Make your own professional faceplate

[SpaceGhost2K]

THE FACEPLATE ADDICT STORE AND DESIGN STUDIO IS UP!

www.faceplateaddict.com

The links to the Faceplate Store and the Design Your Own Studio are in the upper left.

THE ONLY RESTRICTION RIGHT NOW is that that you have to use Internet Explorer. They're working on getting it to work with Firefox but it's not ready yet.

When you clink on the "FACEPLATE STORE", it will take you to the front page of the site, which looks line this:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore1home.jpg

Don't worry about anything on the front page right now except for two buttons across the first row: Products and Design Your Own.

If you go to Products, it will let you choose which gadget you're interested in, and then you can see the designs available for that particular gadget. Some designs are offered on PSP plates but not on Xbox plates, and vice versa. You can choose from a large number of solid colors, and a large number of patterns, many of those similar patterns available in different colors.

In the future, there will be many, many more images to choose from. I have submitted over 100 additional images that will eventually be made available on the site. I'm also hoping to secure game images through my trip to E3 so that you can make plates for your favorite games.

I should clarify that there are rules concerning which images are "legally" acceptable to be printed on plates. I've got an actual description as part of a picture later in the tutorial, so I'll wait until then to go over that part. For now though, I expect that the most popular part of the site will be the design studio.

[SpaceGhost2K]

When you click on "DESIGN YOUR OWN", it will take you to a page with three drop-down boxes. The first asks you what gadget you're looking for. You can choose music players, cellphones, etc. In this case, you want Game Consoles. The next window will ask you Sony or Xbox. Choose Sony if you want to make a PSP faceplate, or Xbox if you want to make an Xbox faceplate. Then it will ask you which console. There are three different PSP's but only one XBox 360 so choose that one.

Then, this page will open up:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore2DYOpage.jpg

You have four places where you can start: Background, Images, Text and Symbols.

Looking towards the bottom, there is a button for completely removing everything and starting over, a help button (that I honestly have not looked at yet), and a button to signify that you are done.

Inside the template window, you can stack images, and change the order of the layers to get the effect you want. Once a layer is selected, you can drag it to the trash can to remove it from the composition.

Also, if you're doing plates other than an Xbox 360 plates, like a cellphone cover or a PSP cover, those have multiple sides. The "sides" button lets you switch between sides.

[SpaceGhost2K]

If you select the "Background" option, you'll see this:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore3backgrounds.jpg

There is a pallete of colors, and three sets of six backgrounds. If you want a solid color for a background, just pick a color.

If you want one of the other backgrounds, they work differently. The first six are already colored, and if you choose one of them, it will be tiled across the plate to make a uniform background. The second six are black and gray and stay that way, regardless of the color you choose. The third six are light gray, and they will change color as you select different colors.

[SpaceGhost2K]

The text features looks like this:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore4text.jpg

To be honest, it's pretty spartan. Three fonts, zoom and rotate but no stretch or skew, and color change. No shadow or anything. Unless the text you want is the simplest of simple, this probably won't be anything you'll ever do. If you want text, I'll tell you a little lower how I would handle it.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Symbols are kinda odd. I can see where it would be nice to have a symbol, like your own logo, but it's something that you would want only available to YOU, like if you wanted to "sign" your plate with a logo. I wouldn't make an "SG2K" logo and then stick it out there for the world to make SG2K plates, ya knowutImean?

But there are some interesting generic symbols on here, and some of them look particularly good if you play with the zoom and rotate, and combine it with some background color.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore5symbols.jpg

Play around with them. You can't hurt anything. :) (God, I hope, lol.)

[SpaceGhost2K]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore7Choosingimage.jpg

The most frequently used part of the site will be the Images part. If you click Images, it will open a browser window so that you can find the images that you want to use, located somewhere on your computer.

If you look at the few I have in that folder, there are two black ones and a white one. The image program does not make white "invisible." If I uploaded that picture with the white background and green rings onto a plate where I set the background to black, there will be a large white square with green circles on it, NOT black peeking through the green circles. In this case, were I to make a plate with the Godfather logo or the koi fish, I should set the background to black, and then import the pictures.

Because it doesn't make stacked layers transparent, just like the text, I suggest you do all of your "adjusting" in an outside graphics program, whether that's MSPaint or Gimp or Photoshop or Corel or whatever. (Don't save as .bmp. Use .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png.)

