SA Dasher & SA Dancer keycap sets (Completed)

[zslane]

Yeah, there's a guy on MassDrop called Thinman who does them as well. Maybe its even the same guy. With some time, I too could do rendered mockups. I'd just like to hear Facetsame's opinion of all this before investing too much time and energy into it.

[niomosy]

They aren't the people who would be interested in this classic colorway most likely.

Perhaps so. But don't they make up the bulk of the GH/MD/reddit user bases?

Penumbra didn't have any novelties. I've seen at least one mock-up on /r/keycapdesigner relatively recently had no mock-ups and was praised for it. I would think you'd be fine without them. I'd say, if anything, some of the novelty text like the "Rub Out" keys would be quite sufficient.

As for me, I've been after both versions of this colorway for a while now and have been wanting to get a set of SA keycaps. This is pretty damn well perfect for me. The 1-1-2-3-4-3 idea is solid as well.

[Elrick]

As for me, I've been after both versions of this colorway for a while now and have been wanting to get a set of SA keycaps. This is pretty damn well perfect for me. The 1-1-2-3-4-3 idea is solid as well.

Agreed, it's a nice accent of blues here and it's been sometime since someone concentrated only on two shades of it.

Keep the Profile designations and you should get interest easily but decide whereabouts you want to carry this out, here on DT or on MassDrop?

[ezpeze]

Aww man, I really wish it was this profile and font. The SA fonts look gigantic.


And I also hope there's the boring joe's kit as well...

[zslane]

I'm working on rendering my own 3D mockups for SA Dasher/Dancer, with the goal of eventually producing images that will really draw interest to the set. It is all still quite a work in progress, but it's getting there little by little. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat hindered by the very modest workstation I have at home; it can barely keep up with my Houdini setup for this.

SA Dasher in an early 3D mockup render

dasher_keyboard_ansi_01.jpg (243.44 KiB) Viewed 8059 times

Down the road I'd like to put together some really nice lighting rigs and churn out some beautiful photoreal renders, maybe even composite one or two into an actual photo setting.

P.S. A really good eye will detect that four keycaps were inadvertantly assigned incorrect row profiles. Gotta fix them for the next round of renders.

[Elrick]

I'm working on rendering my own 3D mockups for SA Dasher/Dancer, with the goal of eventually producing images that will really draw interest to the set. It is all still quite a work in progress, but it's getting there little by little. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat hindered by the very modest workstation I have at home; it can barely keep up with my Houdini setup for this.

dasher_keyboard_ansi_01.jpg

Down the road I'd like to put together some really nice lighting rigs and churn out some beautiful photoreal renders, maybe even composite one or two into an actual photo setting.

P.S. A really good eye will detect that four keycaps were inadvertantly assigned incorrect row profiles. Gotta fix them for the next round of renders.

Oh my GAWD, this would be on my top BLUE list of all time.

These done in SA sculpted would be awesome, suspect a lot of people might like some Blues included with their Cherry Keyboards .

I've got two all blue keyboard casings just begging for these type of key-sets.

[zslane]

It's a little difficult to tell from an overhead view like the one above that the row profiles depcited are 1-1-2-3-4-3 with R3 arrow keys. I rendered another angle that showed the sculpt better, but that's when I noticed the four incorrect keys.

[Muirium]

The magic of perspective. It's literal, and a metaphor!

I'm not a fan of row 3 arrow keys. They feel flat to me, in both senses of that word. I'd go for an arrows pack, as 7bit does, but just a single one or integrated into the principle kit. As long as it supports row 2 up and row 4 down, you're doing it right.

[niomosy]

I'm working on rendering my own 3D mockups for SA Dasher/Dancer, with the goal of eventually producing images that will really draw interest to the set. It is all still quite a work in progress, but it's getting there little by little. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat hindered by the very modest workstation I have at home; it can barely keep up with my Houdini setup for this.

dasher_keyboard_ansi_01.jpg

Down the road I'd like to put together some really nice lighting rigs and churn out some beautiful photoreal renders, maybe even composite one or two into an actual photo setting.

P.S. A really good eye will detect that four keycaps were inadvertantly assigned incorrect row profiles. Gotta fix them for the next round of renders.

