Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:46:11
A sense memory of misspent Beijing nights
Coming August 1 from vendors around the world
(https://i.imgur.com/56oo60U.jpeg)
In the heart of Beijing, tucked behind the Forbidden City thronged with tourists, and the party compound heavily guarded, there is a small lake. At night this lake comes alive with neon lights piercing the city haze, advertising every pleasure under heaven, plied by pedal boats in the summer and speed skaters in the winter, redolent with the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. They call it Houhai (pron. HOH-high): 后海. In this place, a photo negative of Pleasure Island, the ancient, the modern, and the futuristic live side by side.
GMK Houhai is an ancient-futurist keycap set design inspired by the sights of the Chinese capital at night, and will be the first GMK set produced with full Chinese character legends. Rendered in custom RAL colors, GMK Houhai (pron. HOH-high) evokes the Beijing night sky in a warm, hazy grey, with alpha legends in the fluorescent red of the Chinese city sidewalk reflecting neons after a rain, and modifiers in shades of cobalt, aqua, jade, gold, and clean white that can be found in both the ornate woodwork of historic sites and in the kaleidoscope of city lights.
The GMK Houhai set legends are based around the Cangjie (仓颉) typing system, first among many methods of typing in Chinese using Chinese characters. The set is fully functional for Cangjie typists, as well as Pinyin and Latin character users.
(https://i.imgur.com/yMyPIg1.jpeg)
Complete the IC form to share your feedback (https://forms.gle/2Wt9Qte9Y9jmrJ6n7)
See a full gallery of board renders (https://imgur.com/gallery/dhBtmR8)
Follow me on IG @fort_stevens for photos and project updates, and feel free to reach out on Discord at grundlemere#1126 with questions or to say hello.
Vendors
US: Cannonkeys
China: Zfrontier
SE Asia: iLumkb
Europe: CandyKeys
Australia: Daily Clack
Canada: Deskhero.ca
UK (non-EU): Prototypist.net
What's changed?
- Renders have been updated to more closely depict physical colors
- Set colors have been updated to include more well-matched GMK stock colors and fewer custom colors
- Number of colors in base kit have been reduced by 1 (dark purple/blue accent color now appears only in novelties)
- Novelties have been updated to match GMK specs, and icons have been thickened and improved
- Kitting has been updated to match GMK Shanshui kitting - No English or icon mods this time around, though it's possible for a future run
- Novelty icons have been modified or swapped out to reflect a theme more specifically Beijing and less generally Chinese
- Deskmats have been updated to reflect new icons
- Kit branding has been refreshed
Tell me about the kits!
In the base kit, Latin legends and Cangjie Chinese sublegends, while the num row displays Chinese numeral sublegends, all rendered in brilliant fluorescent red on hazy dark grey. The numpad features complex financial characters used on money and in transaction records to prevent forgery. Simplified Chinese (as used in Beijing) and Traditional Chinese (used in overseas territories and increasingly popular on the mainland) base kits are availale. Perhaps most eye-catching, the other kits offered include clean Cangjie monolegend alphas + Chinese character arrow sets to complete the look, and a novelty kit I hope will knock your socks off. Novelties are rendered in seven kit colors, with the famous sights, legendary bites, urban transit highlights of the Chinese capital...plus a ghost story.
燕京 Yànjīng (Capital of Swallows) SC base kit
(https://i.imgur.com/e2Emcm2.png)
琉璃廠 Liúlíchăng (Culture Street) TC base kit
(https://i.imgur.com/kRTGu3P.png)
小吃 Xiăochī (Little Snacks) novelties kit
(https://i.imgur.com/sQhVXKn.png)
(Icon art is a collaborative work with my sibling, Maho, an artist and musician who lives down the street from me here in Washington, D.C., and a few modified stock icons we loved purchased from artists on thenounproject. Maho has done plenty of album cover and poster art in the music world, and now brings her talents doing art for the mechanical keyboard community. She expects to release new deskmat and banderole art soon.)
笔顺 Bĭshùn (Stroke Order) Cangjie Monolegend Alphas Kit
(https://i.imgur.com/RvnY4UO.jpg)
太空人 Tàikōngrén (Taikonaut) Spacebars Kit
(https://i.imgur.com/SXEOy0l.png)
See a full gallery of kit renders (https://imgur.com/gallery/PzTPnD3)
Collaborations
Luxe Cables for a custom aviator cable
Salvun
RAMA WORKS
Destroyer Caps
Landcaps
Mastonon Caps
Lo-Ki Caps
rtg caps
Frumpzkeys
Bhomasx Caps
Sway Caps
Hungry Hustlas
Zero Keycaps
A.X Studios
Froueloop
Fraktal Kaps
Rejecks Caps
Faded Caps
ILumKB for apparel
More to come!
Acknowledgments
NathanAlphaMan for the incredible collaborative partnership, the gorgeous renders, and the critical design feedback early in the process
Exclusive for the the cultural translation help and the permission to use his beautiful e8.5 in our renders (can't wait for mine!)
My sibling, Maho, for putting up with my management style and still turning out such great work and taking my calls
The MK Community for supporting GMK Shanshui 山水 and helping me make this set a reality
Phatty, MoesToaster,Alex, Louis, and Jerrolds for their immediate passion for this project and being the best hypemen
Nero and the Matrix Labs team for talking me out of a bad decision
Digital Carpentryfor being my first partner and my biggest sounding board through all of this
energieschleuder for convincing me this could really happen
The people of Beijing for opening my eyes to what is possible
Thanks for reading this far and thank you for your feedback.
Show your support for GMK Houhai with this sig banner!
(https://i.imgur.com/hTyx9ji.jpg) (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=107034.0)
Code: [Select]
[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=107034.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/hTyx9ji.jpg[/img][/url]
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:46:51
Post by: jackzyg on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:47:09
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: jackzyg on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:47:53
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: Solotov on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:50:05
Post by: DukeEsquire on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:54:08
Any idea on pricing given the large number of custom molds you’ll need?
I am not 100% sold on the colorway—reminds me of metropolis—but I will support the project in hopes we can get a WoB or BoW set next.
Post by: baksbaks on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:57:48
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:57:55
Finally!!!! Been waiting for this!!!! Good luck man!
Thanks, Jack! Been great talking to you on IG!
Post by: Capsy on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:58:35
Post by: yoot on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:59:33
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 08:59:40
I’m in for sure.
Any idea on pricing given the large number of custom molds you’ll need?
I am not 100% sold on the colorway—reminds me of metropolis—but I will support the project in hopes we can get a WoB or BoW set next.
Hope to have some more ballpark pricing info over the weekend. Lead vendor's been under the weather, but hopefully we'll talk soon and will let you know.
WoB is already looking like it will happen if this one runs. Renders of that kit look AWESOME.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:01:20
Thoroughly enjoyed reading through your OP. Nice IC. Need to see more renders to be sold on the colors but looks good for now
Thank you! I'll post some photos of physical RAL samples in different light situations today or tomorrow but wanted to get this up. The alpha legend red is a RAL fluorescent, UV-reactive color. VERY high contrast.
Ope, renders link: https://imgur.com/gallery/FKXHbSz
Post by: Auracity on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:03:13
Post by: ilouis_07 on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:05:02
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:09:58
I love those novelties!!!
Those novelties love you!
Post by: harlekein on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:12:42
Post by: nxxinf on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:23:53
Post by: devils-door-bell on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:27:51
Post by: nxxinf on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:31:58
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:38:28
Post by: cowsareverywhere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:47:43
Post by: Chuttau on Fri, 19 June 2020, 09:58:04
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:00:51
Damn it's still 2020 and the best set of 2021 has already been shown
Wow that is a huge compliment! I can't wait to see what else comes out next year. (Mostly I just can't wait for this year to be over!)
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:10:31
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
That's all really good feedback and I will be thinking about what you've said. For the most part, we expect sales to be higher in mainland China which is why we used simplified characters for mods. (Also, I can't read traditional characters very well!) The Chinese mods are not intended to be Cangjie, because Cangjie only applies to alphas. Finally, please understand that the reason we've included a lot of Chinese characters on areas like numerals for example is because the western audience thinks they look cool. The numbers aren't really supposed to be part of the Cangjie system as much as they are a decoration. Thanks for the catch on the 陸 legend. That was simply a mistake and I'm not sure how that happened. We will fix it!
Feel free to reach me on discord or IG to talk about any other thoughts you have.
Post by: nxxinf on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:10:52
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
For your first point, I think even though Cangjie is more widely used in Taiwan & HK, there is nothing weird about using Simplified Chinese to better capture the culture & vibe in Houhai, Beijing. And I don't know why it is "insulting" to you.
Again, hope no one turns this into a political debate on the complex Mainland-Taiwan-HK issues looool. Love the set :thumb:
Post by: senryo on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:17:18
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
For your first point, I think even though Cangjie is more widely used in Taiwan & HK, there is nothing weird about using Simplified Chinese to better capture the culture & vibe in Houhai, Beijing. And I don't know why it is "insulting" to you.
Again, hope no one turns this into a political debate on the complex Mainland-Taiwan-HK issues looool. Love the set :thumb:
Because from a linguistic perspective, Simplified Chinese(SC) is a cultural backward of Traditional Chinese(TC); it gutted a lot of Chinese cultural characteristics for easing the illiteracy rate in China.
Cangjie was made under the foundation of TC and binding it tgt with SC isn't really that appropriate in a cultural context.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:21:59
This looks uh expensive! I am all in.
That's the spirit!
Post by: nxxinf on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:23:40
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
For your first point, I think even though Cangjie is more widely used in Taiwan & HK, there is nothing weird about using Simplified Chinese to better capture the culture & vibe in Houhai, Beijing. And I don't know why it is "insulting" to you.
Again, hope no one turns this into a political debate on the complex Mainland-Taiwan-HK issues looool. Love the set :thumb:
Because from a linguistic perspective, Simplified Chinese(SC) is a backwards of Traditional Chinese(TC); it gutted a lot of Chinese cultural characteristics for easing the illiteracy rate in China.
Cangjie was made under the foundation of TC and binding it tgt with SC isn't really that appropriate in a cultural context.
Yeah Simplified Chinese is indeed a simplified version but also the one people in Beijing use (not trying to argue which one is superior).
The set is named Houhai instead of Cangjie. If the set is called "GMK Cangjie" I would also vote for using Traditional Chinese.
Post by: Geeky_A on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:24:45
Post by: vocal118 on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:25:43
Post by: Chuttau on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:26:07
That's all really good feedback and I will be thinking about what you've said. For the most part, we expect sales to be higher in mainland China which is why we used simplified characters for mods. (Also, I can't read traditional characters very well!) The Chinese mods are not intended to be Cangjie, because Cangjie only applies to alphas. Finally, please understand that the reason we've included a lot of Chinese characters on areas like numerals for example is because the western audience thinks they look cool. The numbers aren't really supposed to be part of the Cangjie system as much as they are a decoration. Thanks for the catch on the 陸 legend. That was simply a mistake and I'm not sure how that happened. We will fix it!
Feel free to reach me on discord or IG to talk about any other thoughts you have.
I don't think the simplified/traditional mods will make a big difference in sales numbers, just my 2 cents.
Maybe you can also use the traditional chinese numerals in the num row in base kit and the alpha child kit? just to keep the legends more consistent.
Besides these I don't really have more questions on the set other than the price, there are A LOT of new molds needed for making the kits.
Post by: senryo on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:32:20
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
For your first point, I think even though Cangjie is more widely used in Taiwan & HK, there is nothing weird about using Simplified Chinese to better capture the culture & vibe in Houhai, Beijing. And I don't know why it is "insulting" to you.
Again, hope no one turns this into a political debate on the complex Mainland-Taiwan-HK issues looool. Love the set :thumb:
Because from a linguistic perspective, Simplified Chinese(SC) is a backwards of Traditional Chinese(TC); it gutted a lot of Chinese cultural characteristics for easing the illiteracy rate in China.
Cangjie was made under the foundation of TC and binding it tgt with SC isn't really that appropriate in a cultural context.
Yeah Simplified Chinese is indeed a simplified version but also the one people in Beijing use (not trying to argue which one is superior).
The set is named Houhai instead of Cangjie. If the set is called "GMK Cangjie" I would also vote for using Traditional Chinese.
Personally I don't really mind if the runner chooses SC or TC, but if the runner wants to incorporate cultural context into the theme, I'd suggest him do it properly.