[SpaceGhost2K]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore8adjustingyourimage.jpg

Once you select an image, it will upload it for a few seconds, and then display the image inside of a red square. You won't see a way to manipulate that square until you click on it. THEN you'll see four buttons open up to the left. Those buttons let you zoom in or out, and rotate left or right. You can also hold your mouse button on the square and drag it around. Drag it into the trashcan if you change your mind. If you have multiple layers, use the select layers buttons in the upper right for switching between layers, or moving layers from front to back.

Let me tell you how I go about tweaking a photo. Let's say I have three elements: the main photo, a name, and a logo.

First I take the main photo and try to get it with a large area around all sides. This allows me to move the image around on the plate template while keeping the edges beyond the edge of the template at all times. That's easy when it's a color or a repeated pattern. In the case of a picture of a girl where it wasn't enough picture to go all the way to the edge of the plate, I ended up using the "smear" tool to "stretch" her down a bit. It was a bare shoulder, so basically, I made it look like I had more of her back then I actually had. (Real artists have other ways to deal with this, lol.)

When I get the picture placed and sized where I want it, I look at where I want the name to go, and I print it onto the picture in my image editor. Then I trash the picture in the design studio and reload the image. If the name isn't in the right place... maybe it needs to be a little higher and to the left... I go back to the editor, move the logo, go back to the studio and trash the image, and then reload it again. Sometimes I have to do this ten times before I get stuff right where I like it.

If I have a third element, like the logo, I do the same thing. In some cases, I can combine moving the two elements around at the same time and cut my time down.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore9itsready.jpg

Finally, I'd like to point out this particular image that I used. I wanted to show you what happened when you used an image that was too small, and then really zoomed in. You get jaggies. MONSTER jaggies. Those concentric circles will look fine taking up half a plate but when you zoom in to fill a whole plate with them, they won't work.

You will be happiest with the outcome if you use the largest photo you can. Faceplates are 11.5 inches long, at at 100 DPI (dots per inch), a good photo should be 1200 pixels wide. You CAN get away with smaller, especially if it's a photo where it's a little fuzzy anyway. I made a Lisa Gleave plate from a photo that was only 750 pixels wide and it looked fine.

[SpaceGhost2K]

So let's say your plate is ready. You've designed the plate YOU want, so you hit "Done." This is what you see...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/SpaceGhost2K/FPA%20Tutorial/FPAstore10confirm.jpg

This is the plate you designed, and when you get it, it will look like this.

Here are some things about this page that I want to address, before you hit that all important "CONFIRM - ADD TO CART" button:

1) There is a no-return policy on personal designed products unless what you get is damaged, defective or incorrect. If you just decide you don't like it, you need to decide that NOW, not after the plate is actually produced. I just printed 1,000 business cards with "cellhone" on the back. Someone took a p, and they took MINE. Actually, I made the text, I proofread it, and I approved the proof and I still never caught it. I looked at the finished CARDS and didn't catch it. Someone else pointed it out to me.

Damaged means it got broken in shipment. They will replace that. Defective means there's a problem with the plate. A spring is missing. The button won't go in. Etc., etc. They will replace that. In one instance, I got a plate back where the image on the plate was nowhere near where it was supposed to be located. They replaced that plate. Those are things out of YOUR control, and they'll stand behind their part of the responsibility. But design is you, and they're not responsible for that.

2) Note the price of the item and the shipping. The shipping is the same, whether you have one plate on your order or thirty. It's $5.50. Period. So if you have ideas for three or four plates, it's to your benefit to do them all at one time.

3) Option: Yes, I confirm this design is what I want. You either have to click yes, go back to the design page, or close the window (your design will go *poof*). EVEN if you click yes and go to the checkout, until you've paid for the plate, you can still remove it from the cart if you change your mind, or close the window and just don't buy it.

4) Option: Yes, I allow my design to be published to the official gallery. For the time being, this won't be an option. Why? Because for one, I don't want stuff available on my site if I haven't approved it. I don't MIND approving it, and making it available for other people. At some point, that is the goal, and we can even give you some money if someone buys a plate with your design. But it will not be set up so that Joe Blow can put a pair of knockers on a template and upload it, OR upload something that is copyrighted material that will get me in trouble with the copyright holder. (More on that... well, right now.)

