[IC] KAT Oasis - GB January 31st

[JSaintS]

Hello Everyone!

Here is the first update since switching to KAT, I finally heard back from zFrontier, here is what I gathered:

• Legends

The coffee modifiers (and normal modifiers for that matter) might prove to be tricky to make, as I got told the dye-subbing might be affected by the blank keycaps. If a large enough amount of keysets are ordered, this could be solved by using plastic injected blanks which might solve the problem. Black legends would work better, so that is still a solution. That said zFrontier is waiting to place the order for Milkshake and the KAT Alphas before placing an order for Oasis samples, but it is happening, so we'll know more once those are in.

• MOQ

MOQ should be around 100-150, a lottle (like a little, except a lot) less than GMK, which makes this way more realistic.

• Pricing

As for the pricing (please, take this with a grain of salt as those are estimates) a kit of 120 keys would set you back around $100

• Proxies?

I was "afraid" proxies might be a no-go as Keyreative are an exclusive partner to zFrontier, but zFrontier themselves told me they did not mind using proxies, so that should make it easier for you guys to order

• Lead time

There should be a 3-4 months lead time which, according to Alex from zFrontier, is a safe estimation.


I am focusing on Monochrome right now but I wanted to keep you guys updated and let you know I'm doing all I can to make this happen.

Best,

Jonathan

[_ODIN_]

Hello Everyone!

Here is the first update since switching to KAT, I finally heard back from zFrontier, here is what I gathered:

• Legends

The coffee modifiers (and normal modifiers for that matter) might prove to be tricky to make, as I got told the dye-subbing might be affected by the blank keycaps. If a large enough amount of keysets are ordered, this could be solved by using plastic injected blanks which might solve the problem. Black legends would work better, so that is still a solution. That said zFrontier is waiting to place the order for Milkshake and the KAT Alphas before placing an order for Oasis samples, but it is happening, so we'll know more once those are in.

• MOQ

MOQ should be around 100-150, a lottle (like a little, except a lot) less than GMK, which makes this way more realistic.

• Pricing

As for the pricing (please, take this with a grain of salt as those are estimates) a kit of 120 keys would set you back around $100

• Proxies?

I was "afraid" proxies might be a no-go as Keyreative are an exclusive partner to zFrontier, but zFrontier themselves told me they did not mind using proxies, so that should make it easier for you guys to order

• Lead time

There should be a 3-4 months lead time which, according to Alex from zFrontier, is a safe estimation.


I am focusing on Monochrome right now but I wanted to keep you guys updated and let you know I'm doing all I can to make this happen.

Best,

Jonathan

[Kerasan]

Hello Everyone!

Here is the first update since switching to KAT, I finally heard back from zFrontier, here is what I gathered:

• Legends

The coffee modifiers (and normal modifiers for that matter) might prove to be tricky to make, as I got told the dye-subbing might be affected by the blank keycaps. If a large enough amount of keysets are ordered, this could be solved by using plastic injected blanks which might solve the problem. Black legends would work better, so that is still a solution. That said zFrontier is waiting to place the order for Milkshake and the KAT Alphas before placing an order for Oasis samples, but it is happening, so we'll know more once those are in.

• MOQ

MOQ should be around 100-150, a lottle (like a little, except a lot) less than GMK, which makes this way more realistic.

• Pricing

As for the pricing (please, take this with a grain of salt as those are estimates) a kit of 120 keys would set you back around $100

• Proxies?

I was "afraid" proxies might be a no-go as Keyreative are an exclusive partner to zFrontier, but zFrontier themselves told me they did not mind using proxies, so that should make it easier for you guys to order

• Lead time

There should be a 3-4 months lead time which, according to Alex from zFrontier, is a safe estimation.


I am focusing on Monochrome right now but I wanted to keep you guys updated and let you know I'm doing all I can to make this happen.

Best,

Jonathan

I cant wait 

KMK Labs.

[Bubblegum]

Is there any chance for ISO and NorDeUk support in KAT profile?

