Now that I have my Vewlix cleaned and running, of course the next thing I want to do is look into modding it 
I'm a big fan of music games, but most of them have controls that are a bit too large for the standard Vewlix control panel. One that I realized would fit (and that I have on my Switch) is Project Diva.
Project Diva controls are fairly simple: There are four big buttons, and then a touch slider. Not my picture (grabbed from YouTube):
The four buttons are just 100mm illuminated domes, which fit just fine on a Vewlix control panel:
I've offset them a bit closer to the top of the panel, as there's not that much space between them and the touch panel on an actual Project Diva cabinet. While it's not enough to get to true arcade dimensions, it's a lot closer than making them fully centered on the panel. I do need to look into adding additional buttons, but those will probably be standard 24/30mm just to cover the rest of the inputs needed.
The touch slider is a bit more complicated. Ultimately, I'm thinking to use the movestrip panel for that, like so:
The larger rectangle matches the dimensions of the glass/diffuser panel, while the inner rectangle is the size of the touchpad from Project Diva. I've added 5mm to the inner rectangle to account for where the control panel piece overlaps it to keep the visible dimensions closer to arcade spec.
For the touchpad, I'll need to get two sets of those shapes cut -- one for the top and bottom (think of the diffuser and glass setup currently). On the bottom layer, I'll need to use copper tape to create the capacitive touch, and then connect them to a micro controller. Sandwiched between the two sets of acrylic, I should also be able to get something printed to make it look even more "legit".
Ultimately, my plan is for this all to be handled by either Arduino or Teensy to serve as the interpreter for the buttons and the touchpad. The touchpad is by far the most difficult part -- documentation for Diva controllers is pretty sparse or relies on outdated/out of production microcontrollers, so I'm currently digging into what all my options there are.
Since it's the hardest part, I'm probably going to start with the touchpad. Once I figure out how I want to set that up and prototyped, I'll get those cut from an acrylics shop nearby and testfit before figuring out who/where to order the panel from.
I'm a big fan of music games, but most of them have controls that are a bit too large for the standard Vewlix control panel. One that I realized would fit (and that I have on my Switch) is Project Diva.
Project Diva controls are fairly simple: There are four big buttons, and then a touch slider. Not my picture (grabbed from YouTube):
The four buttons are just 100mm illuminated domes, which fit just fine on a Vewlix control panel:
I've offset them a bit closer to the top of the panel, as there's not that much space between them and the touch panel on an actual Project Diva cabinet. While it's not enough to get to true arcade dimensions, it's a lot closer than making them fully centered on the panel. I do need to look into adding additional buttons, but those will probably be standard 24/30mm just to cover the rest of the inputs needed.
The touch slider is a bit more complicated. Ultimately, I'm thinking to use the movestrip panel for that, like so:
The larger rectangle matches the dimensions of the glass/diffuser panel, while the inner rectangle is the size of the touchpad from Project Diva. I've added 5mm to the inner rectangle to account for where the control panel piece overlaps it to keep the visible dimensions closer to arcade spec.
For the touchpad, I'll need to get two sets of those shapes cut -- one for the top and bottom (think of the diffuser and glass setup currently). On the bottom layer, I'll need to use copper tape to create the capacitive touch, and then connect them to a micro controller. Sandwiched between the two sets of acrylic, I should also be able to get something printed to make it look even more "legit".
Ultimately, my plan is for this all to be handled by either Arduino or Teensy to serve as the interpreter for the buttons and the touchpad. The touchpad is by far the most difficult part -- documentation for Diva controllers is pretty sparse or relies on outdated/out of production microcontrollers, so I'm currently digging into what all my options there are.
Since it's the hardest part, I'm probably going to start with the touchpad. Once I figure out how I want to set that up and prototyped, I'll get those cut from an acrylics shop nearby and testfit before figuring out who/where to order the panel from.