5) The disclaimer: PLEASE NOTE: Subcostume (the parent design studio site), will refuse to produce designs that constitute an infringement of any intellectual property rights, or contains any material or information that is obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous (it can't really be slanderous, silly Vikings), racist, or that violates any person's right of publicity or privacy or other laws, or our ethics program. Subcostume is entitled to refuse production without explanation.

Let me break this down a bit. It is against the civil rights of the workers to be exposed to things like graphic nudity, racism, hatred, etc. as a part of their job. If you worked there, would you want people forcing you to reproduce images of hardcore porn, blatant racist hatred, graphic gore or violence? No.

Obscene: Basically that means nudity and anything more graphic, photos or artistic representations of gore, or text of language not acceptable on television. The stuff you print represents US.

That being said, there are some arguments to be made for tasteful nudity. Michelangelo's statue of King David is full frontal male nudity, and it makes for such a cool plate that we actually have his top half pictured on our flyer. If.... IF... you absolutely have to have a faceplate made that contains arguable, tasteful nudity, don't put it through the site and cross your fingers. Tell ME directly, and I will try to get it made. I have already ordered two plates myself that were rejected because of the tamest of line drawing nudity, and I got them to reconsider. I REALLY do not want to make a habit of this though.

Defamatory: Making a plate that says "SPACEGHOST2K IS A SKETCHY PERV" is defaming me, whether it's true or not. :)

Libelous: Saying something in print which is not true. While the statement above is defamatory, it may or may not be libelous. Considering the issue about the nude plate image, it is probably true, hence it would not be libelous.

Slanderous: Same as libelous, except spoken and not printed. Most people learned that from watching the first Spider Man movie. Anyway, unless you found a way to teach your faceplate not only to speak, but to spread lies about people, it's not likely that Slander will be an issue here.

Racist: No KKK plates, "Black Pride", "White Pride", "la Raza" or Nazi/skinhead propaganda. PRETTY SAFE BET you won't get a plate made with a Swastika on it. "Okie Pride" would also fall under the catagory of Libelous, since we actually have no pride.

Rights of publicity or privacy: Not sure how this is played. If you took a picture through a classmate's window and printed it on your laptop cover, and then took your laptop to school, chances are you broke a law.

Finally, let me address the biggie: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. In case you're wondering, I'm gonna spell it out for you, but first...

THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER. I am not a lawyer. The definitions below are my own, and are given with no warranties expressed or implied. It is in your best interest, that if you are using ANY image that you did not create yourself or that is not already up on the site, that you investigate whether you have the rights to reproduce that image, either for personal use or for resale. THE BURDEN IS ON YOU, not ImageWare, Subcostume, Faceplate Addict, or Xbox Addict. Or SpaceGhost2K. :)

Some images are not copyrighted. They are called "public domain". Those images can be used for any purpose, including "ventures for profit." If I want to print a hundred plates with photos of the Mona Lisa on them, and resell them, I am free to do so.

There are some images out there that are "free use" images. Similar to "public domain" images except they can't be used for "ventures for profit." If you want to make yourself a faceplate from a free use image, go for it. you just can't sell it.

Games are copyrighted materials. The disclaimer above states that Subcostume will NOT violate copyrights and print copyrighted materials. And yet, I made myself a Star Wars plate, without Lucas' permission. I am hoping to use it as a display piece for demonstration purposes in the hopes of securing permission to make them legally. THAT IS NOT PERMISSION. THAT IS AN EXCUSE. If Lucas sees this plate and has a cow, Subcostume is gonna point him right... back... at me. Because when I made that plate, in essence, I claimed to have the authority to make the plate.

In some cases, permission is granted for limited use. If you go to the Blizzard/World of Warcraft site, it mentions what's ok and what's not ok for you to do with images of your character. If you create a character, take a screengrab, and want to print it on a plate for personal use, they are okay with that. If you want to go to www.mygamercard.net and get a pic of your gamercard, or "freeyouravatar" or whoever they are, and put a picture of your avatar on your plate, you can do that. You just can not re-sell those plates.

We are doing everything we can to get game companies to allow us to host images from their games, which will relieve you of the concern over whether you have permission or not. I am going to point you back to the disclaimer about me NOT being a lawyer before I make this statement.... I would not be too worried about making a plate for personal use. I have made plates for personal use. I have made plates to use as pitching tools. I have made plates where I was basically helping someone else make a plate for themselves, which is different from just running off a number of copyrighted image-based plates, and ebaying them or something. I didn't make 10 Halo plates and then sell them to the public. I did, however, make myself a Halo plate, in the same way that people write Halo fanfics or draw their own Halo pictures.

