New Skin, Slate

[tschak909]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to make an example skin that didn't require dipping into Designer AT ALL. All I did was change the bitmap images.

Screenies: http://www.localeconcept.com/pub/slate-screenies/
Skin: http://tschak.homelinux.com/xfer/Slate.tar.gz <-- temporary place, this will be folded into 0810.

Come on guys, let's get cracking!

-Thom

[skeptic]

While on the sujbect, is it possible to use different shapes for the various buttons as long as they are roughly the same size for a skin only (no HA Designer work) update?

For the more newbie question - without replacing the existing UI1/UI2 bitmaps, how can we use new bit-map modified only skins?

[hari]

nice work tschak! GO TSCHAK GO! :-)

[tschak909]

While on the sujbect, is it possible to use different shapes for the various buttons as long as they are roughly the same size for a skin only (no HA Designer work) update?

For the more newbie question - without replacing the existing UI1/UI2 bitmaps, how can we use new bit-map modified only skins?

1. yes, they are just bitmap replacements

2. You need to create an entry in the Skin table, following the one for Basic as the pattern (be sure not to fill in the psc_foo fields.)

3. once a skin is finished, work with us, and we'll fold it in as a package, and make  it so that it will install the bitmap graphics when requested automatically.

Slate will be folded into the release.

-Thom

[skeptic]

I'm not really comfortable messing with SQL tables...  I suppose I can copy out the default UI bitmap directories (tar them up or something), then put updated bitmaps there to check them out.  I simply don't have time to dig in and learn HA Designer or do other dev work (not a programmer so I wouldn't do actual dev work anyway), but I may take a crack at new skins.

For UI2 overlay vs. alpha, is there anything I should be aware of?

[tschak909]

No, DO NOT DO THAT. EVER.

Just use MySQL Query Browser to make a new row in the skin table, make a copy of the Basic folder under /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins with the name of your new skin and put that in the Path column of your new row.

This way, you can also make entries in Style and StyleVariation to change text styles, and things like data grid colours.

What I do to make that possible is, in a console:

Code:

sudo ln -s /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins /home/skins
sudo chmod ugo+rwx /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins

You then can connect to the \\dcerouter\home share, and put graphics in the skins folder.

With this done, you can select the skin in wizard > orbiters and do a full regen of the orbiter to see your new skin changes. You must do a full regen every time while in development, because this way it ensures you'll see the changes.

As for UI2 considerations, you must understand that in UI2 masked, any alpha channel value below 255 is black, in other words, the alpha channel gets flattened to a GIF-like matte.

-Thom

[skeptic]

No, DO NOT DO THAT. EVER.

Oh, ok then.  I figured I'd do it in a vbox install so as not to endanger my actual setup, but I can try to do it the correct way.

Just use MySQL Query Browser to make a new row in the skin table, make a copy of the Basic folder under /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins with the name of your new skin and put that in the Path column of your new row.

Ok, I'll give that a try when I get a chance

This way, you can also make entries in Style and StyleVariation to change text styles, and things like data grid colours.

What I do to make that possible is, in a console:

Code:

sudo ln -s /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins /home/skins
sudo chmod ugo+rwx /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins

You then can connect to the \\dcerouter\home share, and put graphics in the skins folder.

With this done, you can select the skin in wizard > orbiters and do a full regen of the orbiter to see your new skin changes. You must do a full regen every time while in development, because this way it ensures you'll see the changes.

As for UI2 considerations, you must understand that in UI2 masked, any alpha channel value below 255 is black, in other words, the alpha channel gets flattened to a GIF-like matte.

-Thom

Ok, I'll try keep that in mind.  Thanks.

[totallymaxed]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to make an example skin that didn't require dipping into Designer AT ALL. All I did was change the bitmap images.

Screenies: http://www.localeconcept.com/pub/slate-screenies/
Skin: http://tschak.homelinux.com/xfer/Slate.tar.gz <-- temporary place, this will be folded into 0810.

Come on guys, let's get cracking!

-Thom

Looking good Thom :-)

Andrew