Damn, that render is looking solid. Now I'm wanting to see the Dancer render as well.

[niomosy]

As for me, I've been after both versions of this colorway for a while now and have been wanting to get a set of SA keycaps. This is pretty damn well perfect for me. The 1-1-2-3-4-3 idea is solid as well.

Agreed, it's a nice accent of blues here and it's been sometime since someone concentrated only on two shades of it.

Keep the Profile designations and you should get interest easily but decide whereabouts you want to carry this out, here on DT or on MassDrop?

I think of regardless of where it's carried out, word needs to spread among the keyboard sites to ensure solid interest and MoQs being met, particularly for those looking for international kits, etc.

The other question is whether it's run as basically a double set or if the Dasher and Dancer sets are split.

MassDrop does have the advantage of simplicity for all involved; easy transaction for the buyers and the seller doesn't have to worry about going through the craziness of getting all this stuff shipped out. On the down side, that GMK run recently seems to have caused some to give pause with MassDrop.

[zslane]

Danger Zone seems to be doing well on MassDrop and it isn't even a sculpted set...

[Muirium]

Colours speak louder than rows.

You know, to people clicking buy buttons who've never actually used profiled SA.

[Hypersphere]

Danger Zone seems to be doing well on MassDrop and it isn't even a sculpted set...

Yes, I don't understand why. The description was rather misleading. I wonder if some people are not aware that the set isn't sculpted? Moreover, it isn't PBT.

[niomosy]

Hopefully people are aware of the situation with Danger Zone. The info was there, just not as easily found. I was considering it but for my first SA set, I'd figured on going fully sculpted. ABS is a disappointment but until SP can do PBT it's all we've got (for some reason I recall it requiring new molds to handle double shot PBT, though I might be mistaken here).

Personally, I love having a simply option to buy it and not being charged until it's ready to go. Just look at the success Carbon had order-wise via MassDrop. I admit that there are those that are concerned with them so I figured I'd point it out. That said, I've had luck with them on the ABS doubeshot caps I bought from them a while back.

[zslane]

SA Dasher & Dancer would obviously be ABS. Boo. But they should have R4 shift keys. Yay! And if the SHIFT legend experiment works out, they'll have those too. Double yay!

Of course, I say this on the somewhat optimistic assumption that it will take longer to go through a formal interest check and group buy process than it will take for SP to finish their R4 2.25u and 2.75u molds.

[niomosy]

SA Dasher & Dancer would obviously be ABS. Boo. But they should have R4 shift keys. Yay! And if the SHIFT legend experiment works out, they'll have those too. Double yay!

Of course, I say this on the somewhat optimistic assumption that it will take longer to go through a formal interest check and group buy process than it will take for SP to finish their R4 2.25u and 2.75u molds.

Yeah, ABS comes with the territory for SA at the moment.

Given the list of SA sets SP is already looking at, it will likely be a bit before this one's in production. Good news on the shift keys, at least.

[zslane]

Here is a mockup of the Dancer colorway:

SA Dancer 3D mockup render

dancer_keyboard_ansi_01.jpg (238.64 KiB) Viewed 7920 times

And here is Dasher up close and personal. I even changed the arrow keys to R2+R4 for Muirium, though it's a little tough to tell through the defocus.

SA Dasher from another perspective

dasher_keyboard_ansi_02.jpg (168.49 KiB) Viewed 7920 times

[Crossfire]

Those are b-a-utiful!

[niomosy]

That dancer is every bit as beautiful as I've imagined it for the past couple years since I tried doing a quick mock-up of it on Keyboard color chooser.

What colors are being used? It looks like BBQ for the lighter blue which, I believe, was what ended up being the suggestion in the other Dasher caps thread.

So... when's this GB start? Not that I'm being impatient or anything

>.>

<.<

[zslane]

The color codes are listed in the first post (on the spec sheet graphic). BFK and BFN are the two blue shades I chose. BBQ has too much green in it for me.

The next step is to come up with the kit manifests along with renders of each. Then it would need to be submitted somewhere for a more formal interest check. But apart from posting about it on geekhack, the choice of GB agent would largely determine where that IC happens. Should it be through PMK? MassDrop? [Ctrl]Alt? All I know is that I don't want to manage a group buy myself; that will need to be someone else's job.