Let me end on this note: If you want to be safe and not press your luck, use pictures that you either took or created. Even then, don't take photos of copyrighted logos and images. If you photograph a tree, cool. If you photograph a Pepsi bottle, not so cool.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Once you've either selected a plate or created one, you go to the cart, and then the checkout. The cart allows you to adjust quantities or remove items, and will give you a running total.

The checkout requires you to register and add your info. Then you can pay by credit card or PayPal.

You'll get an email confirmation of your order, and you'll get an email when it ships. The email tracking info is from Hong Kong and honestly, it's been useless to me except to let me know what's on the way. I gave up trying to find out where the stuff actually was.

If you design a plate, and then buy it, that plate will go into your personal gallery. If you ever want to make another one of the same plate, it's all done already. RIGHT NOW, you don't have the ability to add a plate to your gallery and NOT buy it (perhaps to buy it later but prepare it ahead of time). Plates only go to your gallery once they've been paid for.

You can also go to "my account" and see a list of the orders you've placed. The list doesn't link to the gallery pics or anything like that, and the list and the order numbers are in two separate places. I just make note of the date I made an order and what plates were on that order, and then I match dates to find out the status of my orders.

Most people are going to make a plate or two, and not fifty like me and 159, but I thought I'd point it out.

...


OKAY, I'm calling it a night. I hope to wake up tomorrow with a message that the registration issues were fixed and we're good to go.

:D

[Variation-XBA]

Wow.... that's SO much more impressive than I could have even imagined. ETA of going live? Will it be Canadian friendly? What we looking at for pricing and shipping roughly?

VERY good job, that really does look amazing and ambitious

[SpaceGhost2K]

Wow.... that's SO much more impressive than I could have even imagined. ETA of going live? Will it be Canadian friendly? What we looking at for pricing and shipping roughly?

VERY good job, that really does look amazing and ambitious

Here, just try going to the site:

http://fa.subcostume.com/

You can play around and not hurt anything. You may even be able to order something. I'm not sure which regions are having the registration problems. It doesn't work here in the US, but it works for the people in Norway. No idea who else it might work for. If it works, go for it.

[Variation-XBA]

For this great design we will charge you only:
$ 19.90 (plus $ 5.50 for shipping per order)

I'm assuming that USD and shipping to Canada?

VERY easy to use though, that's REALLY cool

[SpaceGhost2K]

For this great design we will charge you only:
$ 19.90 (plus $ 5.50 for shipping per order)

I'm assuming that USD and shipping to Canada?

VERY easy to use though, that's REALLY cool

When you register and enter your country, it should default to the local legal tender. Like I said, until the registration thingy is fixed, I don't know.

**EDIT** OR... if you get registration to work and you pay through PalPay, PP should convert it.

[Variation-XBA]

When you register and enter your country, it should default to the local legal tender. Like I said, until the registration thingy is fixed, I don't know.

**EDIT** OR... if you get registration to work and you pay through PalPay, PP should convert it.

Gotcha, thanks.

Will prices vary depending on how 'busy' the graphic is or how much text or it basically a fee overall?

[SpaceGhost2K]

Gotcha, thanks.

Will prices vary depending on how 'busy' the graphic is or how much text or it basically a fee overall?

Nope. It costs you as much to print one dot as the whole Mona Lisa.

[OBL infad3ll]

OMGWTFBBQLZR! that seriously is the coolest thing i have ever seen in my entire life! spacy, you are seriously my friggen HERO! i hope you are ready to take a lot of my money this summer, i sure know what im spending it all on now!

[cheezymonkey999]

These are real faceplates not skins right? If so then there are alot of cool designs on there that are gonna be on my to buy list.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Yep, those are real plates. :)

[SpaceGhost2K]

Bump for e3 megaton madness! The store and studio are up!

[Variation-XBA]

Bump for e3 megaton madness! The store and studio are up!

registration/purchasing available now?

