8 replies to this topic

[DCP]

Hi everyone!

 

I kindly ask for advice for making the Pinmame DMD look more authentic on a LCD Monitor.

Is there a way to set the DMD to the size of a real DMD keeping aspect ratio with all dots having the same size and gap?

Also what are the best color settings in Pinmame for a "standard" orange DMD?

[Pipshag]

Hi!

 

First of all, use SetDMD by BigBoss (http://thebigboss.or...ade/setdmd.html) to initialize and update VPinMame settings for all installed roms.

 

Resolution
Usually a 4:1 ratio work really good for the DMD and when setting it through SetDMD, please add 3 pixels to the total number (VPinMame pads the display). For instance: 768 x 224, 4:1 ratio, becomes 771 x 227 and shows a crisp display. See posts below.

 

Antialias

This is simply a matter of taste but I prefer 0%. Simply experiment with the settings you like most.

 

Color Part 1

Again, this depends on your setup and viewing angles but what works for me is 88%, 50%, 20%. For the color I use the standard orange. You can always change the color by right-clicking on the DMD when playing a table and set a custom color. Effectful, for instance Bright Green on Attack From Mars!

 

Color Part 2

Depending on your LCD mounting location, viewing angles etc. it's hard to give good and 100% accurate information. I have changed the default settings for my third screen via the graphic cards control panel. Since my viewing angle sucks I have increased brightness a touch and almost maxed out the contrast. This gives washed out colors when looking straight at the monitor but when playing you get great, realistic colors.

 

Hope it helps you!

Edited by Pipshag, 10 February 2014 - 10:19 AM.

[JohnnyDoe]

How is 768/224 a 4:1 ratio? Please explain.

My screen resolution is 800x600, and my dmd-size is 800x200. I use ddraw=0. Weirdly enough, the dmd doesn't fill my screen width, but it still looks nice and the ratio seems correct.

[Pipshag]

How is 768/224 a 4:1 ratio? Please explain.

My screen resolution is 800x600, and my dmd-size is 800x200. I use ddraw=0. Weirdly enough, the dmd doesn't fill my screen width, but it still looks nice and the ratio seems correct.

 

Oh right, haha. I'm home sick today with a cold so I'm not 100%.

800 x 200 looks great, 400 x 100 does not. So it's not true that you can always use strict 4:1.

 

See the following (http://www.vpforums....?showtopic=9813)
 

I figured this would be very handy for those who edit their DMD sizes through table scripts for Pinmame. The issue has come up before of how to scale the DMD properly without getting a nasty distorted tile effect that makes the animations and such look ugly. This thread here: http://www.vpforums....md proportional is one example that had a solution, stating that basically scales of 4:1 would work well, while adding 3 pixels to both width and height afterwards would yield better results. Some experimentation required.
 

...Well, I discovered that around 5:1 works just as well (adding 8 to width and then 6 to height afterwards), if not more exact for desired cleanness in DMD. I know they're not the standard DMD resolutions, but they look good and don't have the tile effect. Some are precise in the 5:1 scale, while others are oddly enough just around that area.

 

The larger scales were easier to handle (to a ridiculous size even) and easily looked nice and clean, it was the smaller ones that were a lil more difficult. Without wasting anymore time, I'll list the DMD scale settings that seemed to work best for clean, even dot matrix display. I tested them all using the game Attack From Mars.

 

5128x1030 World's Largest VP Cabinet! (Yes, I tested this one also)

2568x518 Insanely Huge

1288x262 Large

648x134 Big

518x134 Moderate

518x101 Average

168x38 Small, good. Pretty much default size... I tried to go smaller than this using the 5:1 ratio, but it doesn't work tongue.gif

/Gaminglord

[DCP]

Thanks for the response!

The resolution of my DMD Screen (19") is now set to 1280x1024. 

So I´ll set it to 1024x768 (lowest resolution I can set) and try a DMD size of 256x768 (actually a little bit smaller because the bezel is covering a bit of the screen) with SetDMD and set ddraw to 0

[koadic]

with ddraw set to 0 and direct3d kept at 0, the horizontal resolution snaps at 256/512/764 (+3 pixels) and the vertical resolution snaps at 64/128/192/256 (+3 pixels) with the default size at 259x67. Everything greater than those numbers but below the next visual step up in resolution results in a black border. Anything greater than 767x259 remains black, so if you want to utilize the most of the entire width of your monitor, try creating a custom resolution through your video card driver's control panel... a 16:9 monitor would result in a 800x450 resolution if you want keep the correct visual aspect ratio. If you use a stretched 1024x768 resolution, you will actually want to use a 4:0.75 AR for your dmd to keep the proper 4:1 look, which would be 764x
144 (closest vertical resolution is then 128).

