vlad is making an arcade stick (for realz this time)

[vladgd]

ive talked about this a good amount of times irl and on the internet, but im doing it now.  

the pcb i wanted was out of stock yesterday, it became in stock today...



basically the pcb is 360/pc/ps3 compatable, and i don't think i need to solder anything to it, just screw the cord in.  i don't have the usb cable (sold out on the site) but i can easily pick up some usb cable on newegg or staples or something.  

don't know about the artwork, or the case itself, but my dad knows his way around wood working, so i can easily get assistance in that department.  i just want to have the parts here so i know what i will do with em.  probably going to emulate the size of my madcatz TE, as well as the button layout, hey i like the size/layout, may as well "borrow" them for my stick, why not.  

stick doesn't come with balltop so i went with the bubble clear blue top, because everybody gets them...since they are cool and whatnot.  the stick should be familiar with me, which is why i got it.  

6 white 30mm sanwa buttons, i shouldn't have a problem fitting white with any artwork.  
2 blue 30mm sanwa buttons for the two end buttons.  i almost didn't get them, but i do sometimes use them, so having them as an off color would indicate that they aren't for use in fightan, again borrowing from the madcatz design.  i could have done something different, but to be honest, if i liked something different, i would have done that.  i almost went with 8 blue buttons, but i changed my mind.  
2 white 24mm buttons.  start and back, yep.
1 green 24mm button.  xbox button, it's green, yeah.  

i was thinking of getting the semitsu translucent buttons but i heard they take a bit more pressure to press, they cost more, and i am perfectly fine with the feel of the 30mm sanwas on my TE stick.  im not really in the mood to risk buying buttons i may not enjoy, so i went for the surefire "i will like these" buy.  

the case, no idea.  but i know it will be a nice shiny wood (not sure which kind of wood) with the art on the face with the plexy over the art.  

the art i am thinking of going chun related.  go kind of with a blue/white thing going on.  that or a furfag stick, which would be funny.  but most likley chun with the possibility of other capcom fighting related stuff (other street fighter or darkstalkers characters, dee jay, morrigan, lei lei, zangief, whatever).  

i will update this thread as shit goes down.  artwork possibilities, parts coming in, eventual stick progress and whatnot.  parts are ordered, so, i ain't just talking blanks this time round  

*edit*

ok, i realized i have to solder a 360 pad pcb to the pcb i got.  kind of gay, but it will be ps3/360/pc compatable.  

*edit*

looks like i may be getting a few more things from that there site.  so far, the one part i "need" i don't really "need", but if i end up getting that, i may as well get some more shit while im there.  but i will stop editing because thinking about it, i could probably think of a lot to talk about, ill just make another post when parts come in, and my thoughts on what i am going to do next.  

going to be quite a big project for me, so take a seat and keep an eye on my progress.  plus like when i know the dimensions i am working with for the top of the stick, and i may recruit a few people interested into making some art.  even if i make my own (which is 90% happening), maby my ideas through somebody elses mind might turn out better than with my own work.

[Bobbias]

Sounds cool. I'd love to make a custom controller myself, but I've been really busy with work. And I don't have money to sink into anything right now, because tuition and my car are eating up what I've got.

[vladgd]

figure i would post whatever i make in photoshop what is stick related here as well.

it's pretty basic, but im not looking for anything super crazy to be honest.  if i do use any art for my TE / to be made custom stick, i will post a picture.  

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9245/tetemplatechuncopy.png

no thumbnail, even i am not linking this straight to the thread.  

