This is sort of off topic, but why do these repro companies repro the barcode areas? Why not fill this in with artwork and get rid of that stupid barcode area all together?
(Topic ID: 102232)
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Creature from the Black Lagoon
Bally, 1992
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Quoted from j_m_:you have to remember that these playfields were created using the same [original] films to re-create [silk] screens for each color on the playfield. I believe that CftBL has about 12 unique colors, so that's 12 films which were originally created for the artwork.
any changes to the artwork (which now becomes a licensing change (through PPS in this case), and even worse when the game is a [licensed] theme on top of that, universal studios for CftBL) would have to be approved to make the change, and in order to do so, you would need to hire an artist to recreate the artwork files (from scratch) as vector based files and then change that particular [blank] section with new artwork to continue the flow of the original piece.
to give you an idea on the level of effort that you're talking about, it takes an artist approximately 200-1,000 hours of work to recreate the artwork for a playfield (depending on the complexity of the artwork) in a program like adobe illustrator or coral draw.
afterwards, you would need to pay for the creation of the new films (12 in this case; one for each color) to then create the silk screens off of.
basically, you're looking at a cost of about $10K to change that 1/2" x 2-1/2" blank area
(and that doesn't add in any costs to get it approved by universal studios in this case)
I did silkscreening for over 15 years. Colour separation for about 5 years when it all had to be done using rubylith and a X-acto knife. Separation of the artwork is definitely tedious and time consuming, but the artist has already been hired to do it so that 1/2" x 2-1/2" blank area is not going to break the bank. You would also not have to re-create all 12 films/colours as that area could easily be filled in with two or three colours. Once the colours have been separated, creating the films is a simple process especially with today's printing technologies. Cost is also minimal on the screens as they are re-used over and over again.
If this area was modified right from the beginning there would be no additional costs incurred other than getting licensing approval from the manufacturer. Once approved cost would be minimal. I agree that doing it after the fact would cost more, but $10K is not accurate. An artist would just need to modify existing artwork to fill in the blank. You are talking maybe a couple days work for a lazy artist that milks it and that includes exposing new films and burning new screens.
No confusion here. I understand what you are saying. I think we can assume that the original films have been scanned by now. This means they can be digitally manipulated. However, lets assume the they have not been scanned. You do not re-create the playfield artwork from scratch. You just add rubylith on top of it and add to the original design. This does not damage the original artwork. It works very similar to tracing paper.
The easiest solution would be to create a serial no. sticker, but if I was reproducing this PF the barcode is the one thing I would not want to re-create. I'd add a water decal over the blank area and then clearcoat it.
Anyway, I'm taking this a bit off topic. Although I have enjoyed walking down my silkscreening memory lane. 
Agreed. If I went that far, then I'd also change the right side where that weird starburst rectangle is. The barcode and that grey rectangle are the only things that ever irked me with this PF. Don't get me wrong, CFTBL is one of my favourite pins, but I feel these two bits of the PF were not thought through.
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