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Is this a moment of brilliance or the lunatic ramblings of a drunk man? I fear it’s the later, but will put it out there anyway…..
Has a virtual topper ever been considered?
We’ve seen cabinets using two 40 inch screens, where the unused portion of the backglass screen is submerge into the cabinet (a great idea btw, as it allows for a more traditional squarish translite dimension), but what if some of that unused screen was allowed to poke through the top of the backbox?
I envisage it being covered with an additional “topper box” rather than within an extension of the backbox itself, as I feel it should look like an add on.
Could the B2S then be extended to replicate a table’s topper or perhaps PBX overlay a video window in the area?
I’ll leave it with you and go take my medication now… ;)
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Well that is a new idea i would think. Not sure if that can be done or not but is really “out of the box” get out of the back box…
Hey how about mounting another screen above the back box, that is showing the same feed as your play field so your buddies don’t have to look over your shoulder to watch you play?
Just for kicks i thought i would show what i did for a topper, i ran a strip of RGB Leds that are hooked to the same output as the under cab lights. I run the complex under cab so puts on quite a show. The topper is laser etched acrylic and looks better than in pictures.
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Well that is a new idea i would think. Not sure if that can be done or not but is really “out of the box” get out of the back box… Hey how about mounting another screen above the back box, that is showing the same feed as your play field so your buddies don’t have to look over your shoulder to watch you play? Just for kicks i thought i would show what i did for a topper, i ran a strip of RGB Leds that are hooked to the same output as the under cab lights. I run the complex under cab so puts on quite a show. The topper is laser etched acrylic and looks better than in pictures.
Sweet looking cab Jesper! :)
I have thought about an etched topper too, but have never got around to it. There is a guy who does them at our local markets for $80 including stand and lights. My wife asked me last night what I wanted for Fathers Day…. I said “a pinball machine” …naturally I got a”NO!”, but perhaps she will spring for one of these toppers? ;)
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nice looking cab! I also did topper etched but left it installed on my TZ machine. lol
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I’ve been thinking about this some more and I think it is something that could be achieved through PinballX.
PinballX’s backglass image window remains active throughout VP gameplay, it just remains hidden behind the B2S window. It should be possible (I’m guessing really) to extend the available backglass real estate to accommodate a topper image. PBX can use video for back glass too, so while the toppers would not be DOFed, at least they could be active in terms of lighting or even movement.
This extra thinking has brought rise to a couple of downsides to the mass market of this idea though…
1: The backglass screen would only be as wide as the playfield. Not the most appealing look for some, but perfect for those wishing to build a wedgehead.
2: The backglass image would need to be user tweaked, so that the gap between the top of the backglass and the bottom of the topper matches the topbox thickness.Still…. not insurmountable for those wishing to build a unique cab with virtual toppers though.
Perhaps Jesper’s idea of an extra screen could be made work if PBX opened a “topper window” as well? I know I have the room to sink one of the skinny new 27 inch computer monitors behind my backglass screen.
A small car screen as a stand alone on top could work, but in order to replicate as many real toppers as possible, I like the idea of having it near full width.
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Well I’ll be…. PBX is already capable of doing it by using the DMD Images folder.
Here is my test using an iPad Pro as the third screen. During both PBX menu selection and VPX play it works fine (although a little bit of bad timing with not much being on the DMD in this pic, but it is working).
My thought is to not just use logos, but to source pictures of the actual toppers for display in the 3rd screen.
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OK still very much in the “concept” stage, but I found a longer iPad cord so I could move it to the top and I then copied the wheel images into the DMD image folder to test….
I’m not convinced, but I think my next test will be to position a 27inch monitor behind my topbox, so that it’s only showing a bit over 1/2 a screen, as that would be more suited to what appears to be the more often used topper shape.
I know this is a probably still a crazy idea, but I like to see things through before I right them off completely…. that’s just who I am sadly. lol
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Yeah figured I have seen this done before but with actual images of tables toppers. example white what’re, Addams family, fish tales and more I think they used one of those ultra wide displays like a mame marquee lcd
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Yeah figured I have seen this done before but with actual images of tables toppers. example white what’re, Addams family, fish tales and more I think they used one of those ultra wide displays like a mame marquee lcd
I’ve got a 34 inch curved widescreen here but I think that would be just a tad big lol A 27 widescreen wouldn’t be too bad, but hiding a portion of a standard 27 would achieve the same result.
I think I need to see what topper images and videos are out there. If they are not up to scratch then there is no point continuing really.
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Another day and the video topper prototyping continues…
This time a 17 inch laptop screen positioned at the back of the cab.
* Please note: Video has not been ripped and for the purpose of this demonstration , it is simply playing from the owner’s website at pinballtoppers.nl
I’m starting to think that this smaller, partially hidden screen would good, as it is not too overpowering. I’m also thinking that if this project goes ahead, I will make my own photorealistic toppers images so that a standard size and layout could be maintained.