And you were asking why it was insulting to accompany SC with Cangjie, I was just answering that question, theres nothing to do with whether SC is more widely used or not.
Post by: nxxinf on Fri, 19 June 2020, 10:43:16
mixed feeling about this set
Nice combinations of colours, very versatile base kit and good child kits. The Kits will be very expensive to do in GMK because all the new molds.
Very nice indeed, but there are so many parts of this I don't understand.
First- the Simplified Chinese in the base kit. Cangjie/倉頡 was invented as a Traditional Chineseinput method at first, the way it works is by chopping the chinese letter into different parts, a really simple example is the word"明", it splits into "日" and "月", -A and B on your keyboard. Simplified Chinese can't do this for more complicated words because the, well, "simplified letters".
Simplified Chinese compatibility wasn't even added before 1987. Using simplified chinese in the mods is kinda ironic (or rather insulting imo), I would switch to Traditional Chinese if you really mean to theme this after the cangjie input method .
Second- the cangjie radicals monolegend kit, Cangjie input method, fyi, DOESN'T use the num row at all, really feels weird to me that you included the monolegend numbers row in the kit
BUT I guess it keeps the alphas cleaner with one type of legends, so whatever.
Third- the traditional chinese numerals in the numpad. If you are using simplified chinese in the mods, use the modernised chinese numerials instead(零一二三四五六七八九).
If you wis to use the traditional chinese numerals, the legend for 6 is 陸, not 柳 (unless its some regional difference mumbo jumbo in beijing or whatever"
上下左右 and 東南西北 are also not really necessary but to add more cost to the kit, arrows are fine (to me)
Lastly, the naming of the spacebar kit, just name it the "taiko kit" if you want to add the Shenzhou spaceship reference
Cangjie is also invented in Taiwan by a Taiwanese at the time so I feel really weird about the novelites kit
and fyi cangjie is REALLYYYYYY rarely used in China(and they don't teach it in school), people in Hong Kong-like me and Taiwan uses it more often than the people in china which usully sticks with piniy,ignore me if you count HK and TW as China, don't wanna make this post into some political ****show
For your first point, I think even though Cangjie is more widely used in Taiwan & HK, there is nothing weird about using Simplified Chinese to better capture the culture & vibe in Houhai, Beijing. And I don't know why it is "insulting" to you.
Again, hope no one turns this into a political debate on the complex Mainland-Taiwan-HK issues looool. Love the set :thumb:
Because from a linguistic perspective, Simplified Chinese(SC) is a backwards of Traditional Chinese(TC); it gutted a lot of Chinese cultural characteristics for easing the illiteracy rate in China.
Cangjie was made under the foundation of TC and binding it tgt with SC isn't really that appropriate in a cultural context.
Yeah Simplified Chinese is indeed a simplified version but also the one people in Beijing use (not trying to argue which one is superior).
The set is named Houhai instead of Cangjie. If the set is called "GMK Cangjie" I would also vote for using Traditional Chinese.
Personally I don't really mind if the runner chooses SC or TC, but if the runner wants to incorporate cultural context into the theme, I'd suggest him do it properly.
And you were asking why it was insulting to accompany SC with Cangjie, I was just answering that question, theres nothing to do with whether SC is more widely used or not.
Thanks for the explanation! Though I still don't know why it is considered "insulting" to use SC just because it is a simplified version of Chinese characters. It is personal preference after all. In the context of this set, using either of them makes sense :)
Post by: stickerliu on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:10:04
丑就一个字出国秀智商？，真长脸啊！
The theme is nice. like the 老外 and 小吃 kits。 :thumb: but i think the red on alpha is not good，what about yellow or other colors？ ;D
Post by: Mekanist on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:23:22
Post by: easy_rider on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:36:46
Post by: Audiobs on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:37:25
Post by: Audiobs on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:39:55
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:48:10
Beautiful set! Will this be the first ever GMK set with Chinese characters? (Not talking about Hangul and Hiragana)
Thank you! As far as I am aware, it will be the first GMK set with Chinese character legends, but not the first GMK Chinese language set. GMK Zhuyin ran on NK in March. Zhuyin is sort of a weird system where stroke elements (not even radicals) were extracted from Chinese characters to create a sort of alphabet called Bopomofo. They're not Chinese characters but they can be used to type Chinese.
I know there are sets using Cangjie and other typing systems that are planned in other profiles, but none to my knowledge has been made yet. If I'm missing someone's design, please forgive me!
And yes, why have bad icon mods when you can have good ones?
Post by: mcRewind on Fri, 19 June 2020, 11:52:29
Post by: konstantin on Fri, 19 June 2020, 12:12:16
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 12:57:14
Not an expert, but wouldn't it be better to have 功能/Fn instead of 菜单/Menu for all of the Fn keys, both Chinese and English? As far as I can tell, 菜单 refers to a restaurant/food menu...
I worked on these mod translations with Exclusive and based them on older existing boards and mod stickers available for the Chinese market. I had the same question as you but decided to go with menu. The word 菜单 applies to both restaurant and computer menus in Chinese as it does in English.
Post by: woyaodapian on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:00:43
Would prefer if the set has alpha as the Base set. this set looks very expensive with a lot of wasted keycaps.
Maybe look at the kitting for Kat Cyberspace. my 2 cents.
Post by: konstantin on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:03:39
I worked on these mod translations with Exclusive and based them on older existing boards and mod stickers available for the Chinese market. I had the same question as you but decided to go with menu. The word 菜单 applies to both restaurant and computer menus in Chinese as it does in English.
Alright, thanks for the info.
Post by: Owl on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:06:35
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:08:44
Unique set, I appreciate the time you put into the kits. I would be interested to see instead of RAL 3024-HR as the alpha color, possibly having RAL 160 70 50 or RAL 1028-HR? The topdown E8.5 render shows that contrast you are talking about, but others don't do it much justice.
I am fairly sure at this point that the lack of contrast has to do with the rendering, both "sexy" low-light environments and the angle of the lighting that picks up a "shine" off the surface of the keys. That's evidenced by the issue you're pointing out not showing up in any of the top-down renders. I do think it's worth fixing. However, I am definitely not going to remove the major theme color and a critical element of the backstory from the set.
Post by: NathanAlphaMan on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:17:44
This set kind of draws me to it the more I look at it.
Would prefer if the set has alpha as the Base set. this set looks very expensive with a lot of wasted keycaps.
Maybe look at the kitting for Kat Cyberspace. my 2 cents.
GMK =/= KAT. The kitting philosophy behind the two is completely different as the MOQ systems are completely different. With KAT there's a global "unit" MOQ, wherein if enough keycap units are bought, all kits are made, regardless how many people bought them. With GMK MOQ is per kit, if a particular kit doesn't get enough sales, it doesn't get made.
Grundlemere and I spent a lot of time working on this kitting in order to get the most out of these legends for your money, likely some changes will come, but this is largely how it will stay I'd assume.
Post by: hangul on Fri, 19 June 2020, 13:42:55
Post by: PotatoTM on Fri, 19 June 2020, 15:00:06
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 15:45:01
Strangely into it, il probably pick up a set! Not looking forward to the pricing of the kits though :P
Gotta be honest, I don't think anyone is. :-X But I really created the kit I wanted, and every complexity is there for a reason. I hope people love it as much as I do, and I hope they can stomach the price. We will look at ways we might be able to split and simplify if the pricing is a nonstarter.
Post by: wil on Fri, 19 June 2020, 15:46:26
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 16:02:02
this is an incredible effort and something i'm definitely keeping my eye on. masterpiece having 80 new molds still had a pretty appealing base kit pricing so i'm hoping this doesn't break the bank much further.
Big ups to energieschleuder for even making me think this might be possible! That's pretty much where I landed on this. I wanted to make this design rule as much as possible and figure out the money later. Thanks for the kind word, we'll do everything we can to make it accessible to the people.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 16:06:12
Also I think a kit of light alphas (red + white/light grey) will look dope with the colorful mods and novelties :cool:
A lot of people have brought this up! It's something I'm going to be strongly considering either later in the IC or in an R2. I want to play around with KLE to see if I can come up with something I think is appealing.
Post by: ZongZiWang on Fri, 19 June 2020, 16:44:46
Post by: MousePounder on Fri, 19 June 2020, 17:32:42
Quote
Big ups to energieschleuder for even making me think this might be possible! That's pretty much where I landed on this. I wanted to make this design rule as much as possible and figure out the money later. Thanks for the kind word, we'll do everything we can to make it accessible to the people.
We talking more than 500 if you want all the keycap kits?
Just wondering how much I need to squirrel away for this amazing set.
Post by: Tyson on Fri, 19 June 2020, 18:43:14
Post by: CodeMayhem on Fri, 19 June 2020, 19:13:56
1.5u shift in the base kit looks interesting, what boards would that work with?
the evolv 75%. it would also be really cool to see a 1800 cp with a 1.5 shift so that the numpad gap is uniform with the rest of the board.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 19:40:11
Novelty kit looks amazing, will consider getting one. Can you add row information onto the kit picture?
Yes, I will need to do that soon anyway. I’ve just been too lazy. Will update all photos with row markers after our next round of fixes.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 19 June 2020, 19:44:17
1.5u shift in the base kit looks interesting, what boards would that work with?
the evolv 75%. it would also be really cool to see a 1800 cp with a 1.5 shift so that the numpad gap is uniform with the rest of the board.
I feel like Evolv’s solution to the blocked arrow cluster is going to catch on. It’s also useful for certain ergo layouts.
Post by: dantambok on Fri, 19 June 2020, 20:52:49
Post by: yoot on Fri, 19 June 2020, 21:29:20
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Post by: kokugatsu on Fri, 19 June 2020, 22:59:10
AFAIK people in mainland China uses QWERTY for pinyin input, so putting cangjie on the alphas is just about as useful as putting hiragana on an English layout. I'd honestly suggest you to use traditional for mods if you're trying to push for cangjie alphas.
I think those who use traditional would prefer not to use simplified since its practically Newspeak or Pidgin English to them, which is why some view it as insulting? Obviously there isn't a similar view conversely, but simplified users would not want to mix it with traditional either.
Post by: radmedov on Fri, 19 June 2020, 23:06:32
Post by: fabijolo on Sat, 20 June 2020, 00:34:56
The only thing that might be a bit concerning to me is the legend visibility of the red alphas, especially on the first render (but maybe it just comes of different in that one, since they are somehow way more visible in all the other renders)
Hope this set will be very successful, gl :thumb:
Post by: syke on Sat, 20 June 2020, 08:09:40
BTW, Cangjie is mainly used by folks like us residing in Hong Kong, Zhuyin in Taiwan... Why not a set that has all four options? Alphabets for Pinyin, Cangjie, Zhuyin and Dayi?
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 20 June 2020, 08:36:36
1) The theme of the set is inspired by Beijing, where traditional characters are not used.
2) From my own part as the designer, it also feels very inauthentic for me to use characters I never learned to read or write, for an audience I never lived among.
3) Admittedly, the use of Cangjie legends is largely decorative. I don’t expect many Chinese users, even in places where Cangjie is taught, to use this design to type in Cangjie, although, all the better if someone does. If I had chosen to make this set solely practical, I would have also included Zhuyin and Dayi schemes. Some sets have this, I decided to choose Cangjie only for aesthetic reasons.
4) It’s also true that every character in the Cangjie legends set except one, 難, is the same in both simplified and traditional. I understand many people may feel that Cangjie does not “match” simplified characters, but for practical purposes, we are talking about one single key.
I understand that there are strong feelings about simplified vs. traditional characters that I, as an outsider, will never truly appreciate. But there are deeply personal reasons I chose to use simplified characters in the mods, and still wanted to include a legend scheme that honored the beauty of the written Chinese language through the use of full Chinese character legends.
It’s not a perfect solution to please everyone, but in the end, the design is based on my own impressions of a place I have lived in, worked in, and loved, and I can’t replace that impression with someone else’s, though I understand that your opinion is heartfelt. 😊
Post by: Pach on Sat, 20 June 2020, 09:10:43
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 20 June 2020, 12:32:10
It also turns out I am suddenly in need of a new US vendor. I wouldn’t have launched without one, but I also understand things change. It’s an ambitious project but I’m willing to work to make sure it’s a fit for everyone. US vendors, feel free to reach out to talk. You can catch me on Discord at grundlemere#1126 or IG @grundlemere. All other vendors are still on board and Zfrontier and iLumkb are working to make this a big launch in Asia!