4042x2542 resolution.  apparently that's the resolution for the TE stick art and whatnot.  

what i did was a pretty basic cut/paste job.  the blue ink stuff was from the right chun's picture, only a different version with blue ink mist stuff, i just used the magic wand to get that, then i blew it up like 800%(ie, LETS SEE HOW BIG I CAN MAKE IT DUR DUR DUR), slapped one on the bottom, did the same only i rotated the ink to make it look different for the top.  

for a pretty basic simple design i think it turned out pretty good.  next thing i post will either be another chun attempt, or a dee jay layout.  i am thinking of chun for the custom stick, and dee jay to replace the generic art on my TE.   probably going to try to spice up that image a bit.  figure i would get some practice in so i kind of almost know what i am doing come time to print and put in the final product.  that and when i know the art i am using...time to buy more buttons to match with the art ololol.  all else fails, i randomly ordered the proper buttons to match this layout perfectly.  and i guess you can see the ink mist stuff i used from said image.  



i also downloaded some premade art templates from srk, fucking like 40mb tiff images, lol.  totally not used to working at resolutions more than double my 1680x1050 monitor resolution.  

blabber blabber, typing this post took longer than it took me to make a seperate TE template/that chun template combined.  

*REQUEST*

for the time being, i am having trouble finding good high resolution (or any at all) art of super street fighter II turbo revival, the game boy advance port, it had really good artwork to go with it.  post em if you can find em.  preferred characters would be bison, dee jay, chun-li, zangief.  

*edit*

made the blue fog stuff look not suck, removed second chun image.

not quite sure if i want to make a chun collage of sorts, or fuck with other stuff to make it look better, you will most likley see another edit in a day or two.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9245/tetemplatechuncopy.png

like uhh i really like this chun image, but trying to fit it in without it feeling "forced" might take some thought.



or i could leave it as is, it's simple, basic, nothing wrong with that.  i mean, i think it looks fine anyway.

then there's this one, which is basically just some dudes art planted straight on a template, but it fits damn well around the buttons and whatnot.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6282/arthobbiestefullpanelte.png

but you know, the best time to be thinking about the art is now, it would be nice to know exactly what i want on my stick before it gets built, so i don't have a plain jane no art stick for a period of time.

[Bobbias]

Nice work. The only time I dealt with a 40MB tiff was when I wanted the artist render of the BlueGene/L supersomputer, lol (it's got a very unique case).

I hope the build goes well.

[vladgd]

you know.  i am going to come to terms, im not really an art guy.  i like looking at it, but i can't really make it.  i really want to not use somebody elses pre done template, i would rather put my own stuff on there.  i mean, i am making a damn stick, i at least want to say "yeah, i fucked around with photoshop a bit to get it how i liked it" even if it is simple.  simple isn't bad or anything, i have two examples.

i am pleased with this, i may think of something later to spice it up a bit, but if i slapped that on a stick, i think it would look pretty good.  the forground chun looks a bit...artifactey, i may try and do some photoshop magic to clear it up, but otherwise the pic came that way (pretty good resolution as well) so making it a little bigger did not really fuck with it.  even then though, printed out, on a stick, under plexiglas, not putting your face to the thing, it's fine.  but i would use this on the stick i am making.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/4228/tetemplatechuncopy2.png

this, i have the character portrait i want, but otherwise it's just black, not quite sure i know what to do with this, and i don't want to take the easy road (albiet, i DO like the previous picture) out like i did on the first one.

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/8832/tetemplatedjcopy.png

was thinking of maby doing a jamaican flag deal, but...where am i going to get a 2k plus resolution image of the jamaican flag?  ill think of something, or maby hopefully have some help from srk.  regardless, i want that image of dee jay on my madcatz TE stick, just not in a flat black background.  

random art ramble  dee jay is a cool character, i like the look of the guy, and you can't really hate him.  though, his original sf2 art sucks.  the super street fighter 4 art (not the in game, the in game ssfiv dee jay looks good) not good.  the super street fighter 2 turbo revival art?  awesome.  street fighter alpha art of dee jay?  look at the second link, it's what i am using, it's really good.  though it's not the same with all characters, chun has kick ass sf4 art, but im not a fan of her turbo revival rendition.  or even like the first sf4 art of gief is bad, but the super street fighter 4 version, pretty damn good.  figure i would add that on there as an excuse to type more nonsense.  

