i am a 3D nerd, seeking similar

[cooldan]

greetings pinheads



i am a bit of a nerd, so i like the idea of making 3D computer models i can stare at, or even walk-through. unfortunately i have more enthusiasm than skill, so i'm still finding my way.



first i found a kewl program for making my dream pinroom, for after my lottery numbers come up - this Floorplanner program even has 4 different pinball machines in it. This was what i made a while back, in 2D and in 3D - and i made a version of my own garage tiki hut, for the sake of planning what would fit - unfortunately the motorbike doesn't work in 3D so i had to use a pommel horse instead.



[attachment=487:3D looky look at garage in floorplanner.jpg]



anyway, so yesterday i discovered an alternative program, Google Sketchup, which seems a lot easier to use, and which, fantastically, has loads of pinball machines already modelled in it by guys over at the KLOV arcade forum, who have also modelled hundreds of arcade cabinets.



Here's a thread about it - http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=126766



And here's some of the great models made by one of their uber-members Sean (aka Gozer) - http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?filter=pinball&mid=4ac3dc12784cb20bd06e6be4f8954ac&btnF=Filter Results



And here's a youtube tutorial of how to do it -

so i had a go, and made this (edited - replaced with updated, accurate version with my games):

[attachment=515:3D looky look at garage in google sketchup v2 (updated).jpg]

which was LOADS of fun.



the next logical (?!) step is to make models of all the pin tables i want to use, which is several dozen ...... and ultimately, of course, to model them all. then i will be able to make a virtual pinball utopia, that i can play with, even perhaps do a video-walkthrough of (? is this possible).



so...... (thanks for sticking with me so far) ..... some work needs to be done. I contacted that Sean guy (does anyone here know him?) and he said i could use one of his models as a shell, so long as i credit him, and attach photos to it from IPDB, tweak dimensions as applicable etc etc.



i am sure that this will be fun to learn to do, so i am starting out trying to make some of the unmade tables. i have a list of the ones that have been made, basically this is about 45 machines, so there's at least another 100 to be made, just of the most common titles.Ten times that if we really go nuts.



These include the following popular titles that need making:

AFM, MM, MB, CFTBL, TOM, WW, I500, BK2K, TFTC, FT, DH.......anyone wanna help? i'm starting out by trying to make a MB, anyone fancy joining me in this venture?



i am envisaging a gallery in the future where many of us have virtual walkthroughs of our home arcades - and i've not even had any drugs!

 

[replicas]

Dan,

You got way too much time on your hands.

D.

 

[replicas]

I hope those little models have a removable glass that slides out as it looks pretty tight in your 3D garage / gamesroom.

 

[cooldan]

you are quite right, nevertheless i am making progress with MB - see here:

View attachment 580

unfortunately the non-square shapes are even harder to get sorted than the square ones. oh well, steep learning curve and all that. it may be useful one day if i get taken up by aliens and they need someone with experience at this sort of thing

regarding removable glass, that is quite a different kettle of fish. my garage has a door that opens inwards, and it's not square, so it scrapes up against the left wall on the way up - i already had to adapt my plan because the door hits the backbox on the way up

 

[replicas]

Wow, Thats one busy garage, and I thought I had space problems.

 

[cooldan]

[attachment=491:MB finished.jpg]

first model finished, i'm sure i'll get quicker with every new one. i just need to check that all the dimensions are right - i used Whirlwind as a template for this, as it's also a Williams, from a few years earlier, and also not a widebody.



so nobody is keen to have a go?



what i will ask as i go along is for people to measure their tables for me so i can get the exact size and shape, as these things are all slightly different. i'm getting some feedback from Sean, then i'll get started on the next one. any requests?

 

[cooldan]

ok dudes, despite the limited interest, i'm pressing on. here is that Sean dude's finished article of all his 500 (!) arcade models in a virtual world - the pinball bit starts at 3min 35sec, where this starts, and goes for a minute or so. anyone interested can also watch the rest of this 14 minute video, or the 8 minute part 2:

i think everyone will agree that it's pretty impressive for what it is.



so i made a scale model of the Charmandean, where the slam is being held, from a floor plan -[attachment=502:charmandean screenshot.jpg]

and soon i'll be able to make one of those clever walkthrough vids, with pins in of my choice, where i want them.



the plan is to model the games coming to the slam, just for fun

so when i get that template, if people can send me the basic measurements (about 8 of em) i can 3D model your game and place it by the bar

 

[BigIan]

Looking good Dan.



Looks like a lot of work but Cool.



Might rattle up a plan of my garage and see the best way to fit my tables etc in

 

[Deleted member 181]

ok dudes, despite the limited interest, i'm pressing on. here is that Sean dude's finished article of all his 500 (!) arcade models in a virtual world - the pinball bit starts at 3min 35sec, where this starts, and goes for a minute or so. anyone interested can also watch the rest of this 14 minute video, or the 8 minute part 2:

i think everyone will agree that it's pretty impressive for what it is.



so i made a scale model of the Charmandean, where the slam is being held, from a floor plan -View attachment 595

and soon i'll be able to make one of those clever walkthrough vids, with pins in of my choice, where i want them.



the plan is to model the games coming to the slam, just for fun

so when i get that template, if people can send me the basic measurements (about 8 of em) i can 3D model your game and place it by the bar

Nice one slightly cool Dan

If stormy and poibug can see this as well then it will help to sort out the layout, which to be fair at the moment has taken a bit of a back seat.