Post by: C³—Ears on Sat, 20 June 2020, 21:48:52
As a Chinese, i really like it. Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese aside,just glad to see someone doing this.Especially for the Novelties,the most important thing for normal Chinese people is the food. So 小吃 is really nice. Looked like you really embraced our culture. Even i can only use Pinyin,i wouldnt mind you using Cangjie on it. I know you must know this,Wubi(五笔）is more commonly used for Simplified Chinese.But almost each and everyone now using Pinyin in Mainland China.We can def be using this keysets.
I am in this for sure
加油!
Post by: break on Sat, 20 June 2020, 23:20:43
It also turns out I am suddenly in need of a new US vendor. I wouldn’t have launched without one, but I also understand things change. It’s an ambitious project but I’m willing to work to make sure it’s a fit for everyone. US vendors, feel free to reach out to talk. You can catch me on Discord at grundlemere#1126 or IG @grundlemere. All other vendors are still on board and Zfrontier and iLumkb are working to make this a big launch in Asia!
Best of luck finding a new vendor! On IG you commented that TX will "stop running keycap sets for the foreseeable future." Can you provide a bit more information here? Right now this reads as if they're stopping all keycap sales, which seems like something they'd prefer to announce themselves very clearly.
Post by: keyboardcircle on Sat, 20 June 2020, 23:34:07
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 07:55:48
It also turns out I am suddenly in need of a new US vendor. I wouldn’t have launched without one, but I also understand things change. It’s an ambitious project but I’m willing to work to make sure it’s a fit for everyone. US vendors, feel free to reach out to talk. You can catch me on Discord at grundlemere#1126 or IG @grundlemere. All other vendors are still on board and Zfrontier and iLumkb are working to make this a big launch in Asia!
Best of luck finding a new vendor! On IG you commented that TX will "stop running keycap sets for the foreseeable future." Can you provide a bit more information here? Right now this reads as if they're stopping all keycap sales, which seems like something they'd prefer to announce themselves very clearly.
So, to be clear, I have permission from Popkorn to explain that this is why TX backed out. It’s a decision she may revisit down the road, and I for one am hopeful that will happen. TX is a great business and Popkorn has been great. Despite my obvious disappointment at losing my lead vendor at this time, she’s been really helpful through the process and is working to help me find a replacement, and I hope to work with her again in the future. I just bought some stem pickers and lube from her yesterday. :)
Post by: break on Sun, 21 June 2020, 07:57:20
It also turns out I am suddenly in need of a new US vendor. I wouldn’t have launched without one, but I also understand things change. It’s an ambitious project but I’m willing to work to make sure it’s a fit for everyone. US vendors, feel free to reach out to talk. You can catch me on Discord at grundlemere#1126 or IG @grundlemere. All other vendors are still on board and Zfrontier and iLumkb are working to make this a big launch in Asia!
Best of luck finding a new vendor! On IG you commented that TX will "stop running keycap sets for the foreseeable future." Can you provide a bit more information here? Right now this reads as if they're stopping all keycap sales, which seems like something they'd prefer to announce themselves very clearly.
So, to be clear, I have permission from Popkorn to explain that this is why TX backed out. It’s a decision he may revisit down the road, and I for one am hopeful that will happen. TX is a great business and Popkorn has been great. Despite my obvious disappointment at losing my lead vendor at this time, he’s been really helpful through the process and is working to help me find a replacement, and I hope to work with him again in the future. I just bought some stem pickers and lube from him yesterday. :)
Thanks, and best of luck with your US vendor!
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 08:00:27
First of all, i love the design.
As a Chinese, i really like it. Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese aside,just glad to see someone doing this.Especially for the Novelties,the most important thing for normal Chinese people is the food. So 小吃 is really nice. Looked like you really embraced our culture. Even i can only use Pinyin,i wouldnt mind you using Cangjie on it. I know you must know this,Wubi(五笔）is more commonly used for Simplified Chinese.But almost each and everyone now using Pinyin in Mainland China.We can def be using this keysets.
I am in this for sure
加油!
Thank you for your support! I chose Cangjie because it covers all 26 alphas and honestly because I like the characters better. Part of my rationale also was to use a system that includes territories that use Cangjie, though some of course have expressed that they are unhappy with the choice to combine Cangjie with Simplified Chinese. At this point I don’t think we plan to change the legends to 五笔 but it’s definitely an option. Other Chinese friends suggested it as well but partners on the mainland liked Cangjie just as much. It’s mostly for decorative reasons as I’ve explained. It is a good idea, though!
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 08:05:20
can you add 上下左右 and 東南西北 to base kit?
To be honest, any changes I make to the base kit will be to simplify it and make it more affordable at this point. The character arrows are the definition of superfluous. :) I still hope you will get them! The monolegends kit looks really good I think!
Post by: konstantin on Sun, 21 June 2020, 14:50:17
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 17:00:18
Why are you including a R2 Home key?
Absolutely out of personal preference for my own layout. I typically run a 65 and I like to have home and end keys on my right cluster instead of page up/dn.
Post by: konstantin on Sun, 21 June 2020, 17:36:18
Why are you including a R2 Home key?
Absolutely out of personal preference for my own layout. I typically run a 65 and I like to have home and end keys on my right cluster instead of page up/dn.
There's no R3 End key, though, which is why I'm asking. Anyway, why not make it more usable by exchanging that key for R2 Out, R3 Read (or Data)? Doing this will add basic ortho support to the set. There's already a R3 1.25u key, so it's missing those two keys for basic
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 17:58:46
Why are you including a R2 Home key?
Absolutely out of personal preference for my own layout. I typically run a 65 and I like to have home and end keys on my right cluster instead of page up/dn.
There's no R3 End key, though, which is why I'm asking. Anyway, why not make it more usable by exchanging that key for R2 Out, R3 Read (or Data)? Doing this will add basic ortho support to the set. There's already a R3 1.25u key, so it's missing those two keys to support ortho. And since the legends are generic, you can also use it for your preferred, albeit admittedly uncommon, 65% layout. Don't ask me how you would translate those to Chinese, though ;)
The missing R3 end key is an oversight and I’m gonna add it to next round. As far as what you need for ortho support, tell me exactly what keys you need to make it work in the IC form (rows, widths, and legends) and I will see if we can add them. And even translate them into Chinese!
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 17:59:25
Post by: konstantin on Sun, 21 June 2020, 18:46:17
The missing R3 end key is an oversight and I’m gonna add it to next round. As far as what you need for ortho support, tell me exactly what keys you need to make it work in the IC form (rows, widths, and legends) and I will see if we can add them. And even translate them into Chinese!
The keys I was suggesting were a R2 1u and a R3 1u key. The legends can be anything generic, but usually R2 1u Out and R3 1u Read or R3 1u Data are used. Some sets even merge these keys with R2 PgUp, R3 PgDn in order to keep the kit size down (e.g. Solar Red (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=105988.0)), while others keep them separate (e.g. Delta (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=103201.0)). You can do that here if you want, and merge them with your R2 Home, R3 End keys, if you yourself don't mind using e.g. Out, Read instead of Home, End.
A R4 1u key is sometimes included as well, usually R4 1u Enter or R4 1u Shift. The 1u Shift in particular would also be useful (in conjunction with the existing 2u Shift) for covering 60% layouts with arrows (e.g. GK64), which are very popular in the Eastern community. And for a set like this, I'd wager that having a lot of Eastern customers is a reasonable expectation ;)
However, as I'm not a 40% user either, I will leave the form filling to the actual users who would benefit from having those keys; I'm just noting the possibility and throwing the idea out there.
Alternatively, of course, you can add a separate 40s kit and relegate ortho support to it, which is also a reasonable course of action. In that case, the R3 1.25u Tab and second R4 1u Ctrl could be removed from the base kit, as they are only used on 40% boards.
Post by: __init__ on Sun, 21 June 2020, 19:15:22
Also I think a kit of light alphas (red + white/light grey) will look dope with the colorful mods and novelties :cool:
A lot of people have brought this up! It's something I'm going to be strongly considering either later in the IC or in an R2. I want to play around with KLE to see if I can come up with something I think is appealing.
Light alphas would be ****ing amazing! This kit already looks kickass!
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 21 June 2020, 21:12:01
This is just a sample of what the timascus material can look like, the patterns of the cap Asero creates may end up looking very different
(https://i.etsystatic.com/17969779/r/il/d6358b/2229377092/il_794xN.2229377092_c2rd.jpg)
Post by: yoot on Sun, 21 June 2020, 21:13:00
Got a new partner offering a cool accessory: Rikkachet from Asero Foundry is going to do metal collab artisans in aluminum and timascus! If you haven't seen timascus, google it, it's beautiful. Will probably draw from the novelty icons and that color scheme is gonna be a perfect match for the neon lights of Beijing nights!That is awesome. Thanks for making me even more hyped for January!
This is just a sample of what the timascus material can look like, the patterns of the cap Asero creates may end up looking very differentShow Image(https://i.etsystatic.com/17969779/r/il/d6358b/2229377092/il_794xN.2229377092_c2rd.jpg)
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Post by: MousePounder on Sun, 21 June 2020, 21:18:26
Got a new partner offering a cool accessory: Rikkachet from Asero Foundry is going to do metal collab artisans in aluminum and timascus! If you haven't seen timascus, google it, it's beautiful. Will probably draw from the novelty icons and that color scheme is gonna be a perfect match for the neon lights of Beijing nights!
This is just a sample of what the timascus material can look like, the patterns of the cap Asero creates may end up looking very differentShow Image(https://i.etsystatic.com/17969779/r/il/d6358b/2229377092/il_794xN.2229377092_c2rd.jpg)
Just want to say this is an awesome idea. I am a sucker for metal keycaps! I am glad to have time to save cause I feel like I am going to want everything!
Post by: uframer on Sun, 21 June 2020, 22:48:38
Post by: mustardgreens on Mon, 22 June 2020, 01:54:12
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 22 June 2020, 06:11:20
There is an error in the legend of numpad. Key 6 should be 陆 instead of 柳。Please refer to https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87%E6%95%B0%E5%AD%97 for details.
Renderer is fixing now
Post by: Slayer77 on Mon, 22 June 2020, 06:46:12
was good chatting with you on insta, wish you nothing but the best.Sent from my GM1911 using Tapatalk
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 22 June 2020, 10:10:10
Welcome Jae!
Post by: jawoo on Mon, 22 June 2020, 11:37:59
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 22 June 2020, 12:59:59
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
Post by: yoot on Mon, 22 June 2020, 13:01:02
Looks good but I like the colorful set more :) will it be a white legends kit or a totally separate base kit?Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/6pIHXjH.jpg)
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Post by: MousePounder on Mon, 22 June 2020, 13:06:10
but if more options can be offered without sacrifice then I see this as an absolute win!
Post by: kajahtaa on Mon, 22 June 2020, 14:22:39
sanlitun next?
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 22 June 2020, 17:39:02
Does xiaochi mean too cheap? Hahah
sanlitun next?
No, it’s little snacks! I think you’re looking for “太便宜了,” and there’s no such thing as too cheap!
下次要三里屯，好吧？我们说这样：“三里屯儿儿儿...”
Post by: kajahtaa on Mon, 22 June 2020, 18:05:12
Post by: santela on Tue, 23 June 2020, 02:24:39
Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/6pIHXjH.jpg)
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
This is quite good. I personally like it. But I would like to see the alphas in grey for some contrast.
Btw, regarding traditional and simplified, why not offer traditional as an extra set? I know it doesn't really go with the concept, but just a personal preference.
Post by: calveeen on Tue, 23 June 2020, 04:14:20
Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/6pIHXjH.jpg)
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
Make this!!!
Post by: Solotov on Tue, 23 June 2020, 07:50:58
Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/6pIHXjH.jpg)
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
Start the GB of this set in next month or we riot :eek:
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 23 June 2020, 08:45:09
I think if and when this set is offered as a WoB set, it's much easier to create the molds for a traditional characters mod set. That will really be up to the vendors and the interest from you, the voting public, but I will at least plan on designing the legends.
Post by: Snakey on Tue, 23 June 2020, 17:25:10
Post by: Slayer77 on Tue, 23 June 2020, 17:27:01
This is such a beautiful set, 2021 seems so far away I can't contain my excitement. As the others have mentioned, I would be really interested to see white/ light alphas!Light alphas kit will be much appreciated!
