Wheel Underlay Images

[andyco]

Thanks mate for the no logo one will make my own and see how it goes thanks mate

[RustyCardores]

Some more cabinet wheel underlays for you. I use a different colour for RegularVP, PhysMOD, MAME & Future.

Images have a simple embossed 3D effect & shading under to help blend into the cab bottom.

Users with lower end systems may wish to resave with compression for less system load. If using multiple colours, I recommend setting the scroll bar colour to a neutral dark grey to avoid clash.

Cheers, Rusty.

EDIT: Images now contained in a ZIP file a few posts down this thread.

[Draco1962]

Hey Rusty - great woirk! Do you have any without the shading under the wheel?

[RustyCardores]

Hey Rusty - great woirk! Do you have any without the shading under the wheel?

I think I lost my master photoshop file with layers It would have allowed me to drop off the shading with a single click.

But I can always make some new ones.... I'll see how I go. I'm heading off for 3 weeks holiday at the end of the week, so will try and get some uploaded before I go.

[RustyCardores]

Btw (for those looking at the thumbs above)... the shading is transparent, so when backlit by the tables, it's not quite as dark as it seems in the thumbs.

EDIT: Actually I take that back. These are my darker ones (I did two sets). When I upload more I will supply a variation of shade.

[Draco1962]

I know how that goes... lost my master file for the PinballX logo when I had to reimage my work laptop due to an OS corruption. I look forward to it!

[Draco1962]

I run PinballX in Desktop mode/orientation since it is more of an HTPC setup that is shared with GameEx. I used your red file and made some modifications so it would better fit my setup at 1920x1080. I softened the edges a little bit and "stretched" the arc of the wheel a little bit. I also made the underlay a little more transparent so that some of the table beneath shows through. I think it turned out pretty well.

[RustyCardores]

I run PinballX in Desktop mode/orientation since it is more of an HTPC setup that is shared with GameEx. I used your red file and made some modifications so it would better fit my setup at 1920x1080. I softened the edges a little bit and "stretched" the arc of the wheel a little bit. I also made the underlay a little more transparent so that some of the table beneath shows through. I think it turned out pretty well.

underlay_horiz.png

pbx.png

Nice!

[RustyCardores]

OK the cat had me up before sunrise this morning (when they want food they want it NOW!) so I have made a quick set before I head out for the day.

I've not had time to test them on my cab, so please let me know if they need a redo. If they are fine, please feel free to add them to the FTP.

There are 3 versions of each colour: No Shade, SemiShade & Shade.

Also, if anybody wants a particular colour or level of shade, just shoot me a message. Now that I have a layered photoshop master again, it's very quick and easy to mod colour.

Cheers, Rusty

ps: I will try and make some desktop versions later tonight.

EDIT: Attached ZIP updated to contain 1080pixel wide images.

UnderlayImages.zip

[RustyCardores]

Nice!

I have based these on the supplied underlay image. Should I be making them as 1920x1080 from the start? I have used vectors so can easily scale them.

[Draco1962]

Getting the arc right is the difficult part because of the way that PinballX seems to re-render the underlay. Use the example I provided to get the arc dimensions. 1920x1080 probably isn't a bad idea. Maybe they could be thicker towards either end of the arc bottom so that they cover fully beneath the wheel images. You'll notice in my screen capture how the wheel images tend to drop a little below the arc the further from center. Hopefuylly that makes sense.

[RustyCardores]

Getting the arc right is the difficult part because of the way that PinballX seems to re-render the underlay. Use the example I provided to get the arc dimensions. 1920x1080 probably isn't a bad idea. Maybe they could be thicker towards either end of the arc bottom so that they cover fully beneath the wheel images. You'll notice in my screen capture how the wheel images tend to drop a little below the arc the further from center. Hopefuylly that makes sense.

I see what you mean about the arc... They actually appear to in a straight line on the sides and that results in more a boomerang shape.

I have attached a "first draft" of a red 1920 wide boomerang. It would be great if you could give that a try and post the result so I can see how it goes with the wheel images. (I don't want to mess with my cab and switch orientation to test.... just in case I break something ...again! lol)

From my cab, it seems that PBX has a hard limit to the vertical height of underlays (is that right?) and anything taller gets squeezed down to fit. Fingers crossed we won't hit any limit and the image will be rendered in the dimensions as drawn.

[RustyCardores]

"Dark Fire" Cab Underlay. I have adjusted my template to exactly 1080 pixels, so PBX shouldn't "stretch to fit".

I will redo the single colour ones to 1080, but while I do that, I'm interested to know what is thought of textured underlays. Do they have a home in some cabs or on some desktops?

EDIT: Three versions of this underlay (NoShade, Shade & SemiShade) are now contained in the ZIP file attached above.

[Draco1962]

I see what you mean about the arc... They actually appear to in a straight line on the sides and that results in more a boomerang shape.

I have attached a "first draft" of a red 1920 wide boomerang. It would be great if you could give that a try and post the result so I can see how it goes with the wheel images. (I don't want to mess with my cab and switch orientation to test.... just in case I break something ...again! lol)

From my cab, it seems that PBX has a hard limit to the vertical height of underlays (is that right?) and anything taller gets squeezed down to fit. Fingers crossed we won't hit any limit and the image will be rendered in the dimensions as drawn.

I had to upscale your image to 1920x558. You are correct about the height limitation onscreen as I was compensating for that when attempting to use a 1920x1080 image size. Here is the result. Getting very close!