[KatamariKutie]

I'll answer on his behalf - I can assure you the registration works - but I haven't tried to purchase one yet (but i am sure it works too)

[hellonearth159]

Spacy,
I'm having trouble with the designer. After I create my first design and add it to the cart, I select continue shopping. I then select design your own and then select the device (this part's a pain by the way. You're an xbox faceplate site. Why do we have to weed through three drop downs to get to select faceplates)
Anyway...when I select the device, the little busy thingy starts spinning on the flash application but the designer never comes up.
I tried backing out of the window and re-select designer and this time, the last drop down was empty.
I closed IE and opened it up again. I logged in but the store didn't keep track of my shopping cart. I re-added the first faceplate and went to the second and hit the same problem.

I've seen this problem before with imageware but it usually happens after 6 or seven items are in the cart.

Is anyone else hitting this issue?

[SpaceGhost2K]

I will check it out but the hotel I am at has wifi service slower than AOL dialup because of all the people on it. I will try to order a couple of plates and see what happens.

[SpaceGhost2K]

The multiple plate issue should be resolved.

[hellonearth159]

Submitted my first order last week.

[wasabisabi]

Are we allowed to buy other people's design?

[SpaceGhost2K]

Are we allowed to buy other people's design?

Technically, no. If you put the copyrighted image on a plate it has to be for personal use only. The plate and/or the image can't be resold. However, that doesn't mean that someone might do the work on the image and let you make one, saving you the effort. I think, in most cases, the creator would rather keep the image as their own so that it remains some sort of "unique." I made a Mirror's Edge plate that is virtually identical to hellonearth159's, but I didn't get the image from him.

The ultimate goal is to get the copyright holders to agree to allow us to host their images with permission. We're not there yet.

I did get a few verbal agreements at E3, that I can't talk about until something is signed. In one case, we'll have plates for an exclusive XBLA title. In another, we may have permission to do hundreds of plates. Lots of possibilities that I have to keep to myself for a while yet.

Best suggestion: If you see a plate you like, try to duplicate it rather than getting the image from someone else. There are literally an unlimited number of images out there, so the possibilities are endless.

[Variation-XBA]

Are we allowed to buy other people's design?

You want some bubbles too? ;)

Too soon? :p

[SpaceGhost2K]

You want some bubbles too? ;)

Too soon? :p

Zing, lol.

[wasabisabi]

Forgot where I posted this question, but are we allowed to order designs made by other people?

[Variation-XBA]

Forgot where I posted this question, but are we allowed to order designs made by other people?

He answered it just above:


Technically, no. If you put the copyrighted image on a plate it has to be for personal use only. The plate and/or the image can't be resold. However, that doesn't mean that someone might do the work on the image and let you make one, saving you the effort. I think, in most cases, the creator would rather keep the image as their own so that it remains some sort of "unique." I made a Mirror's Edge plate that is virtually identical to hellonearth159's, but I didn't get the image from him.

The ultimate goal is to get the copyright holders to agree to allow us to host their images with permission. We're not there yet.

[HaZarD SFD]

Hey Space.. Firefox as an IE Tab addon for the browser if you put a link up for people who get on there trying to use firefox

[SpaceGhost2K]

Hey Space.. Firefox as an IE Tab addon for the browser if you put a link up for people who get on there trying to use firefox

I think they figured it out. I haven't heard anything more about a problem.

[Chozzi]

Do you guys know if they ship to the UK???

I so want to do my own, currently I have a Halo3 faceplate and want a change soon! :cheers:

[SpaceGhost2K]

Do you guys know if they ship to the UK???

I so want to do my own, currently I have a Halo3 faceplate and want a change soon! :cheers:

Yes, they'll ship worldwide.

[Chozzi]

Sweet, Cheers mate. I will hopefully be making one soon! I will post what I make to your gallery. :hardcore:

[racingfreak92]

Ive been using the template for the Nyko Game Face to make some designs and its not really working out, i assume its because the inserts for the Game Face are larger than normal faceplates because they have to slip into the shell and cover the plate.

So if i want to make a design specifically for Faceplate Addict is there a template or dimensions i should use?

Its also hard to get a good idea of how my faceplate is lining up in the editor, the desinger interface is kind of small and its hard to distinguish between the beginning of hard drive/end of console. And then the preview is even smaller. Is there any way you can change this stuff? i assume the answer is no.

[hellonearth159]

What graphics editing tool are you using. I have multi-layered template for Paintshop Pro Photo that I use.
PM me with your email address and I send it to you.

[SpaceGhost2K]

I have a template but it doesn't line up perfectly with the pseudo-faceplate in the design studio. It's really designed more for the "manufactured" process where they do a run of plates.