Sent from my GM1911 using Tapatalk
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 24 June 2020, 20:04:15
- Updated base and modifier kit options
- Added base and modifier kit preference poll (https://forms.gle/SjBjmpNn3Hg6BzHUA)[/font][/font]
- Expanded Cangjie monolegend kit to include all alphas, tabs, and extra spacebars to combine with standalone modifiers or cover additional board with base kit
- Corrected erroneous numpad 6 Chinese legend (陆)
- Corrected erroneous star angle on Chinese flag novelty
- Created standalone Chinese modifier kit option
- Created standalone numpad kit option with modifiers in all three styles
Post by: endjy on Wed, 24 June 2020, 20:15:41
Post by: MousePounder on Wed, 24 June 2020, 20:26:39
Post by: konstantin on Wed, 24 June 2020, 20:52:56
If you're looking to further cut down on the kit size, the second 1u Ctrl can be removed (commonly used only on ortho boards, never on ≥60%). The 1u Backspace is also quite rare, although it can still sometimes be seen on 60%s. The 1.75u key in the spacebars kit is exceedingly rare, being used on only a handful of staggered 40% boards (three, to be exact). 1u space would probably be more useful.
Post by: friedtofu on Thu, 25 June 2020, 17:12:47
However, the inconsistency just throws me off because I actually know what I am looking at as oppose to a person that only sees it as a cool decoration. To quote someone else: "Keep it consistent. Simplified and Traditional together is helluva odd."
I am also not 100% sold on the red on black alphas. perhaps after seeing some more renders! or maybe a diff color on black or a light alphas kit?
As for the base kit: I vote for either Option 1: modern icon mods w/o numpad (lowest cost) or option 2: simplified Chinese mods w/o numpad (middle cost). Honestly I would probably get the foreigner kit
Post by: mustardgreens on Fri, 26 June 2020, 20:26:27
Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/6pIHXjH.jpg)
Something that came out of the process...thoughts?
Make this. This is the best yet. Professional, I can bring it to work, and classy.
As a Taiwanese-American, I would love to have this set since Chinese sets are not well represented in custom keycaps. I live in the United States and know many people who would love to have this set...all Chinese backgrounds. So do not think that you won't have fans and buyers outside of Mainland China! I look forward to purchasing this!
However, the inconsistency just throws me off because I actually know what I am looking at as oppose to a person that only sees it as a cool decoration. To quote someone else: "Keep it consistent. Simplified and Traditional together is helluva odd."
I am also not 100% sold on the red on black alphas. perhaps after seeing some more renders! or maybe a diff color on black or a light alphas kit?
As for the base kit: I vote for either Option 1: modern icon mods w/o numpad (lowest cost) or option 2: simplified Chinese mods w/o numpad (middle cost). Honestly I would probably get the foreigner kit
I also agree with this person.
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 27 June 2020, 08:10:42
However, what I can tell you is that when we release the WoB set (working title GMK Chine Noire), I will definitely design it to include a traditional mod kit, and as long as there is sufficient interest it will get made. What’s more, I have a generous offer from a vendor to fund the molds, so I will explore the possibility of getting the trad molds made ahead of GMK Houhai so that with enough interest buyers can get a traditional character mods kit. I’m gonna try to make it work.
I hope that many of the traditional character users didn’t get the wrong impression that my earlier unwillingness to use traditional characters came from hostility to the idea or the political background of the question. That was not where I was coming from on this. To be totally honest, I have been told by influential folks in the community who would know that this is probably the most complex set design they’ve ever seen. Therefore, expensive. The name of the game was simplify by any means necessary. The idea of adding a very expensive and complex kit to satisfy a minority of users was completely out of the question when the goal was to simplify and eliminate kits that may not perform as well. Now that we already have another set design that looks to use the molds, and may not be under such a tight constraint of the mold costs affecting the cost of this set alone, it looks more possible. I do not know how things are going to turn out, but I will do my best! All I can say is: stay tuned.
Post by: kidviddy on Sat, 27 June 2020, 09:59:52
Good luck, and hopefully we will end up with a set (or set of sets!) which can satisfy all (or at least most) of us!
WoB set (working title GMK Chine Noire)
lol
Post by: santela on Sat, 27 June 2020, 11:21:17
I personally think the WoB is the way to go. Red on black is going to be pretty poor for eligibility. I'm also gonna voice for lighter alphas again for some nice contrast.
I understand this is a complicated project, given the differences of traditional vs. simplified on top of what is already a very complex design. I'm one of those people who prefer keycaps to be more or less monochrome, so take whatever I say with a huge grain of salt. At the end of the day, you want to make a set that you are the most happy with, and that's the most important thing.
Post by: DieBackstube on Sun, 28 June 2020, 16:59:51
Post by: keyboardcircle on Sun, 28 June 2020, 19:00:15
Post by: yoot on Sun, 28 June 2020, 19:03:51
99% will pick Option 2Option 3 is so much better. I don't want to have to spend 50 dollars extra for the numpad
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Post by: crispgm on Mon, 29 June 2020, 10:43:01
And even if I locate in Beijing, I guess I have not loved Houhai as much as you.
Post by: kidviddy on Wed, 01 July 2020, 00:30:07
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 01 July 2020, 09:12:02
I know you're trying to keep things simple, but I was just looking at how I might apply this set to the Adélie (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=105185.0;topicseen), and an R2 escape key and R2 1U backspace would be really helpful. I appreciate you're probably not looking to add keys at this point, but if it would be at all possible (perhaps in the mods kits if not in the base), please consider it. I dare say 40% enthusiasts would appreciate it too!
Shouldn't be too hard honestly. Let me see what we can do in work with the vendors. We already added a 1.25u key to support Candybar, etc.
Post by: kidviddy on Wed, 01 July 2020, 10:01:28
Shouldn't be too hard honestly. Let me see what we can do in work with the vendors. We already added a 1.25u key to support Candybar, etc.
Awesome, thank you for considering it :-)
Is the white diamond key in the render for the icon mods kit a mistake? All the other diamond keys are green, and that same key in the English and Simplified Characters kits is also green.
Btw, just one more thing, although I know you're probably tired of hearing about traditional characters by now. Traditional mods aside, have you considered including a 東 key in the monolegend set so that somebody buying that set plus icon mods can make use of the compass point arrow keys but still keep things all traditional? Just a thought; in the absence of that key I'll probably use the 左右上下 keys or even just the arrow keys, but if 東 was available I'd go for the compass points. I realise that this is a different proposition to something like an escape or backspace key, though.
EDIT: Just realised the 1.75U Enter key on the Adélie is going to be a sticking point, too... this might be harder than I thought! I guess Candybar needs this as well?
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 01 July 2020, 12:43:56
Shouldn't be too hard honestly. Let me see what we can do in work with the vendors. We already added a 1.25u key to support Candybar, etc.
Awesome, thank you for considering it :-)
Is the white diamond key in the render for the icon mods kit a mistake? All the other diamond keys are green, and that same key in the English and Simplified Characters kits is also green.
Btw, just one more thing, although I know you're probably tired of hearing about traditional characters by now. Traditional mods aside, have you considered including a 東 key in the monolegend set so that somebody buying that set plus icon mods can make use of the compass point arrow keys but still keep things all traditional? Just a thought; in the absence of that key I'll probably use the 左右上下 keys or even just the arrow keys, but if 東 was available I'd go for the compass points. I realise that this is a different proposition to something like an escape or backspace key, though.
EDIT: Just realised the 1.75U Enter key on the Adélie is going to be a sticking point, too... this might be harder than I thought! I guess Candybar needs this as well?
Yes, definitely a mistake. Thanks for the catch.
We will have some news about traditional characters pretty soon...part of a much larger announcement. I think if everything falls into place, you'll get your wish and then some.
Post by: anduin on Thu, 02 July 2020, 12:30:23
Post by: prizeS on Thu, 02 July 2020, 15:08:04
I guess you went to the bar many times in the evening in Houhai, Beijing. The spring, summer, autumn and winter of Houhai are actually black in your eyes. Or there is a possibility, color blindness.In addition, speaking of the Chinese characters on the lower keycap, one is why the numeric keys do not make traditional numbers and look more retro? The second is why all the Chinese characters of GMK and rama are all bold or fonts that belong to Microsoft Yahei. As Chinese art, Chinese characters affect the entire East Asia, but they are not reflected a bit, which is too disappointing.
did you just try to insult someone with color blindness? that's ridiculous. even if you don't like it just move along if you don't want to provide constructive criticism, jeez.
font is mostly to stick to GMK molds, as different fonts and legends will require new molds and higher costs.
Post by: Axariel on Thu, 02 July 2020, 15:12:49
I guess you went to the bar many times in the evening in Houhai, Beijing. The spring, summer, autumn and winter of Houhai are actually black in your eyes. Or there is a possibility, color blindness.In addition, speaking of the Chinese characters on the lower keycap, one is why the numeric keys do not make traditional numbers and look more retro? The second is why all the Chinese characters of GMK and rama are all bold or fonts that belong to Microsoft Yahei. As Chinese art, Chinese characters affect the entire East Asia, but they are not reflected a bit, which is too disappointing.
did you just try to insult someone with color blindness? that's ridiculous. even if you don't like it just move along if you don't want to provide constructive criticism, jeez.
font is mostly to stick to GMK molds, as different fonts and legends will require new molds and higher costs.
The comment was a bit over the top, but I also get the sense that people who are from China or the surrounding regions may have a different sense of pride associated with their critiques of these design choices.
I think everything looks great, but I am only ethnically Chinese and have lived in CONUS my whole life, and I am sure that affects my perspective.
Post by: prizeS on Thu, 02 July 2020, 15:16:32
I guess you went to the bar many times in the evening in Houhai, Beijing. The spring, summer, autumn and winter of Houhai are actually black in your eyes. Or there is a possibility, color blindness.In addition, speaking of the Chinese characters on the lower keycap, one is why the numeric keys do not make traditional numbers and look more retro? The second is why all the Chinese characters of GMK and rama are all bold or fonts that belong to Microsoft Yahei. As Chinese art, Chinese characters affect the entire East Asia, but they are not reflected a bit, which is too disappointing.
did you just try to insult someone with color blindness? that's ridiculous. even if you don't like it just move along if you don't want to provide constructive criticism, jeez.
font is mostly to stick to GMK molds, as different fonts and legends will require new molds and higher costs.
The comment was a bit over the top, but I also get the sense that people who are from China or the surrounding regions may have a different sense of pride associated with their critiques of these design choices.
I think everything looks great, but I am only ethnically Chinese and have lived in CONUS my whole life, and I am sure that affects my perspective.
sure i understand that. i'm chinese american and spent most of my life living in china. insulting someone over a keyset is uncalled for and unnecessary.
Post by: anduin on Thu, 02 July 2020, 20:05:31
I guess you went to the bar many times in the evening in Houhai, Beijing. The spring, summer, autumn and winter of Houhai are actually black in your eyes. Or there is a possibility, color blindness.In addition, speaking of the Chinese characters on the lower keycap, one is why the numeric keys do not make traditional numbers and look more retro? The second is why all the Chinese characters of GMK and rama are all bold or fonts that belong to Microsoft Yahei. As Chinese art, Chinese characters affect the entire East Asia, but they are not reflected a bit, which is too disappointing.
did you just try to insult someone with color blindness? that's ridiculous. even if you don't like it just move along if you don't want to provide constructive criticism, jeez.
font is mostly to stick to GMK molds, as different fonts and legends will require new molds and higher costs.
The comment was a bit over the top, but I also get the sense that people who are from China or the surrounding regions may have a different sense of pride associated with their critiques of these design choices.
I think everything looks great, but I am only ethnically Chinese and have lived in CONUS my whole life, and I am sure that affects my perspective.
sure i understand that. i'm chinese american and spent most of my life living in china. insulting someone over a keyset is uncalled for and unnecessary.
Okay, I apologize for my remarks, it really should not be an inappropriate analogy. But my point of view is still the same, this color can only represent a person who goes to Houhai Bar every night to look at Houhai, but not the whole picture of Houhai. It is recommended to change the name to GMK Houhai nightlife, which will be more appropriate. In addition, it is recommended to delete the national flag design of China, otherwise it must violate the Chinese national flag law. There is also the problem of the GMK font spoken by the Chinese. I am puzzled by GMKsumi. Why can the Chinese characters in this one change the font, but not others?
