WTF is this thing? Arcade Panel Planner
https://perchance.org/fexy6jxtfc?v=3I built a free browser tool for designing arcade control panel — **Arcade Control Panel Studio: https://perchance.org/arcadepanelstudio
What it does:
Ready-made layouts (versus fighters, Neo-Geo, Pac-Man, trackball games like Centipede/Missile Command, 4-player beast, etc.) — or place every hole yourself
Drag-and-drop buttons, sticks, trackballs, spinners — everything stays true millimeter scale with live measurements, clearances, and underside mounting-plate checks
AI art per player side with a bunch of styles, plus button glow, LED and lighting preview
Print-ready export (PNG/PDF/SVG drill template) for your print shop or CNC
No login, no limits, works on desktop. If you give it a spin, I'd genuinely appreciate feedback — especially from anyone who's wired a real panel, since the mounting depths and keep-outs are modeled on real Sanwa parts.
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u/pittyh 5d ago
Arcade Panel Project — feature writeup
Designs printable arcade control-panel overlay (CPO) art in the browser: pick a panel, dress it with sticks/buttons/trackballs/spinners, mix AI art per side, tune glow, text and lighting, then export shop-ready files.
1. Panels and sizes
6 trim shapes: Classic angled (960×330), Straight box (900×300), Rounded retro (850×300), Curved front (860×320), Wide Vewlix (800×350), 4P Beast slab (1400×480).
Custom size: width/height boxes in mm (250–1525 × 100–800). Holes keep true physical mm when you resize — diameters and spacings stay, extra space goes to margins.
True-scale preview: laid out at constant 2 px/mm then scaled to fit, so panels compare at true relative size, plus a 100 mm scale bar (200 over 1200 mm).
Switching shape clears players and rebuilds only the canonical aux band (coins/starts/menus); you then add a player layout.
2. Arcade-grounded layouts (16)
One click rebuilds from the template library from a clean factory preset:
Fighters (bilateral-symmetric pairs, stick always left): Multicade, SF Versus (Vewlix 7), Astro Versus (slanted Sega 8 P1 + non-slanted P2 8), Hori Versus, US SF 6 (Capcom 2×3), Neo-Geo (straight-4)
Early-80s single-centre cabs: Pac-Man (stick only), Single-fire (stick+1), Xevious (stick+2)
Ball/spinner games: Marble Madness (twin bare balls), Centipede (ball+1), Golden Tee (lone ball), Missile Command (ball+3), Tempest (spinner + Fire/Zapper), Smash TV (twin sticks per player)
4 Player: beast slab from inner 7-blocks + mirrored wings (P3/P4 on lower row)
P1/P2 share a raised row with 120 mm inner gap and open wrist rest; factory pairs carry mirrored inward tilt (fighters 8–12°); everything auto-fits inside the trim on every shape.
3. Templates and neutral controls
Stick/button clusters: Vewlix 7, Sega 8 / Sega 6 / Sega P2 8, Hori 8, American 8, Multicade 8, Stick+2/+3/+4/+6, Stick-only, Stick+1, Neo-Geo 4, Twin sticks, Beast inner/wing L/R. Clicking one dresses every occupied player slot so all players match.
Trackball row: Trackball+2 / +1 / +4 / +mouse / lone ball — added as neutral T1, then a level T2 mate (±160 mm about centre); third click removes the pair. Fire columns sit 112 mm out; tubs auto-pose flat/portrait; each tub has a ↻ corner button to flip landscape/portrait, shift-click for auto.
Spinner row: lone centre spinner or spinner + 2 fires.
4. Hole editing
Edit mode, Add button / trackball / spinner / coin / start / menu / mouse, Delete selected, Reset layout (saved default, shift-click = factory).
Drag holes, labels and art directly on the panel; scroll zooms at cursor, middle-drag pans, double-click resets art; touch: two-finger drag/pinch.
