Ok so heres my idea. I want to do something to my case that looks like theres nothing there, until the light is turned on then you see the design. Lemme explain. I want to cut a design into the top of my case, cut a piece of plexi so it is flush with the top, place leds around the edge, cover the bottom so the light wont go into the case and to top it all off the reflective black film. I have a black gloss case, so when the lights are off you dont see anything, but when you turn the leds on BAM cool design. Kinda like the turn signals that they place in side mirrors on newer vehicles! See any pros? cons? Any clue where I could get the film?

Sounds similar in concept to Macro Black to me. Worked well there! Oftentimes you'd find such film at auto parts stores, especially the kind that carry a lot of bling accessories.

Perfect! Thats exactly what I need, now I know it will ......work!

Edit: Quick question, I plan on lighting it with red leds, right now I am thinking of using my clan name for the design it is this => [RAA]-=Kr1cH=- Thats gonna be a lot of leds! anyone think elwire would be bright enough to w...ork in this application? this design will pretty much take up the entire top fo the case. Also if anyone here has access to a machine that could accurately cut this how much would you charge to do it?

Edit: I also thought about running a 12" cold cathode down each side, and then 4" cold cathodes on the ends, then periodically throughout the design, between letters

At least LED's are cheap. You could get 20 bright red ones for $9 at DragonModz, if you don't mind wiring them up yourself. Check out the top of this rig (also in the PR gallery here). He's got a total of 6-8 LED's lighting it (two sets of "Lazer" LED arrays, which have 3-4 LED's each). I think the reason he needed so few is that he uses UV cathodes, so the LED's don't get drowned out.

Red cathodes would be simple and put out a huge amount of light, though you may want to wrap them in red cellophane to make them more red than pink. You might do fine with just the two 12" lights.

EL wire wouldn't be bright enough (unless you're visibly lining the edges of the letters with it, in which case you'd need lots of it). It's usually used only in direct-view applications, rather than for giving off light. EL panels might work, but they get real expensive for the big ones.

Well I won't be using cold cathodes for this for two reasons; 1.) I dont have enough room at the top of my case. There is barely 1/4" between my power supply and the top, and 2.) http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread.php?t=20092

It baffles me why manufacturers don't tint the tubes of the red cathodes a deeper red. Sure, it would make them slightly dimmer, but then if people needed brighter, they'd just buy more (oh no, not more sales!). So instead you get people returning them (understandably) because they're pink or orange.

So, how are your soldering/electronics skills? If they're good, you can easily wire up a bunch of LED's and resistors in a couple big Christmas-tree-light-type chains. Jonny has a good thread on this here (my apologies if you're already familiar with all that stuff). Course, the easy way out is Lazer LED assemblies, but you don't get the satisfaction of DIY, or the ability to fine-tune where they shine...

Hate to take business away from a fellow PR member but LSDiodes sells all kind of leds (of varing luminosity and size) as well as resistors (so you can save time and $).
Multicolored leds are there as well.

Edit: I bought two white Cathodes (to cellophane wrap) and come to find out Wally World nor any other place here sells [colored] cellophane! Wally World gave me the 'we don't sell it now but we probably will @ the holidays'. GRRR!!

hey lsdiodes now carrys luxeon products. i reeomend you use those instead of 5mm LEDs since a 1 watt can be as bright as 10 or more 5mm LEDs. they might be too expensive for you so you could look into the other high flux LEDs for cheaper.