For better or worse, I'm jumping in with both feet to the Homebrew pinball pool.

Didn't want to let air out of the balloon too early (so to speak), so I had to get moving and get some things done before posting anything.

Please let me know if I'm f***ing something up... you guys are the experts... I'm the noob

Here's how this project is set up:

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Why a re-theme? Why reinvent the wheel when you have Barry Ousler doing your shot geometry for you? Using an existing playfield is like collaborating with the best in the business. Who wouldn't want to collaborate with Barry Ousler?

And in general something created with constraints (a pre-existing playfield, existing insert placements, etc) can enhance the creative process instead of hamper it. Insert placements are already done and it's up to me to find a way to make them work in the new game, for example.

Also--can get to the fun stuff sooner (game / theme / coding / art).

Why P-ROC? TBH I'd thought I'd use Aaron's "Fast" architecture; but the FAST controller boards were out of stock when I went to buy. P-ROC is an excellent choice, though.

Playfield design & Virtual Pinball Going to import an accurate playfield scan (once I have it) into Blender=>Milkshape=>Future Pinball---following Marc's example on "Nightmare Before Christmas." This is mostly just to get an idea of the fitting of the parts. The physics in FP sucks, but it's beautiful.

Will you do a VP version of the game? Possibly. Haven't decided. If it helps move the game along, sure.

Shouldn't you let an artist do the artwork? I'm an artist of sorts, actually. Not married to the idea of being the artist, however. When the first artwork is done I'll submit it to the crew here and get feedback. If it doesn't work I don't have a problem with having someone better than me do it.

Why DMD? DMD animations are interesting; I love how the limitations of the medium make the animation stronger. Think about the "Saruman vs. Gandalf" animation in LOTR with Saruman's eyes getting wide and you'll know what I mean. (That one cracks me up every time I see it).

Call outs Without giving away the theme, I'm prepared to hire sound-alike voice actors to do strategic call outs.

Music Most of the music can be pulled from the theme itself without much trouble.

CODING/GAME/RULES Coding is my expertise. I got into coding in 4th grade (the late 70's!) to write games. I've written a few, but never done anything as exciting as a pinball game. This is the exciting part.

Why not give away the theme now? This project needs to pass the "point of no return" where if I come to my senses, maybe I'll turn the game back into "Hurricane" and nobody else gets hurt

Will you take suggestions? I'm absolutely counting on them! Once the theme is revealed, a few people will probably step forward and give me better ideas than I've already had.

Updates? I'll try to update every week.

Want help? Physical help? Any Salt Lakers wanting to come by and share a beer are welcome.

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Current progress

The donor machine is here; the playfield is out and the top of the playfield is depopulated.

Vellum paper used to trace all of the existing holes/sockets/lines on the top of the playfield. This was scanned in to the computer, stitched, and then printed out at FedEx office to verify. (Stitched in PS; ICE didn't work too well).

The printout was placed over the playfield and corrections were made.

Then a vector format file was made of the playfield lines/outlines and the outlines surrounding lamp sockets, screw holes, playfield holes, slots, and everything else.

Next steps

Send the vector file (rasterized or otherwise) to a local printer to have two vellum copies printed to check once again for accuracy.

Once accuracy is verified, I can move forward with altering both the playfield art and the playfield toys.

Day 1:
IMG_0357 (resized).JPG
IMG_0359 (resized).JPGIMG_0364 (resized).JPGIMG_0367 (resized).JPGIMG_0370 (resized).JPG

Day 2:
IMG_0420 (resized).JPGIMG_0449 (resized).JPGIMG_0455 (resized).JPGIMG_0456 (resized).JPGIMG_0458 (resized).JPGIMG_0459 (resized).JPG

Day 3:
IMG_0483 (resized).JPGIMG_0500 (resized).JPGIMG_0516 (resized).JPGIMG_0526 (resized).JPGIMG_0517 (resized).JPG

Day 4:
IMG_0596 (resized).JPGIMG_0598 (resized).JPGIMG_0584 (resized).JPG

Playfield Tracing:
IMG_0604 (resized).JPGIMG_0606 (resized).JPGIMG_0607 (resized).JPGIMG_0611 (resized).JPG

Day 5:
IMG_0615 (resized).JPGIMG_0616 (resized).JPGIMG_0617 (resized).JPGIMG_0619 (resized).JPGIMG_0621 (resized).JPG
IMG_0623 (resized).JPGIMG_0629 (resized).JPGIMG_0626 (resized).JPG

Day 6:

Scanning/Stitching:

IMG_0634 (resized).JPGIMG_0635 (resized).JPGIMG_0636 (resized).JPGIMG_0637 (resized).JPGIMG_0638 (resized).JPG

Day 7:

Verify with printout from FedEx office
IMG_0646 (resized).JPGIMG_0649 (resized).JPGIMG_0652 (resized).JPGIMG_0655 (resized).JPGIMG_0654 (resized).JPGIMG_0656 (resized).JPGIMG_0669 (resized).JPGIMG_0671 (resized).JPG

Today:

Vectorized playfield
pf_vectorized (resized).png

Thank you.

Sinistarett knows the theme... he and I have gone back and forth on it a bit and he had some great ideas.

Thank you. This will be my first attempt at a retheme, so very much a noob. Trying to minimize the areas of low expertise (hardware/geometry) which is why it's a retheme and not an original white wood game. Pinside is a great community full of knowledgable and helpful people, so I'm hoping to avoid mistakes based on your feedback and learn from the ones I do make.

Thanks again!