The back room is the tournament area and in there we need martins machines for the showdown and also the AC/DC for the high score comp and also three other machines for kids and other high score comps running.

The bar area is for the NLP and the NBA and in here Idealy we need gary flower and seve riche, its close to the bar for gary as he is so often up there

in the main are we need to fit the girls one meter table at the front, also the pinball parlour and Dave wilcox one meter stall.

Hopefully we should have just over 100 pins and around 30 vids ( rough numbers over to you Ol and Rav )

We will also need an area to house Dawn's lighting control.

Thats all for now mate,

Please guys jump on this thread and all input will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Will

 

[cooldan]

my first go at animating was fun but ****:

then i did some more work on the model, imported some pins, and made a better one:

it was wicked seeing it come to life, even though it's still very amateurish. i can add real photos to use as backgrounds for things like the front entrance, i can paint interior walls, add carpets and plants and stalls, and a gazebo for the psycheout tent ...... and add a soundtrack (dunno how yet, but can learn) ....... i can even make custom model people like a little model melonheaded host, a little grey-haired jesus, and a little model ponytail bloke with a yellow hat on....

Hopefully we should have just over 100 pins and around 30 vids

so now you can see where i was heading with this thread. now we have a virtual template, which can be honed, it can be used to plan the layout, with the actual games in it, using Will's Slam Game List.

edit - i have now made a model Monster Bash, Attack From Mars, South Park, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Addams Family. These will be saved online in the Google warehouse so anyone can use em.

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

i can even make custom model people like a little model melonheaded host, a little grey-haired jesus, and a little model ponytail bloke with a yellow hat on....





so now you can see where i was heading with this thread. now we have a virtual template, which can be honed, it can be used to plan the layout, with the actual games in it, using Will's Slam Game List.

Nice - though I got a bit dizzy watching it



Custom model people sounds brilliant - maybe make the little jesus a bit less grey haired ....cheers

 

[BigIan]

So what measurements are you looking dan ?

Length and height of main body

Length and width of Back box ?



I have a few machines here I can measure for you.



Rocky and Bullwinkle you already have

Data east Star wars

Data east Simpsons

Data East Hook

Bally Star trek

Williams Star trek TNG

Williams The Getaway HSII

Midway Black Pyramid



Simpsons, Black Pyramid and Star Trek are not set up but should be ok to measure.

 

[cooldan]

me again - i've been making models in sketchup, done about 20 now:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?uq=1560499543074031408204319&scoring=m

which is still nothing compared to the 40 or so previously made by Sean Newton aka Gozer:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?filter=pinball&mid=4ac3dc12784cb20bd06e6be4f8954ac&btnF=Filter Results&start=0



so using the game list from the slam page (http://www.southcoastslam.com), and nagging people via the yahoo group (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukpinball/message/109898) or the wiki of who is bringing what (http://ukpinball.wetpaint.com/page/SCS Tables 2012), i've slowly built up a little database of machine dimensions - so thank you to those of you who've already helped out, many more than i expected

for some games i can assume dimensions based on same year, manufacturer as another one i've got numbers for (e.g. i'm told that all late Bally-Williams titles have identical cabs except for the 7 widebodies, but don't know when this starts from) ....... and the earlier the year, the less i think this assumption applies, and the more boxy the machines were - unless someone can tell me they know for sure when manufacturers changed the box shapes, and when they went for uniform sizes? can anyone tell me for sure that all Gottliebs 73 - 79 were the same shape and size, and that this didn't change when they became Premier in '84? when Bally ate Midway in '81, whose sizes were used? ... and the same question when they all joined Williams and became WMS in '88, or when DataEast bought the Stern factory in '85, became Sega in '94, were eaten again by Stern in '99 etc etc etc.....?



i know i know, i am one sad bastard. anyway, i'm the kind of person who enjoys learning to do stuff, so i've now plonked about 30 or so machines in a virtual space, and made a little animated walkthrough for fun, using soundtrack from a real video of last year's slam:

all the games you see in that clip will be there at the Slam in five weeks, and about twice the same again, if you include all the arcade games. speaking of which, those are all modelled already, can someone tell me what arcade cabs to put in the next version?



so if anyone reading this is bringing games to the slam, that aren't yet in the walkthrough, and aren't yet in the google warehouse (i.e. not in the gozer or cooldan collections linked above) - or even if they're not coming to the slam but you like the idea of being able to make virtual arcades with your games in to experiment with layout and colour schemes etc, please get in touch with measurements. before my enthusiasm dries up like an old lady's fanny.



p.s. i may next use this thing to make a website that users can navigate through with their keyboard, instead of watching a prerecorded walkthrough, then i could put easter eggs in it, hide various crap, generally dork out. anyone familiar with this? cos i'm not - http://www.3dvia.com/scenes/5B50C05163754759





over and out.



edit 13 March - i've made well over 50 now, taking total number of made tables close to 100. latest incarnation of the walkthrough is here:

 

[teachp8]

That's mightily impressive Dan - good skills!