Post by: anduin on Thu, 02 July 2020, 20:24:09
Taking the opportunity to reply to you again and apologizing to the author, this analogy is very inappropriate. As a Beijinger, I welcome you as a Chinese, and come back to Beijing to see your hometown. In addition, I want to express a point of view. I am very grateful to someone who promotes the customs of China, but please do not use a narrow style to name a place. This will cause a misleading. In fact, it is not the original way. It may be Houhai. The nightlife name is more accurate. In addition, I would like to talk about the use of Cangjie roots by the author. I am very grateful to him for combining simplified and traditional characters in the design. This is part of Chinese culture. As an American, he can design this way to promote Chinese culture. thank. On the other hand, some Chinese authors, or some Chinese Americans (grown in China), are extremely fond of using Japanese characters, which I personally cannot understand, especially in themes that have nothing to do with Japanese culture.I guess you went to the bar many times in the evening in Houhai, Beijing. The spring, summer, autumn and winter of Houhai are actually black in your eyes. Or there is a possibility, color blindness.In addition, speaking of the Chinese characters on the lower keycap, one is why the numeric keys do not make traditional numbers and look more retro? The second is why all the Chinese characters of GMK and rama are all bold or fonts that belong to Microsoft Yahei. As Chinese art, Chinese characters affect the entire East Asia, but they are not reflected a bit, which is too disappointing.
did you just try to insult someone with color blindness? that's ridiculous. even if you don't like it just move along if you don't want to provide constructive criticism, jeez.
font is mostly to stick to GMK molds, as different fonts and legends will require new molds and higher costs.
The comment was a bit over the top, but I also get the sense that people who are from China or the surrounding regions may have a different sense of pride associated with their critiques of these design choices.
I think everything looks great, but I am only ethnically Chinese and have lived in CONUS my whole life, and I am sure that affects my perspective.
Post by: MMKB on Fri, 03 July 2020, 19:00:48
Post by: mustardgreens on Fri, 03 July 2020, 20:56:45
I’d love to have a Chinese GMK keyset but in a less busy colorway like BoW :rolleyes: The set is more like Miami Night in terms of the theme and as much as I understand that it’s really too colorful for me. Good luck with the GB though!
Stay tuned, I think OP has tentative plans to make a WoB set, from this recent comment:
However, what I can tell you is that when we release the WoB set (working title GMK Chine Noire), I will definitely design it to include a traditional mod kit, and as long as there is sufficient interest it will get made.
A WoB set would be my preference as well.
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 06 July 2020, 08:24:58
Anyway. To explain the lack of updates here, I've been hard at work on some elements of the WoB set with NathanAlphaMan, who is my partner on that project. He has been migrating our work into a new rendering tool that is far more capable and speedier than Fusion, and I spent the weekend creating new legends both for traditional Chinese character mods and for a new novelties set. Big ups to Alex at Zfrontier and Louis at iLumkb for their design ideas. Nathan and I will be revealing them soon in a new IC, most likely, but we will post here as well. GMK Houhai is still on, but it's looking like a longer term project.
Tell me: has anyone visited here, or wanted to?
(https://livingnomads.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/fish-by-cormorant-fishermen-at-dusk-li-river-guilin-china-dan-y-7.jpg)
Post by: santela on Mon, 06 July 2020, 11:40:01
Hi everyone, looks like there's been some...uh...lively discussion on the thread! While I wish this set could be everything to everyone, it's not possible to make a set that pays homage to Houhai during all seasons and all times of day. Nighttime is the one that's the most visually striking to me and different enough from other existing sets...wouldn't want to make Mizu or Botanical again. I have had my color perception tested several times, though, and that came out A-OK. As far as the typeface for the Chinese characters, well, I'm the designer and I like them. I chose a clean and modern typeface (not MS Yahei btw) both to remain consistent with GMK Latin legends and because it's more likely to be flexible with future designs. And because that's what I like.
Anyway. To explain the lack of updates here, I've been hard at work on some elements of the WoB set with NathanAlphaMan, who is my partner on that project. He has been migrating our work into a new rendering tool that is far more capable and speedier than Fusion, and I spent the weekend creating new legends both for traditional Chinese character mods and for a new novelties set. Big ups to Alex at Zfrontier and Louis at iLumkb for their design ideas. Nathan and I will be revealing them soon in a new IC, most likely, but we will post here as well. GMK Houhai is still on, but it's looking like a longer term project.
Tell me: has anyone visited here, or wanted to?Show Image(https://livingnomads.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/fish-by-cormorant-fishermen-at-dusk-li-river-guilin-china-dan-y-7.jpg)
Not sure where this is but if it's Guilin then yes I have visited.
And thanks for the update, WoB, traditional Chinese, more novelties, all great news! Keep us updated!
Post by: kajahtaa on Mon, 06 July 2020, 23:58:40
Post by: HungHingDaiLo on Tue, 07 July 2020, 06:16:38
Post by: menuhin on Tue, 07 July 2020, 11:27:38
I suggest that the base set can be of only 3 colors: base - grey, legend - red, and then perhaps one another color (orange-yellow, green, or light blue) with highlight caps featuring inverted color with the other base colors, e.g. like those in GMK Hyperfuse, or GMK Honeywell.
Then there are the colorful and fancy icon mods and other kits.
Please keep us updated.
Post by: ullr on Wed, 08 July 2020, 14:34:23
Post by: gwailo on Sat, 11 July 2020, 17:36:13
Post by: dMarvb on Sun, 12 July 2020, 11:36:48
Post by: kidviddy on Sun, 12 July 2020, 16:49:03
Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there in case it’s something you might consider. I’d be happy with it either as a separate kit or included with the monolegend kit (since if they were separate I would buy both anyway); not sure which is best from a kitting perspective.
Post by: AvoidingYou on Thu, 16 July 2020, 23:45:43
I wouldn't buy a BoW kit, because those bore me. Also thank you for making a Chinese kit as all the Chinese kits I tend to see are zhuyin
Post by: Crazy Designers on Fri, 17 July 2020, 05:15:15
Post by: AvoidingYou on Sun, 19 July 2020, 15:15:35
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 20 July 2020, 13:57:44
I'm def in on the canjie and the Chinese icon mods and spacebar set.
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Definitely plant for artisans! I love that RAMA LNY. We’re really looking forward to working with Kate at RAMA on our artisan with them.
Post by: AvoidingYou on Tue, 21 July 2020, 02:16:47
I'm def in on the canjie and the Chinese icon mods and spacebar set.
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Definitely plant for artisans! I love that RAMA LNY. We’re really looking forward to working with Kate at RAMA on our artisan with them.
Yessss! Sounds amazing! Also, I just ordered a Think6.5v2 and would love to match badge colors, is the yellow you're going for going to be an E-yellow? If it is, I think it'll look stunning with it.
Edit: also any general estimates of when this may be ready for gb? Gotta save up!
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 21 July 2020, 16:11:28
I'm def in on the canjie and the Chinese icon mods and spacebar set.
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Definitely plant for artisans! I love that RAMA LNY. We’re really looking forward to working with Kate at RAMA on our artisan with them.
Yessss! Sounds amazing! Also, I just ordered a Think6.5v2 and would love to match badge colors, is the yellow you're going for going to be an E-yellow? If it is, I think it'll look stunning with it.
Edit: also any general estimates of when this may be ready for gb? Gotta save up!
I only have a v1 badge, but if Graystudio used the same e-colors this time, it's a scary close match.
Wish I had more to report on the timing, hope to have news in the next week or two. The WoB set codenamed GMK Shanshui will have to happen first, and once that gets greenlighted, we will try to schedule Houhai.
Post by: santela on Tue, 21 July 2020, 19:17:27
I'm def in on the canjie and the Chinese icon mods and spacebar set.
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Definitely plant for artisans! I love that RAMA LNY. We’re really looking forward to working with Kate at RAMA on our artisan with them.
Yessss! Sounds amazing! Also, I just ordered a Think6.5v2 and would love to match badge colors, is the yellow you're going for going to be an E-yellow? If it is, I think it'll look stunning with it.
Edit: also any general estimates of when this may be ready for gb? Gotta save up!
I only have a v1 badge, but if Graystudio used the same e-colors this time, it's a scary close match.Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/t8HoCc2.jpg)
Wish I had more to report on the timing, hope to have news in the next week or two. The WoB set codenamed GMK Shanshui will have to happen first, and once that gets greenlighted, we will try to schedule Houhai.
Sounds good. Any novelties planned for WoB?
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 22 July 2020, 19:12:38
I'm def in on the canjie and the Chinese icon mods and spacebar set.
Any plans for an artesan cap? Rama's lunar new year gold/red cap was gorgeous, I'd love to see the novelty esc key in Alu! thoughts?
Definitely plant for artisans! I love that RAMA LNY. We’re really looking forward to working with Kate at RAMA on our artisan with them.
Yessss! Sounds amazing! Also, I just ordered a Think6.5v2 and would love to match badge colors, is the yellow you're going for going to be an E-yellow? If it is, I think it'll look stunning with it.
Edit: also any general estimates of when this may be ready for gb? Gotta save up!
I only have a v1 badge, but if Graystudio used the same e-colors this time, it's a scary close match.Show Image(https://i.imgur.com/t8HoCc2.jpg)
Wish I had more to report on the timing, hope to have news in the next week or two. The WoB set codenamed GMK Shanshui will have to happen first, and once that gets greenlighted, we will try to schedule Houhai.
Sounds good. Any novelties planned for WoB?
Yes, entirely different novelties. I don't want to post a wack KLE so stay tuned for the renders!
Post by: kidviddy on Wed, 22 July 2020, 20:10:34
Post by: santela on Wed, 22 July 2020, 20:25:50
I literally started learning Chinese (and Cangjie) for this keyset. Given GMK turnaround I expect I'll be fluent by the time it arrives!
Lol :))
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 23 July 2020, 13:41:53
And quick update to kidviddy: Adding Adelie and Candybar support to GMK Shanshui, so I expect it to appear in Houhai as well. As long as we don't have to start getting into cost-cutting rekitting discussions, I really hope to provide support for these new layouts. It's just three keys per kit, after all.
Post by: kidviddy on Thu, 23 July 2020, 20:39:32
And quick update to kidviddy: Adding Adelie and Candybar support to GMK Shanshui, so I expect it to appear in Houhai as well. As long as we don't have to start getting into cost-cutting rekitting discussions, I really hope to provide support for these new layouts. It's just three keys per kit, after all.
Awesome news, thank you! Now I just have to cross fingers I’ll actually be able to get my hands on one! Sounds like everybody wants it :-/
Post by: KeepCalm27 on Thu, 23 July 2020, 22:19:28
Hope the price won't be too high.
Post by: Hyphen on Fri, 24 July 2020, 03:42:20
Post by: q83n87 on Fri, 24 July 2020, 04:42:10
Post by: MortyGoldy on Fri, 24 July 2020, 11:44:45
Some of the Mods (The 'Stroke Order Kit') aren't shown on the IC, don't know if that was intentional or not? Those are by far the ones I am most excited about, followed very closely by the novelties.
Keep up the good work and can't wait to put in an order!
Post by: argcargv on Sat, 01 August 2020, 00:22:19
I will gobble up all keysets and merch in the GB.
THANK YOU FOR THIS
also a request, could you render a red TGR Alice? Thanks!!!
Post by: tentboy on Sun, 02 August 2020, 07:15:40
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 03 August 2020, 18:26:25
Post by: Laneware on Tue, 04 August 2020, 00:58:02
Post by: santela on Tue, 04 August 2020, 01:36:50
Hey y'all, should have an update on this very soon. I'm hoping this weekend. And I would love to have a TGR Alice to work with, but I don't have access to STLs for that board. If someone else has a connect, feel free to make an introduction! I would love to have that board, or anything from TGR, as a render.
Is the update on Houhai or Cangjie WoB? I remember you saying Cangjie WoB will come before Houhai on reddit?
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 06 August 2020, 13:31:39
Hey y'all, should have an update on this very soon. I'm hoping this weekend. And I would love to have a TGR Alice to work with, but I don't have access to STLs for that board. If someone else has a connect, feel free to make an introduction! I would love to have that board, or anything from TGR, as a render.
Is the update on Houhai or Cangjie WoB? I remember you saying Cangjie WoB will come before Houhai on reddit?
The updates are interrelated, so you can expect both. And yes, Cangjie WoB has vendors and a GB window, and will come first.
Post by: santela on Thu, 06 August 2020, 22:15:45
Hey y'all, should have an update on this very soon. I'm hoping this weekend. And I would love to have a TGR Alice to work with, but I don't have access to STLs for that board. If someone else has a connect, feel free to make an introduction! I would love to have that board, or anything from TGR, as a render.
