Quoted from PinballManiac40:Randy stated toward top of this page of the thread. Looks like today actually.
sweet !!!!
(Topic ID: 117227)
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Stern, 2012-
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Bally, 1992
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Bally, 1995
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Quoted from herg:I'm not familiar enough with SM to know how much non-video stuff there is, but Tron, which I own, is another game that people say can't be done properly. If I were going to do Tron, I'd do custom coloring for all the dot work, then keep it monochromatic for the video sequences. I would color match the sequences (green for Quorra's intro video, etc.), but trying to actually make those videos look intelligible in full color sounds like torture.
Heh, this sounds like almost the word for word conversation I had with Randy about how I'd do it too. 
Speaking as a Tron owner I'd be totally cool with that. Green shaded Quorra video works for me.
The truth is these videos are super low rez, you're never going to get them looking that good even with full color. I've experimented with what a full color (16 colors) video looks like in 128x32 dots (and Tron is less than that since it uses only the right side of the DMD) and it's just not all that spectacular.
Here, look at this example from Iron Man I did:
Now the color helps, but it's not like it turns it into HD video magically, you're still dealing with a very low rez image. And just look at how the dots change from frame to frame. Hand coloring that in that style would be a nightmare.
Quoted from Aurich:Heh, this sounds like almost the word for word conversation I had with Randy about how I'd do it too.
Speaking as a Tron owner I'd be totally cool with that. Green shaded Quorra video works for me.
The truth is these videos are super low rez, you're never going to get them looking that good even with full color. I've experimented with what a full color (16 colors) video looks like in 128x32 dots (and Tron is less than that since it uses only the right side of the DMD) and it's just not all that spectacular.
Here, look at this example from Iron Man I did:Now the color helps, but it's not like it turns it into HD video magically, you're still dealing with a very low rez image. And just look at how the dots change from frame to frame. Hand coloring that in that style would be a nightmare.
ironman-dmd2.gif 626 KB
Would be an interesting experiment to upscale that. Would you end up with something that looked like hand drawn art or a complete mess?
Quoted from Aurich:Here, look at this example from Iron Man I did:
Hmmm... That looks better than I expected. Did you create that by scaling down from a movie source, or by hand coloring those frames? I can't imagine coloring an entire game that way.
Quoted from Aurich:Heh, this sounds like almost the word for word conversation I had with Randy about how I'd do it too.
Speaking as a Tron owner I'd be totally cool with that. Green shaded Quorra video works for me.
The truth is these videos are super low rez, you're never going to get them looking that good even with full color. I've experimented with what a full color (16 colors) video looks like in 128x32 dots (and Tron is less than that since it uses only the right side of the DMD) and it's just not all that spectacular.
Here, look at this example from Iron Man I did:Now the color helps, but it's not like it turns it into HD video magically, you're still dealing with a very low rez image. And just look at how the dots change from frame to frame. Hand coloring that in that style would be a nightmare.
ironman-dmd2.gif 626 KB
I would be totally happy with that...and there isn't that many movie clips on IM. But still, would be crazy to do.
Quoted from DarkWizard:Would be an interesting experiment to upscale that. Would you end up with something that looked like hand drawn art or a complete mess?
I dunno about in color, but I've seen games like Spider-Man upscaled in Sigma mode. It's not a complete mess, it might even help some, but there's just only so much you can do with such a low rez video clip.
Just as a reminder, this is the actual size of the DMD screen in pure pixels:
It's just super tiny. That's why doing dots is such an art form, and as a general rule ripped movie clips look like crap. You need to hand craft the dots so that each one counts, the general noise of a movie clip just doesn't translate well.
As Rarehero points out, on Tron they at least adjusted the contrast and black levels to frame most of the images clearly against a black background, so that does help.
There's a limit to what ColorDMD, or anyone else, can do with this stuff. They're squeezing a lot of blood from the stone already. 
Quoted from herg:Hmmm... That looks better than I expected. Did you create that by scaling down from a movie source, or by hand coloring those frames? I can't imagine coloring an entire game that way.
Ugh, no way did I hand color that, too much effort for that kind of result.
This was a proof of concept I did as part of a conversation Randy and I were having at league one afternoon. I was curious to see what it would look like.
I just grabbed some animated gifs off Google from Iron Man, cropped and scaled them down to 128x32, then blew them up 10x with a nearest neighbor algorithm to preserve the hard pixel edges and added a dot mask over the end result. Exported as a looping animation with a 16 color palette to simulate the restrictions of a ColorDMD.
Quick and dirty, but got the job done as far as showing you a "best case scenario".
If I had a clip from the actual game I'd could do it with that, but I just grabbed what I found on Google, I'm not even familiar with the game enough to know what scene to look for.
Quoted from Aurich:Ugh, no way did I hand color that, too much effort for that kind of result.
This was a proof of concept I did as part of a conversation Randy and I were having at league one afternoon. I was curious to see what it would look like.
I just grabbed some animated gifs off Google from Iron Man, cropped and scaled them down to 128x32, then blew them up 10x with a nearest neighbor algorithm to preserve the hard pixel edges and added a dot mask over the end result. Exported as a looping animation with a 16 color palette to simulate the restrictions of a ColorDMD.
Quick and dirty, but got the job done as far as showing you a "best case scenario".
If I had a clip from the actual game I'd could do it with that, but I just grabbed what I found on Google, I'm not even familiar with the game enough to know what scene to look for.
Couldn't you get the exact clips used in the game and crop them to the same size, overlay, and pull the dot color info off that instead of manually coloring each dot?