Hey, thanks Bas! Very much inspired by "Despicable Me" from you and the amigos.

Thank you. Other people have mentioned bravery or having balls or something. Maybe I'm just too dumb to know any better

See this is why you and the Amigos are so cool... you can instantly come up with a great idea. Thanks Bas!

Sweet! Thank you... will definitely take you up on the vinyl decal prints. Let me know how to pay that back/forward. Would also be interested to see any threads on your group's progress!

Haha... well, it's a start anyway.

Thanks!

Thank you Wolfmarsh! Was hoping to get your eye on this.

heh... not revealed yet, but if you liquor me up good at TPF...

Were you at the state championship a week or two ago? I was at Blake's just hanging out (not playing).

LMK when you start your project and I'll pitch in if you'd like. You're welcome to drop by and check things out. Drop me a PM.

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Updates will probably happen Mondays or Tuesdays. Will answer questions like this here and there though.

Thank you everybody for your interest and support. Replies come at the bottom of this post.

_{Note: Next week's update may be a little delayed as I'll be in Louisville for LAX over the weekend}

Seems projects (not just pinball projects) get stalled not because of boredom but because of 1) problems that you have no idea how to fix; that, and 2) running out of things to do.

In light of that here's a basic 50-ft view. Please let me know if there are big omissions... this was done at 4AM last night

Task dependencies are shown at the right; things I can do "now" or soon are marked with a +

plan.png

Modeling the playfield: Got the vellum prints of my vector playfield back last week...

Worked OK but in some instances I couldn't really see the PF that well through the vellum--even with diffused light (a lot of it). So I ordered a single acetate print of the vector today. Once I get that I'll overlay it on the playfield and mark corrections in red grease pencil.

something I may need help with

Using ramps from VPX as a guide, I re-modeled the main ramps (without the wireforms) in Blender. My experience is low with 3D modeling in general; and I was finding that the model kept getting reversed faces and weird artifacts on it (some unexplained darker faces... even when flipping the UVs).

What I need help with: understanding how to go from the Blender model to a MakerBot.

I know that if your vertices are screwed up or if faces are out of place that things may not print at all or print correctly. Also--need to know how to make sure it gets scaled exactly right for the MakerBot.

Anyone point me to a guide on how to go from Blender to a printable model--something simple? (file format, vertices, triangular faces? quad faces?)

Any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Blender pics:

sexy_ramp (resized).jpgmore_ramps (resized).jpgblender_4 (resized).jpgblender_ramp (resized).jpg
blender_3 (resized).jpgblender_2 (resized).jpg

Thank you!

Yours is looking cool so far. Love the 3D printed ramps. Hope to be able to pick your brain on how to get that done. My 3D modeling skills are meager and I always screw up the faces for some reason

Cheers!

Good thoughts. RE: Ramp... you're right on. I figured the ramp (as it drops below the flippers) is just too "Hurricane-esque" to be used in any other game. So, I'll shorten that ramp return so it goes to the left inlane. It will be the main ramp change, though there may be some changes to the Comet ramp (to accommodate a toy).

Masters. Me? LOL. I can only hope to be as dedicated and enthusiastic as the Amigos.

Thank you swinks! Good luck on your project we talked about in PM! Excited about that.

Awesome to have your eyes on this too. Looking forward to your machine at TPF!

Hope you're prepared for fun at TPF, Dave. Thx.

The biggest reason to hold anything back isn't suspense; it's because I'm like this guy:

screwup (resized).jpg

That's a great idea (what with the clowns and all). Not 'it' though

Thinking Tuesdays (Taco Tuesdays?) but we'll see going forward.

Sounds great! Thank you, Jim! I'll have to learn this CAM function/gcode stuff.

Jady, thank you. Per our PM discussion I'll be getting back to you in the next few days.

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All,

Not too much to update because of being out of town last week, other than I was able to get a new print of the vector playfield--this time on something the printer called "Mylar"... which is different from the Mylar we usually talk about on Pinside. This stuff was more translucent than the vellum and easier to work with to see the corrections.

Originally he had done a print on clear acetate... which looked awesome, but was scaled down about 1% for some reason.

The corrections were penciled in and scanned and now ready to be made when I get a few moments.

Next week's update should be bigger--but needed to get this out of the way so that the Pinball Amigos had Friday all to themselves. By next week I expect to have a Future Pinball version at least started/flipping (virtual white wood with some ball guides/mechs/etc).

First hint about theme: It's not Dragon's Lair, and it's not Sinistar--both of which I considered.

Chad.

IMG_0734 (resized).JPGIMG_0735 (resized).JPG

A few images.. a little progress. Baby steps, someone once said

The playfield has been "corrected" and have begun importing this into Future Pinball to see how everything fits.

Rather than drag out the "theme" thing, let's just get it out of the way.

This will be a "Strange Brew" pinball machine Beauty, eh??

sb_album_front (resized).jpgfp_import_process_01 (resized).jpgfp_import_process_02 (resized).jpgIMG_0528 (resized).JPGIMG_0674 (resized).JPG

More to come.

Ah man, SB is the shiz-nit! Not sure if it's possible to get into it these days, but definitely rent it at least once. These two were doing the "two dumb guys" schtick long before Wayne and Garth... and Beavis and Butthead.

Thanks dude! Glad you love the theme... its a movie I can watch over and over again and never get tired of. Guess that's the key... if you're going to build a pinball machine on an existing theme, make sure you don't get tired of it

Seriously? Do you know something we don't

I think that would be super awesome if Spooky built a SB machine.