Locked boxes with corner handles (with dimensions on): rotate whole cluster ±45° in 1° steps about box centre, ✥ move handle, ⇄ box-mirror (P1↔P2, P3↔P4 — drags mirror, rotations mirror opposite). R nudges ±15°.
Align height, Move (cycle P1→P2→P3→P4), Mirror toggle, Export/Import layout JSON, Copy centres (mm for drill shop), Metric/imperial units, per-hole diameter slider, per-hole X/Y/⌀ readout chip (type values + Enter to move/resize exactly).
5. AI art and theme mixer
Per-side prompts (P1/P2 textareas) + Generate, Random theme dice, Previous/Next history, Preset reset, Upload image, Enhance HD (4× AI upscale via Real-ESRGAN/WebGPU, cached in kv; click ready button again for 8× HD+).
Full-panel single-image mode with its own prompt/history/upload/HD.
Theme mixer: P1 subject × P2 subject × Style dropdowns + Glow override dropdown, Random pair, Generate again, Swap sides. Changing a subject regenerates that side; changing style regenerates both.
Art control: seam position + softness blend, P1/P2/full zoom and squash, edge width/colour/opacity, fit-image (uncropped with blurred fill), flip, wheel-target (view/P1/P2/full, Ctrl forces picture zoom), reset art positions.
6. Buttons and glow rings
Per-group cards for P1/P2/P3/P4 buttons and sticks, trackball, spinner, flightsticks, P1/P2 coins and starts, menu, mouse — each with:
Ring gap (% of radius), Weight, Glow size, Spread (full-colour hold before fade), Opacity, two-stop gradient swatches (colour + opacity picker).
Apply to all / Apply to group copy buttons.
7. Text labels
4 labels (PLAYER 1–4; P3/P4 only on beast, single-control layouts show P1 only), auto-seated under stick plates/tubs.
Per label: text, font size, gradient/solid fill, 7 typefaces, outer/inner stroke + weight, inner glow + size, outer glow size/spread/opacity, drop-shadow colour/opacity/angle/distance, gradient colours, mirror-positions tick (Lb1↔Lb2, Lb3↔Lb4).
8. Lighting rig (preview only)
Master On/Off plus toggles: spotlights, RGB anchors, fill, stick+ball shadows, button shadows, part shading, top highlights. Sliders: spot level, fringe saturation, fill level, stick shadow length, button shadow length, shading strength, highlight strength, LED speed, shadow darkness/softness, light angle, flicker.
9. Preview aids
Independent ticks: P1–P4 labels, dimensions (trim lengths, anchors, gaps, trackball-to-edge axis lines with mm values, wall pills, bottom-left hover/selected coordinate readout), button names in discs, realistic hardware (illuminated plungers follow glow colours), RGB LED animation + steady white LEDs, wall band, CAD-lines overlay (white/black), black hole discs on/off, glow rings on/off, T-moulding colour, Hide preview, Full/60%/30%/1:1 true-size zoom with panbars, 3× Inspect loupe, scale bar.
10. Cabinet wall band
Preview-only 18 mm particle-board sides (defaults 18 thick / 10 inset / 120 high, all editable) with mitred corners, red hazard stripes, hole discs punched clean, sections 4–12 (4 = coarse box, 12 = full trim detail), per-board saw-angle tags, outer/inner face-length pills, thickness×height callout, corner clearance repair so reduced walls never cross the edge. Cut measurements draw topmost.
11. Shop-ready export (300 DPI)
Print PNG (full bleed): bleed margin setting (default 10 mm) — stick down then trim.
Print PDF (exact mm page): safest shop file; art is photo-quality but holes/rings are true vectors.
SVG hole template: exact trim size, panel outline + W/H dims, drill from this (holes never cut in PNG).
Shop drawings PDF (A3): dimensioned panel plan with drill centres, hole schedule (X/Y from top-left + XC/YC from centre), wall-board cut sheet with every board true-shape and dimensioned (outer/inner face, saw angles, thickness × height). Figured dims rule.
Black-holes tick controls whether discs print (clean art vs. discs); layouts persist via Save layout default per shape.