Ok, I've given a shot at things myself but I've come to the conclusion that I'm crap at using graphical software and it would be best to work with somebody who know what they are doing.

I am essentially customising a MIDI keyboard and looking for someone to design the decals that I can put on it. It is planned to be a Serum branded soft synth controlling MIDI keyboard, but open to ideas.

Essentially I am looking for someone to be able to create some nice looking knob dial graphics in the main, but also some other bits n bobs on the device maybe.

Anyone able to help at all?

 

Here is what I have so far, set up as a layout in full size scale in a Photoshop project at the moment. I just can't seem to design decent knob dials no matter what I try, partly due to lack of Photoshop/Illustrator know-how and partly due to lack of a design background to come up with a good looking solution.

All I know is that the keyboard will have a matt black top, the Serum grey/blue bottom and I am then hoping to incorporate the Serum grey/blue and green colours into the front panels and knob dial designs.

 

It's not like it looks terrible, quite Abletonesque, but can't u just rip off the assets from Serum? If it's not commercial? I think they're all png files, if u want em? Just live trace if u need them as vectors & simplify as needed. Or use (ie) SymmetryWorks for Illustrator if u want rotary knobs w/ tactile bits on them. I'm still not clear what ur using them for? Are they gonna be renders for soft synth, or stuck on (?) to hardware? Cos I'm not sure how that ^ works for the latter? U just need the overlay (flat) bits for the synth, the knobs etcs won't need decals...

I think most softsynths use (ie) 3D Studio to render assets, which is a bit of a leap technically. U might wanna chat on gfx forums for some help w/ models etcs. If ur in charge of the hardware feedback et al, the fucking science of knobs is rly in-depth, and beyond forums (me)!

Anyway, like they say, if ur good @ somthing, don't do it for free!

 

You can open the Serum.dll with a program like Resource Tuner and and you have access to all the .png files that make up the GUI. This how I've modded GUIs in the past, anyways. You can change these to whatever you want, make sure they're aligned and create a new .dll for yourself with custom graphics.

@Bunford You could use these to at least get the right color schemes and font for your controller.

png 128:


png 159:


png 185:


png 197:


png 204:

 

Just updated the other thread, mainly cos I didn;t think anyone looked in here so attached it to the other one here: https://audiosex.pro/threads/what-is-the-font-used-in-serum.30336/#post-266086

I got the colour matches (I think) because I simply took a screenshot of Serum in my DAW and then put that in Photoshop and used the dropper to pick off the green and blue tomatch them.

The "Abletonesque" quote amused me. That's just the opaque background of the actual keyboard in real life sized scale so I could match the decal font up etc

It's essentially painting and custom decaling a hardware MIDI keyboard to use as a dedicated soft synth controller.

 

Ha! Oops. Now I understand, wasn't labelled! I just glanced @ thumbnails. I would ask ur local print shop what kinda services they do, whether they do cutouts & plastic custom prints etcs. There are lots of options, but I'd prolly wanna unscrew the case, paint it Serum black & start over. I dunno if ur a human, or a robot, but it's prolly best 2 leave it to teh robots if you wanna go sticking decals to things. Although, u might need one decal for that center rocker button.

If u don't wanna do some weird custom print, then u could prolly do ur own print(s), laminate & glue? I guess it then only depends on how well u know ur local print shop & how they handle bleed etcs? Also, get someone to double check everything, even spelling of OXC sometimes gets past ppl...

 

are you wanting to make it exactly the same? or same color scheme? or different style same color scheme?

 

@Bunford How have things turned out for you with the water slip decal sheets? Promising, or a pain in the bum?

 

The keyboard is alrrady pulled apart and painted a matt black with the Serum grey/blue base.

 

Same colour scheme but not necessarily the same design.

 

Just trying to finalise the dials tonight hopefully and then i can move onto that stage and will let you know. Will need to let the acrylic varbish cure for 24 hours on the printa before dunking them in water though. All being well, shoukd have it done by the end if the weekend hopefully.

 

Here is the final layout I have settled on. Huge thanks to @Pinkman for giving me a hand with the knob dials!

The only dodgy bit is the Serum logo itself. It's the only decent sized .png of the logo out there it seems, but is a bit rough around the edges with some weird 'glow' around it and a hack or two at a couple of the letters. Anyone got an idea of where I can get an improved logo from or how I could attempt to easily clean the edges on the .png I put in the post a couple of posts back.

 

Last edited: May 18, 2017

Now the next dilemma. I AM NEVER FUCKING BUYING ANOTHER BROTHER PRINTER IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Piece of shit garbage!!!!!!!!!! The thing just constantly paper jams, like this decal paper isn't expensive enough already!!!!!!

I might need to try and borrow/pick up another printer before I can go onto next phase. I have the layout done in full size scale on an A4 page, so there won't be any pixelating when printing hopefully. What dpi should I print out as in order to best result? Just trying to figure out what kind of printer I may need to pick up.

 

Honestly, just use Illustrator's Live Trace thing. It's (I'm assuming) just B&W version ur after? U can honestly use a garbage .png & it will "correct" it 2 look lovely. It just transforms stuff into vectors, so there are no jagged edges & u can resize it to the size of planet earth & it'll still look good. It might crash ur PC, tho =(

High as poss, but 300 dpi is usual? Depends on paper stock, so u might wanna do test prints.

Anyway, when I last bought some of that uber glossy expensive paper, the stupid store had accidentally "stuck" about ten of the packs together (left on shelf for ages) so I got about $400 worth for $40. I didn't even realise! Still using it ~2 yrs later XD Maybe u should check if ur local store has done similar w/uber expensive stock, and *ahem* take advantage?

Guess best idea is 2 check ink prices in local area / online. Generally buy printer w/ lowest re-up cost. Much of a muchness, rly between big four brands. Ask local print shop, useful resource.

 

Last edited: May 19, 2017

Cheers for the Illustrator tip @famouslut! I've now got a much cleaner Serum logo, and changed the grey boxes underneath to more rounded ones, as I think that looks more modern and fits in the the rounded green blocks for the knob groups. I've also now updated the font to match the actual font used in Serum, thanks to Lance Thackeray for the heads up on which fonts he used when he made the Serum GUI.

I think this is now the final version of the decal sheet:

 

Where is it jamming? Sometimes wiping the feed rollers with a cloth with lightly soapy water may help (or rubber rejuvenator if the rollers are the correct kind for that).
If it's jamming in the fusing area, that's another matter entirely.

 

Its kind of like the rollers wont pick up the paper properly and run through the printer. It always says paper jam at rear, but is usually somewhere between the paper tray and the rear rollers.

 

Yeah, sounds like a feed roller is either dirty (usually just paper dust) or worn. New rollers would be ideal, and usually they just snap in. Depends which printer it is. PM me a model number if you want more specific help with it. I'd try wiping the rollers with a slightly damp lint free cloth first to see if that helps.

 

This worked perfectly! Cheers for the advice! Managed to get the decal printed off! Now sprayed with matt acrylic seal and hidden under a plastic lid now to dry. Tomorrow i might be able to dunk the decals in water and almost finish the project.

 

Ok. I have now done about 3 decal sheet tests and they all come out shit. Even though they were all sealed with acrylic clear sealant, they end up not being a true black making it impossible to cut decals out that don't look horrible and also the colours seen to bleed on the edges even though it is sealed.

I am now looking for an alternative. Any suggestions?