[SL89]

As I said before: Don't rush this!

Have you spoken to PMK? or MassDrop or [CTRL]Alt? All of them seem slammed right now, both with existing projects and future ones. I'd be real patient about this and deliberate.

I have no problem helping out, and I know facetsesame had a hand in this, and was our point of contact for the #! / Ducks.

Renders are nice, but the actual details are much more important. You need to know what you are selling before you market it, and Interest Checks are just another form of marketing.

The IC itself should happen on ALL venues possible for maximum exposure. PM me with ideas, I have no problem getting the word out there and signal boosting it.

Additionally, I have thought of a lovely compliment for both / either of these sets.

A very Zissou version of the Blue / Yellow / Safety Reddish Orange theme from A Life Aquatic by Wes Anderson.

[zslane]

I'm certainly in no hurry. I'm also not looking to tie this to Facetsame's project. That and this are achieving different, though slightly related, goals. He hasn't had any hand in this at all, actually. In fact, nobody's heard from him in a while and I doubt he is even aware of this thread.

As for the scale of this project, I want to keep the number and variety of kits to a minimum. I'm not looking to curry favor with the Ergo, Plank, or Atomic aficianados. I'd rather supply a modest ISO/international kit than try and cover all the winkeyless and odd %ers out there. And no new legends either. Of course, if someone else wants to design the kits and do all the graphics for the oddball layouts, I will gladly step aside and just be a customer.

I confess I am pretty clueless when it comes to evangelizing interest checks. It seems to me that if you put up an IC on PMK then you are basically signing up to run the GB through them. Same with MassDrop. Am I wrong about that?

[SL89]

I'm certainly in no hurry. I'm also not looking to tie this to Facetsame's project. That and this are achieving different, though slightly related, goals. He hasn't had any hand in this at all, actually. In fact, nobody's heard from him in a while and I doubt he is even aware of this thread.

Someone should ping him then, but if you want to go ahead with this I'd advise to be aware it could end up like Symbiosis / 7bit Space Cadet. Symbiosis just barely ended up making the cut and most of those kits are in the PMK General Store.

As for the scale of this project, I want to keep the number and variety of kits to a minimum. I'm not looking to curry favor with the Ergo, Plank, or Atomic aficianados. I'd rather supply a modest ISO/international kit than try and cover all the winkeyless and odd %ers out there. And no new legends either. Of course, if someone else wants to design the kits and do all the graphics for the oddball layouts, I will gladly step aside and just be a customer.

If you want a successful GB you should be aiming for those groups. But thats a big undertaking considering how child deals work out, and the zany profile issues. If this was a R3 uniform set then it would be less of an issue. ANSI / ISO and winkeyless sounds more doable tho, so you may be right. It will just be cutting it much closer. The opposite idea also stands true, [CTRL]ALT has had great success with One Size Fits All GB's. Hack'd By Geeks had damn near everything and was very well received and versatile.

I confess I am pretty clueless when it comes to evangelizing interest checks. It seems to me that if you put up an IC on PMK then you are basically signing up to run the GB through them. Same with MassDrop. Am I wrong about that?

Evangelizing and signal boosting isn't so hard. And AFAIK you are *not* bound to MassDrop or PMK. I'd say phase it out. Get the word out on the Forums, then Reddit, then the Korean / Overseas forums, then go through MassDrop or PMK for the finalized versions after you have gotten sufficient feedback and interest.

I have never done this myself, but I have seen things happen, and as someone who has seen many mis-steps along the way I can honestly say this is doable, maybe not easy, but certainly doable. If I'm talking out my ass then I hope someone would be able to correct me before I advise you poorly.

[zslane]

Earlier up-thread the sentiment was expressed (by others) that this set would not collide redundantly with Facetsame's project. I have no way of judging the truth of that apart from observing the results of whatever interest check campaigns eventually do occur. I have repeatedly said, however, that I'd like to know Facetsame's thoughts on this and even get his blessing if possible.

I'd like to use this thread to gather thoughts and opinions as to kit composition before heading out on the campaign trail, as it were. As you say, once we know what we're "selling", we can spread the word as much as possible. Though that part of it holds no interest for me and I would eagerly seek and all help in that regard. Essentially I'd have a hand in making up the kits and putting together the promotional/informational materials, and then someone with the appropriate knowledge and experience would run with it. I would also interface with Signature Plastics on the technical front as necessary as well.

