17 replies to this topic

[arie kabaalstra]

Nice to have found this forum..
as you can see in the picture, i'm working on my own first pinball.. slightly "widebody"as it is 1150x2000
If you think:"hey that table layout looks like Embryon".. Yup.. that's true.. i sort of "borrowed" that layout, cause i can't seem to get bored with it...
but.. i used a "TRON" Theme.. and i spiced up the design by adding some ramps, with kickers.. there's a kicker on the playfield, and after a timer is run, the bottomkicker destroys the ball, and the top one, on the ramp creates and kicks one..this makes it look like the ball is kicked up.
effects used are lightsequencers to light the discs in a circular fashion, like the playfield in the "Frisbee Game"in the film
i also used multiple colored lights to give them a 3D look, like the "Bit"lights, and the "Solar Sailer" light

Furthermore, i "spiced up"the playfield with some lightcycles and 2 recognizers.. those were quite easy to make. i put a"target"in the playfield, put a Recognizer image on it, with transparency set to black, and made the target invisible and not collidable so the ball runs through it, as if it isn't there.. (there are walls in the legs however)

at the moment i'm scribbling code to make all rules applied.. hitting the T-R-O-N Droptargets in the center lights T-R-O-N lights at the bottom of the playfield, hitting the center captive ball after completing T-R-O-N kicks up the 2 other balls, lighting a ring of the disc.. if the disc's 3 rings are lit, a multiball is awarded after hitting the centerball again..
Top Droptargets "BIT YES" and BIT NO" lights the solar sailer and unlocks the righthand ramp, after that ramp is hit, the solar sailer is reset, and the ramp is locked again..

the top ports "B-I-T"are the bonus multipliers, completing them gives 2x, 4x and 8x BITBONUS (for the Top Droptargets)
Hitting the "recognizer Captive Balls advances "recognizer Bonus" awarded when the lefthand ramp is hit..

some of the targets also light the PACMAN on the right apron.. just for laughs, as there is a PACMAN blinking on one of the Controlpanels in Sark's Carrier in the film..

If the Table is finished, i will make it available for download

[Itchigo]

Welcome to the forums. Congrats on starting your first table.

[faralos]

Welcome and yeah it's cool that your first post includes a good table build! Check out Practice Dummy's Tron table here for some comparisons! Cool now we'll have two entirely different Tron pins soon! Now I really can't wait! (and welcome to the small world of us original table builders!)

[arie kabaalstra]

Welcome and yeah it's cool that your first post includes a good table build! Check out Practice Dummy's Tron table here for some comparisons! Cool now we'll have two entirely different Tron pins soon! Now I really can't wait! (and welcome to the small world of us original table builders!)

Thanks, I like to create "originals".. recreating tables is nice, but why not making something up..
i'm also thinking about building a Cabinet, because a real pinball machine would be nice. but since my favourite is "Embryon" it's gonna cost me dearly if i ever find one... furtermore.. "Diner" is a Great table too, as wel as Elvira, we used to have those in the Canteen when i was in the army, 20 years ago..

any tips on creating a Cabinet table?.. i downloaded one, and stripped it of all its elements and script, so i have a "template", but that's not the way i want it.. it must be possible to make a normal screen table, and run it on the desktop PC, for testing, and then changing some setting, to run it in the Cabinet?

[bolt]

Hi arie kabaalstra, welcome to the forums and congratulations to your first table.

[Sheltemke]

So you are joining and as a join you show us your first table? I see great future of you here Welcome

[arie kabaalstra]

So you are joining and as a join you show us your first table? I see great future of you here Welcome

Thanks!.. i really just recently got a grip with the scripting language, normally i do scripting for CNC machines.. all kinds of stuf.. basically parametric programs for product families.. just key in the dimensions needed in a dialog, Hit the big green Button, and get some coffee, while the machine does all the work..

Scripting a pinball machine isn't all that different.. and now i can put VBscript on my resumé too
Still got a lot of scripting to do.. i did already put in a number of soudnclips i found on the internet.. when a ball hits the drain, MCP says "END OF LINE... ", hitting a recognizer plays a recognizer sound, when hitting the Solar Sailer Kicker, you hear Yori saying "30-56-99 are correct.. limited 4 and 8 are missing.. " and then there's BIT saying "YES" or "NO"depending on the trigger, or target that has been hit..

the Lefthand Ramp makes Sark say "No.. Bitbrain.. ", and i do want to put MCP's " You'd rather take your chances with ME?" in there somewhere.
I did already find out how to make it a Cabinet table as well.. now to find a way to put the backbox on a second screen..

[Itchigo]

Can I plug my template once more? There are many copy and pastable commands as well as comments for those new to building. It's not FS, but typically builders do that after it's done (convert to FS). With some exceptions, (Bob).

[arie kabaalstra]

Can I plug my template once more? There are many copy and pastable commands as well as comments for those new to building. It's not FS, but typically builders do that after it's done (convert to FS). With some exceptions, (Bob).

don't mind if you do.. i just took a peek at your site.. and i think i'm gonna "recode" a lot of my table, since it's starting to give me a headache.. i just started slingin'all kinds of stuff onto the table, and making all sorts of code.. it's getting messier by the hour..

it's not because i can't write some decent code, but i just started wrong.. i did write VB.Net applications to control CNC machines.. so i Know i can write code..