[_ODIN_]

Is there any chance for ISO and NorDeUk support in KAT profile?

++++++++++++++10000000000000

[JSaintS]

Is there any chance for ISO and NorDeUk support in KAT profile?

ISO, that's a given! I already told them I wanted ISO support. As for NorDeUK, I do not know yet, I have to check with them

[_ODIN_]

Is there any chance for ISO and NorDeUk support in KAT profile?

ISO, that's a given! I already told them I wanted ISO support. As for NorDeUK, I do not know yet, I have to check with them

Amazing! This set will be a must buy

[DasGnome]

Actually more excited to see this in KAT than GMK. Please no black legends though. The brown legends are what really give this set the earthy, beachy vibe.

[JSaintS]

Actually more excited to see this in KAT than GMK. Please no black legends though. The brown legends are what really give this set the earthy, beachy vibe.

I do agree with you and I will push for brown legends for sure!

[chuckdee]

Is KAT all PBT?  Or do they have ABS Doubleshot?  Just wondering with the colours- I don't want to lose the vibrancy of the combination!

[JSaintS]

As far as I know it's all PBT, but never hurts to ask

[_ODIN_]

As far as I know it's all PBT, but never hurts to ask

NO ABS please

[sythie]

Is there any chance for ISO and NorDeUk support in KAT profile?

ISO, that's a given! I already told them I wanted ISO support. As for NorDeUK, I do not know yet, I have to check with them

Thanks for the updates.

I do hope for NorDeUK support. That's the only reason I didn't join the KAT Alpha GB.

[chuckdee]

As far as I know it's all PBT, but never hurts to ask

NO ABS please

PBT has duller colors- that's what I meant about losing the vibrancy.  You could end up with something that doesn't match the vision.  See SA Godspeed vs XDA Godspeed.  It's very noticeable.

[_ODIN_]

As far as I know it's all PBT, but never hurts to ask

NO ABS please

PBT has duller colors- that's what I meant about losing the vibrancy.  You could end up with something that doesn't match the vision.  See SA Godspeed vs XDA Godspeed.  It's very noticeable.

I can see where you are coming from but I just don't like the glossy shine on abs caps that appears over time.

[chuckdee]

I get what you mean- but the colors are one of the major appeals of this set.



That's Godspeed XDA vs SA.  I even had an artisan to match... and it just doesn't match the colors on the XDA.  So the set doesn't match what I had in my mind, making me a little bit disappointed with the set, if not the XDA profile.  Even though after use you can see signs of shine on that SA Godspeed, it still looks better, IMO.  The XDA just looks like a washed out watercolor version of someone's depiction of the SA, IMO.

NOTE: Look at the mods for comparison.  I purchased Supernova on XDA, so the alphas are going to be quite a bit different.

[_ODIN_]

I get what you mean- but the colors are one of the major appeals of this set.

Show Image

That's Godspeed XDA vs SA.  I even had an artisan to match... and it just doesn't match the colors on the XDA.  So the set doesn't match what I had in my mind, making me a little bit disappointed with the set, if not the XDA profile.  Even though after use you can see signs of shine on that SA Godspeed, it still looks better, IMO.  The XDA just looks like a washed out watercolor version of someone's depiction of the SA, IMO.

NOTE: Look at the mods for comparison.  I purchased Supernova on XDA, so the alphas are going to be quite a bit different.

It’s just that I feel like I’m „damaging“ the abs keycaps with every keypress.
As far as the colours go, I think we can expect a good result. I know that it’s not the same manufacturer but look at dsa drifter for example: the colours turned out great in my opinion.
But I fully understand your argumentation.

[chuckdee]

This might be a moot point in any case if they don't have any other options than PBT.  I'm just saying I'm joining for the colors.  And that's a big problem on many keysets - the color matching.  And PBT is always a bit washed out.  Those colors on drifter look fine.  But they aren't exactly vibrant, but more muted.  It's that way with every PBT set that I've seen and is indeed what designers state as a disadvantage of PBT.

