[Keycap inventory] Inventory of some light-transmitting keycaps (1)

Air G Pure

AirC concrete forest

These two sets of colored transparent keycaps are works from Deadline Studio. In fact, I personally like these two works very much. It is obvious that they have been designed with great effort. The model used for these two sets of keyboards is their upcoming kit - Newretro#66. If you are interested, you can pay attention to it.

Let me briefly introduce the studio first. Deadline Studio is a new studio established this year. I don’t know much about the stories behind them. If there is a chance, I will definitely write a column to share with you. The name is actually quite meaningful (I understand it personally), Deadline-the last date, the deadline, this translation name actually echoes the frequent delays and cooing phenomena in the keyboard circle, but their first set of keycaps is Those who start a group in stock are even more humorous. ?

The characters of this set of keycaps are independently designed by them, and the fonts are also authorized. Regarding the font, I personally think it is quite satisfactory, and the symbol design is quite good. While making a distinction, it is overall coordinated and unified in style. The character process is hardened pad printing, and there will be no feeling of protruding characters when used, which is worthy of praise.

In terms of color design inspiration, here is a design introduction from their studio:

AirC/Concrete Forest:

dark tone design

Inspired by a night of working overtime alone

Will there be someone like me in the dots of light outside the window.

The reinforced concrete is like a forest, and the lights are like fireflies.

AirG/pure:

Transparent + fluorescent green

Pure transparency is like the basic color of the color card and cannot be absent.

Neon green accents.

Being able to tell stories is indeed very important in the customization circle. A good story can not only build a bridge of communication with consumers, but also a magic weapon for Karma. Regardless of this poem, from the promotional pictures and product design of their studio, it can be seen that it is a studio with ideas. This alone is enough to throw off many manufacturers. It is also an important driving force for consumers to pay for products.

Real shots of products from zf ok wood

I personally think the best thing about this product is that it has a very good appearance even if it is not turned on, and I can get a very good score in my heart as a loyal lover of solid color blackout keycaps.

Real shot from zf ChengChengCheng with the lights on

It can be clearly seen that the area on the right uses a transparent shaft body. You can see that the transparent effect is very good. If you are a player who likes RGB very much, you need to use some RGB specialized shaft body to use the effect better. Good, for example, some of Jiadalong's transparent shafts use the transparent shafts of the upper cover condenser 2.0, including the North Pole shaft and so on. In fact, you can see it in the main key area. The color of this keycap is relatively dark, and it will reflect dark blue light under natural light. After the general shaft body passes through the light, the color will tend to the color of the keycap. One point, I personally don't dislike it, because I don't like colorful RGB, I prefer a color range with a unique style.

From zf Aozora' kit is U80

Concrete forest is really a very distinctive transparent keycap, and its matching is not difficult, because compared with many solid-color keycaps, even if the colors are made of dark blue and khaki, transparent materials can also be used. Makes him very versatile. There is no need to worry about matching issues.

base: ￥449

numpad: $89

mac: $89

spacebar: ￥49

Novelist: ￥99

To sum up, good-looking is really good-looking, and expensive is really expensive. The price of this set of keycaps can be said to be no less than that of two-color molded keycaps in China. And there will inevitably be common problems with pc keycaps in the use experience, so please think twice before buying. From my point of view, it is worth paying for the design if you like it.

PS: Some people reported that the unreasonable packaging design of the keycaps caused scratches on the hands, but now there should be no need to worry.

qq dialogue

Taihao outer packaging

Different from ordinary light-transmitting keycaps, Taihao is a two-color keycap made by secondary molding process, and the height is similar to the OEM height of the original factory.

Red and green color matching

Red and blue color matching

pure black

Briefly, Taihao is a keycap manufacturer from Taiwan. At first, it also produced and sold finished keyboards. However, due to the poor sales of the products, the boss found another way and started to focus on keycap production. The brand history is relatively long, since 1962.

The characteristic of the keycap is that it is made by the secondary molding process, so the feel should be much better than that of the PC keycap. Of course, Taihao’s keycaps have always been very thin. To put it nicely, it is called restoring the sound of the shaft body. , To put it bluntly, there is nothing to tell.

The back of Taihao

It can be seen from the back that the first layer of Taihao’s secondary molding uses very little material. The injection molding glue is only the upper layer, and the side is almost absent. Of course, thanks to this, Taihao’s light transmission The effect is also very good.

wob light transmission effect

Photo by zf ZJay

Photo by zf Reactor

It can be seen that the lighting effect of Taihao is similar to that of ambient lights, and it can also show a different style when the amount of light is appropriate, which is very textured. Of course, there are also some weird lighting effects that need to be adjusted by the user.

I think Taihao's smoky quartz is precisely the least worry about this problem, the main reason is that their color matching is very rich. Including the translucent keycaps in some other sets of Taihao

Taihao Casino Wind and Cloud (Authorized Genuine Edition) Dice Supplement

Of course, Taihao is slightly inferior in terms of texture, and it is also related to the precision of their craftsmanship, including the materials used.

The current market price of Taihao:

A little over 200 yuan - 300 yuan capped.

This price is not expensive, and it is not cheap, but as a spot and Taiwan product, this price is quite reasonable. The purchase channel is also relatively simple, and the distributed products can be purchased on Taobao.

To sum up, Taihao, as the little king of domestic two-color keycaps in the early days, is indeed a bit too slow now, and the product itself is worthy of the price, but I still hope that Taihao can continue to improve its craftsmanship and make better products.

Speaking of light-transmitting keycaps, this young studio has a bit of a knack for it.

pixel universe

Fingertips is a studio that will officially land on the platform in 2021. Don't underestimate this studio, their design level is really not to be underestimated, and they also have a certain backing.

This set of keycaps uses a slightly different process, which is made of two-color injection molding of two materials. The solid color part is made of PBT material, and the surface is printed by PBT sublimation process, while the transparent part is made of PC material. It is worth mentioning that the pc of this set of keycaps is not pure, but frosted. The advantage of this is that the light is more even and not dazzling when it comes out.

Gears of War Collaboration

The Morse code set of keycaps was originally a joint keycap with CIY, but there is no new news about the pie picture of War Machine.

The design of Morse code "is embellished with willow tea, star orange, white and orange, giving a strong visual impact"

from IN peripheral

Pixel Universe is a typical video game theme of Pac-Man, which uses a lot of pixel game elements.

IN peripheral shooting effect

Fingertip Wenchuang’s keycaps are of OEM height, so don’t worry about the problem of card lights and shafts, and then the color matching. In fact, the colors of these two sets are not all-match, but the color requirements are not very high. The same color and Both white and black can be matched. At the same time, Fingertip Wenchuang has launched in August

Black through

white

The color matching of these two light-transmitting keycaps is easier, but I am not willing to buy the keycaps without design, but the price of these two models should be lower.

Activity price: 299 Original price:399

Straight to the point, it was expected. In fact, better-made keycaps are not cheap. This price can be considered as an active price. I think the original price can be considered if I really like it. Considering the original design and craftsmanship value, I personally think it is reasonable to sell this price.

To sum up, I hope that Fingertips can produce more good keycaps with original designs, and at the same time do more activities, and appropriately price the activities, so that more consumers can buy the keycaps they like.