EvilActivity Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Is anyone aware of a website that has scanned lynx boxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Ah, OK! Well I've had some success today. The new photo paper arrived (Maxi Finest Paper Premium Glossy Photo Paper 260g A4, 100pcs/pack) today so I've had another go at my template and another box. At 260gsm the box is now rigid but still not quite like the original. Also there's a difference in the texture of the slightly matt original against the glossy surface of the photo paper. However, I think I've reached the paper thickness limits of my printer so I'm stopping at 260gsm. I'm still using the same glue but because this card is thicker it doesn't seem to be distorting as much. I also used a ruler on the inside of the box to press down on the two gluing edges. I think that also helped to keep the card from rippling. I now have a template with high rez images and redone sections of the box front. So, for example, the "Lynx Up" text was scanned at high rez and touched up but the yellow triangle and the "1 of 2 Players" text was created in Inkscape. Likewise the Atari, Lynx, FBI Winners Don't Do Drugs, green border lines and bar code images have all been either created in Inkscape by hand, scanned from highest quality available sources or downloaded at high rez. I had to do a bit of editing to get the "X" logo down the side of the box but it's almost impossible to see the edits once its been printed. Over all I'm quite pleased. I've already moved the black Atari logo a bit further down the side of the box so that longer game names will fit on the side of the box better. I just haven't printed one out and made a box out of it. I'm going to have a go at the Cart label next. Andy Wow, that looks very good. Great work Andy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Is anyone aware of a website that has scanned lynx boxes? Front and back covers can be found here for some http://atariage.com/software_list.php?SystemID=LYNX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Must steal template and ideas. I do need a new printer. I have a color laserjet for most works but I also had a wide format inkjet for large photo print (up to 13x19, glossy photo do exist in this size) it was just retired a couple weeks ago after it just up and quit. You can get a Lynx box out of one piece of A4. Rgds BadPricey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Thanks BadPricey. I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants though. Everyone else has done the hard work. As a matter of interest, what's the general feeling with posting Lynx box templates? I'm sure I read somewhere that we didn't want to assist people making fakes. My feeling was that if someone wanted to make a fake box for something rare and sell it as real for £££'s then they would. It's not that hard to do. Anyway, I can post my template here if people want it. Just ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilActivity Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Thanks BadPricey. I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants though. Everyone else has done the hard work. As a matter of interest, what's the general feeling with posting Lynx box templates? I'm sure I read somewhere that we didn't want to assist people making fakes. My feeling was that if someone wanted to make a fake box for something rare and sell it as real for £££'s then they would. It's not that hard to do. Anyway, I can post my template here if people want it. Just ask. Well I would assume those would go on eBay and the feedback system would punish those kind of actions quite fast afaik. Front and back covers can be found here for some http://atariage.com/software_list.php?SystemID=LYNX Ah yes, makes sense ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trew Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Philosophical question... how are we all feeling about printing boxes and collecting? Half way through my collection, I decided to up the game and go for an "all boxed" set. This upped the cost of things considerably. I could just print them... but that doesn't feel right? However (contradiction alert), with stuff like prototypes and rare things, I love it when people make custom boxes. In fact, I saw this one for Alien versus Predator and was well impressed. Edited June 27, 2015 by Trew 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 BadPricey, aminor00, I want to make them for the protos, homebrews, etc that do not have boxes. I have a Canon MP640 printer and used 300gsm paper as in the photo, it is really stiff and prints well. The Centipede image was a bit blury, but all in all not to bad. I think if we can get a pool of hires pictures and the 'X' pattern that would be great. I have made a template for the inside of the box, please see photos. Cheers Russ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 BadPricey, aminor00, I want to make them for the protos, homebrews, etc that do not have boxes. I have a Canon MP640 printer and used 300gsm paper as in the photo, it is really stiff and prints well. The Centipede image was a bit blury, but all in all not to bad. I think if we can get a pool of hires pictures and the 'X' pattern that would be great. I have made a template for the inside of the box, please see photos. Cheers Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800fan Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 You can get a Lynx box out of one piece of A4. Rgds BadPricey I'm aware of that. What I meant is that while color laserprinter is cheaper to use in the long run, most of them don't do well with photograph color reproduction. Inkjets generally do better as ink mixes better than plastic powder and I wanted to have a wide format printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Trew, good question. I have just reached the same point myself. Most of my collection is cart only, my original boxes having been burnt years ago to save space in my dad's loft :-( I've just started collecting again and have really enjoyed getting the boxes through in the post. It's a bit of retro nostalgia for sure. Having spent some time trying to get the right box design I can tell you that the finished article (my version at least) looks and feels different enough to the original to make it stand out. In a weird way getting an original box is like being handed a packet full of wonder and mystery, especially the shrink wrapped or blister packed boxes. On the other hand, while I'm pleased with the results of my homemade boxes they represent hours of work scanning and placing images, printing, cutting out, folding and gluing. So they aren't the same as the originals, it's more like a Picasso original and a Picasso print from the local market. I couldn't ever "recreate" a box for a missing original release cart and put it on my shelf without it sticking like a sore thumb. Going back to that box collecting bug: Oh those blister packs! I want a 2nd copy of Joust for multiplayer but every time I order one it comes through blister packed! I haven't got the heart to open them so I just order another in the hope that this time it'll be different. I'm also having pangs of guilt for opening the shrink wrapped boxes. So now I have two Qix arriving, one to open and the other to keep. I can't tell my wife, she'd kill me! :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Saffron1, this is exactly why I've made my template; homebrews and protos... and for future releases. I love what you've done to duplicate the box insides but it looks like a serious amount of work! Do you have a template for it? It's occurred to me that having