i still have a few more hours left in my day, but i am really goddamn tired from work and not much in the "MAN GOTTA FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THIS SHIT LOOK GOOD" mood, so i guess ill update tomorrow if i decide to work on this sonbitch some more.  

definatley going to post pictures, and probably a video showing my parts when they come in.  i have actually THREE people i can get xbox 360 controller's from to tear apart, so, i shouldn't have problems going straight into the soldering for this bad boy when the parts come in.  probably the first thing i actually work on would be hacking myself a 360 pcb, and testing it to see if it works, because if that works...im pretty much set as far as having a functional controller.  i could throw it in a cardboard box and it would run if i had the circuit boards in check.  

the woodwork i can easily get help with my dad on.  and the wood itself, well, i am going to see if curly maple isn't too expensive, because that is what i am currently settling on.  but the curly maple would be for the outside only (as it's really the only wood part of the case you would see), going to use some cheaper stuff for the underneath of the top, where the joystick and buttons settle in.  

the plexiglass might be a bitch to work with, so if i get fed up with failing to get the stuff cut without cracking or damaging it, there's a place on SRK where i can just pay some dude to get me some good quality laser cut shit.  

if any of y'all have suggestions on anything that could make the current templates i have up right now any better, i am all ears. 

so now that all my thoughts on this project are in one place for the day, be back for more tldring tomorrow. 

[Bobbias]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Flag_of_Jamaica.svg/2000px-Flag_of_Jamaica.svg.png

And there's the original svg: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Flag_of_Jamaica.svg Which you can make into whatever resolution you want...

[vladgd]

thankee sir. 

parts arrived, video is pretty much showing what i got. 

going to post/edit agian later and hopefully have finished art.  aside from getting a 360 controller and getting my soldering done, i really can't do anything until i get my art made and printed so i know what dimensions i am working with when i go to making the case.  that and when the art is made, ill probably want new buttons for my TE, so i want buttons to go with the art. 

i ordered my parts late on a wednesday, they arrived before i woke up on saturday, i ain't worried about shit not arriving in good time next time i order from said site. 

[Bobbias]

Always nice when shit comes in on time, lol.

I really should make myself a custom stick as well. I just bought GGXXACPlus for the PS2, despite not having a working PS2 at home to play it on (well, more precisely I have a working PS2 sans power and video cords.) After playing it on the regular PS2 controllers at my GF's place, I realize I need a stick, because the timing for the directional stuff is crazy, and it hurts my thumb like a fucker after a while, lol.

Anyway, hopefully this build works properly. As a tip for soldering, you should melt a bit of solder onto the tip of the iron. It transfers heat much much better than a tip without any.

[vladgd]

dude, if you want a good arcade quality stick on the cheap.  do not make one.  right now the madcatz TE sticks are going for only $99 usd, now is the time to buy em before they go back to $130.  generally making a stick yourself is the most expensive option.  i sunk what $123 into this project thus far, and i still have to buy plexy, wood, get my art printed, random odds and ends.  though i mean i am doing this because i want to make something, something to do other than sit on my ass all day.  plus i was thinking of getting a second "non cheap" arcade stick anyway.  

though if you do end up going to build one, and i end up finished with this thread filled up with random info, i hope it ends up being helpful.  

also OMFG i finished my dee jay template.  really could not in my mind "fit" the jamaican flag in there, i tried.  but i think it's current outcome jives quite well with dee jay, now i need 8 30mm yellow buttons.  it's like i don't need to be good at "art" to make something pleasing, i just need to have an idea, find somebody elses art, "photoshop" the fucker, and BAM, there we go.  i like it anyway, tell me what you think.  



now to figure out how to get my chun looking the way i want it.

*edit*

made a 25% size jpg and cleaned up the image a bit.

