Animated EM schematic diagrams

Cool.
—
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
http://www.PinWiki.com/ - The new place for pinball repair info

#7 2 years ago

MarkG

Thanks everyone.

Quoted from dr_nybble:
What language did you write it in?

It's written in python.

#8 2 years ago

???

Vintage-Pinball

Pinside+ Frequent

Linton

11y 61,550 746 28 10

Impressive stuff, Mark, well done!

#9 2 years ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

A fellow named (corrected name) Steve Fury, IIRC, was doing something akin to this, showing the mechanicals working in animation.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact ... for board repairs
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#10 2 years ago

MarkG

I'm familiar with Steve Fury's animations (reset sequences, etc.) but not of Mr. Fash's work. Do you have any more info?

#11 2 years ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

OP
Quoted from MarkG:
I'm familiar with Steve Fury's animations (reset sequences, etc.) but not of Mr. Fash's work. Do you have any more info?

Oops. You are right. I had the name wrong. Steve Fury it is. Thanks.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact ... for board repairs
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#12 2 years ago

NIC

NicoVolta

Roanoke Pinball Museum

Roanoke, VA

10y 139K 4,059 35 1

Brilliant work, Mark, as always. Your animations will greatly help to speed the comprehension of schematics reading for others.

1 month later

#13 2 years ago

MarkG

I've added the first real circuit to the animated schematic pages. Gottlieb's Atlantis scores more for hitting two drop targets together than it does for hitting just a single drop target - a feature apparently unique to this game. Here's a brief overview.
AtlantisDualDropTargets1and2.gif
For an explanation and better animations visit:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/resources/animated-gottlieb-atlantis-dual-drop-target-scoring

Edit: Hmm. The .gif looks ok in the preview but doesn't render in the post unless you click on the double ended arrow icon in the lower left corner.

Added 20 months ago:

Note that the link has changed to: https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-gottlieb-atlantis-dual-drop-target-scoring

Post last edited 1 year ago.

#14 2 years ago

ACE

paulace

Pinside+ Frequent

Charlottesville, VA

6y 72,300 1,400 8

Really nice job, Mark! It's always nice to see the schematic re-drawn with just the relevant parts - makes things so much easier to follow. That's a great use of your animated circuit software...thanks for doing that. I wasn't aware that Atlantis even had that feature. I'll have to look at schematics for Sheriff/Lawman and see if it has the same feature...but since all the drop targets are the same color, it probably doesn't.

#15 2 years ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

That is pretty danged cool!
I know this is an animated .gif, but it would be nice to be able to slow it down.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact ... for board repairs
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#16 2 years ago

MarkG

Thanks very much. If you follow the link to the web site you'll have more control with a video player rather than the .gif pasted here.

#17 2 years ago

dmarston

Pinside member

11y 59,900 1,544

Quoted from paulace:
I wasn't aware that Atlantis even had that feature. I'll have to look at schematics for Sheriff/Lawman and see if it has the same feature...

I operated those games back in the day. As Mark says, only Atlantis has the feature that adjacent targets dropped together score higher than either individually. With that layout, it's possible to sweep more than two target positions. If you swept two white ones after the blue one between had already been dropped, you only got 500. You can figure out other scenarios.
.................David Marston

1 week later

#18 2 years ago

MarkG

https://www.funwithpinball.com/resources/gottlieb-player-unit-animation

The Gottlieb Player Unit gets a lot of attention on this forum. I've documented one of its functions with animation and video at:

Here's a brief preview:
PlayerUnit1Player.gif
If you can't see it, try clicking on the double ended arrow in the lower left corner.

Added over 2 years ago:

The animation page has moved to https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/gottlieb-player-unit-animation

Post last edited 2 years ago.

#19 2 years ago

DCP

Pinside member

7y 77,300 758

Wow, Mark, what a great learning and troubleshooting tool...being able to "single-step" through any sequence makes the schematics much more understandable.
I would love to see the bonus scoring on Solar City analyzed in this way. It is really tricky to keep it running right - small changes in the timing make big differences in how it counts down. It has a very odd rhythm that is unlike any other bonus countdown. It's been discussed a few times on Pinside, but many questions remain.
If you don't have time to model that one, perhaps I can volunteer to be a beta tester for your Python script and try to input the circuit myself. I've been trying to learn some Python and would be curious to see how the script works.

#20 2 years ago

MarkG

Quoted from DCP:
I would love to see the bonus scoring on Solar City analyzed in this way.

I'm keeping a list of game features that I may simulate at some point. I'll add the Solar City bonus to the list. I'll probably do one or more of the mid-late 70s Gottlieb multiplayer variable bonus features since they're tricky and somewhat fragile.

