Just thought I would chime in quickly here on the same day I joined this forum; I am slippifishi, and I like to think I am a PIN2DMD colour artist - I did the colour projects for DemoMan, STTNG,
CFTBL, Flintstones and most recently Indi 500. I am especially proud of the work on TNG, I have been told a few times that this is in some respects better than the ColorDMD effort, I remain true to the original Okuda colours, and I snuck in some new easter eggs
I saw there is some confusion as to where or which files are available and so on, so to clarify:
VPUniverse (VPU) is almost certainly THE place to go for PIN2DMD colour work (
http://vpuniverse.com/forums/forum/138-pin2dmd-dmd-colorization-works-in-progress/). The artists will usually post threads here when they start on a project and provide progress updates, though beware there are a number of dead projects - if the thread is beyond page two, then chances are the project is already dead. All artists (that I know of) will always make the files needed for
virtual pinball freely available at VPU; this is useful, if you are contemplating buying a PIN2DMD or donating for a colour project, you can download and try out the vpin files on a computer first and see if you are satisfied with the colour work.
Assuming you are happy with the work, then you will need two more/different files for use on a real pin; most of the artists hold onto these files and await a donation or tip to provide them - as has been stated, usually $10-$20 is plenty, and when you consider the amount of work needed for a complete project (200 hours+) this is very reasonable. Personally, I am humbled by the fact anyone would want to ruin their pinball machine with my work, so I make it all free - my dream is that one day I will see (or even get to play!) a real pin running my work
If you are trying to get in touch with an artist to get hold of files, there are two options:
1. Find them on VPU, create an account, and send them a PM, or use the "tip" link they include in their forum posts. Often, users inboxes on the site are full and it can be difficult to message them directly. So...
2. Alternatively, use
www.pin-display.ch - this is run by a guy called Audiofreak, a regular on the VPU forums (he also sells reasonably priced PIN2DMD displays from Europe for anyone who missed the bulk buy) - Audiofreak has gone to all the effort of contacting the artists and providing a single place you can go to identify which projects exist for which pins, and there are direct contact forms for each artist so you can bypass creating a VPU account if you want.
Finally, I do have quite a bit of experience colouring DMDs now and using the PIN2DMD editor, so if anyone is going to undertake a project and has any questions or want some tips/advice then let me know - I have a few tricks up my sleeve and have also written a few utilities that help analyse the dumps and determine how best to cut things up for colouring. In the meantime, I am on the hunt for my next project...