PS I have no clue...just pondering
Quoted from Pimp77:Couldn't you get the exact clips used in the game and crop them to the same size, overlay, and pull the dot color info off that instead of manually coloring each dot?
PS I have no clue...just pondering
If you could effectively copy and paste data from another program it could be possible if you could find the source material. Doing what Aurich showed there by hand would be a nightmare.
Quoted from Aurich:That's why doing dots is such an art form ... You need to hand craft the dots so that each one counts,
Amen. Having made/edited dots for CCC I have a much deeper appreciation for the people doing the art for DMD games.
Quoted from Pimp77:Couldn't you get the exact clips used in the game and crop them to the same size, overlay, and pull the dot color info off that instead of manually coloring each dot?
PS I have no clue...just pondering
Yeah, that was the entire idea that started the conversation. I don't know how possible that even is, but that's why I mocked this up, so show how that might look if was done.
Quoted from Aurich:There's a limit to what ColorDMD, or anyone else, can do with this stuff. They're squeezing a lot of blood from the stone already.
You got that right. Really amazing what they've managed to "extract" from that stone.
Quoted from FishPharm:I was curious if anyone knew when or if they were going to do Twilight Zone? Its such a popular game I would have thought that it would have been done already.
Twilight Zone was in black and white. I think most owners probably just want a SIGMA display set to white to keep with the "feel" of the theme.
Quoted from Captain_Kirk:I think most owners probably just want a SIGMA display set to white to keep with the "feel" of the theme.
I'm not convinced. I have a Sigma in white in mine already, and IMO, tastefully done color would look better. I wouldn't want something that looks like the TSPP video, but muted colors plus making scores stand out would be great.
Quoted from FishPharm:I was curious if anyone knew when or if they were going to do Twilight Zone? Its such a popular game I would have thought that it would have been done already.
They've already announced they're doing Twilight Zone, so I imagine this year. I think it's been left so long because it's an enormously difficult one to do.
Quoted from Captain_Kirk:Twilight Zone was in black and white. I think most owners probably just want a SIGMA display set to white to keep with the "feel" of the theme.
The TV show was in black and white, the pinball was in color! Please don't try to speak for most Twilight Zone owners.
Quoted from Ramjet:The TV show was in black and white, the pinball was in color! Please don't try to speak for most Twilight Zone owners.
Calm down hipster. I was basing that statement on what many TZ owners have posted on Pinside regarding ColorDMD.
Quoted from Captain_Kirk:Calm down hipster.
Easy there sport.
Speaking of which, does anyone know if this ever got finished?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/black-and-white-tz-coming-soon
Truly the fixie of Twilight Zone machines.
Quoted from jdoz2:Simmer down tiger
Keep it real people.
The color ROM for The Simpsons Pinball Party has been released and is now available for download from the SUPPORT page of our site!
Thanks again to Mark Jarzewiak for the outstanding effort to get this released today!
Based on your feedback, we've decided to incorporate five different display modes in all the new ROM releases (Dots, Hi Resolution Upscaling, Textured Scan, Tiles, and 8-Bit)!
install_firmware.pngQuoted from domijr:So excited, i'm going to download it right now
Thanks for the update. I'll be more excited if you can show some video of it in action.
Quoted from Dmod:Based on your feedback, we've decided to incorporate five different display modes in all the new ROM releases (Dots, Hi Resolution Upscaling, Textured Scan, Tiles, and 8-Bit)!
How do I give you more than 1 thumbs up? That's awesome!
Quoted from herg:How do I give you more than 1 thumbs up? That's awesome!
I used mine for ya.
Quoted from Dmod:Based on your feedback, we've decided to incorporate five different display modes in all the new ROM releases (Dots, Hi Resolution Upscaling, Textured Scan, Tiles, and 8-Bit)!
Awesome!
For anybody that hasn't read the whole thread, tiles is basically this:
And 8 bit is basically this:
Quoted from Dmod:The color ROM for The Simpsons Pinball Party has been released and is now available for download from the SUPPORT page of our site!
Thanks again to Mark Jarzewiak for the outstanding effort to get this released today!
Based on your feedback, we've decided to incorporate five different display modes in all the new ROM releases (Dots, Hi Resolution Upscaling, Textured Scan, Tiles, and 8-Bit)!install_firmware.png 57 KB
Want to order the hardware but it still says pre-order. Isn't it identical to the sigma?
Quoted from wdpvideo:When are you releasing TSPP update?
46 minutes ago.
This is great that we are being given so many options and can play around and find what looks best to us.
I am starting to lean toward tiles, but I will have to see how 8-bit looks in action. Tiles has sort of a screen door effect that allows your eyes to interpolate the missing content, so I think it ends up appearing smoother.
Quoted from floyd1977:This is great that we are being given so many options and can play around and find what looks best to us.
I am starting to lean toward tiles, but I will have to see how 8-bit looks in action. Tiles has sort of a screen door effect that allows your eyes to interpolate the missing content, so I think it ends up appearing smoother.
This is where I'm leaning too. I love the new options much better than the upscaling. KUDOS to ColorDMD for quick response to community input. Really excited to implement these choices on my many CDMD.
Quoted from Cheeks:This is where I'm leaning too. I love the new options much better than the upscaling. KUDOS to ColorDMD for quick response to community input. Really excited to implement these choices on my many CDMD.
Yes, and thanks to those who took the time to make mockups of the different effects.
Quoted from shimoda:Sorry for the crummy quality but this is an example of each in the game. Funny that after a few months of staring at these dots I just now realized whose initials were on the left there! LOL.
You ain't lying about trying to get good quality. I tried making a video but it didn't turn out that well. The yellow seems too bright for my cam or something.
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