[Itchigo]

I've heard this is just slightly different but I only learned computers 3 years ago so I have nothing to compare it to. Most if not all of the tutorials on my site are in vp8 but will probably fire up in vp9 to watch them tick. They're what I learned from. Just a hint, if you use a template (any, not just mine) it save you a lot of work as some of it is already done for you. You don't have to tell it what score is or what tilt is, etc.

[arie kabaalstra]

I've heard this is just slightly different but I only learned computers 3 years ago so I have nothing to compare it to. Most if not all of the tutorials on my site are in vp8 but will probably fire up in vp9 to watch them tick. They're what I learned from. Just a hint, if you use a template (any, not just mine) it save you a lot of work as some of it is already done for you. You don't have to tell it what score is or what tilt is, etc.

I've found some Very usefull stuf fin your Template, that's for sure... now, only to find out how it all works, and how to make ik work with my Table...

I also Found a nice picture of MasterControl Program.. lets see if i can sneak that one in there too... maybe as a collection of lights..

working with those lightcollections is really a great toy to fiddle around with.. the "BIT-YES" lights really look like Bit in the Film when lit.. and the SolarSailer i put in also looks great that way...

What i definately want to put in, are those Timed-Bonus award-thingies.. it's in your template somewhere...(like Flynn said"Come on you scuzzy Data.. be in there..

[Itchigo]

The bonus routine is at the bottom. It also has a numerical value that you can change to speed up/slow down the counting with ala Quicksilver.

[Rockinghorse]

Hi arie kabaalstra

Welcome to the world of VP and FP.

I would like to invite you, and anyone else, to come over and join us a www.pinball-originals.com

We have a wide range of tutorial articles and a forum dedicated to helping Originals authors.

The site has just been repaired and apart from a continuing search engine issue with the top table searches it's all there and working

Thanks in advance and welcome.

RH

[WWE]

Herzlich Willkommen bei uns im Forum sehr schönes bild vom Flipper. Danke dir

Sven

[faralos]

Greetings! and welcome and all that best way to keep it all nice and purty like is to just keep the different things separate
in the code. just that helps a lot. especially if you have to find something in it.
you can just go to your drop target code area or lights if they are separated like Itch did in his template.
And always write option explicit at the top of your code.
This way if it crashes for some reason it will highlight the errant line in red for you to better point out your mistake
and list the line of code that crashed

Edited by faralos, 30 July 2011 - 07:49 PM.

[arie kabaalstra]

Well... Time has moved on!.. we're now at VPX.. and i recently downloaded it again.. a lot has happened in the mean time.. like moving to another part of the Country, different Jobs.. you name it.. 
But.. I still Like Pinball.. 
I "lost" the old Table.. so i had to start over.. 
But!.. i have found something pretty Cool.. I use FreeCad, to do some 3D modeling.. so i made 3D models of the LightCycles and the Recognizers

 

Well... Time has moved on!.. we're now at VPX.. and i recently downloaded it again.. a lot has happened in the mean time.. like moving to another part of the Country, different Jobs.. you name it.. 
But.. I still Like Pinball.. 
I "lost" the old Table.. so i had to start over.. 
But!.. i have found something pretty Cool.. I use FreeCad, to do some 3D modeling.. so i made 3D models of the LightCycles and the Recognizers.

If you would like to have a Tutorial on how to make Primitives this way... just let me know.. and i will make a Tutorial.. it is not that hard.. 

Edited by arie kabaalstra, 12 October 2026 - 04:55 PM.

[arie kabaalstra]

I put a picture of my New TRON Table in progress here.. 
As i mentioned before.. i have found a way to make the LightCycles and Recognizers as Primitives on my Table.. When intrested in how i did this.. let me know.. 

[arie kabaalstra]

I did some more work on the "new" creation of my TRON Pinball.. i removed the old Center Island which i copied From Embryon, and i modelled a Communication Tower from TRON instead.

I did discover some Cool things.. Opacity of a Primitive is something you can Change in the Script.. at first.. the red Lightbeam is visible as a transparent plastic rod.. but when you hit the Captive Centerball, it sends two other balls towards the triggers.. a sound is played, and Opacity of the "lightbeam" is changed from 200 to 2000.. giving it a Glow.. Quite Cool!.. 

About Primitives.. How do i pull that off.. as you can see.. there are 4 Lightcycles on  the table.. I have modelled these in Alibre Design, a professional CAD program that i use for my work.., i Export my work as STEP file, and then open it in FreeCad.. there i make a Mesh of it.. and Export that to Obj File format.. it needs to be converted after that.. it needs U V Values.. so i made a Python Script to do that.. Then.. i can put them on the Table.. the LightCycles consist of 3 parts.. the Dark Glass.. the body and the Chassis.. they ALL have the Same origin.. so it is easy to Put them together on the playfield.. just enter the same Coordinates for each part.. , i did the same for the Communication Tower and the beam of Light.. 

Since Making these Primitives is "Quite Easy" for me, being a professional Cad Designer.. I can make virtually Anything.. Kinda Cool!..



This is the LightCycle in Closer Detail..