As you can see, using the boomerang shape eliminates the bottom of the wheel images dropping below the wheel, but they are now above the top more the further from center. I think for desktops running at 1920x1080 that the max dimensions for the underlay are at 1920x558.

[Draco1962]

"Dark Fire" Cab Underlay. I have adjusted my template to exactly 1080 pixels, so PBX shouldn't "stretch to fit".

I will redo the single colour ones to 1080, but while I do that, I'm interested to know what is thought of textured underlays. Do they have a home in some cabs or on some desktops?

EDIT: Three versions of this underlay (NoShade, Shade & SemiShade) are now contained in the ZIP file attached above.

You have this one scaled with 1080 as your width. I scaled it to 1920x558 and here are the results. A little better than the bomerang the further away from center.

[RustyCardores]

I had to upscale your image to 1920x558. You are correct about the height limitation onscreen as I was compensating for that when attempting to use a 1920x1080 image size. Here is the result. Getting very close!

underlay_horiz.png

upscaled to 1920x558.png

As you can see, using the boomerang shape eliminates the bottom of the wheel images dropping below the wheel, but they are now above the top more the further from center. I think for desktops running at 1920x1080 that the max dimensions for the underlay are at 1920x558.

Hmm? Does the forum script downsample attachments to 1200 pixels max?

EDIT: Never mind. I looked at my own image and it does. Perhaps increasing the forum's max image size to 2000pixels would be good idea.

[RustyCardores]

You have this one scaled with 1080 as your width. I scaled it to 1920x558 and here are the results. A little better than the bomerang the further away from center.

1920x558-textured.png

Yeah that one was for a vertical Cab screen, so intentionally done at 1080.

[RustyCardores]

I had to upscale your image to 1920x558. You are correct about the height limitation onscreen as I was compensating for that when attempting to use a 1920x1080 image size. Here is the result. Getting very close!

underlay_horiz.png

upscaled to 1920x558.png

As you can see, using the boomerang shape eliminates the bottom of the wheel images dropping below the wheel, but they are now above the top more the further from center. I think for desktops running at 1920x1080 that the max dimensions for the underlay are at 1920x558.

I have overlayed my original on your screen image (after matching the scale) and it fits the wheel images perfectly. So this shows that PBX is compressing the image down.

It seems that we need to crop off some from the bottom and feed PBX less than the 558 vertical height so that it doesn't squish it.

I have attached a ZIP of the image so that you won't need to upscale. It contains one image that I have cropped to 490'ish pixels high for you to try.

If that improves things, I have included the original 558pixel high image for you to make a more accurate crop based on your screen results.

1920_BOOMERANG.zip

[Draco1962]

Here are the screen captures:

1920x489 - original boomerang

1920x560 - boomerang stretched height to 560

1920x560 - arc stretched to acheive flared effect further from center

Of the 3, the last with the arc looks best to me overall. There is a little overhang of the top of the wheel images above the arc at center, however, this is acceptable IMO. Your thoughts?

BTW, here is the .png and .psd for the last.

underlay_horiz.zip

[RustyCardores]

Here are the screen captures:

1920x489 - original boomerang

1920x489.png

1920x560 - boomerang stretched height to 560

1920x560-2.png

1920x560 - arc stretched to acheive flared effect further from center

1920x560-1.png

Of the 3, the last with the arc looks best to me overall. There is a little overhang of the top of the wheel images above the arc at center, however, this is acceptable IMO. Your thoughts?

BTW, here is the .png and .psd for the last.

underlay_horiz.zip

Looks to me that the rotation path of the wheel images is simply too close to the top limit of the underlay image.

This is making it impossible to have the underlay appear where it should.

It would be so much easier if that top limit was gone and the image simply aligned to the bottom.

It's midnight here now, so I will have another look tomorrow.

[Draco1962]

I agree. This may be a "hard coding issue" that may not be modifiable. It may need an enhancement to better support desktop HD displays. Thanks again for looking deeper into things on your end.

[RustyCardores]

The only work-around that I can think to try at the moment, would be to use a thiner graphic and intentionally let the wheel images overflow the top. Kinda like the graphic becomes a "base line" for the wheel images to follow, if you get what I mean.

What does this one do...

BOOMERANG_THIN.zip

[Draco1962]

That does seem to do the trick! the images lie much more consistent with this layout and its proportions now when set to 1920x501. Here it is with opacity for the underlay at 80% with a 50% opacity setting for the shading underneath. I also softened the leading and trailing edges a little due to some slight pixelization at the top of the arch with a bit of Gausian blur.

[RustyCardores]

That does seem to do the trick! the images lie much more consistent with this layout and its proportions now when set to 1920x501. Here it is with opacity for the underlay at 80% with a 50% opacity setting for the shading underneath. I also softened the leading and trailing edges a little due to some slight pixelization at the top of the arch with a bit of Gausian blur.

1920x501-Boomerang-Underlay.png

Actually that looks pretty good! The hard coding of the image top position is certainly the problem, as the top of the arch will always be in that same spot ....and sadly that spot is actually below the height of the wheel images.

I think there might still be a little bit of squishing going on from PBX however, as the wheel images get a little higher above the arch as they go up. So that suggests to me that the arch is being pushed down and flattened.

Here is another with an even thinner arch... let's see how that goes. (I will hazard a guess and say that we will prob need to be somewhere in the middle of the two)

BOOMERANG_THINNER.zip

[Draco1962]

I will have to tinker with it tomorrow evening. I am heading to bed in just a bit so I can be up for work before the cock crows. Hopefully we will find the sweet spot for the desktop underlays. Thanks again for your help on this!