[JSaintS]

 I know that it’s not the same manufacturer but look at dsa drifter

I agree with everyone wanting the most accurate colors, trust me this is also what I want. That said, as far as I know Keyreative also made DSA drifter so it IS the same manufacturer

[_ODIN_]

 I know that it’s not the same manufacturer but look at dsa drifter

I agree with everyone wanting the most accurate colors, trust me this is also what I want. That said, as far as I know Keyreative also made DSA drifter so it IS the same manufacturer

Really looking forward to this.

[azulyf]

This might be a moot point in any case if they don't have any other options than PBT.  I'm just saying I'm joining for the colors.  And that's a big problem on many keysets - the color matching.  And PBT is always a bit washed out.  Those colors on drifter look fine.  But they aren't exactly vibrant, but more muted.  It's that way with every PBT set that I've seen and is indeed what designers state as a disadvantage of PBT.

I think the problem of GS XDA set is issue of XDA manufacturer. Look at their Milestone, Canvas and 8bit they almost look the same. Keyreative works much better in color which is shown from Drifter and Peach, though they are not as vibrant as ABS. But the guy from Keycreative says the KAT profile keys would have gloss surface finish which may make color better matched with the render.

[chuckdee]

This might be a moot point in any case if they don't have any other options than PBT.  I'm just saying I'm joining for the colors.  And that's a big problem on many keysets - the color matching.  And PBT is always a bit washed out.  Those colors on drifter look fine.  But they aren't exactly vibrant, but more muted.  It's that way with every PBT set that I've seen and is indeed what designers state as a disadvantage of PBT.

I think the problem of GS XDA set is issue of XDA manufacturer. Look at their Milestone, Canvas and 8bit they almost look the same. Keyreative works much better in color which is shown from Drifter and Peach, though they are not as vibrant as ABS. But the guy from Keycreative says the KAT profile keys would have gloss surface finish which may make color better matched with the render.

Well, it's a matter in the designer's hand now.  I really want this to turn out well, though, so wanted to bring it up as a concern.   I just remember Plum and Solarized Dark, and those were ABS.  After looking at Godspeed, well, it concerned me for PBT.  But we'll see! 

[Harms]

So is this officially KAT? Renders and main topic opener is still all GMK.

[chuckdee]

So is this officially KAT? Renders and main topic opener is still all GMK.

He's said it, but not sure he has confirmation yet.  And renders cost money, so I wouldn't do it until I was sure either.

[young_won]

I want to see the rendering KAT profile Oasis

[thelaughingman]

more interested in this set now that it is in KAT. Some questions, I know this is far out and your attention is on Monochrome but get to them when you can:

• would the kits in KAT Alpha be indicative of the kits for Oasis?
• will there be a 6u center stem space bar?

cheers 

[JSaintS]

So is this officially KAT? Renders and main topic opener is still all GMK.

I want to see the rendering KAT profile Oasis

Some will come at some point, I promise. As of right now I am still waiting to see it this is 100% doable colorwise and I am waiting to get confirmation from zFrontier. That and the fact that I do not know who can render the KAT profile (I think the renders for the KAT Alpha GB were done by Keyreative themselves, not sure).

more interested in this set now that it is in KAT. Some questions, I know this is far out and your attention is on Monochrome but get to them when you can:

• would the kits in KAT Alpha be indicative of the kits for Oasis?
• will there be a 6u center stem space bar?

cheers 

• That's what I am aiming for, that said, we did discuss the possibility of other kits too. It all depends on MOQ and how many persons are interested in this or that kit. What I plan on doing is, if KAT is confirmed, get the quotes, make a Google form with the prices for each kit and leave it up for a couple of days and then decide what kit to run or not to run (I will of course share the numbers)
• If that is available by Keyreative, you can be sure it will make its way into the spacebar kit

[sythie]

Any possibility for looking in to having RAMA keycap(s) made in KAT profile?

Like you did for the previous GMK Oasis.

