Agent X kickplate artwork is finally printing!

I still consistently get emails asking about Agent X progress, the project has taken on a mythical urban legend type stature even with the long lifecycle it has taken to produce. You’ll see in these photos the red getting laid down and then a shot of the final piece.

Always exciting to see a piece of arcade artwork I helped bring to life finally get completed. Let’s hope that the sideart will be coming in the next six months.

You're reading Slow and steady builds the bomb factory is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

I have a real passion for graphic novels and therefore often feel that black and white line art can be some of the most beautiful artwork. Uses of negative space, silhouettes and lighting effects, well illustrated line artwork can be dramatic and stunning. Any normal person can, at first blush, tell whether the composition of a piece works or not by whether they can tell what is going on in the scene.

Now, Agent X is hardly a graphic novel, and doesn’t have the dramatic lighting, but the style is very similar to flat color comic books, especially the characters. Therefore, to see these black and white films is just breathtaking for me personally.

Prepping the artwork to then be sent out for production into film positives that would be considered ‘oversize’ can be a long piece of the process. The films for the Agent X / Cloak & Dagger sideart are done, and so are the kickplate, so I would expect to see some of the vinyl arcade prints getting cranked out any time now.

Thanks again to Rich for the update. Remember, if you don’t have a printer yet for your arcade reproductions, you will want to look up Rich at Thisoldgame.com

You got it here first, exclusive content about the Atari Agent X / Cloak and Dagger artwork films and printing progress at Rotheblog.com.

You're reading Agent X / Cloak & Dagger Kickplate Artwork Film Updates is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Fast forward to today, February 2008. Rich is in the process of printing the sideart, paying close attention to costing. Side art is challenging to reproduce and still be competitive in the small industry that is the arcade reproduction artwork business. There are a number of reasons why reproduction artwork is costly, mostly dealing with demand in relation to cost of production and cost of technology to print oversize films.

Here we see a couple of photos of the detailed Agent X side artwork. (Click on the photos for larger views)

The first is a photo of the Agent X sideart film from Scott Evans, you can see the blacks look like they are printed on a clear acetate. This negative image film will be used to burn screens to print the different colors. Now, keep in mind, there are six colors in total (green, orange, blue, yellow, grey & of course black) that would be printed on a white vinyl. The films here are scaled down to 11 x 17, effectively one fourth the actual size. They will then be blown up to full size sideart at a height of six feet.

Each of the five Agent X films would have cost at least $100 to burn at those dimensions, not to mention, there are some discrepancies between the original film and the final artwork that was printed on the limited existing Agent X machines. Here is a PDF demonstrating some of those inconsistencies in color, and here is the topic on Klov with some of the members talking about whether to leave the film original or correct the color errors. The final machines indicated that Atari would have had made adjustments to the film to change the colors midway through production.

In an effort to keep the artwork more affordable, the two Rich’s decided to not burn individual films and instead implement some masking with Rubylith. What is Rubylith you ask? Well, I actually asked that myself.

Rubylith was started originally as a brand of masking film, invented and trademarked by Ulano Corporation. But over time the brand became so generalized it became synonymous with masking, much like Kleenex are to tissues. Here is how Wikipedia explains Rubylith;

Rubylith consists of two films sandwiched together. The bottom layer is a clear polyester backing sheet. The top layer is a translucent, red coloured, self adhesive, emulsion. It is designed to be both easy to cut with a knife and light safe for use with orthochromatic films.

Instead of making films for each color, Rich will apply each color individually, masking off the one full size film for each run of the six colors. Take a look at the two photos below for a demonstration.

First he covers the whole film in the Rubylith, and then he uses a pattern to identify which sections to retain for the color he is printing and which sections to cut and remove. In this case, he is making the film for the green. (This is a test piece, if it was the real film, could you identify a incorrectly cut away piece of rubylith based on the sideart colors?) The film with the clear acetate is then placed on a screen, covered in light sensitive emulsion and any area that is not covered in rubylith is exposed and burned into the screen. The areas with Rubylith are blocked and the emulsion just washes away.

All of the pre-ordered artwork will be printed in this way. One color is printed on all of the vinyl pieces, then clean off the film and start all over again with a full covering of rubylith, remove and retain pieces of mask to achieve each of the other four colors other than black.

Rubylith can also be implemented for spot fixes and spot colors. Using it’s masking abilities and sensitivities to particular spectrums of light (Red, Green, and Blue), you can go back to already printed artwork and add back in missing colors or fix errors in the print. Here are a couple of examples.

Here we see the speaker grill rubylith cutout with the Atari logo. Neither the rubylith or the black will be exposed on the screen. This is the screen for the middle red of the speaker grill overlay.

Here is the exposed film. Cut by hand, you can see the little bump in the lower left corner that can be easily fixed with a liquid filler or even a piece of tape to get a straight – but angled edge.

Again, thanks to Rich for an insight into the printing process. Hopefully he’ll continue to have a few minutes here and there to provide more information to those of us that are interested about the progress of all of his printing jobs.

So, remember, if you don’t have a printer yet for your arcade reproductions, you will want to look up Rich at Thisoldgame.com

You got it here first, exclusive content about the Atari Agent X / Cloak and Dagger artwork films and printing progress at Rotheblog.com.

You're reading Agent X Color Screens is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

If you haven’t read anything about this set of Agent X reproductions before now, here is a short run down. Rick Ford has coordinated a project to get all of the artwork reproduced to build a complete Agent X machine. The Agent X artwork includes the marquee, speaker grill overlays, control panel overlay, kickplate, and sideart.

