on a console specifically heralded for it's sharp and precise images. Another shortcoming is that the ink jet print is not as resilient or saturated as the screen print. So red, yellow, orange and purple really just yield white vectors. Blue and green sort of work. Kristof's Vector Pilot overlays are the best I've ever seen, in terms of color saturation, better than any of the GCE originals in my collection. All of the colors he uses tint the vectors. ... He used a silkscreen process.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 7, 2013 10:47:05 GMT -5
Heh, I just thought of an outrageous method for printing overlays with good color. MAKE EACH ONE AS A PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT ON FILM. Then laminate this to make it rigid.
Of course this is ridiculous because you would have to use a custom film stock, (in order to yield a "slide" big enough to fit the Vectrex screen), and you would also need a custom built camera for the exposure to focus on a picture plane that big. ... Even large format film cameras are typically much smaller than this and of course intended to print on negative film stock rather than slide film. ... Amateur movie film, (scarce and expensive these days) is available as "reversal" which yields a positive print, rather than negative, but of course comes in long strips 8mm or 16mm wide.
But this material IS intended to have intense light projected through it, and maintain true colors. The resolution on this scale would be excellent also.
I only mention this for fun. Maybe I'll experiment some day, mounting strips of movie film on a plastic sheet and laminating.
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Post by VectorX on Aug 7, 2013 10:56:18 GMT -5
Yeah, you could just start off small and then see about getting a custom camera built later just for your new Vectrex lamination business
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Post by 50tbrd on Aug 7, 2013 13:17:52 GMT -5
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Post by hcmffm on Aug 7, 2013 14:55:03 GMT -5
An overlay project for Gravitrex to honour and enhance John's work? Brilliant idea!
- Design Already, your overlay draft looks quite good, 50tbrd! Perhaps some minor things to improve: - Currently, main color of the overlay is yellow. Not quite sure, but it might look better if the opaque yellow outer frame had a different colour than the rest of the overlay.
- Adding a graphic somewhere might be good. But probably difficult because the game needs all the screen estate.
- Currently, the labels of the buttons are not properly spaced and aligned to their appropriate button (circle). It's difficult to find a better spacing because there is the short "FIRE" and the very long "TELEPORT/SHIELD". Perhaps a shorter word for "TELEPORT" could be found: "PORT" (not sure whether this is correct and understandable English) or "HYPER" (like in Solar Quest and Protector). Or a bit tilted labels like in the "Thrust" overlay?
- Vertical alignment and horizontal spacing of the four buttons (circles) seems to be a bit off.
- Two arrows in large circle at the bottom left: The two arrows are used quite often in overlays. Perhaps instead of the arrows an element (e.g. triangle) used throught the game could be used.
- In quite a number of orginal overlays, the symbol for button 4 (Fire/Blast/Shoot) is a star instead of a filled circle.
- Printing I know someone who might silk print overlays in excellent quality. But then all printed overlays would need shipping to the U.S.. So perhaps better if you can figure out a way to print in the U.S..
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 7, 2013 18:27:01 GMT -5
Yeah, you could just start off small and then see about getting a custom camera built later just for your new Vectrex lamination business Ah the futile projects I would invest in if money were no object. ... "Camera" does not necessarily have to be a manufactured item BTW. Could just be a box of my own design, with a lens mounted. Or a regular sized negative could be taken into a dark room and manually printed on another (large) piece of film, rather than photo paper. So the projection printer (and the room containing it) would essentially be the "camera". ... Unusual dark room setup though if printing on film, which would require complete darkness.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 7, 2013 18:33:52 GMT -5
- Currently, main color of the overlay is yellow. Not quite sure, but it might look better if the opaque yellow outer frame had a different colour than the rest of the overlay. I could not agree with this more. We have already discussed the difficulties in using multiple colors within the game screen, but at least the border could be used to create some contrast. ... Personally I'm not adverse to the "christmas treee" effect though, at least for an experiment. Maybe something just totally crazy like an entire grid of tiny colored squares or a pattern of some kind. ... I would at least highly advise using something other than yellow for the game play area, because yellow just doesn't work well in tinting the vectors. Even if you manage to tint them yellow, it will not be very noticeable, as compared to shades of green or blue.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 7, 2013 18:40:11 GMT -5
Hmmm. I suppose that took you about 5 minutes to find, when I had been searching for weeks? This might very well be what I was looking for. I can't tell though if this is rigid. In the photo it looks to be bending and flexing more than I would hope to bend a Vectrex overlay. Also, more of a concern, it says on that page that the material will be ROLLED for shipping. That worries me more than anything. I will ask some of the more experienced folks if their material came rolled or not.
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Post by 50tbrd on Aug 7, 2013 18:57:15 GMT -5
I could not have found it without knowing the thickness that you provided. I perform a lot of search to find things and its all a matter of the right combination of words and the right site or search engine. Usually, I find what I'm looking for which is helpful when you're a collector.
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Post by TrekMD on Sept 7, 2013 13:17:01 GMT -5
Any updates on this? I'd love to see this made to get it.
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Post by xefned on Dec 20, 2013 22:46:51 GMT -5
I don't know how to do the printing. But getting the material should be fairly trivial if we want to pool our resources in a group buy. I'd suggest providing the exact dimensions to have them professionally die-cut at a shop that specializes in such jobs - such as Colvin Friedman (NJ) or Thrust (IN). I understand the actual overlays are made of polycarbonate, 20 mils thick. (or .02") I'm not sure about the material (polycarbonate,) that's just what I've read. But, as I said, I don't know how to go about printing, or silkscreening onto the material. If there's interest, and we can find a guaranteed printing method, I'm willing to call for a quote to find out what quantities we'd need to make it economical.
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Post by 50tbrd on Dec 2, 2014 17:28:51 GMT -5
Maybe its time to revisit a Gravitrex design but its up to ozyr about getting them printed.
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ozyr
Vector Runner
Working on it...
Posts: 45
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Post by ozyr on Dec 6, 2014 18:26:49 GMT -5
Getting overlays printed is totally new for myself. I'd need to do a good amount of research, or find someone willing to do this for a reasonable price. Just a thought for now.
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Post by vectrex360 on Dec 6, 2014 23:24:00 GMT -5
I'll ask my dad , he's been in the printing business over 40 years. He could probably tell me the original process.
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