[thelaughingman]

So is this officially KAT? Renders and main topic opener is still all GMK.

I want to see the rendering KAT profile Oasis

Some will come at some point, I promise. As of right now I am still waiting to see it this is 100% doable colorwise and I am waiting to get confirmation from zFrontier. That and the fact that I do not know who can render the KAT profile (I think the renders for the KAT Alpha GB were done by Keyreative themselves, not sure).

more interested in this set now that it is in KAT. Some questions, I know this is far out and your attention is on Monochrome but get to them when you can:

• would the kits in KAT Alpha be indicative of the kits for Oasis?
• will there be a 6u center stem space bar?

cheers 

• That's what I am aiming for, that said, we did discuss the possibility of other kits too. It all depends on MOQ and how many persons are interested in this or that kit. What I plan on doing is, if KAT is confirmed, get the quotes, make a Google form with the prices for each kit and leave it up for a couple of days and then decide what kit to run or not to run (I will of course share the numbers)
• If that is available by Keyreative, you can be sure it will make its way into the spacebar kit

Well actually in the base kit of KAT Alpha, there are 4 spacebars: 6.25u, 7u, 3u and a 6u but I couldn't find anywhere confirming whether that 6u is centered or off-centered stem LOL

[JSaintS]

Well actually in the base kit of KAT Alpha, there are 4 spacebars: 6.25u, 7u, 3u and a 6u but I couldn't find anywhere confirming whether that 6u is centered or off-centered stem LOL

Show Image

I will check that with them and let you know :-D

[_ODIN_]

Updates?

[bobdenard]

Still very interested in this, love those colors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[phatty]

I'm keen to grab this. It's a good opportunity to get my hands on a KAT kit.

[Jaxxstatic]

BTW, have you considered going hangul legends instead of hiragana? Given how clean the set is, I think it would work even better.

THIS! Please!

[_ODIN_]

BTW, have you considered going hangul legends instead of hiragana? Given how clean the set is, I think it would work even better.

THIS! Please!

+1

[chuckdee]

BTW, have you considered going hangul legends instead of hiragana? Given how clean the set is, I think it would work even better.

There are still a lot of us very interested in Hiragana, I think.  There was a poll 

[mik1]

Just a question, is there any key cap set in this world with Oasis' design or similar but all white on black and with NorDe (and preferably offers blank Windows keys)?

(Wider NorDe conversation here https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=97874 .)

[Ashardalon]

I've been wanting to see another set in the KAT profile since the Alpha set came out. I love the colourway in this set and would be interested in picking up a set down the line. Best of luck with the samples and renders

[Chekonjak]

Yeah smooth PBT is really nice.

[Photoelectric]

Is "smooth" for KAT similar to GMK ABS smoothness on the sides of the keycaps, or more like "less rough" PBT keycaps by BSP?

[Ashardalon]

Any updates on this project as of yet?

[Darknight00z]

bump

[JSaintS]

Hello everyone!

I feel like I've been very absent of this thread for quite a while; I was focusing on GMK Monochrome and I was mostly waiting on zFrontier/Keyreative ("zFrontier" hereafter) for updates.

The thing is that zFrontier wanted to finish the "KAT Alpha" production before launching any other KAT product, and I got confirmation in the second half of december that said production was finishing "real soon" (TM).

I know the first post of this thread still mentions GMK and all renders are for that profile but I've repeatedly asked zFrontier for the 3D files and they told me I would have them by the end of the week (crossing my fingers here, really hope I have them soon). If that is the case, I will try to get some renders for you guys and will post them as soon as possible. 3D files also means that RAMA will be able to work on a key. I already discussed this with him and he said it wouldn't be a problem, as long as he had the files to work with.

zFrontier also mentioned it would be possible to get samples this month to show the colors. I take that with a grain of salt as this of course depends on the KAT Alpha production and on on how well they manage to reproduce the colors. That said, and this is exciting to me, I got "confirmation" that reverse dye-sub should be possible (zFrontier was not confident in this at the beginning). That means that the coffee kit would be possible to produce (it would be more expensive, but still possible). I will of course update you guys as soon as I have more news


