(Topic ID: 38886)

LOTR Animated Palantir Mod

By BlindVoyeur

11 years ago


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  • 147 posts
  • 78 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by DarkWizard
  • Topic is favorited by 49 Pinsiders

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#37 11 years ago

Cool, I'm actually working on feeding video into my design too.

The dilemma I had was when to display it? It is better to show a video (say the eye) the entire time the game is on or is it better to try to only show it when the Palantir is lit?

If you show it all the time then it potentially takes away slightly from the original intent of the Palantir which is that it be lit when the insert is lit. If you try to only display video when the Palantir is lit then there is the trouble of dealing with the fact that it sometimes flashes on and off rapidly during gameplay.

#41 11 years ago
Quoted from BlindVoyeur:

Those issues is why I am working with the different triggers in my circuit. My current thought process is this:
It will always have something showing. I have created an subtle animated dark cloud version with a faint eye in it that will play while the it is "off" Next I have created a birght "super firey" Flaming eye clip for when it "lit". I want it to be always flowing with different animations while still preserving the "effect" of how it works in the game.
As for the look and mounting I am finishing up a "base" that it will sit on based on the black marble pillar it was sitting on in Saruman's tower. This will alow it to have a nice clean look and help hide the mounting and LED electronics as well as provide a more stable mount above the target.
I have put quite a bit of thought and effort into this. From working with props and miniatures I have always tried to go above and beyond because the end product is always so rewarding. To me its all the little details that just stand out and make it so much cooler (even though some may go unnoticed )
Thanks
Ryan

That sounds awesome - definitely more advanced than what I'm working on. It would be amazing if you could feed different triggers from throughout the game to do different video clips. Say when the shire is triggered show a clip from the shire, and when the gollum vuk is triggered show a scene with him in it... is that kind of thing possible with your current approach? It could bring a while new level of immersion to the game.

#66 11 years ago

I've been having some issues with my design, I hope BlindVoyuer is doing better.

The issue is tied to the fact that with the distance a player stands from the Palantir on the playfield, the video image source behind it needs to be several inches behind the Palantir to be visible. If the image is too close to the crystal it warps completely out of focus into a blurr. The crux of the problem I'm having is that there is some critical stuff several inches behind the Palantir on LOTR that can't be moved. If I try to raise the video screen high enough to be out of the way, it becomes visible only to someone standing with their head a few inches above the lockdown bar. So my prototype is all set for those of us with toddlers or midgets in the family that like to play pinball, but everyone else can't see squat

I haven't seen a WOZ in person, but I'm assuming this isn't a problem on it because they were able to design plenty of space behind that ball.

The good news, is that I do have a projected static image of the eye of sauron working behind my ball. It becomes visible to anyone in the typical playing position, and lights up and entire crystal, making it glow red, when the Palantir is lit. It looks cool - but definitely not as cool as a video of swirling smoke that slowly changes into the eye of suaron when the Palantir is active.

#69 11 years ago

Here is a shot of my current version with Sauron's eye projected through a quartz crystal ball. It has a nice 3D look to it in person which is hard to show in a picture - but you can kinda get a feel for it.

3-DSC00196.JPG3-DSC00196.JPG

#71 11 years ago

Looks neat, but I'd hope it's a bit brighter. Is it just the camera making it look dim?

The lit version is blown out a little by the camera because the whole thing is a glowing source of light... it looks more like a bright red version of the first shot, in person. I'll try to get a better picture when I have a chance. Here is the lit one:

5-DSC00198.JPG5-DSC00198.JPG

#76 11 years ago

A few more updates from me. I tried a significantly larger crystal ball to see if I could get more of an image through it. No dice if I want the image to be visible to a normal size person standing in front of the machine.. and still have a functional balrog. As the ball gets larger it starts to get disproportional to the rest of the game as well.

I'm giving up on any video for now on my Palantir version and am going to focus on a glowing static image of Sauron's eye. I have sent out a few of my first Palantir design and I should have my next version with the eye available in the next week. PM me if interested.

BlindVoyeur, I would love to see how you are doing this with video! You said we might see a video soon - how soon?

1 week later
#97 11 years ago

My final design is complete. I created a video since the projected/3D effect isn't shown well in pictures. Sauron's eye kinda follows you around a bit as you move, which is cool :

The final version is a complete replacement for the original Palantir and mount that can be just dropped into place after attaching the lamp socket extension. It does not require unscrewing the old Palantir. This simplifies installation and prevents modification of the old mount. All components are heavy duty typical playfield grade. Cuts were made on a diamond wheel and all bonding and embedding is with epoxy resins. I'm sure it will show some signs of wear after enough airball hits, but it should hold up as well as anything else on a typical playfield.

I'll post some pictures of how it mounts later today.

This version is going to be $100 shipped for those that want one. The first batch of Palantirs I have now are already spoken for but I'm making 10 more which should be ready in about a week. These will be provided to those who PM me in the order in which I receive the request.

-Jay

#100 11 years ago

Here is the picture of the eye projection unit mounted on the back of the Palantir. You can see the hex post behind the Palantir can remain with the new slim design, where in the first version it had to be removed or pushed back.

1-DSC00236.JPG1-DSC00236.JPG

#103 11 years ago
Quoted from DCFAN:

Is your projector an OLED board?

No, it is a static image. My tests with video came out poorly. There was a lot of pixelation due to the magnification of the sphere, unless I moved the board far enough back to get in the way of the Balrog and/or be sitting in the middle of the pop bumpers.

-Jay

#105 11 years ago
Quoted from BoJo:

Isn't it poor taste to post your item for sale in someone else's thread?

My apologies. I thought about starting a fresh thread but there was a lot of background and discussion on design throughout this one so I thought I would update here. I could redirect the old thread to this one and then mention a new separate thread here? I'm not sure what the best protocol is but I personally hate it when there are 4 threads going on the same topic and trying to follow the chronology of what happened gets confusing.

#106 11 years ago

At BoJo's suggestion, I created a separate link for the Projected Eye Palantir Mod.

Please continue the discussion of any animated Palantir here in this thread and discussion about a static projected approach here : http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lotr-projected-eye-palantir-mod

5 months later
#141 10 years ago

Zucot, are you sure that wasn't the PM I sent you for the Projected Eye version of the Palantir?

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