I want to ask, which ways are the best to create your own playfield graphic, without painting it by hand?
I did some tries with waterslide paper. But only small graphics here and there. It works good and looks nice after clearcoating. But how to manage a graphic over the whole playfield?
I'm going through this with a mushroom world right now. After lots of reading I decided to go with an overlay printed on clear vinyl that is laminated. I had to send the printer the artwork file and a second file for the white mask to go under the colors. I saw your other thread where it looks like you painted your playfield with a base coat of white so you should be able to get an overlay printed on clear vinyl without the white mask. Look for a printer that does car wraps and they should be able to do it for you. There are places with flatbed printers that could print uv cured inks directly on your playfield but they can be tough to find and you get one shot at printing. Your project looks like it's going well, good luck with it.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mario-mushroom-world-playfield-scans
As latenite04 states, you can find direct printer places now but it's tough to get things lined up. If you go that route be 100% that you put several alignment marks in the art.
Best thing is to get a pull PF scan of your playfield. This will allows you to align the inserts which IMHO is the hardest part by far. Then you can redo any artwork in something like photoshop or have it done for you $$$. Then either direct print or overlay. Be advised that even with an overlay you need to make sure your inserts are mapped correctly otherwise wood will show up.
Best of luck with your project.
This thread has a lot of good info on the topic. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-silkscreen-service
Hey thanks guys for your advises. The problem I have is, I couldnt find a layout oft the devil riders playfield. In the pinball database there is only the manual with some drawings that are only to explain where the parts are mounted. This layouts are not the accurate playfield layouts, this layouts are some better sketches for explaining things in the manual. If someone knows where to get the original layout.........please let me know
So I'm thinking of sort following this same process for an older EM pinball. Playfield has some wear and insert holes have been chipped etc. Just the typical 40 years of wear I guess.
Anyhow, I was debating airbrushing and clear coating. However, I'd like to keep the original so now I'm debating having the pf scanned 1
, cutting a new piece of plywood, cleaning up the image in photoshop and having printed to apply on new pf. I can then clearcoat the new playfield and transfer the components saving the old playfield as original.
Has this been done before and what was the material used to print on?
How do you scan the playfield? With a modified printer? Seen somewhere here, were a member removed the lid and scanned the plafield with it field by field.
That requires stitching the images together. I wouldn't recommend that if you are trying to make an overlay as if your off by just a couple of mm's wood will show through on the inserts. There are some places that have scanners big enough to do it. Finding one is tough and when you find one be prepared as it will most likely cost you a couple hundred to have done.
Quoted from Chrimeg:So I'm thinking of sort following this same process for an older EM pinball. Playfield has some wear and insert holes have been chipped etc. Just the typical 40 years of wear I guess.
Anyhow, I was debating airbrushing and clear coating. However, I'd like to keep the original so now I'm debating having the pf scanned 1, cutting a new piece of plywood, cleaning up the image in photoshop and having printed to apply on new pf. I can then clearcoat the new playfield and transfer the components saving the old playfield as original.
Has this been done before and what was the material used to print on?
Building a new PF is much more complicated than what you may think unless you have a CNC or are REALLY good with routers. I'd recommend you either find another PF that is trashed, sand it and have direct printed or an overlay installed. For my Batman project I took my old PF and sanded it, cleared and then had direct printed.
So, I went a little low tech, but it works.
Start by stripping everything off of the front of the playfield. Then tape sheets of paper to the board, edge to edge, being careful to match the edges and corners perfectly. Once it is all covered, make a rubbing of the surface on the paper with something. I used crayons. This will catch all of the important details, like holes and inserts. Number each page and add horizontal and vertical alignment marks(straight lines that cross the paper boundaries). No special scanner needed.
Once you are done, carefully cut the tape and scan each paper in(watch for misalignment). Stitch together in an art program and now you have a map of every feature on the playfield. Make this scan into a single layer and use it to generate the final table. That method will be highly dependent on your art program and how the sign printer wants the files.
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