*edit*



not as satasfied with it as with the dee jay template, i think this is because the art i used wasn't a high res vector, but i think it looks pretty good.  took me quite a while to do, cleaning up edges on artwork is damn tedious.  but i really like that chun art, so i just have to use it.  

opinions always appreciated.

[Bobbias]

That DeeJay one is awesome.

As for price, well, I like the idea of making my own. And I know how to shop around for parts. Of course, In all likelihood I'll never get around to making my own stick, but I definitely would like to.

[vladgd]

-made chun bigger
-cleaned up the edges a bit more
-different vector background (blurry due making it 5 times bigger, turned out alright though)

there was some random white design stuff in the bottom right of the barrel, painted over it, smudge/blur, you can't even tell i removed anything there.  

might be the final rendition of the chun template.  only thing i can think of is to possibly clean up the edges yet some more, or even try and manually fix a few things.  but i mean, i think this one looks pretty good.  not as kick ass as my dee jay template, but i wanted to use that specific pic of chun, ill make due with what i got.  unlike with dee jay where i found a high res vector.  

now i need a place to print these bitches.  since i got the art done, i have to make another trip to lizardlick and but some more crap.

-neutrick a/b usb port thingy
-6 inch a/b usb cable (to connect the chimp pcb to the neutrick port)
-??? foot of a/b usb cable (to plug into the neutrick port from the outside into a pc/360/ps3.  probably get this at newegg, or a local place))
-8 yellow sanwa buttons
-yellow balltop/meshtop (meshtop looks cooler, but costs $12, a standard solid yellow balltop is like $3)
-maby some more blue buttons...but i think white might jive well with the chun template

then uhh local avalible shit

-wood
-plexy
-wood stain/lacquer
-random odds and ends like screws, wire, whatever

hopefully i will physically get started assembling soon

*edit*

thanks to some dude from srk, i have a 2600x3956 resolution version of that chun, going to throw that bad boy in the template tomorrow.

MABY BEFORE I END UP WASTING TOO MUCH TIME I SHOULD HOLD OFF ON THE CHUN TEMPLATE UNTIL I GET A MEASUREMENT OF THE STICK I AM MAKING.  

i say that because i think im going to want a bigger surface area on my custom stick than the TE has, while retaining the same layout.  that would mean i would have to change the size of the .psd, and it would print bigger and yeah.  since the image resolution of chun i got is so big, and well, i ain't going to shrink it, this may work out for the better.

*edit*



i will hopefully have these printed out tomorrow (today 4-13-2010).  removed the button templates for the print version, going to have the template printed out seperatley.  made this image a bit bigger since i want my created stick to be a little bigger than the plexi surface of the TE.  plus i needed more room to fit chun's fat thighs in there.  things never work out "just as planned" for me, but if they did, here's what i could get done.

-everything will be printed out perfectly and proper size for everything
-because of this, order my shit from lizardlick
-since i have my chun print, i go to the home depot/menards to pick up case building supplies now that i have a base size i know measurements of what wood to get

probably won't happen, something will fuck up, but if not, you will hear about it tomorrow (later today)

[vladgd]

and i modded the chun image once more.  next time i print (friday) i will do it boarderless for chun, think i don't want to have rounded corners on my stick.  that and i can easily cut off the excess.



so hopefully friday i will have my supplies purchased, case building started, and updates shortly after.

*edit*

8 yellow 30mm buttons
yellow balltop
usb a/b port
6 inch usb a/b cable

lizardlick order

10 foot a/b usb cable

newegg order

funny that 10 foot cable, with shipping, is half the price i found at walmart.  it's like $20 there, $10 with shipping on newegg, olol. 

[vladgd]

WTB LAMINATING PLACE

[vladgd]

done with modding the TE, works fine. 

[vladgd]

drill press + cardstock = ripped paper

getting another print tomorrow, but that's the current progress.  looks really scuffed up because of the acrylic protective plastic stuff.