Is the update on Houhai or Cangjie WoB? I remember you saying Cangjie WoB will come before Houhai on reddit?
The updates are interrelated, so you can expect both. And yes, Cangjie WoB has vendors and a GB window, and will come first.
Nice, looking forward to it!
Post by: sheepish.alpaca on Thu, 13 August 2020, 01:49:29
The blue on N9(?) for the shift modifiers is too hard to make out, as there's not enough contrast between the foreground and the background.
Also, the blue on red for the Esc/Del keys should be changed if the renders are anything to go by, since the brightness of the two colors are too close to each other. If I could recommend using yellow (#F7DC1E) instead? (Closest Pantone color for GMK is 107 C: https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/107-C (https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/107-C))
Post by: marineking on Thu, 13 August 2020, 02:48:35
Post by: baobaozi on Fri, 14 August 2020, 05:23:14
Thank you for this. It’s a must buy.
But gimme an ortho mods set pretty please ;D
Post by: cadrev on Fri, 14 August 2020, 14:08:13
Post by: online on Sat, 15 August 2020, 17:14:09
I would definitely join if there’s a traditional Chinese mod kit - which Probably wouldn’t happen due to the cost.
Post by: santela on Sun, 16 August 2020, 02:44:45
I was excited to see this set, until I saw the simplified Chinese mod paired with traditional Chinese alpha. I understand the reason behind it, but it just makes me think of ‘westernised’ chinese food. No offence.
I would definitely join if there’s a traditional Chinese mod kit - which Probably wouldn’t happen due to the cost.
Read his replies, he said traditional Chinese mod will be available for the WoB set.
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 19 August 2020, 10:52:12
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. Trad is not necessarily something that matches the Houhai theme, but there's no reason not to make an effort to include it, especially in the WoB set, called GMK Shanshui, where it looks magnificent.
Really hoping to get the Shanshui IC off the ground this weekend. My partner has been a busy boy!
Post by: friedtofu on Wed, 19 August 2020, 19:21:02
Anything available in the WoB set will be, in all likelihood, available in Houhai. If we can get all the molds made using simple stock colors, I see no reason not to use them for the Houhai set for those who want them. I finished the Trad legends with Nathanalphaman last month and they look NICE. I took great care to ensure that there are alternate keys even when a stroke is at a slightly different angle or position in trad vs. SC as sometimes happens, not just when the character has additional strokes. I'll probably keep them on my personal board whenever they run.
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. Trad is not necessarily something that matches the Houhai theme, but there's no reason not to make an effort to include it, especially in the WoB set, called GMK Shanshui, where it looks magnificent.
Really hoping to get the Shanshui IC off the ground this weekend. My partner has been a busy boy!
Post by: santela on Wed, 19 August 2020, 20:42:06
Anything available in the WoB set will be, in all likelihood, available in Houhai. If we can get all the molds made using simple stock colors, I see no reason not to use them for the Houhai set for those who want them. I finished the Trad legends with Nathanalphaman last month and they look NICE. I took great care to ensure that there are alternate keys even when a stroke is at a slightly different angle or position in trad vs. SC as sometimes happens, not just when the character has additional strokes. I'll probably keep them on my personal board whenever they run.
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. Trad is not necessarily something that matches the Houhai theme, but there's no reason not to make an effort to include it, especially in the WoB set, called GMK Shanshui, where it looks magnificent.
Really hoping to get the Shanshui IC off the ground this weekend. My partner has been a busy boy!
Finally some updates! Looking forward to this.
Post by: whaetlylu on Thu, 20 August 2020, 01:59:33
Post by: AvoidingYou on Fri, 21 August 2020, 16:32:10
Post by: santela on Thu, 27 August 2020, 23:05:25
Anything available in the WoB set will be, in all likelihood, available in Houhai. If we can get all the molds made using simple stock colors, I see no reason not to use them for the Houhai set for those who want them. I finished the Trad legends with Nathanalphaman last month and they look NICE. I took great care to ensure that there are alternate keys even when a stroke is at a slightly different angle or position in trad vs. SC as sometimes happens, not just when the character has additional strokes. I'll probably keep them on my personal board whenever they run.
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. Trad is not necessarily something that matches the Houhai theme, but there's no reason not to make an effort to include it, especially in the WoB set, called GMK Shanshui, where it looks magnificent.
Really hoping to get the Shanshui IC off the ground this weekend. My partner has been a busy boy!
Have you had the chance to get the Shanshui IC out? Can't wait for it!
Post by: agentPAX on Fri, 28 August 2020, 01:35:46
Post by: tufu on Sat, 29 August 2020, 01:42:46
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 11 September 2020, 08:31:48
Post by: yoot on Fri, 11 September 2020, 09:00:17
Update tonight or tomorrow :eek:Hype!
Post by: Laneware on Mon, 14 September 2020, 06:10:47
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 14 September 2020, 08:46:13
GMK Shanshui IC (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108587.0)
(https://imgur.com/vGRixum.jpg)
Now, Shanshui is a completely different set with a distinctive theme all its own, and it might not appeal to people who prefer loud, cyberpunk-style sets like Houhai. As for me, I love all different kinds of sets, and I hope many people in the community have space in their hearts for both. On my desk and shelf are boards covered with Bingsu, Laser, Olivia, Vaporwave, Kuro/Shiro, and HFO. As Walt Whitman said, very well, I contradict myself; I contain multitudes.
In any case, I hope you love Shanshui as much as we do. The best way to make Houhai a reality is to support Shanshui. At least one other great designer has asked to use the Cangjie legends we created, so they will live on, and they will be used to make Houhai, provided we can make the case to our vendors to run Houhai later on in 2021. Let them know!
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 25 September 2020, 12:29:19
(https://i.imgur.com/iWVkEQ4.jpg)
Post by: Masticccc on Fri, 02 October 2020, 11:36:52
Post by: arydi on Sun, 04 October 2020, 01:10:00
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 06 October 2020, 10:08:05
Before I remember Houhai gb time frame was January 2021. So this set is delayed and Shanshui replace on that time frame instead?
That's right. The business minds better than I decided it was too expensive to do molds and custom colors at the same time, so we will do Shanshui first, then Houhai, which will now start May 31 2021.
Post by: Firebear31 on Mon, 12 October 2020, 04:06:16
I just wanted to tell you how cool this set is and I'm definitely looking forward to buy this set including the novelties (thanks for including ISO!).
Really digging the color scheme. Made an account just to tell you.
Now I have an excuse to build my GF a mechanical keyboard and I can use the novelkeys for my black/gold dragon theme keyboard. :D
I bet she will love it as she writes lots of chinese fanfic lol.
I was always wondering why there are so many japanese keycap sets yet literally no chinese ones lol.
Keep up the cool work!
Post by: lanyusea on Mon, 12 October 2020, 07:11:21
realllly nice design!
love it!
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 12 October 2020, 11:07:28
Hi grundlemere,
I just wanted to tell you how cool this set is and I'm definitely looking forward to buy this set including the novelties (thanks for including ISO!).
Really digging the color scheme. Made an account just to tell you.
Now I have an excuse to build my GF a mechanical keyboard and I can use the novelkeys for my black/gold dragon theme keyboard. :D
I bet she will love it as she writes lots of chinese fanfic lol.
I was always wondering why there are so many japanese keycap sets yet literally no chinese ones lol.
Keep up the cool work!
Thank you FireBear! I wondered the same thing, which is what made me design this. I would love to see your keyboard that you made for her when you get a chance! I really appreciate the support.
Post by: UberPlatypus on Tue, 27 October 2020, 21:36:55
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 28 October 2020, 10:31:37
Will be buying this kit. The idea that I want the base, novelties, symbol caps, and space bars scares me.
Lol I sincerely apologize. I think the craving is going to get worse when the new renders come out.
Post by: zeejet on Sun, 01 November 2020, 12:36:15
Don't like Simplified Chinese
Simplified Chinese is not even real Chinese
I can see where you're coming from but for a set inspired by modern China (Beijing specifically), simplified is how most people in the mainland learn to write. Traditional does look better and has richer cultural context for calligraphy, but on a keyboard I think it tends to look chaotic. There's a reason Hangul and Hiragana/Katakana look good as sublegends and it's due to the simplicity. Chinese has no real alphabet system so it's hard enough as it is. Not a lot of custom Chinese keycaps out there.
Here is a more in depth guide to available Chinese input methods: http://xahlee.info/kbd/chinese_input_methods.html
I think the Taiwanese version with radicals (Zhuyin system) is most analogous to other East Asian alphabets, but I have yet to see any custom keycap sets designed with these subs. This IC and the aforementioned Shanshui are in the Cangjie system. I think it looks more "Chinese" vs. the Zhuyin radical system.
In any case, I'm excited by the color palette and the fact that I, as a Chinese-American, finally get the chance to use Chinese keycaps (even if they are probably going to be largely ornamental for me).
Post by: kidviddy on Sun, 01 November 2020, 13:45:58
I think the Taiwanese version with radicals (Zhuyin system) is most analogous to other East Asian alphabets, but I have yet to see any custom keycap sets designed with these subs.
Not to derail this thread, but you might be interested in GMK Zhuyin (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=104508.0), which ran in February, or KAT Monochrome (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108409.0;topicseen), which ran just over a month ago. The former is an add-on kit which adds Zhuyin sublegends to a standard ANSI GMK set; the latter included Zhuyin monolegends as an option.
Unlike kana input, which is a minority preference even in Japan, it is my understanding that in Taiwan, zhuyin is the preferred input method amongst native speakers of Chinese. For this reason, I would love to see more zhuyin sublegend and monolegend sets out there!
This IC and the aforementioned Shanshui are in the Cangjie system. I think it looks more "Chinese" vs. the Zhuyin radical system.
From an aesthetic point of view, I’m inclined to agree, and I’m very excited for these two sets. I’ve been trying to learn the Cangjie system in preparation for GMK Shanshui’s release, and it’s a very cool system, although I must say I find Zhuyin input much easier to use as a non-native speaker of Chinese. At any rate, I am excited to see both of these input methods gain traction in the community!
Regarding simplified vs. traditional characters, grundlemere has put an incredible amount of effort into supporting both writing systems fully and effectively, and this despite his main interest and experience being with simplified characters as used in mainland China, so I think we are past the point of needing to complain about simplified vs. traditional now. As someone who is learning Taiwanese Mandarin, I am just grateful that he went out of his way to include support at all, and having done so, that he went the extra mile to make sure he got it right (see previous posts about the extremely minor changes in characters like 火 and 女 for examples of this).
Post by: zeejet on Sun, 01 November 2020, 14:19:40
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 12 November 2020, 15:10:52
Post by: Kojin on Sat, 21 November 2020, 10:11:41
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 21 November 2020, 11:58:27
Hi there. I would really like to buy this one and saw this one on keycapsets.com. Is this a trustworthy site or should I look for another one. Sorry if I sound rude or impolite I am very new to the keyboard scene and would really like this to be my first keycap set because it is beautiful!
Hi Kojin! That site is trustworthy, but it is not a vendor site and no sales will be conducted there. It's just an aggregator for information about keyset group buys. The vendor list is on the main post, with CannonKeys leading in the US. Which region are you in, so I can tell you which vendor will be selling the keyset beginning in May?
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 21 November 2020, 12:43:17
After submitting the original renders and legends to GMK for the predecessor set Shanshui, we were expecting some notes on necessary adjustments to meet their mold tooling specs, but were told, basically, try again. I've spent the last couple of weeks completely overhauling the legends to meet the specs: adding cutaways to minute interior spaces, broadening strokes, narrowing and straightening negative space, rounding corners, and in a few cases, simplifying elements altogether.
More detail in the main post and over on the Shanshui IC (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108587.0).
(https://i.imgur.com/2mrU0RQ.png)
Here's a link to download a full-size image and view all the detail (https://i.imgur.com/2mrU0RQ.png)
Post by: NoteMakoti on Sat, 21 November 2020, 15:40:08
Post by: grundlemere on Sat, 21 November 2020, 16:53:20
It's nice to know I'll have over a year to find a good yellow keyboard to put this on.
Honestly I'm so mad at myself for not getting the e8.5 in e-yellow. We are thinking on the same wavelength. Can't wait to see what you end up doing with your setup!
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 23 November 2020, 08:23:18
(https://i.imgur.com/VZnjYbG.png)
Limk to full-size image (https://i.imgur.com/VZnjYbG.png)
Post by: Alessio on Mon, 23 November 2020, 17:40:14
Post by: powwu on Mon, 23 November 2020, 17:41:02
no
no
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 24 November 2020, 07:40:12
no
But what if yes?