Quoted from DCP:
If you don't have time to model that one, perhaps I can volunteer to be a beta tester for your Python script and try to input the circuit myself.

Drawing up the schematic and generating the animation is pretty straightforward. It's all the text and web site trivia that takes time. At some point I'll get around to working with a few beta testers. If that's something that you're interested in send me an email address via PM.

1 month later

#21 2 years ago

MarkG

I've animated a typical Ball Return sequence from a Williams single player game. It's a simple introduction to how a score motor is used to drive a sequence of events if you're unfamiliar.
Animated Ball Return (resized).jpg
Details at https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-ball-return-sequence

1 week later

#22 2 years ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

Nice...
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#23 2 years ago

MarkG

I've added the base runner circuit from Ed Krynski's baseball games:
GrandSlamSch (resized).jpeg
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/gottlieb-grand-slam-base-runner-circuit-animation
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/clever-baseball-circuits-in-70s-gottliebs

5 months later

#24 1 year ago

MarkG

If you're not clear on how score reel reset circuits work these animations and descriptions might help:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-score-reel-reset-circuits

scorereelresetwms (resized).jpeg

#25 1 year ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

Super Cool. Wish I had these when I provided a schematics tutorial long ago.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHiblerPinball
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#26 1 year ago

GTW

Gotemwill

Pinside+ Frequent

5y 62,300 914 1

You are doing a great service to the pinball community, sir. Thanks for taking the time to put these together!

1 week later

#27 1 year ago

SteveFury

Pinside member

Atlanta, GA

11y 75,650 1,496 3

I used MSPaint and a GIF editor to create the images in my sticky:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/em-pinball-circuits-basics-to-not-so-basic

Below is an example from the sticky of how a coil-less relay works.
In another example, we build a 300 point circuit. This is all with MSPaint.

300.gif

coil-less.gif

5 months later

#28 1 year ago

MarkG

Bally and Williams 4 player games often show up here in the EM forum with ball count and/or player up issues. To understand how this circuit works there's a new set of schematic animations at:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-4-player-game-ball-count-circuit
frame_000 (resized).jpeg

7 months later

#29 9 months ago

MarkG

After a recent discussion about single vs. double bonus counts I put together a page to explain how those work at:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-single-and-double-bonus-counts

Here's part of the animation that goes with the explanation:
SingleBonus.gif

3 months later

#30 5 months ago

MarkG

For those who might want to charge 50 cents for an EM game that isn't equipped for it, here's an explanation of how to modify a score reel to do it. Details at:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-2-coins-per-play-circuit
2coins1play.gif

#31 5 months ago

???

Mopar

Pinside+ Member

Unknown

7y 80,050 4,178

That's okay, but there's (what I believe) an easier way where a contact board
isn't needed. I converted ball bowlers for 2 coins per play. So a United 50V score
reel from a 50s to mid 60s bowler works perfect. The Score Reel's run-out switch
is used. Of course there's already one notch for the switch to drop in (when it's on 0),
and with a cheap Rotory tool, make 4 more notches evenly spaced. Every other coil's
step up, the switch is open, and every other it's closed. The score Reel's coil is energized
from the coin switch (which energizes with every pulse), and the Start/Coin Relay
goes through the run-out switch. Years back, I first made the notches with a hacksaw
blade, and needle nose pliers, and surprisingly, not one has failed yet. I now use a
Rotory/Dremlin tool which the notches can be perfectly made, which makes the unit
pretty much fool proof.
For lets say 25V machines, a Chicago Coin bowler's 30V score reel will most likely
pull, but a 50V (or 30V) can be changed out with a Gottlieb (or whatever) coil.
I have many spare vintage score reels, so it's the cheapest for me, and after the score
reel has been cleaned up and functioning properly, it's about a 20 minute job and ready
for installation..

#32 5 months ago

MarkG

Funny, yours was the first suggestion I remember for using a score reel. I never really wondered how you did it, I just assumed you used the contact board.

2 weeks later

#33 4 months ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

MarkG
I'm curious what tool you use to create the animations.
I created an animation showing how a switch matrix works years ago using a MSPowerPoint presentation that "slid" objects around to reveal signals. It was pretty clunky, and I never was able to record it very well.
Kind Regards.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.ChrisHiblerPinball.com/Contact
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHiblerPinball
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

#34 4 months ago

MarkG

I wrote a schematic editor/circuit simulator focused on EM pinball schematics. Once you have the circuit working it can spit out images which can be compiled into video or animated GIFs with ffmpeg or similar tools.

More background at:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/learn/animated-schematic-diagrams

A similar and more generic editor/simulator is available online at:
https://www.falstad.com/circuit/

2 weeks later

#35 4 months ago

MarkG