[SL89]

Earlier up-thread the sentiment was expressed (by others) that this set would not collide redundantly with Facetsame's project. I have no way of judging the truth of that apart from observing the results of whatever interest check campaigns eventually do occur. I have repeatedly said, however, that I'd like to know Facetsame's thoughts on this and even get his blessing if possible.

Oh of course, I never thought it was an undermining of that (very different project) but so long as we know there is overlap and a degree of competition we should be all set.

I'd like to use this thread to gather thoughts and opinions as to kit composition before heading out on the campaign trail, as it were. As you say, once we know what we're "selling", we can spread the word as much as possible. Though that part of it holds no interest for me and I would eagerly seek and all help in that regard. Essentially I'd have a hand in making up the kits and putting together the promotional/informational materials, and then someone with the appropriate knowledge and experience would run with it. I would also interface with Signature Plastics on the technical front as necessary as well.

For what it's worth, I highly advise the [CTRL]ALT method of One Size Fits All. This allows the standard ANSI and ISO users to get what they want, and to help their comrades by helping subsidize the costs for the oddball %'ers and their ilk. It also prevents too much internal competition amongst child deals. Again if you are unfamiliar with it https://ctrlalt.io/buys/hack-d-by-geeks is worth looking at. Also build off the ANSI / Filco and base ISO users. They are the most numerous by far. I can't volunteer for a fulltime position, but I will help in any way I can. Like it or not, this is your baby zslane and if you want to see it done right, you might as well do it yourself. This is how knowledge / experience are built after all, and waiting for a champion to come and take this out of your hands is an excercise in futility. Either way, let me know if you need a head cheerleader to get the word out there and I will do what I can.

[zslane]

As for the scale of this project, I want to keep the number and variety of kits to a minimum. I'm not looking to curry favor with the Ergo, Plank, or Atomic aficianados. I'd rather supply a modest ISO/international kit than try and cover all the winkeyless and odd %ers out there. And no new legends either. Of course, if someone else wants to design the kits and do all the graphics for the oddball layouts, I will gladly step aside and just be a customer.

If you want a successful GB you should be aiming for those groups.

As you point out in the Cappening thread, those alty groups don't drive GBs, so maybe it's okay to disregard them for this one. I mean, given how low SP's MOQs are, I figure if we can't reach MOQ on the ANSI base kit, a Numpad kit, a modest ISO kit, and maybe a single kit of alternative keys (non-R3 arrows, odd-sized shift keys, etc.), then perhaps this set needs to just step aside and let Facetsame's project fill all the demand for double-blue.

(It looks like what I had in mind is very much in the vein of the Hack'd By Geeks set.)

[SL89]

Then lets use the Hack'd By Geeks as our template and go from there. Do you think you can get renders for Dasher and Dancer for both of those sets? Either as just floating caps like an OG mockup, or even a couple layouts on boards? Idk if I've said it, but the mockups in this thread are some of the best I've seen.

Also are we going for 'close enough colors' or custom matched / special blend.

[zslane]

When you say "both of those sets", what do you mean? When I look at the Hack'd by Geeks page on [Ctrl]Alt, I only see the "Deluxe" set.

I can put mockup keycaps into any board that I bother to model in 3D. So far I've only modeled a full ANSI Filco-style board. Making TKL and most 60%ers from that is pretty easy. I am thinking of modeling a Cherry G80-3000 style board and "painting" the top surface a spiffy indigo color, but I still have a few other things I want to do first (like deep dishing, ISO return).

Color-wise I am going for "close enough". I leave it to Facetsame to commission custom colors from SP for his project. I want to keep costs down as much as possible on this and that means no new legends and no custom colors.

[Muirium]

Presumably top vs. bottom:


https://ctrlalt.io/buys/hack-d-by-geeks

[zslane]

Right, well, I look at that and I see four kits: base kit, numpad kit, ISO kit, and alt-layout extras kit. That's what I consider an ideal arrangement, assuming that the extras kit can be kept to a manageable size and not succumb to keycap creep.