Post by: yakev724 on Tue, 24 November 2020, 07:49:32
Pioneering is never easy--nice work + hope the effort pays off!
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 24 November 2020, 08:35:21
Unfortunately tougher sell for me if it's canjie-only, but understand the constraints on the mfg. process. Ideally canjie+english alphas + numpad, icon mods.
Pioneering is never easy--nice work + hope the effort pays off!
Appreciate that. More than you know. I think I'll use it as my patented excuse for why I did or didn't do something people wanted.
Sounds like you may be in luck, though. We will offer Cangjie + Latin in the base kit, and an icon mods child kit. It seems at the moment like the numpad kit will probably be in Chinese financial characters only, but hey, it's only ten keys to get used to!
Post by: mustardgreens on Mon, 30 November 2020, 15:55:38
Post by: Havattack on Mon, 30 November 2020, 20:12:58
Post by: StrangPrisoner on Mon, 30 November 2020, 23:36:18
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 01 December 2020, 07:43:27
Absolutely tingling with anticipation for this :)
You and me both! :eek:
This is the first set in some time that I'm actually excited about. Really really excited about!
Thank you so much, can't wait to get it out there. Re-renders coming in February!
I do not like this at all.... sorry.
Well, ok, thanks for the bump anyway.
Post by: iinko_mk on Tue, 08 December 2020, 17:51:42
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 09 December 2020, 13:44:51
I love this set, people should really use chinese sublegends more
Exactly what I thought when I started designing it. I really prefer the full Chinese characters of Cangjie to the components in Wubi or Zhuyin, and plus no consideration given to translating mods into Chinese. I'm now understanding why: a lot of people probably thought it was just too hard. I'm really proud of my work on this but I'm also glad to be done with it and to see what others do with my work!
Post by: Shiba1337 on Wed, 09 December 2020, 13:51:27
Post by: treeleaf64 on Wed, 09 December 2020, 15:24:42
But I can tell you
Option 3 is the best base kit
Post by: Sicowa on Mon, 28 December 2020, 19:07:11
GLWIC
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 29 December 2020, 18:24:06
Option 3 is definitely the way to go. loving the accent kits as well
GLWIC
It's Houhai I think this is a great concept for a set. Since I'm treeleaf I may not buy this set because I only am interested in things that are beige color
But I can tell you
Option 3 is the best base kit
Now that we will almost certainly have all the molds made through the GMK Shanshui GB, I plan to run option 3. I think it's a good call.
Post by: KurageOuji on Fri, 01 January 2021, 02:04:57
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 04 January 2021, 11:13:40
congrats and glwgb on shansui! just wondering, will houhai only have chinese simplified mods? i love your work so much that im basically definitely going to join both shansui and houhai, but if houhai is only going to have simplified mods, i would then go for traditional chinese mods on shansui so i could have some variety. thanks!
That's a good question! I would like to offer trad mods too, could make for a cool HK vibe, but we will need to figure out kitting and costs first. No promises, but I did a lot of work on those 繁體字 legends, so I will want to use them if possible!
Post by: KurageOuji on Mon, 04 January 2021, 13:38:48
congrats and glwgb on shansui! just wondering, will houhai only have chinese simplified mods? i love your work so much that im basically definitely going to join both shansui and houhai, but if houhai is only going to have simplified mods, i would then go for traditional chinese mods on shansui so i could have some variety. thanks!
That's a good question! I would like to offer trad mods too, could make for a cool HK vibe, but we will need to figure out kitting and costs first. No promises, but I did a lot of work on those 繁體字 legends, so I will want to use them if possible!
gotcha thanks! i ended up joined for traditional base and all the other kits besides simplified, a deskmat, and 2 ramas. since houhai's original inspiration was beijing i'll just aim for the simplified kit here later this year. really excited!
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 05 January 2021, 08:26:09
congrats and glwgb on shansui! just wondering, will houhai only have chinese simplified mods? i love your work so much that im basically definitely going to join both shansui and houhai, but if houhai is only going to have simplified mods, i would then go for traditional chinese mods on shansui so i could have some variety. thanks!
That's a good question! I would like to offer trad mods too, could make for a cool HK vibe, but we will need to figure out kitting and costs first. No promises, but I did a lot of work on those 繁體字 legends, so I will want to use them if possible!
gotcha thanks! i ended up joined for traditional base and all the other kits besides simplified, a deskmat, and 2 ramas. since houhai's original inspiration was beijing i'll just aim for the simplified kit here later this year. really excited!
Awesome! Don't tell the purists, but I think there's a lot of beauty to the Simplified character set too. They are both beautiful, it's just a different vibe.
Post by: TheBlackHammer on Thu, 07 January 2021, 14:55:36
Post by: RockZ on Sun, 17 January 2021, 09:29:39
Post by: fishbby on Mon, 18 January 2021, 10:55:11
I'm not sure how interest checks work, if it means you'll be making this set or not, but I really really really wish you will make this set. This will be my first set of official keycaps, and I'm willing to wait. I already linked this set to a couple of my friends for them to check out. Anyways, lots of support to you. I like option 2 the most, and I loveee the novelties. The colors are bang on especially the reds. For some reason I keep seeing the red lighted bars in houhai when I saw those red novelties.
Looking forward to any artisan keycaps, wrist rest, cables! Bring on everything! Love this!! All the best!
Post by: LordHaveMercy on Mon, 25 January 2021, 03:43:56
Post by: jkteoh on Tue, 02 February 2021, 21:53:20
Post by: dlwood1001 on Wed, 03 February 2021, 11:27:53
Post by: Firebear31 on Wed, 03 February 2021, 14:35:05
If I need help regarding the chinese charsets can I kindly ask you? :D
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 10 February 2021, 16:28:47
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 10 February 2021, 16:32:46
Ahh! Let me preface this by saying, I'm very new to the keycaps/keyboard group buying game. New to the point where I've only started researching/purchasing cheaper mechanical keyboards around 2 months ago. I have seen keycaps of all different colorways on various sites, and have not jumped the gun in pre-ordering/purchasing them. One of the reasons is the price, the other is the long wait time. BUT LET ME JUST SAY, these are the first keycap sets that when I saw, I knew I had to buy. Mainly due to my soft spot for Beijing/Houhai area as well, as it contains so much good memories with my family when I was visiting in China. I remember the young violin girl in the alley playing, and the large amount of bars, and the colors! This set evoked those memories again for me, and those memories were from when I was in high school. Getting to visit those places made me see a whole new China that I had preconceived notions of since I did not grow up there.
I'm not sure how interest checks work, if it means you'll be making this set or not, but I really really really wish you will make this set. This will be my first set of official keycaps, and I'm willing to wait. I already linked this set to a couple of my friends for them to check out. Anyways, lots of support to you. I like option 2 the most, and I loveee the novelties. The colors are bang on especially the reds. For some reason I keep seeing the red lighted bars in houhai when I saw those red novelties.
Looking forward to any artisan keycaps, wrist rest, cables! Bring on everything! Love this!! All the best!
Wow bro, commenting as a Beijing native this set really captures the soul of 后海. I would not have imagined any English speaking person designing such fitting novelties (and kit names!). Looking forward to the GB
Thank you both! Aww, this is exactly the kind of thing I love to hear. I love it when people from the places I love can feel my affection for them, too.
Post by: andreiborisov on Wed, 10 February 2021, 17:28:37
Post by: Rx003 on Fri, 19 February 2021, 06:00:30
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 24 February 2021, 08:23:46
Post by: mase310 on Fri, 26 February 2021, 15:37:09
Edit: Also, I hope I will be able to buy these in the U.S.
Post by: LordHaveMercy on Sat, 06 March 2021, 04:56:37
Hey everyone, the set will run starting May 31, 2021. I’m working with NathanAlphaMan on applying the retooled legends to this set, adjusting the colors slightly, and swapping in a few new novelties. Should have all new renders in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
Ya might want to update the title of this IC to say "GB Confirmed" or something... I'm super stoked that this set is coming to life! Will remind me of my time back in Beijing a few years ago... I hope to return someday soon, post-pandemic!
Edit: I'd also *love* to see some custom cables and deskmats for this set... Let's let this be magical! :)
Post by: TomatoMan on Mon, 05 April 2021, 13:14:24
Post by: Oddstag on Tue, 06 April 2021, 06:02:23
1) I feel like the ISO enter novelty looks a bit strange with the dragon just rotated from the ANSI enter key. I feel like it's a bit of a waste to not use that extra space on the top half of the enter key to have the dragon sort of snake in.
2) A dedicated 40's kit.
Looking forward to GB!
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 08 April 2021, 10:32:57
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 08 April 2021, 10:33:45
Post by: 1017BirckenThot on Thu, 08 April 2021, 11:46:16
Post by: Abel on Thu, 08 April 2021, 14:08:39
Kits are good
Is there a rama or salvun collab?
A 二锅头 one should be good,
Personally, I really enjoy your novelty.
A full of Beijing vibe,
Really excited.
Terrific idea with the coloring as well.
Oh I will definitely get maybe 2 sets.
For real :)
Cool work and
Nice job.
Post by: dwang040 on Thu, 08 April 2021, 16:36:06
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 08 April 2021, 16:48:22
Houhai is a good topic you used,
Kits are good
Is there a rama or salvun collab?
A 二锅头 one should be good,
Personally, I really enjoy your novelty.
A full of Beijing vibe,
Really excited.
Terrific idea with the coloring as well.
Oh I will definitely get maybe 2 sets.
For real :)
Cool work and
Nice job.
It means a lot that you're excited about the kit! I hope Beijing people will get a lot of enjoyment out of this project. Funny you should mention the Baijiu. I'm working on a really novel metal artisan that I would love to do as a tribute to 二锅头. I'll have to see if it's possible but I'm excited to try! At the very least if that does not work out, I have some plans for RAMA artisans and Salvun has proposed that he might be able to complete for Houhai a special type of metal I had requested for GMK Shanshui that he ran out of time to complete.
Is it just the renders or did you change the red a bit? It seems a lot brighter in the new renders than I remember compared to the older renders of the kit.
The red was always supposed to be this color, but my render artist has developed his skills a lot in the past year and we are excited that these renders are much brighter and true to the physical samples.
Post by: LordHaveMercy on Thu, 08 April 2021, 21:21:16
I'm trying to Google around for those specific translations, but they seem to be really difficult to find... I'd like to learn them! :)
Edit: I do want to note that after searching around for about an hour, I haven't had any luck. Additionally, the Modifier keys on every reference for the Cangjie Input Method are literally just Icons only or using the literal English terms for those keys. There is no official Chinese characters for "Shift", "Ctrl", "Alt", "Enter"... I'm super serious. It's a bit strange! Which kind of sucks because you've clearly placed a lot of work into making the whole set shine! What do you think?
Edit 2: The most I could find for Chinese Modifier keys are listed for the Zhuyin Input Method... But even most modern incarnations of Zhuyin keyboards use Icons Only or English + Icons for Modifiers. I've honestly got no clue now.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 09 April 2021, 08:34:10
Hey Grundlemere, since there won't be English or Icon mods with this set for this run, could you give us a quick translation of all the modifiers contained in this set from Chinese to English?
I'm trying to Google around for those specific translations, but they seem to be really difficult to find... I'd like to learn them! :)
Edit: I do want to note that after searching around for about an hour, I haven't had any luck. Additionally, the Modifier keys on every reference for the Cangjie Input Method are literally just Icons only or using the literal English terms for those keys. There is no official Chinese characters for "Shift", "Ctrl", "Alt", "Enter"... I'm super serious. It's a bit strange! Which kind of sucks because you've clearly placed a lot of work into making the whole set shine! What do you think?
Edit 2: The most I could find for Chinese Modifier keys are listed for the Zhuyin Input Method... But even most modern incarnations of Zhuyin keyboards use Icons Only or English + Icons for Modifiers. I've honestly got no clue now.
This was the hardest part of the work in many ways, other than hand adjusting all the mod legends to meet GMK machining specs. You are correct that most Chinese users simply use the English names for the keys, and so I had to do a lot of digging for older Taiwanese keyboards, as well as some more modern "learner" keyboards for children and old people to learn the functions of the keys by Chinese words. And in a couple of cases we just had to come up with translations. I got a lot of help from Chinese friends including Exclusive, A.Jakkkkke Louis from iLumkb and Alex from Zf on finding the few examples that were out there and vetting the translations. There's also a Microsoft style guide for Taiwan and HK that has a few translations for keys into Chinese for those markets. In some cases the translations used for the TC set and SC set are slightly different because of the local differences in computing vocabulary.
