195 replies to this topic

[stevedude2]

Have you tried looking at Frinkiac.com?  You might be able to find the exact frame that Burns image is taken from, or something similar?

[Benjamoose]

Hi Benjamoose that some really neat work going there,as iv said before its good to have someone like yourself onboard maybe sometime in the future you could maybe share some tips with the software you use maybe do a video,as i know some of the layout creators would appreciate it.

Keep up the good work!

 

Dave

 

Absolutely! I don't think much of my own abilities, but I'd be happy to share how I go about doing what I'm doing for this project at some point.

In other update news;



Using the other Burns' as reference, I created enough additional Burns to be hidden by the text. Hurrah!

 

Which means the Burns trail and it's faces are complete!

[mazza500]

Awesome work so far. I paid to have you upgraded to Silver Supporter  

[Benjamoose]

Awesome work so far. I paid to have you upgraded to Silver Supporter

I'm not sure what to say!

I don't know if I deserve it, but I'm very grateful!

Thanks mazza!

[Benjamoose]

Have you tried looking at Frinkiac.com?  You might be able to find the exact frame that Burns image is taken from, or something similar?

 

From what I can tell, pretty much all the artwork on Homer's Meltdown is 90s stock art rather than images from the show itself.

The sort of stuff that was overused on things like mugs, mousepads, coasters, etc.

I did have a quick look on Frinkiac from your suggestion, but I'm pretty sure it's a stock render

Though no worries! I managed to recreate it as I'm sure you've seen above, heh.

[westy20040]

I'm not sure what to say!

I don't know if I deserve it, but I'm very grateful!

Thanks mazza!

 

Nice one mazza, and I think you deserve the upgrade Ben

[Benjamoose]

Sorry for the lack of updates.

I've been working on it over the last day or so in small amounts, but had nothing really worth posting.

Today I finished the "Smithers" trail though!



It took me a while to figure out which of the fonts I've collected were being used for the "99" as it's different from the other numbers. You can tell just by looking at the "6".

The "9" in that font was basically the same sort of shape, whereas the "99" simply isn't.

At first I thought maybe they had just flipped a couple of "d", "p" or "b" letters, but it turns out it was in one of the fonts after all!

So woo! One more step done!

Edit: I'm probably going to remake the Duff Beer cans towards the end. Mine are based on real Simpson stock renders, but I've since found a render that's basically the same, but less rounded at the sides, which I'm 99% sure is the one they used on the machine.

Edited by Benjamoose, 01 December 2017 - 01:38 AM.

[Mavroz]

You certainly have a great talent there Ben.

[Memap]

Great work, loved this fruity. Only see it in its 5p/£5 form in seaside arcades these days

[Benjamoose]

Great work, loved this fruity. Only see it in its 5p/£5 form in seaside arcades these days

 

Thanks!

My hope is to make graphics for both £5 and £15 versions, then make an easily editable "Price" square that can be replaced with some extra graphics in design mode so people can easily change how much it costs to play visually.

[Reg]

You do know that after your work on this, you'll have to do another... ...I truely hope you get bitten by the layout designers bug.

[Benjamoose]

You do know that after your work on this, you'll have to do another... ...I truely hope you get bitten by the layout designers bug.

Haha! I'm sure I will if I find one that I feel has the potential for a re-draw! Certainly so if it's a theme I'm interested in.

On to today's updates! Today (and yesterday) I've been working on the Homer trail to get his faces done.

I saved his until last because pretty much every circle is a unique face, whereas the Burns and Smithers trails have several repeats.

For the most part things are going okay, but I reached a face where I couldn't find the original art as a point of reference, so I had to get clever!

 

What makes the shock face ever so slightly unique, is the majority of Homer's "shocked" or "screaming" expressions tend to be much more excited than this.

 

It's a relatively mild shock which is interesting.

After being unable to find the original art (which is annoying because I've seen ALL of the art on this machine before, but the old 90s stock art is hard to find now among the newer stock art), I remembered seeing a similar expression in my old "Bart Simpson's Guide to Life" book.

It's not exact, but the level of excitement on display is relatively similar:

 

So I took the lower jaw from one and patched it up to the other as a base.

 

 

The resulting outline (using one of my previous Homer's outlines for the shirt collar reference):

 

And the final result!

 

 

I try to do my best to recreate what can't be seen as accurately as possible, but the plus-side is that any inaccuracies get hidden by the text that will end up being in front of the missing part of the face.

As long as I don't wing it too much and at the very least least try to make it reasonably accurate in those areas, then the transition to "visible area" to "hidden area" should look seamless/accurate to the original art.

Edited by Benjamoose, 02 December 2017 - 02:55 AM.

[vectra666]

Will you be recreating the other Simpsons machines in the series maybe?

[Benjamoose]

Will you be recreating the other Simpsons machines in the series maybe?

 

Possibly!

My first thought when Reg replied above (about working on another project) was to the next closest thing, so first thing to mind was machines like "The Simpson's Beer Guide".

After looking at the machine for the first time since working properly on "Homer's Meltdown", it even seems to use a lot of the same fonts and stock art!

Another fun thing I forgot to mention in my last reply by the way:

I don't know how I didn't catch this when I made it or why I thought this was okay, but I noticed Homer's hand from the logo area was wonky.

 

I've since fixed it up though.

 

 

The palm was randomly pointy and I'd clearly misinterpreted the top fingers as they were layered wrong in the outline, making it look like he was crossing his fingers or something.

I've also softened/flattened the curve of the palm a little more since the above "fixed" screenshot.

Edited by Benjamoose, 02 December 2017 - 07:43 AM.

[renoufchr]

Some good stuff here this has the potential to be the best release we have ever had 

 

great work mate

[Geddy]

Very good of course and echo all the other 'well done' type statements.  

 

Are you actually going to make the layout or just prepare the artwork for someone else to do the emulation side of things?  (Sorry if this has been answered and I missed it..)

[Benjamoose]

Very good of course and echo all the other 'well done' type statements.  

 

Are you actually going to make the layout or just prepare the artwork for someone else to do the emulation side of things?  (Sorry if this has been answered and I missed it..)

 

I'll be making the layout. I learnt a lot from just playing around with the emulator in design mode on other pre-existing layouts (combined with Googling), but if there's are any roadblocks I'll either do some reading or ask around.

One thing I was meaning to ask is if it's possible to upload your own mask (in the same way one can upload an "on" and "off" image to generate one) rather than use a generated mask.

 

I ask because I can easily make a far better mask out of my Photoshop project than the program could since I have all the elements separated.

Edited by Benjamoose, 02 December 2017 - 02:31 PM.

[vectra666]

Afaik you can make or at least edit an existing mask and gradient with mfme5.1. In fact I've made my own type of gradient and masks in photoshop, make them the same size as an existing one though!

Edited by vectra666, 02 December 2017 - 02:26 PM.

[Benjamoose]

Spent today's session working on and finishing Homer's trail!



I had to do some of the same sneaky tricks as in one of my last replies to finish the last couple of faces, but all is well!

I still have to do the arrow alternatives on the last four faces for the £5 Jackpot, but other than that the hardest part of the trail is done!

[Benjamoose]

Nothing too exciting to show for today, but Barney is now done and added.

This was probably the least fun character to draw. Mainly because there were lots of annoying little lines and details.