Originally the reproductions were going to be a very limited run, but there was some increased interest on the arcade forums when Rick made his announcement. Rich had made great progress getting each of the pieces printed, the marquee, the speaker grills, etc. But with the increased interest, he had to go back and print some more of that Agent X artwork. The films for these pieces of art are on loan from Scott Evans, so the quicker those pieces of Atari art can be finished, the better.

Once the catchup is finished, all of the final details can be worked out on the Agent X kickplate and sideart. That is exciting news, I can’t wait to finally see the Agent X kickplate artwork that I did get reproduced. The kickplate was pretty complex, and here is what Rich had to say about the Agent X sideart;

The films for the Agent X sideart were in small negative form, which I then had blown up to a full sized camera positive. I’ve also had a custom screen made to accomodate this big of a piece of artwork.

It turned out the guy I went through to make the screen worked in Atari’s production deptartment from 1979-1984. Kind of a cool story, and he had lots of insight too in regards to materials and production runs of the artwork.

The films are made for the sideart, all he needs to do is lay down the colors for the print. After the holidays are done, it would seem as the Agent X artwork could be finished sometime in January of 2008.

Here are a few of the images from ThisOldGame.com showing the screens that have been made, three images of the screen printing process of the Agent X marquees, and one photo of the speaker grill overlays.

You're reading Atari Agent X / Cloak Dagger Reproduction Artwork Update is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Here is Rich’s post along with the included image;

ThisOldGame.com is pleased to announce are Biggest and rarest project.A Full art package for Atari’s Agent X and Cloak & Dagger!

Special thanks to *removed* @ KLOV for bring this to light and to Scott Evans for providing the orginal Atari Art films for the screenprinting. Only 25 original dedicated cabinets were mfg by Atari with the rest being conversions.

I will also be posting up cnc router files and cab plans for this orginal cabinet. There will also be art ran designed by Atari but never released – the agent X marquee and an alt speaker overlay, that was most likly changed for the Cloak & Dagger release. I will be posting the entire production run with pics of the orginal art, pantone color matching, and the screenprinting process.

Anyone interrested in this art package should PM *removed* on KLOV for more info as this is a private, onetime limited run.

The colors are off from my kickplate from the original films, but they said they were going to take care of the color matching process and I didn’t have to worry about it.

Watching the threads is pretty exciting, Rich is going to keep an online blog of progress. There is going to be a ton in this kit, and I am sure that everyone is really excited. I was happy to be a part of the Agent X project, and excited that it will actually be produced. I got an acknowledgement from Rich, so that was great too.

It took a lot of time to do the kickplate, and I am glad he has the art for everything else. It was worthwhile this time around.

You're reading This Old Game has started Agent X artwork kit is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

He is not going to send me Cloak and Dagger artwork to color match. The Agent X films should have the color specs on them. Now, being 20 years old, I know Pantone may have been around then, I just don’t know for sure, and even then how accurate it would be. We will have to just wait and see.

You're reading Scott Evans, and getting Agent X ready to print is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

He trusted my judgement and told me to go ahead. That is what I like, when someone trusts my opinion, because I do a good job and I try to make the best decision for the person who wants it. But he also made a good point that every cab could vary in size, placement, etc. etc., so not every cab is alike anyway even in color because of fading and whatnot.

So, next step, he is sending over a sample of the Cloak and Dagger art so I can color match and we’ll go from there.

You're reading Rick saw the Agent X kickplate finalized is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

The dimensions I was given for the Agent X kickplate artwork are; (Mind you, these are the same for a Crystal Castles and I even think a Star Wars cab)

• Total Height of Kickplate / Coin Door Area = 29.625 in.
• Total Width of Kickplate / Coin Door Area = 23.75 in.
• Total Width of Coin Door (To Outer Frame Edge)= 8 in.
• Total Height of Coin Door (To Outer Frame Edge)= 20 11/16 in.
• Measurement down from top of kickplate to top of Coin Door edge = 1 1/2 in.

I don’t have a measurement from the left or the right of the kickplate to the inner edge of the Coin Door, which would give me very precise alignment, but this isn’t a film but a replication, so it will never be perfect.

When I made my Illustrator canvas the right size, and scaled everything up, I did really well. The Coin Door fit perfect in the spaces drawn for it. The only thing that I need to make a decision on is that the artwork is a little tall. There is excess border on the top, so nothing important that would be cut off for the most part. Now, I could just cut it off, and actually lose one green circle on the right, or I could scale it down to fit. It wouldn’t be proportionate, but for about .75 of an inch, you wouldn’t even notice the distortion unless you had two machines side by side. But one thing is for sure, I probably won’t go back and readjust all of the artwork just to get that green circle in the printing area at the top right.

I have to talk to Richard to kind of see what he thinks.

You're reading Final Dimensions for Agent X Kickplate is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

You're reading Image of the Agent X kickplate is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

I matched thickness on borders tonight and adjusted surrounding artwork. That sounds simple enough, but took forever. A lot of guides, a lot of dragging and adjusting control points. I also did some of the final stuff like make clipping masks and double check the thickness of the little repeating squares and the circles on the main border.

Now, I need actual dimensions of the artwork and to color match it. I have to wait for that info, but for now my part is done. If it takes awhile to get that stuff, I will post a final image here.

You're reading Finishing touches on Agent X kickplate is a post from: Jeff Rothe, originally posted on Rotheblog - An Arcade Game Blog. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Jeff on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.