I'll give you some examples：
退出 （Esc）：“Drop out“
跳格 （Tab）：”Jump grid“
大写锁定 （Caps）：”Large writing lock"
上当 （Shift）：“Upshift“
回车 （Return): "Return carriage" (as in an old typewriter carriage）
输入 （Enter）：“Carry entry" (as in enter on a calculator)
I can provide a full translation sheet at some point, but it was difficult to hunt these down!
Post by: Dafraz117 on Fri, 09 April 2021, 11:59:09
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: dwang040 on Fri, 09 April 2021, 13:12:44
The red was always supposed to be this color, but my render artist has developed his skills a lot in the past year and we are excited that these renders are much brighter and true to the physical samples.
Ah nice, that's pretty cool. Just curious (and forgive me if I missed it anywhere in the thread) but did you receive any samples yet? Was curious about some irl shots of the colors.
Post by: grundlemere on Fri, 09 April 2021, 14:52:10
The red was always supposed to be this color, but my render artist has developed his skills a lot in the past year and we are excited that these renders are much brighter and true to the physical samples.
Ah nice, that's pretty cool. Just curious (and forgive me if I missed it anywhere in the thread) but did you receive any samples yet? Was curious about some irl shots of the colors.
I have RAL and GMK physical color samples which I shared much earlier, but given the incredible speed with which counterfeits tend to show up on the market, I deleted them and have elected not to share the specific chosen colors with anyone other than manufacturers, vendors, and collaboration partners.
Post by: dwang040 on Fri, 09 April 2021, 15:05:53
I have RAL and GMK physical color samples which I shared much earlier, but given the incredible speed with which counterfeits tend to show up on the market, I deleted them and have elected not to share the specific chosen colors with anyone other than manufacturers, vendors, and collaboration partners.Ah, that's fair, completely missed that update then. Oh well, thanks for the info.
Post by: Liub on Sat, 10 April 2021, 02:28:07
Post by: ullr on Sat, 10 April 2021, 23:13:01
Post by: kcching on Mon, 12 April 2021, 00:26:03
However I noticed that the “超级” is the same for both SC and TC set... Is that intentional?
In TC, it should be "超級"
SC “超级”
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 12 April 2021, 07:00:51
Nice set here!
However I noticed that the “超级” is the same for both SC and TC set... Is that intentional?
In TC, it should be "超級"
SC “超级”
Not intentional, just a fine detail miss on the part of me and my render artist. Thanks for the catch and we’ll get it fixed!
Post by: fishbby on Mon, 12 April 2021, 08:18:16
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 12 April 2021, 08:40:27
I was looking at the SC base kit in a little bit more detail. Is there a reason that the numpad isn't in simplified? I just thought if everything was simplified it would look more uniformed. Really looking forward to the set! Is there a plan for Rama collab?
The numpad is in Simplified: SC versions of the Chinese financial characters. The TC kit includes TC versions of the same characters. There is some overlap. It was a stylistic choice to introduce more interesting and unfamiliar characters and most users seem to think they're neat.
RAMA? Perhaps. There will definitely be metal. I'm pursuing collabs with a couple of different metal artisan makers at the moment, so stay tuned!
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 12 April 2021, 12:20:37
(https://i.imgur.com/yUVhx3R.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fDo7NEH.jpg)
Post by: AvoidingYou on Sat, 17 April 2021, 17:38:45
Question, though. Do you have any artisans for this? I know I was hoping for a brass/alu red esc key novelty, but that's just me, haha. I'm seeing a lot of affiliate links, including custom aviators, but I'm not seeing any artisan caps? Am I just not looking in the right place or are there none??
thank you!:D
Post by: grundlemere on Sun, 18 April 2021, 19:37:11
This is looking Absolutely Beautiful, I've been keeping my eye on this for almost a year now, I'm SO excited it has a GB date, and with it being about a month off I'll be able to make sure I save and keep the money together.
Question, though. Do you have any artisans for this? I know I was hoping for a brass/alu red esc key novelty, but that's just me, haha. I'm seeing a lot of affiliate links, including custom aviators, but I'm not seeing any artisan caps? Am I just not looking in the right place or are there none??
thank you!:D
Haven’t finalized them yet but they are coming!
Post by: Tarey on Mon, 19 April 2021, 00:30:59
Post by: AvoidingYou on Mon, 19 April 2021, 13:36:44
This is looking Absolutely Beautiful, I've been keeping my eye on this for almost a year now, I'm SO excited it has a GB date, and with it being about a month off I'll be able to make sure I save and keep the money together.
Question, though. Do you have any artisans for this? I know I was hoping for a brass/alu red esc key novelty, but that's just me, haha. I'm seeing a lot of affiliate links, including custom aviators, but I'm not seeing any artisan caps? Am I just not looking in the right place or are there none??
thank you!:D
Haven’t finalized them yet but they are coming!
Nice! I'm really excited, have the price points been finalized at all? I'm trying to figure out how much to save, haha.
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 21 April 2021, 08:31:01
This is looking Absolutely Beautiful, I've been keeping my eye on this for almost a year now, I'm SO excited it has a GB date, and with it being about a month off I'll be able to make sure I save and keep the money together.
Question, though. Do you have any artisans for this? I know I was hoping for a brass/alu red esc key novelty, but that's just me, haha. I'm seeing a lot of affiliate links, including custom aviators, but I'm not seeing any artisan caps? Am I just not looking in the right place or are there none??
thank you!:D
Haven’t finalized them yet but they are coming!
Nice! I'm really excited, have the price points been finalized at all? I'm trying to figure out how much to save, haha.
Unfortunately pricing is usually one of the last things to happen before a GB. Vendors still need to get quotes and then go back and forth about MOQs and profit margins and with so many other GBs happening, that bit of administrative work that no one finds especially fun ends up getting folded in with the final work of setting up sales pages. I would hope that the pricing would be in line with GMK Shanshui tho (less new mold expense, more custom color expense).
Post by: ABABA on Wed, 21 April 2021, 22:30:23
Post by: GhostTedd on Tue, 04 May 2021, 07:55:36
Post by: convoliution on Tue, 04 May 2021, 09:06:02
What is the difference between SC base kit and TC base kit?
The SC base kit has simplified Chinese characters, while the TC kit uses traditional Chinese characters. The characters and phrases on the alphas and modifiers have the same meanings between the two kits, but are written in different standardized ways.
Post by: bngbox on Thu, 13 May 2021, 05:05:21
Post by: D3LTA on Thu, 13 May 2021, 14:27:20
Post by: ZongZiWang on Thu, 13 May 2021, 19:05:26
Post by: Tomn on Wed, 19 May 2021, 19:22:54
Love the legends!
Post by: bngbox on Wed, 26 May 2021, 05:50:24
Post by: mariachiforhire on Thu, 27 May 2021, 23:41:29
At least acknowledge the question. It gives confidence to the people interested in the GB. Otherwise customers start losing confidence when the GB starts.
Post by: Firebear31 on Fri, 28 May 2021, 03:21:21
Hey, do we still not have pricing on this set? Is it still happening on May 31st??
Of course it is still happening. Pricing is probably around Shanshui just with less MOQs needed as the moulds are already made from Shanshui.
Post by: resonantarchitect on Fri, 28 May 2021, 07:45:04
Post by: Firebear31 on Sat, 29 May 2021, 08:59:20
"Due to the novelty kit preserving the extra dark purple color from the original base kit design, the design and vendor team need additional time to evaluate pricing and quantity tiers. GMK Houhai will be pushed back by a little over a week to June 10, to end July 10. Thanks for your patience and as always, we will communicate any further information on design changes, timing, or pricing as soon as it becomes available."
Post by: slightlyinjured on Sat, 29 May 2021, 09:49:30
Discord Update
"Due to the novelty kit preserving the extra dark purple color from the original base kit design, the design and vendor team need additional time to evaluate pricing and quantity tiers. GMK Houhai will be pushed back by a little over a week to June 10, to end July 10. Thanks for your patience and as always, we will communicate any further information on design changes, timing, or pricing as soon as it becomes available."
Do you have a discord link? I have been following this IC since last year and im glad it scoming to GB!
Post by: Mr Chrome on Sun, 30 May 2021, 14:01:59
Post by: AvoidingYou on Mon, 31 May 2021, 11:51:09
Discord Update
"Due to the novelty kit preserving the extra dark purple color from the original base kit design, the design and vendor team need additional time to evaluate pricing and quantity tiers. GMK Houhai will be pushed back by a little over a week to June 10, to end July 10. Thanks for your patience and as always, we will communicate any further information on design changes, timing, or pricing as soon as it becomes available."
Do you have a discord link? I have been following this IC since last year and im glad it scoming to GB!
Same! I'd love to have to DC link, I've been waiting for this, but considering money trouble I'm a little relieved it's been pushed back. I really would like to be able to keep in the-know though!
Post by: xxinhumanityxx on Mon, 31 May 2021, 17:46:10
Post by: ZongZiWang on Mon, 31 May 2021, 23:51:32
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 01 June 2021, 10:29:26
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 01 June 2021, 10:37:39
Post by: XiXora on Sun, 06 June 2021, 13:21:29
I assumed that you wanted a minimal Intl/US ISO with R3 \| and R4 >< key but we got an odd R3 #~ R4 |\ combination that would align with a tiny subset of the UK ISO layout.
Post by: grundlemere on Thu, 10 June 2021, 08:11:19
Post by: Chozo Ghost on Fri, 11 June 2021, 10:46:21
Post by: grezeh on Sat, 12 June 2021, 15:21:30
Post by: raymondzzd on Sat, 12 June 2021, 18:36:02
Post by: Leon_TheKing on Sun, 20 June 2021, 13:06:30
Post by: grundlemere on Wed, 23 June 2021, 08:33:18
will there still be collab with rama on the artisan? Saw it was listed under collaboration list.
Yes! Go check out my insta @fort_stevens if you wanna see them
Any way to throw in some more 40 support? (R2 1.75u and R3 1.5u keys in addition to whats available). Personally would miss R3/home row 1.5u mod. Also dissapointed in abandoning *all-china all-in-one* kits. :confused:
Kitting has been locked, sorry to disappoint.
Post by: Dyto69 on Wed, 23 June 2021, 08:59:11
Post by: saltimate on Tue, 29 June 2021, 21:02:40
idk maybe i just get mono legends and look for 40s from another set.... but the COLOURS dammit, even if i try and use stuff from the novelties it feels bad. no red/yellow r2???? dammit, why did i not see this set soon enough to vote for 40s, would it even have made a difference? was 40s ever on the table? or was it always just going to be to much for a set which already has so much going on? its driving me insane. its so demoralising, i thinks thats it its not that there arnt many 40s users its just you get burnt out seeing so many good sets just be unusable that you give up and resign yourself to dsa blanks and stop checking geekhack and try and forget.
**** gmk and their bs pricing making 40s support such a pain in the ass.
if you can think of anything which could work with this set let me know because maybe ill still get mono alphas...
Post by: LordHaveMercy on Tue, 06 July 2021, 02:11:02
Eh, I'm happy this is still on track for GB. I hope GMK might be able to resolve their issues soon!
Post by: easy_rider on Thu, 08 July 2021, 03:43:01
GMK Y U DELAY?!?!!!???
Eh, I'm happy this is still on track for GB. I hope GMK might be able to resolve their issues soon!
Any WoB 40s/mods should do fine
Post by: grundlemere on Mon, 26 July 2021, 08:15:33
Post by: LordHaveMercy on Mon, 26 July 2021, 21:47:41
Post by: grundlemere on Tue, 27 July 2021, 07:15:40
No more delays, right Grundlemere?
It's definitely running this weekend. See Cannonkeys' IG if you still doubt!
Post by: jkteoh on Fri, 30 July 2021, 16:50:42
Grundlemere - just want to say again how much I appreciate that you pulled this and Shanshui off. Seeing such an important part of "me", the language/characters I use and speak, given such careful attention and design (and hopefully more attention/use/normalization in the future) makes me so, so, happy.
Post by: Leon_TheKing on Mon, 02 August 2021, 02:31:11
Post by: dvorcol on Mon, 02 August 2021, 05:50:29
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=113986.msg3071159
Post by: spoonfulofdaikon on Thu, 16 September 2021, 20:50:28