To finish this update, I do have two points I want to discuss:

• Considering the fact that the coffee kit will cost more to be produced (I also expect a higher MOQ, but not sure, I'll wait confirmation to say anything on this), I wanted to see how much interest there was for the Coffee kit (for some reason I can't access the Strawpoll site, but I will create a poll when I get back home from work); and
• My first attempt really lacked a novelty kit. I can't say for sure that zFrontier can produce novelties with the KAT profile but I would like to see if we can get something done for the RAMA keys (something a little custom as what Biip is getting for Bento - would you guys have any idea? I suck at everything photoshop/illustrator/... so I would appreciate any help you guys would provide.

I think that's it for now, thanks a lot for reading and for your support!

[_ODIN_]

Hello everyone!

I feel like I've been very absent of this thread for quite a while; I was focusing on GMK Monochrome and I was mostly waiting on zFrontier/Keyreative ("zFrontier" hereafter) for updates.

The thing is that zFrontier wanted to finish the "KAT Alpha" production before launching any other KAT product, and I got confirmation in the second half of december that said production was finishing "real soon" (TM).

I know the first post of this thread still mentions GMK and all renders are for that profile but I've repeatedly asked zFrontier for the 3D files and they told me I would have them by the end of the week (crossing my fingers here, really hope I have them soon). If that is the case, I will try to get some renders for you guys and will post them as soon as possible. 3D files also means that RAMA will be able to work on a key. I already discussed this with him and he said it wouldn't be a problem, as long as he had the files to work with.

zFrontier also mentioned it would be possible to get samples this month to show the colors. I take that with a grain of salt as this of course depends on the KAT Alpha production and on on how well they manage to reproduce the colors. That said, and this is exciting to me, I got "confirmation" that reverse dye-sub should be possible (zFrontier was not confident in this at the beginning). That means that the coffee kit would be possible to produce (it would be more expensive, but still possible). I will of course update you guys as soon as I have more news


To finish this update, I do have two points I want to discuss:

• Considering the fact that the coffee kit will cost more to be produced (I also expect a higher MOQ, but not sure, I'll wait confirmation to say anything on this), I wanted to see how much interest there was for the Coffee kit (for some reason I can't access the Strawpoll site, but I will create a poll when I get back home from work); and
• My first attempt really lacked a novelty kit. I can't say for sure that zFrontier can produce novelties with the KAT profile but I would like to see if we can get something done for the RAMA keys (something a little custom as what Biip is getting for Bento - would you guys have any idea? I suck at everything photoshop/illustrator/... so I would appreciate any help you guys would provide.

I think that's it for now, thanks a lot for reading and for your support!

Amazing news! I would like to get the coffee kit. Is there a chance for a dedicated NorDe kit?

[JSaintS]

Amazing news! I would like to get the coffee kit. Is there a chance for a dedicated NorDe kit?

I would need to check with zFrontier, but I have to admit, after seeing how this GB went and the general trend of trying to bring down the number of kits, that I am a little... skeptical as to whether this kit would hit MOQ or not. That is something that I would need to get the MOQ for and see the interest of the community.

[portbaron]

Coffee kit is what I want this set for, I forgot it wasn't the default.

[Caelestic]

To finish this update, I do have two points I want to discuss:

• Considering the fact that the coffee kit will cost more to be produced (I also expect a higher MOQ, but not sure, I'll wait confirmation to say anything on this), I wanted to see how much interest there was for the Coffee kit (for some reason I can't access the Strawpoll site, but I will create a poll when I get back home from work); and

I pretty much prefer the coffee set over the base one. With KAT instead of GMK I am even more interested in this (not that I do not like GMK but a change in profiles is a welcome change).

[Kerasan]

I want to buy Kat core kit + coffè kit 

[bobdenard]

I am still very much in. Regular and coffee look amazing, will be getting both


Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

[derznation]

Too late to get in on this GB?