EDIT: Ooohhhh, I just remembered that my brother in-law runs a full colour 3D printing company. It would be rather cool, that if rather than just have the screen poke up, if it was housed in a generic 3D surround that featured elements from multiple pinball tables….. ah stuff it, I’ve gone and got myself all excited now…. so I’m doing this!! ;)
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I think something like this would be perfect for a “topper”
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I think something like this would be perfect for a “topper” http://crystal-display.com/new-ultra-wide-stretched-from-cds/
Heck yes!
…but I’m scared to ask the price.
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Inspirational ! Now I get it, I thought it was an odd idea when you first posted, and in keeping with the old adage say nothing if you can’t say anything nice I didn’t say anything .. but now I can visualise what you were saying, you’ve come up with a pearler idea.
I’ve got a bunch of old screens and haven’t committed to my backbox build yet .. I’m not really clever enough to work out what you have done though, or how you are getting it to display ? Although you say 3rd screen, does that mean you are using only 2 screens currently and have the DMD displayed on the 2nd screen yeah? or you have unplugged your dmd screen and you are running that .. so my current 3 screen build wouldn’t work as I need to display on a fourth screen .. hmmm, my next build was going to be based around borgdogs design with the 2 screens, so I think poking up through the top is a more likely scenario for me ! I had thought of running a duplicate DMD up on top for the high score displays, this is way cooler!Cheers,
al
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Thanks Al, Yeah there is method to my madness, even if it is not totally obvious at first lol
I am currently only running a 2 screen cab and don’t have a real DMD. I’m getting the images/videos to appear on the third “topper” screen by enabling the DMD in PinballX and then placing Video and Image files in the ‘…media/DMD Images’ and …’media/DMD Videos folders’
I would imagine it would still work a real DMD setup, as the DMD is it’s own thing. In a three screen setup it still should work, by adding the topper screen as a fourth and selecting Screen4 in the PinballX DMD setup and go without it sending actual DMD videos to the DMD screen during menu selection.
EDIT: and yes, a 2 x 40 inch screen setup should work, as it would just be a matter of positioning all the windows in the right spot. Again PBX’s setup menu does this easily for it’s DMD emulation.
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There was some discussion on this topic a while back:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28615
If you are working a fourth screen (assuming your are using an LED monitor for the DMD), it may be possible to do a concept test for dB2S. Modify SPARKY70’s DB2S for TAF which includes the cloud topper using the dB2S Designer.
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10203
I’m thinking that they will have to go side-by-side with the topper to the right of the translite. Arrange the Windows desktop so that the third screen is to the right of the backglass screen and the fourth screen (your usual DMD screen) is to the right of the third screen. Relocate your DMD. Change screenres.txt so that the dB2S image spans across both BG and third screen. Bad part is that it may take some work in the Designer to arrange the backglass and the topper correctly accounting for different screen sizes, gaps to account for bezels, etc. And the resulting solution may wind up being unique to your machine, but it at least shows a way forward to reproducing toppers with lighting effects. Toppers with animation… that’s probably going to be tough.
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There was some discussion on this topic a while back: http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28615 If you are working a fourth screen (assuming your are using an LED monitor for the DMD), it may be possible to do a concept test for dB2S. Modify SPARKY70’s DB2S for TAF which includes the cloud topper using the dB2S Designer. http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10203 I’m thinking that they will have to go side-by-side with the topper to the right of the translite. Arrange the Windows desktop so that the third screen is to the right of the backglass screen and the fourth screen (your usual DMD screen) is to the right of the third screen. Relocate your DMD. Change screenres.txt so that the dB2S image spans across both BG and third screen. Bad part is that it may take some work in the Designer to arrange the backglass and the topper correctly accounting for different screen sizes, gaps to account for bezels, etc. And the resulting solution may wind up being unique to your machine, but it at least shows a way forward to reproducing toppers with lighting effects. Toppers with animation… that’s probably going to be tough.
Ooohhhh I love it when you talk dirty ;)
Yes actually including something like this within the B2S would be quite difficult I would image and well beyond my pay grade to even try to understand :( I must admit that it would be fantastic having synced lighting effects though.
That said, this PBX method is a piece of cake for me and I’m happy to just run with static images or vids for the “appearance” of lighting effects. Dare I say it… “it’s only a topper” ;)
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Very Cool, always like to see new and “Crazy” ideas.
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Very Cool, always like to see new and “Crazy” ideas.
“Old idea” now that I see that Carney was onto this years ago.
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Not that I’ve done any actual work on this idea. Just thought about spanning dB2S across two screens tonight. Seems like it might work.
Aside from TAF, I can’t think of another backglass where the author made an effort to reproduce the topper. I thought someone had done the strobe lamps for Dungeons&Dragons but last time I looked for it, I could not find it.
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Going to go have a look at one of these this morning. I love the idea of only needing a single USB lead for both connection and power.
Also it’s thin lightweight design should make mounting a breeze. The plan at this stage is to simply lower it into aluminium channels on the back of my top box.
https://www.computeralliance.com.au/15.6-aoc-e1659fwu-portable-usb-power-led-monitor
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