In March we decided to switch to PinLED dot matrix displays, because they are much easier to power and therefor will be the display of choice when we put together a Bride of Pinbot 2.0 kit.
Because a LED DMD is so easy to power it's also quite easy to build a standalone "dotbox". This is basically a box with a power supply, P-ROC and the display itself. Connect it with USB to a computer and with our "DMD Viewer" software we basically have a secondary monitor on which we can preview everything we do in Photoshop, 3D Studio Max or After Effects.
To preview the flow of the games' animations and the various transitions involved, Barry created a Flash applications to simulate gameplay events, giving him the means to tweak everything towards a smooth and consistent player experience.
These tools have been a great motivation and increased productivity in the animation department greatly.
Disclaimer: the dotbox is not for sale, this is a development tool that we made for ourselves.
At first I thought, it sounds like an unnecessary expense. But then you mentioned the extra motivation it provides. I bet it is a lot more satisfying to see your new animations rendered on the device it was intended for. Motivation is key to any hobby project. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, motivation is very important. Also we don't have a perfect color palette on the DMD, so it's important to be able to tweak contrast, levels, etc. without rendering each time.
DeleteFor my custom BioShock pinball, I wrote a preview script to visualize the "baked" images on the computer screen. It will of course never be as good as the real thing, but it comes pretty close. :)
DeleteFor those interested, you can read more here: http://poormanspinball.blogspot.se/2012/09/that-behind-scenes-stuff.html
Keep posting stuff, love to read about different builds! :)
Question, if you are now using an LED DMD, can you now use the original transformer?
ReplyDeleteYes, the original transformer is fine if you use a LED DMD (which requires only 12V).
DeleteIn 2010 we only switched transformers (and added a DMD controller board) to get the voltages needed for a plasma DMD, which was our preference back then.
I dont get it. This site is confusing. Is this a product we can buy at this time? If so, can you make it easier to get to the page where we can buy this?
ReplyDeleteNo, this is this just a tool we made for ourselves. You could always build your own though, the components are publicly available.
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