Win $25 for designing the best skin for the Fusion Brain's Software!

**turbocad6** · 07-24-2007, 01:55 AM

I've just been way too busy man, I havn't even opened my triple boxed package yet

soon

so when are we going to get some nice documentation or are you still upgrading & rewriting? I kinda stopped when you said stop cause your rewriting, then never started again

I got a new vehicle that I'm building & your brain will be a part of that one too, literally & figuratively I guess really

**2k1Toaster** · 07-24-2007, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by turbocad6

I've just been way too busy man, I havn't even opened my triple boxed package yet

soon

so when are we going to get some nice documentation or are you still upgrading & rewriting? I kinda stopped when you said stop cause your rewriting, then never started again

I got a new vehicle that I'm building & your brain will be a part of that one too, literally & figuratively I guess really

My brain will be in your car!

Well the updating is done as far as I can see for the functionality of skinning. So any future updates should not effect any skins. The major change was that all the inputs evaluate a function now instead of hardcoded forumulas.

I too have been quite busy since I got off vacation, but I am trying! There is just so much to doucment...

**turbocad6** · 07-24-2007, 02:08 AM

I know man, I wish I could help, but you'd have to write it down for me first

**neil_ross** · 07-24-2007, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by turbocad6

doing the needles isn't that crazy really, if the gauges are all the background image for that page then you would need maybe 30 different needle images, maybe 2 times for large & small. that's not hard at all & could be done, what are you thinking that would be "several thousand" images???

even if the gauges are all individual, you just assemble them into a background image & they stay static

you then create a square image & put a pinpoint in the center, this is the point the needle rotates on, 30 images should be more than enough resolution, these same 30 images can be ALL the needles for ALL the gauges, the square needs to be transparent though, that's were saving as a *.png comes in, cause png's support transparency so the gauge shows & the only non transparent part, which is the needle itself shows on top of the gauge.

each sensor reading would corilate to an image, from 1-30... no thousands of images necissary

i understand the saving as a .png, this would be the same as saving as a .gif wouldnt it?

when i said about thousands of images i meant for something like RPM, you would need loads for the needle to flow rather than jump a gap each time, i did start making the needle and had it rotate as it should, but it just seems that to make it look good and flow you need to to do alot of images, of course for something like a fuel guage it wouldnt be so bad as it wouldnt notice so much.

i think im gonna go with the Road Runner one im making as it wouldnt look out of place when i bring it up.

Is there a way opening the brain fusion skin/software from the main page of road runner? or would i just have to put it in the applications page? it would be nice to have it open up like Freedrive etc.

oh and is this competition still going? not fussed if not as im gonna make it either way.

cheers for the advice though mate.

**2k1Toaster** · 07-24-2007, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by neil_ross

i understand the saving as a .png, this would be the same as saving as a .gif wouldnt it?

Not the same. A *.gif has transparency but it is either transparent or not. A *.png can make any pixel any percent of transparent. So a *.gif is where it is 0% or 100% transparent. And a *.png is where it is anything between 0% and 100% so it overlays better expecially with shadows and such.

Originally Posted by neil_ross

when i said about thousands of images i meant for something like RPM, you would need loads for the needle to flow rather than jump a gap each time, i did start making the needle and had it rotate as it should, but it just seems that to make it look good and flow you need to to do alot of images, of course for something like a fuel guage it wouldnt be so bad as it wouldnt notice so much.

i think im gonna go with the Road Runner one im making as it wouldnt look out of place when i bring it up.

I will look into doing something with a rotate command. You will need to have a good image for it to work. If I can ever widdle down all the stuff I need to do, I will try this. Consider it on the list.

Originally Posted by neil_ross

Is there a way opening the brain fusion skin/software from the main page of road runner? or would i just have to put it in the applications page? it would be nice to have it open up like Freedrive etc.

Roadrunner can launch an application from a skin button just like gps. I dont really know the command but it exists. So yes you can make the default BMV2 skin's "radio" button into the brain button or something. It is all possible.

Originally Posted by neil_ross

oh and is this competition still going? not fussed if not as im gonna make it either way.

Yup still going. The only entrants so far, would be... well me.

So if it were over I would have won.

I guess nobody wanted to make a skin without a skin designer and the promise of one coming. Now that it is out, I hope more people will try. It isn't as time consuming as it looks since it is drag and drop.

**neil_ross** · 07-24-2007, 05:17 PM

cool, i dont quite understand what you said about the .png but i shall take your word for it! lol

i shall find out about opening the brain in RR as this is what i would want to do!

As fo making a skin for others to use, all i realy need to do is save the images ready for people to add what functions they want dont I? appart from adding the relevant buttons to mr RR skin, what more would i need to do?

**2k1Toaster** · 07-24-2007, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by neil_ross

cool, i dont quite understand what you said about the .png but i shall take your word for it! lol

i shall find out about opening the brain in RR as this is what i would want to do!

As fo making a skin for others to use, all i realy need to do is save the images ready for people to add what functions they want dont I? appart from adding the relevant buttons to mr RR skin, what more would i need to do?

Just zip up everything as you layed it out. So if someone were to unzip the folder into the application director it would work.

And for the png vs. gif... Well you know how sometimes with transparent gifs you get that wierd colouring around the edges? With a png that never happens because the outsides can be fully transparent (seethrough) but the edges could be like 80% see through and then 60%, 40%, 20% making it sort of meld together better.

**neil_ross** · 07-25-2007, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Just zip up everything as you layed it out. So if someone were to unzip the folder into the application director it would work.

And for the png vs. gif... Well you know how sometimes with transparent gifs you get that wierd colouring around the edges? With a png that never happens because the outsides can be fully transparent (seethrough) but the edges could be like 80% see through and then 60%, 40%, 20% making it sort of meld together better.

ok so i put ALL the functions i have made onto the skin? i dont think all the bars/graphs will fit as im making loads so people can just add what they want to display.

**2k1Toaster** · 07-25-2007, 03:06 PM

There is no size limit to the skins or anything whatever you make will "fit". Also I am experimenting on a rotating image sort of deal so hold off on making all those dials for a day or so to save you some work... No promises yet, but I think I can make it work.

**neil_ross** · 07-25-2007, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

There is no size limit to the skins or anything whatever you make will "fit". Also I am experimenting on a rotating image sort of deal so hold off on making all those dials for a day or so to save you some work... No promises yet, but I think I can make it work.

that would be well cool!

im having a couple or problems with the RR skin im making, please forgive me fo asking stupid questions but its all new to me!

anyway, im just doing a few testers to get a feel for things BUT, when ive put the digital output buttons on my skin, i open it and the ones towards the bottom are slightly off the page, even though i changed it to 600x800 and also they come out with a bit of a blur on them, oh and when i press one, they ALL show the down image rather than just the one ive pressed.

Any ideas what im doing wrong?