In my cab, I created a custom monitor resolution of 800x500 (it's a 15" 16:10 monitor) and use a dmd size of 767x195.

[DCP]

Hmmm.... with ddraw set to 0 the DMDs dont have a 4:1 ratio (it rather looks like 4:3), so I have to stretch it by changing screen resolution 

Unfortunately I have no idea how I set a custom resolution (I managed to set it to 800x600, but I need something like 800x800 to get the DMD in shape)

[Carny_Priest]

I think getting the optimal aspect ratio that avoids tiling and/or banding must vary at least a little by monitor resolution and even by manufacturer. 

 

I'm using a 20" Acer LED PC monitor with a native resolution of 1600 x 900. I'm able to achieve really good results that go edge to edge on my monitor with ddraw=1

 

dmd_width = 1615

dmd_height = 406

 

Yes, I overscan the image a little bit because of the border. I can back into the BG display by 1 pixel without any overlap visible from the DMD window. 

 

There's no tiling or banding evident to me, but if I look closely I can tell that not all dots are uniform in size.

 

I followed koadic's instructions from this thread as I can create a custom resolution at 800 x 450. Using ddraw=0, I'm not sure at what resolution there would not be a black border drawn. Or if by any defined aspect ratio with width greater than 767 or width greater than 259 the entire image is black. For me, I can go as large as 

 

dmd_width = 807

dmd_height = 204

 

The dots are uniformly sized and placed within the matrix. Perfect! But it is not edge to edge on the monitor as black bars are drawn on the sides in order to maintain this more perfect recreation.

 

It's a hard decision. I like being able to maximize the DMD on the monitor and go edge to edge. The DMD can also be drawn with uniform dot sizes and gaps between dots but I have to give up some of that max size to achieve it. It's only about 1/4" on each side. I'm probably going to go with the ddraw=0 solution as it suits me to try a lower resolution while I test some other things out.

 

 

[Carny_Priest]

Following up - for my 16:9 monitor I can create a custom resolution of 768 x 432 that retains the display's aspect ratio. Adding 3 pixels for the border, I define the dimensions of the DMD as

dmd_width = 771
dmd_height = 195

The dots are uniformly sized and spaced and displays edge to edge on the monitor. Unlike before, I can't overscan. At these dimensions the size of the border is minimized.

My display can also manage 256 x 144, but the resulting image was too dim.

At 512 x 288, the image is still dim but might be tolerable if you always play in a darkened room.

768 x 432 was acceptable

If the pattern holds then the following resolutions might also work. I haven't put it to the test because I actually want a low resolution.

1024 x 576
1280 x 720
1536 x 864 - this would be the highest resolution for my display and should produce the brightest image while keeping the dots uniform.

1792 x 1008 - this would be the highest resolution for a 1080p display
2560 x 1440 - if you are running a really expensive display for a DMD monitor
3840 x 2160 - 4K UHD would work
7680 x 4320 - 8K UHD would work too but I wouldn't expect that kind of display to fit in any cabinet except for one built for a pinball god

I think for those running something different than 16:9, it would be a matter of matching a horizontal resolution from the options above and adjusting the height until each "dot" is a square, that is that each DMD pixel has the same width and height.

 

[EDIT] - For the sake of curiosity I tested at 1536 x 864 and it did not work as anticipated. The image was the correct aspect ratio if I define width=1539 and height=387 but the image is small with large black bars drawn at the sides and top and bottom.

 

So, 767 may indeed be the current maximum horizontal with ddraw=0. 

 

I'm running a Pin2K style cab. Going edge-to-edge and maximizing the image to reflect on the playfield works for me. The image is dramatically larger than a size that matches a standard display. I don't have to fit the image inside a bezel.

 

If I had a traditional design with a DMD panel, I would test combinations of image sizes and display resolutions and take very good measurements prior to cutting the bezel.

 

If you cut the bezel first, you can certainly turn on ddraw and stretch the image to fit any size but at the risk of introducing artifacts, tiling and banding, that can detract from the experience. 


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Edited by Carny_Priest, 23 June 2014 - 04:15 PM.