"wallethack" cap legend / color idea

[whizzard]

Hey guys... I was playing around with templates and came up with this... not sure if this can even be printed like this... but if anyone thinks I should see it through and finish it let me know!  I thought this was an interesting one, and I am throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks.  Thanks for the feedback ahead of time, and be as critical as you want.  If you like it let me know I might finish it.  Figured I would see what people thought before doing the difficult caps (or if it is even possible). 

[Smasher816]

You might get more comments in the interest check subform

[mmbacon]

Hey guys... I was playing around with templates and came up with this... not sure if this can even be printed like this... but if anyone thinks I should see it through and finish it let me know!  I thought this was an interesting one, and I am throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks.  Thanks for the feedback ahead of time, and be as critical as you want.  If you like it let me know I might finish it.  Figured I would see what people thought before doing the difficult caps (or if it is even possible). 

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After looking at this for 10 minutes I am undecided. On one hand I love money and wanted to spend it on a money themed keyset, but on the other hand the money font feels odd (even though it shouldn't). I think you should continue none the less because I think I really like it. Just on the fence.

[nubbinator]

To be frank, I think it looks god awful.  The legends would be expensive as hell to cut, so it would have to be UV printed, pad printed, or dyesubbed.

[Data]

Dye-subbed for sure.  It would probably look better if you used a lighter green.  Money is a lot paler than what you've got there -- assuming that's what you were going for.

Edit:  Very dark green legends might look good on your light mods next to black legends on pale green alphas.  Just a thought...

Using the 20 for reference:

[whizzard]

Ya.. I follow... I am gonna drop this one.  Thanks for the feedback guys

I didn't want to post this in IC because to be honest I didn't put the thought and time into it that posts in this thread deserved... but a mod moved it here.

[TheSoulhunter]

[whizzard]

Since this thread is already here, I guess I will use it to post my keycap ideas.   I used a few different ideas here.  What do you guys think of this color combo?  I was thinking of using green lettering like you see on the backspace key, but not sure.  As always, be critical as you wish.

Question:  Can legends have a "stroke" that can be printable or does that mean you need to UV or use less quality plastics?  Here I used 1pt stroke to outline lettering making it stand out a bit more, not sure if that is possible or wise.

[sethk_]

Since this thread is already here, I guess I will use it to post my keycap ideas.   I used a few different ideas here.  What do you guys think of this color combo?  I was thinking of using green lettering like you see on the backspace key, but not sure.  As always, be critical as you wish.

Question:  Can legends have a "stroke" that can be printable or does that mean you need to UV or use less quality plastics?  Here I used 1pt stroke to outline lettering making it stand out a bit more, not sure if that is possible or wise.

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Your colors are very saturated, choose some lighter colors would be my suggestion.

[whizzard]

Hmm.. ok I can try that.  I am using eye-dropper on the color legends on PMK, and most of them come out looking saturated.

[whizzard]

The orange is the lightest ABS, but I backed off on the purple.  EEh... think I might toy with some other schemes that are not so in-your-face.  I want something original but also appealing.  What do you think of the serif style fonts?  And still wondering if lettering can be outlined...

[nubbinator]

If by outlined you mean tripleshot, no.

And as I mentioned earlier, if you use non-standard legends, each has to be cut.  Each legend is $25 with SP, sometimes more, and the legends you're talking about probably fall into that more category.  To cut new legends for every key for a tenkeyless board would be a minimum of $2,150.

[whizzard]

If by outlined you mean tripleshot, no.

And as I mentioned earlier, if you use non-standard legends, each has to be cut.  Each legend is $25 with SP, sometimes more, and the legends you're talking about probably fall into that more category.  To cut new legends for every key for a tenkeyless board would be a minimum of $2,150.

I didn't really understand what you meant by "cut" earlier.. thanks for clarifying.  I didn't see a portion on the template site showing "standard legends" I thought different lettering would be nice, and always wondered why most of them look so similar.  Using different font styles was one of the things I thought was coolest about making a cap set, and if that is not feasible,  that is depressing.  I am new to this community and modding kbs in general, so forgive me for not really understanding your first post completely.

So making a custom keycap set is pretty much just down to coloring and that is it.  Is there a link that shows what the standard legends are?  I figured the sky was the limit when I saw "Deep Space" and all the cool legends used on that set that were not standard.

[nubbinator]

SP has a PDF somewhere of their standard and nonstandard fonts.  Most sets do have legends cut for a modifier or two, but more than a couple becomes untenable since it will dramatically increase the cost.

Dyesub caps are much more versatile in the legend, but have greater restrictions in what they can be printed on.

[whizzard]

Thanks nubb.. I had no idea how over my head designing these simple little pieces of plastic can be.  I just read over your IC thread, looks really nice.  Also looks like a ton of work!  Personally I like the old-school windows key... even though I don't like winkeys and think they are a pain in general.  Good luck and I will probably pick one up once your successful.

edit: oops.. my bad.. thought it said you started that thread ... what an idiot I am.

[Oobly]

You can get pretty creative with Dyesub legends (you can use sharp edges, fine detail, etc), but they have some restrictions (have to use a dark legend dye on a lighter colour base plastic, can't do light on dark).

Quite often a Group Buy set with doubleshots will have one or two novelty key molds cut for the buy, which SP is quite happy to do, but for the main keys they have only a few base fonts (Cherry replica and Gorton modifed) and a couple of non-standard fonts which cost extra: http://www.keycapsdirect.com/pdfs/LineFont.pdf

I'd suggest you look around at existing sets for one you like and only start designing a set if you really can't find one that fits. This site is a great reference for many of the sets: http://keypuller.com/

[tjweir]

Hey guys... I was playing around with templates and came up with this... not sure if this can even be printed like this... but if anyone thinks I should see it through and finish it let me know!  I thought this was an interesting one, and I am throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks.  Thanks for the feedback ahead of time, and be as critical as you want.  If you like it let me know I might finish it.  Figured I would see what people thought before doing the difficult caps (or if it is even possible). 

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I like the '$' Esc.

And in that font, a 'W' to replace a normal 'G' key and an 'H' for a normal 'H'.

I'd buy those three keys.