My recommendation for people using the studio is to use an image editor, make an image 12" x 4" and at least 100 dop (300 dpi is better). Then just fill the image area with your pictures. Load the pic into the design studio, see what needs to be tweaked, and then go back into the editor. Keep going back and forth until you get what you want.

[racingfreak92]

For anyone looking for some help designing here is a template of the Xbox 360 Faceplate. This is a really large template (about 50"x18") that hellonearth sent me. The original .pspimage is there and so is the .PSD i made out of it (which i also cleaned up a little).

I put it on rapidshare because im a member so it wont expire and its one of the less annoying hosting sites.

http://rapidshare.com/files/268216224/faceplatetemplate.zip

I find it more helpful to make your design a square slightly larger than the faceplate so its easier to fit onto the FacePlate Addict Designer.

[Kiddingo]

I am working on one right now, but I don't want the image distorted when I upload it. What is the recommended image size for a 360 faceplate?

[SpaceGhost2K]

I am working on one right now, but I don't want the image distorted when I upload it. What is the recommended image size for a 360 faceplate?

When I upload an image, I try to make sure it's at least 1200x400 pixels. At 100 dpi that's 12 inches x 4 inches, which will cover the plate and leave a little wiggle room around the edges.

[Kiddingo]

When I upload an image, I try to make sure it's at least 1200x400 pixels. At 100 dpi that's 12 inches x 4 inches, which will cover the plate and leave a little wiggle room around the edges.

Perfect, thanks!

[Murn]

Games are copyrighted materials. The disclaimer above states that Subcostume will NOT violate copyrights and print copyrighted materials.

So this means if I want to make a one-off plate through the faceplate designer of the Legend of Spyro games, I can't? Sorry if it's a bit of a stupid question, but I'd rather take my chance than not do it at all.

[SpaceGhost2K]

So this means if I want to make a one-off plate through the faceplate designer of the Legend of Spyro games, I can't? Sorry if it's a bit of a stupid question, but I'd rather take my chance than not do it at all.

You can make a Spyro plate for your personal use. You can't make one and then sell it.

[moshua]

I'm brand new here so I apologize if this is a repeat question, but I'm having trouble with the faceplate designer.

I click on the IMAGES button and nothing happens. I read this thread and it says it should open a window on my computer so I can choose an image, but that is not happening.

I am using a PC with Internet Explorer.

Any idea what the problem is?

thank you

[SpaceGhost2K]

I'm brand new here so I apologize if this is a repeat question, but I'm having trouble with the faceplate designer.

I click on the IMAGES button and nothing happens. I read this thread and it says it should open a window on my computer so I can choose an image, but that is not happening.

I am using a PC with Internet Explorer.

Any idea what the problem is?

thank you

I went to check it out with Firefox and it's doing the same thing to me. They might be working on the site. They're either in the Norway or the Hong Kong time zones, so even at weird hours, they work on stuff. I sent an email and should get an answer tomorrow, and I'll let you know.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Issue has been fixed. Thanks for the heads up. :)

[deecee]

Im surprised I haven't heard of this before.I have already designed and purchased 1 faceplate.Im looking forward to seeing it.Thanks for this.

Now to design some custom skins, to match my faceplate ;)

[SpaceGhost2K]

Im surprised I haven't heard of this before.I have already designed and purchased 1 faceplate.Im looking forward to seeing it.Thanks for this.

Now to design some custom skins, to match my faceplate ;)

We're experimenting with controllers now, too. Here's all of the details I can share. This was an experiment with actually printing directly onto a controller (that had been gutted - it was just the shell). The experimental run was satisfactory and a purchase order is being finalized. The key point here is that the customer provided actual controller pieces. The printing company was not the one providing the pieces, like they do with the faceplates. This is not likely to be something they will do as a one-off, but it may be something that can be done 10 at a time or something, IF the customer supplies the hardware.

The problem I have with this is that it encourages people to open hardware, which is a no-no as far as I'm concerned.

There are also a lot of restrictions because the controller housing varies so greatly in x-y-z dimensions. x-y is fine. x-y-z is like trying to wrap a flat piece of paper around a basketball. Where the image meets the edge will vary a lot, and getting a continuous image from the front of the controller to the back is a logistical impossibility (not improbable, just unfeasible). Images would have to be front only, or something like a non-repeating pattern like camouflage, animal print, etc.