TRON LEGACY Coin-op Cabinet Banner Replica

[CSMacLaren]

I was greatly inspired by the marquee of the coin-op game cabinet at Flynn's as seen in the trailer for TRON: LEGACY.

This is how it appeared.

So, firing up Adobe Illustrator, this is what I've come up with:

SECOND DRAFT:

FIRST DRAFT:

 

[propologist]

i just downloading that font to play with myself....great job.

 

[agent5]

i just downloading that font to play with myself....

THAT didn't come out quite right. :lol

CSM,
Amazing job, man! Really nice. Watch your negative space in the Encom logo. Doesn't look like you have much more to do at all.

 

[muttley]

The marquee is looking sweet! man, you've got some skills.

 

[propologist]

THAT didn't come out quite right. :lol

CSM,
Amazing job, man! Really nice. Watch your negative space in the Encom logo. Doesn't look like you have much more to do at all.

I often download myself

 

[d_osborn]

i'll see if i can remove my marquee and get a full res scan of it sometime in the next day or so.

just from a quick web search, it looks like some of the colors were changed for the LEGACY marquee.

 

[Chronos]

Very cool!

 

[TheMechanic]

That's awesome. Man you didn't waste any time cranking that thing out. Great job.
P.S. I want one!
Oh, and screen accurate all the way.

 

[CB2001]

just from a quick web search, it looks like some of the colors were changed for the LEGACY marquee.

Well, we have to understand that the arcade machine in the film is meant to be over 20 years old. Despite not involving the game as a part of the film's timeline, they are going all out with its connections to the game (the Tron Arcade machine is also featured in the game, where we first see Jet Bradley, and e-mails between Alan and Flynn reveal the development of the arcade game based off of Flynn's adventure in the first film). So, either way, the arcade cabinet may have to show some sign of aging, not just the retro graphics.

 

[CSMacLaren]

i'll see if i can remove my marquee and get a full res scan of it sometime in the next day or so.

just from a quick web search, it looks like some of the colors were changed for the LEGACY marquee.

Let me know what the dimensions are so I can scale this properly (both the plastic as well as the artwork dimensions). Thanks in advance! :thumbsup

 

[TheMechanic]

I hope you're planning on doing a run of these!

 

[CSMacLaren]

I could indeed look into doing a run. We just have to agree on dimensions.

I also don't mind working with someone to project-manage a run, so long as a portion of the proceeds go towards helping a disabled a bunch of friends and I have been trying to help financially.

Also, from the original thread, someone mentioned the aged look (kind of pointilized, dusty, and certain parts dark and certain parts brighter).

My thoughts are:

1. The dusty and dirty look appears to be due to airbrushing. If I put that into the artwork and the lexan it's printed on looks pristine, it doesn't quite make sense. It's possible to do thin lexan and simply put it behind a piece of tranparent sheet plastic, and airbrush the sheet instead of the lexan.
2. The certain-parts-darker appears to be due to light bulb positioning. People seem to light with LEDs and that may have an impact on how this will appear. Classic light bulbs may have a tiny bit more yellow light. I will endeavor to factor in that bit of yellowing into the CMYK color profile.
3. If you want to use fluorescent light behind it, some white fluorescents are in the red, blue, etc. Furthermore, you could simulate the light bulb effect by airbrushing shadowing on the reverse side to inhibit light.

Right now I am focused on reproducing very subtle details. For example, the "TRON" letters have drop shadows but the shadows themselves are solid (not fuzzy) and overlap the grid lines in very specific ways.

I'll work on redoing the ENCOM logo, and adjusting the bevel on the TRON lettering to make it look more accurate.

 

[CSMacLaren]

So I found a 1981 Space Fury marquee that shows dimensions of 24" x 6".

A Miss Pacman from the same era was 23" x 7"

Further research shows there were no standard sizes.

The screenused TRON: LEGACY marquee appears slightly narrower than the original Bally Midway one.

The Midway marquee is about two grid squares wider.

 

[TheMechanic]

Looking forward to seeing the finished result. I'm already blown away by the detail.
Would these be screen printed on 1/8" Lexan or plexi?
I'd like to get one and just build a light box for it.
Again, thanks for doing this.

 

[eaviii]

Very cool- I have a hires of the encom logo somewhere. 8 years old or so. Used it on the Space Paranoids marquee/sideart (watermark). The font is correct though I used the triangle logo. Old project but probably have the original files somewhere if helpful. The hires artwork for my cab (with the watermark) is a free download at:

http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/space_paranoids/Cab Art Final.zip

May or may not help. Probably have both logos in B&W hires somewhere.

Doc

Never mind. The one on mine isn't the right font. I do have a hires of the logo on the banner somewhere. I have ther hires of these somewhere from long ago:

 

[d_osborn]

I could indeed look into doing a run. We just have to agree on dimensions.

i'll try to remove my marquee tonight and nab some dimensions... not to mention scans.

Well, we have to understand that the arcade machine in the film is meant to be over 20 years old. Despite not involving the game as a part of the film's timeline, they are going all out with its connections to the game (the Tron Arcade machine is also featured in the game, where we first see Jet Bradley, and e-mails between Alan and Flynn reveal the development of the arcade game based off of Flynn's adventure in the first film). So, either way, the arcade cabinet may have to show some sign of aging, not just the retro graphics.

my original cabinet has PLENTY of signs of aging, HA! i had no idea that 2.0 had the arcade cabinet... do you happen to have any screenshots?

when i mentioned color change, i took note of the aging... that's not quite what i was talking about. the TRON letters have a maroon outline/bevel on the original marquee... this isn't present on the LEGACY marquee, which has more of a blueish outline/bevel on the far edges of the T and N. that shouldn't be due to fading, since the red line element and ENCOM logos are still fairly vibrant. the gradient inside the TRON letters don't seem to go down as far as on the original... and the blue coloring of the gradient either seems to have faded (weathering), wasn't included in the design, or was blown out by the flo bulbs (as intended by the DP)...

i'm in a huge rush, so hopefully most of that made sense.

 

[muttley]

Here are vector (ai) files of all the art on an original arcade Tron.

http://vectorlib.free.fr/Tron/

I'm gonna try and get on a vector of the Encom logo, I'd like to sticker up some things with the logo.

If anyone can get me one before I get around to it, I'll cut you some stickers too!

Neil

PS, forgot to say, those should be sized (I think) so that marquee should be the right size to fit the cab.

 

[propologist]

your my hero Muttley , i love the old graphics. Found my Zaxxon graphic too

 

[CSMacLaren]

Muttley,

Thanks for the .AI files. Are these fanmades, tracings or what not?

Here are my measurements of the file:

Entire layout:
21.5719"x7.089" (we could probably round it off)

Red Track:
19.7917" x 4.9769"

 

[CSMacLaren]

So I opened the MIDWAY file and compared it against the screenused (assuming it's a fan render and not really from MIDWAY), and, as suspected, there were things that were quite different from the screenused to where I couldn't really use the file to make mine. The grid size was off so the lines would not intersect the "TRON" letters properly (since I'm gunning for accuracy as much as possible).

I remastered the ENCOM logo. This was tricky because each time I tried an overlay analsys, my render would look off. Judging from the grid size inconsistency of the screen capture, I would surmise there is some lens distortion. If I go by how much grid space the ENCOM logo takes up, the proportions of my logo should be pretty decent.

DRAFT #4:

COMPARISON WITH MIDWAY FAN-MADE:

As you can see from the Midway file, the red outline does not end in proper circles; its more like a rectangle with very rounded corners. The screenused TRON: LEGACY marquee strikes me as circular, so I'll stick with my grid and design.