that would also increase the rigidity of my box. I wonder if there is a simpler design that could be used to hold the cart without the need for masses of folding? I have all the hi rez images in my template but even 7zipped it's too large to upload as an attachment. I might have to lower the rez a bit and try again this evening when my missus is out. Is there a central place we could store individual bits of artwork like logos etc? Should I just start an album and make it public or something? The next project is the cart label which I have plenty of examples to follow After that comes a game manual template. Is there any particular game that stood out as having a good manual? I'm not thinking of the type that had a poster. Maybe Warbirds or Slimeworld? Any other suggestions? I'll probably use LibreOffice for that although Scribus is another option. Edited June 27, 2015 by aminor00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800fan Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Sorry I had to tell your wife. It's hard to say no to a $100 gift card to my favorite sushi place. Kidding... Just open those Joust. Those games are meant to be played, and not looked at sealed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 OK, all my graphic assets, the original template and my box design can be downloaded in a single file here: http://www.thingsivedone.co.uk/Lynx/LynxBoxAssets.7z Have fun! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) I've finished the Cart label template. It's not much and it's based on the original 55mm x 38mm Lynx cart label therefore it is unlikely to fit the new homebrew carts properly. I will adjust it once I get my homebrew carts. You can download from here: www.thingsivedone.co.uk/Lynx/LynxCartAssets.7z Again, this was created in Inkscape v.091 Edited June 27, 2015 by aminor00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted July 6, 2015 Author Share Posted July 6, 2015 Using a modified aminor00 template, I have created a Lode Runner Box. When I get more time, as I am time poor, I will add more boxes for games that do not come with a Lynx style box. Any requests please let me know. Oh, please can someone read the French translation on the box and send me corrections if required ( I am sure it will need to be corrected) Cheers lode runner box.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
108 Stars Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I have created a template for Lynx boxes, mainly upcoming homebrew releaes a couple of months ago. The premiere was to be Alien, which sadly did not make it to card after all. Anyway, I will use it in the future. I am just not certain how to make sure the box is printed in the accurate measurements. I have Little experience with Printers, I created the template and the parts fit in relation to each other, but I do not know how big they eventually come out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willard Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Anyway, I will use it in the future. I am just not certain how to make sure the box is printed in the accurate measurements. I have Little experience with Printers, I created the template and the parts fit in relation to each other, but I do not know how big they eventually come out It's a combination of the images dimensions and the DPI. It has nothing to do with the printer, just the source image. There are lots of Image Size Calculators online that'll help you determine the size of the printout, but normally you wouldn't do this after the fact but deliberately design your artwork that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
108 Stars Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Thanks. I did my template in fairly high Resolution, so resizing it a bit to fit will not affect it much qualitywise. Would be more problematic if it was small and I had to pump it up. I'll look some Image size calculators up when I am at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) As a rough guide if you print the example PDFs, linked in my posts above, on A4 paper and set output to "Actual Size" NOT "Fit to Page" then the boxes print with almost exactly the right dimensions. Depending on your printer there may be some areas of the paper that it cannot physically print; the so called "printers minimum margins". Some of the lines of the boxes may not print in those areas but so far, in my experience, that only affects the outside edges of the folding flaps and it's easy to adjust when you come to cut the box out of the A4 paper. If you are using a size that is NOT A4 then I don't know what will happen, because I haven't tried it. You can then compare how your own template compares to my examples and adjust your dimensions accordingly. p.s. Thanks to Duranik and BadPricey for their hard work on "My" template. Actually, they did most of the hard work so it's really "their" template! Edited July 6, 2015 by aminor00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadPricey Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Using a modified aminor00 template, I have created a Lode Runner Box. When I get more time, as I am time poor, I will add more boxes for games that do not come with a Lynx style box. Any requests please let me know. Oh, please can someone read the French translation on the box and send me corrections if required ( I am sure it will need to be corrected) Cheers Brilliant work saffron1. Just some small corrections needed. 1st line back cover you have written 'command' shouldn't it be commando? 3rd line 'an you've just' should be 'and you've just'. 5th line drop the comma after 'puzzles'. Sorry to be a pain. Keep the covers coming! Rgds BadPricey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi, thanks BadPricey. Here is the corrected Lode Runner box. lode runner box.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saffron1 Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 All, I have done the Road Riot box but it is 22Mb in PDF and Inkscape form and I cannot reduce it. Any Ideas on how to reduce the size or you can PM me with email details and I will send it on. I have attached the inserts as well. Cheers inside box 2.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Hi Saffron1, The Road Riot box is 22MB because "my" template includes high rez scans of the "X" logo on the side of the box. Removing those two side images brings the file size down to 12MB. You'll see this on the Lode Runner box where you've removed the X logo which has reduced the size of the resulting SVG and PDF. I'll have a look at slightly reducing the rez or increasing the compression of the X logo image to see if that helps. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aminor00 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) Here you go. Two new X pattern sides. Both were reduced in GIMP by opening the image, clicking "Image" menu, clicking "Scale Image" option, setting width and height to 50%. I also lowered the JPG quality to 87% from 95% during the save. One has been lightened and converted to greyscale as an experiment to more closely match the original colouring. I don't have a box with me for comparison so it's just a guess at the moment. File size on the Inkscape template is now down to 11.6MB with these changes. Further file size reduction could be achieved by doing the same thing with the four rounded rectangle "Lynx" logos on the box. Those logos may also need lightening in colour to match the original box and X pattern. I will play more when I have the time. Andy Edited July 9, 2015 by aminor00 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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