Arcade Tutorials
How to vectorize arcade game artwork
Earlier in 2008 when I was really pushing to see what sort of traffic I could get on this arcade blog, I was starting to gather the best arcade artwork resources here under one roof.
I had contacted Tom Van Horn to see if he would let me reproduce (with credit of course) his very nice tutorial PDF on how to use a vector program to trace and then reproduce your arcade game artwork. I thought that this resource could be more easily found if made into HTML pages will a greater density of keywords and keep the PDF as a compliment to download and easily read offline, print, whatever was needed. A pretty good idea I thought. (more…)
Reproducing Control Panel Artwork – Measurements
I wrote about how to measure / figure out the placement of the controls on your game control panel, now let’s talk about how to get the correct measurements for your artwork, and how to set up your Illustrator canvas to match. It’s pretty easy, but if you haven’t sat down and thought about it then getting the correct measurements on your artwork may be difficult. (more…)
Difference in arcade button switches
I remember starting out learning about arcade games. It could be hard sometimes to find out answers to even the simplest questions. Then, after we learn about the details and parts of the arcade game I take it for granted that everyone knows what I know.
Yesterday I had a collector who was looking to clean up their NBA Jam buttons by taking them a part for a thorough scrubbing. I asked the guy what sort of switches the buttons had, leaf or micro assuming that they probably had micro switch buttons since NBA Jam is a JAMMA game from 1993. But he asked, “How do I tell the difference”. So, this short post is for him. (more…)
Purchasing a multicade in Indianapolis Indiana
If you love classic arcade games, but only have limited space a ‘multicade’ as they are called may be the perfect item for you. The general term Multicade is used when talking about an arcade game that runs several dozen games through a select menu. As a result, you will probably end up paying more for one of these machines. I can try to point you in the right direction if you are looking to purchase a Multicade somewhere here in Indiana. (more…)
Visual definition of ‘bleeds’ – arcade artwork
A handful of arcade game collectors possess some graphic design knowledge and understand the basic theory of reproducing cabinet artwork; scan the artwork, stitch it in Photoshop, and then trace the vector lines and shapes in Illustrator. But not too many know about one of the most important details of reproduction artwork preparation – including the step to add bleeds to your shapes to compensate for small shifts in registration. Don’t understand how bleeds work? That is what we’re going to illustrate in this post. (more…)
Custom Space Invaders Video Shake Fix
Recently my Space Invaders started to show signs of the crappy Amp edge connector problem. Poor contact between the connector and the Space Invaders pcb causes the video to randomly shake, wave, wiggle or whatever you’d like to call it. For awhile I was able to solve the problem with a Fonz like rap on the side of the cabinet, but as time went on the problem became more pronounced until it was always there when the game was powered on. I was determined to fix the video display problem so here is my custom & reversible connector fix.
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Sizing Your Arcade Artwork Scan
Now that you have the scans of your arcade cabinet artwork finished and the sideart is stitched together you are ready to start tracing those scans into vector artwork using Illustrator. But one important tip before you just place your scan and start tracing, we need to look at what size your artwork needs to be before you start. It can be tempting to just jump right in and start drawing over your scans, but even the fastest computers can get bogged down when trying to re-render if you have a hi-resolution scan with a complex piece of vector artwork. You need to copy and downsample your original scan to a piece of artwork you can easily work with and manipulate, and here’s how. (more…)
