need info to make a custom whiz wheel [Archive]

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gutted

10-29-08, 05:54 PM

what software do you guys use to make those whiz-wheels or other dial-like things. also how do you go about ones that may have differing/progressive scales. .ie where one bit of info may advance from tick to tick on the wheel in a progressively larger fashion. and a different bit of info advances at a different rate. (sorta like the nomograph).

i'm pretty good with photoshop.. but i'm just wondering what you guys use to make them with; as accuracy needs to be spot on.

i have a need for a few custom wheels.

Hitman

10-30-08, 08:02 AM

I did most of my wiz-wheels using the old Paint Shop Pro 7. I searched the web for an accurate template of the style of wheel I wanted to do, and then I simply drawed mine in a new layer over that graphic. Worked very well always.

I admit it is a bit of a prehistoric method pf doing things, and labour intensive, but hey I'm spaniard and that's how we do everything, and why our coutry is still lagging so much behind the rest of the developed world :lol:

Dietrich

10-30-08, 09:17 AM

I've not done much on this, but I once did a sort of nomograph chart which I coded up in PostScript (as a programming language, not a printer file format). I used GSview to convert it to a PNG and I then used that as a layer in Gimp to generate the actual graphics for the game.

Graf Paper

10-30-08, 12:01 PM

There was someone who had released a printable Whiz Wheel based on the actual tool used by the Kriegsmarine. It is a series of high-res bitmaps that you could print out and then layer them together to make a working wheel.

Fortunately for you, gutted, I have these files and have uploaded them to my FileFront account for you to download. I think it is exactly what you're looking for. :know:

Link here---> KM_Whiz_Wheel_1.0_SW (http://files.filefront.com/KM+Wiz+wheel+10+SWzip/;12203826;/fileinfo.html)

Sailor Steve

10-30-08, 12:10 PM

That would be Hitman, who already posted above.

Graf Paper

10-30-08, 01:25 PM

I'll be dang-digitty-doggone! :huh:

You're absolutely right, Steve. I took a closer look at the documentation included and it is indeed Hitman's handiwork. I should have known! :lol:

Did I ever tell you how much I love that Whiz Wheel and that you did an awesome job creating it, Hitman? :rock:

Hitman

10-30-08, 02:58 PM

LOL thanks, even if you didn't read the readme as I see :rotfl:

:up:

Graf Paper

10-30-08, 03:43 PM

Oh, I read the readme. I just neglected to scroll all the way to the bottom, once I'd covered the info needed to print and assemble the Whiz Wheel. :oops:

Better late than never? :lol:

gutted

10-30-08, 03:51 PM

cool stuff

thanks.

Hitman

10-31-08, 08:00 AM

BTW this all reminds me that I did an improved version of the wiz-wheel some time ago but I never uploaded it since I lacked the time to do again a tutorial/manual :88) I hope that I will be able to do it somewhen :damn:

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/5585/previewhq1.th.jpg (http://img411.imageshack.us/my.php?image=previewhq1.jpg)http://img411.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

UberTorpedo

10-31-08, 08:17 AM

Hitman,

Very nice :up:. Could you upload :yep:?

UberTorpedo

joegrundman

10-31-08, 10:21 AM

I used photoshop for the pictures and a spreadsheet to convert the required equation to a deflection in degrees for all the required solutions

I then used the rotate function to rotate a vertical line the required number of degrees from the centre which i then used as the base for the mark on the whiz wheel

gutted

10-31-08, 03:49 PM

when you print out that AOB wheel.. what do you use to make the transparent thingies?

Myxale

11-01-08, 04:25 AM

Hitman

11-01-08, 06:10 AM

when you print out that AOB wheel.. what do you use to make the transparent thingies?

I used ordinary transparency sheets for projectors (Transparent plastic sheets designed for normal home printers. You should be able to find them in any stationer's) and then I took it to laminate in hard plastic. The result is very, very good. Hard enough to be solid, but soft enough to be cut well with sharp scissors. :up:

Hitman

11-01-08, 06:16 AM

Look, these are my wiz-wheels (German and American one):

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4607/dsc01898ya5.th.jpg (http://img352.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01898ya5.jpg)http://img352.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

Myxale

11-01-08, 08:54 AM

Hitman, is there some place whereI can get the Aces of the Deep PQ maps!:hmm:
I remember seeing a link to a dl place years ago!

Pisces

11-04-08, 06:24 PM

I once made an attempt to make a whizwheel using a AutoCAD-clone program but it was never finnished. (and lost it due to drive formating ) I went crazy with too many fine marks that cluttered up and never found a way to turn this vector/line drawing into a high resolution bitmap. But it printed as sharp as Bernard's razor. ;)

I had an excel spreadsheet to turn numbers 1.00 to 10.0 (or similarly sin(5.7 degrees) to sin(90 degrees), into their LOG() and multiply that by 360 degrees to get the polar coordinate angle of the mark. Then copied those angles into the commandline area to draw the lines. You may need to rotate and mirror everything eventually as the drawing software may have it's own ideas on what direction 0 degrees should point to and increase to. (upwards and clockwise as in a compass, or right and counterCW as in a mathematical XY-graph) But the above only works for wheels that need to multiply/divide. Which is the most common operation anyway. Subtracting/Adding needs ordinary linear scales.

UberTorpedo

11-04-08, 08:35 PM

@Myxale

Danlisa has the AOD maps dl on his filefront acount :D ==> http://files.filefront.com/ACESzip/;9570196;/fileinfo.html

UberTorpedo

Myxale

11-05-08, 03:10 AM

:rock:
Have a U-Boot special coctail on me mate!:up: