Blue Devil Skin RELEASED - Page 48

miwise · 11-29-2006, 07:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ajamils

I finally gave up on flash

. It seemed to work for sometime but as soon as I went to the second menu...everything just freezes. I tried many different things but nothing seemed to work. I came across another interesting problem...and that is, if I play around with OCX (flash) files too much....RR stops working

(ya...I know its strange) and nothing but a new install of Winamp would fix it. What happens is that RR just stop responding on the splash screen (where it says "Loading Winamp"). Flash is just too much trouble. I guess, i'm better off without the clock

.

Another thing, I got the visualization working but its not an analyzer. What I'm getting is checkered screen which changes colors and moves around......

Try going to display Propertys, Settings, Advanced, then Troubleshooting and bump the slider down one or so knotches and see if that helps. I was having flash issues as well, and this cured all of my problems. I believe that it's an incompatibility b/w your display drivers and something in flash or roadrunner. I believe you will see a big difference.

montgomeryt · 11-29-2006, 11:18 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

I can't get Gas mapping to work for the life of me. When I click map-it it goes back to iG3, then I get the hour glass for about 5-seconds, then iG's main menu is brought up. That's all it does. Any clue?

Hey RPM do you have a n-lite version of XP ? I do and mine doesn't work but I got an error something about "No scripting engine installed". Don't know if that helps or not.

GizmoQ · 11-29-2006, 11:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

On another note, if you are trying to get the new visualization working, after following all the steps in the help file, in the configuration for the visualization, go to the file menu, and load the preset in the in the AVS/Blue Devil folder. then close the configuration screen then Winamp. This sets it to the last visualization used, and will then appear when you start Road Runner. The key is to get it working in Winamp outside of Road Runner correctly.

I have updated this in the help file, and will have this info in the next release.

After all that is done I still have one little problem. I have to move the vis window while outside of RR to the spot where it will be in when I run RR. I thought this vis was supposed to be embedded, i.e., RR grabs it and puts it in the proper place (like RR does with Freedrive)? I only ask because I use several skins and when I switch from one to another, the vis doesn't embed in the correct spot on any of them unless I exit RR, run Winamp, open the vis, then move it and resize it to the appropriate location.

JohnWPB · 11-30-2006, 12:40 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by GizmoQ

After all that is done I still have one little problem. I have to move the vis window while outside of RR to the spot where it will be in when I run RR. I thought this vis was supposed to be embedded, i.e., RR grabs it and puts it in the proper place (like RR does with Freedrive)? I only ask because I use several skins and when I switch from one to another, the vis doesn't embed in the correct spot on any of them unless I exit RR, run Winamp, open the vis, then move it and resize it to the appropriate location.

Well I am glad it is not just the Blue Devil skin with the problems hehehe. This tells me, more than likely, it HAS to be a setting in RRConfig.

In RRConfig, make sure you have the visualization set up like the following screen cap:

When using the Milkdrop visualization, select it in the Winamp list, and click configure, on the very first screen there is "Integrate with Winamp" you want to make sure that is not check marked.

I hope this helps!

.

JohnWPB · 11-30-2006, 02:51 AM

Ok Guys, I think it's time for me to start on a new version of this skin. It will be very similar in layout, with different icons and a different look. With creating this skin, there is one thing that comes immediately to mind: Not everyone is happy with blue in their cars

In fact, the VERY first comment on the skin, back in September, before it was even released made that clear:

Quote: Originally Posted by nitropwd

I like it.....but i hope you will release the .psd's or give a choice of color.

So, my next skin (Which is QUITE some time away, as it is JUST in the though process so far!) So don't start asking when will it be done

Is going to be called "Chameleon". That kind of lets the cat out of the bag there. The skin will rely HEAVILY on semi transparent buttons. This will open up a whole new world of possibilities. By simply changing the background color of the Photoshop PSD's, it will be possible to change the entire color of the skin!

Below are just a few concept images. The bevel on the buttons may change, the transparency level, or a host of other things. I simply drug the buttons from the existing skin to give somewhat of an idea of what it will look like. The icons are missing from the menu, as I will have to re-do all of them with a neutral color, as the blue background on the icons looks terrible on anything but a blue background

Again, these are just ROUGH images. The ONLY thing changed in the variations below are just the background colors. One of the black backgrounds has a tile filter on the background which gives it kind of a carbon fiber look. On another one I added a wallpaper I had, just to show how the transparency works. (I have no intentions of putting a turtle in the background of the menu screens!

So let me know what you guys think... is this a good or bad idea? Should the buttons end up being darker than the background color? (I can do this by adding a "gray mask" in the button area's) I could also make the buttons lighter than the background by adding a "white mask", but it doesn't work for all colors, for instance the red background makes the buttons look like a deep shade of pink when lightened!.

I am open to any and all suggestions and welcome them!

.

GizmoQ · 11-30-2006, 03:26 AM

O.K. that didn't help. Oh well, I'll just have to use the "Other" and move it manually for every skin.

May I make a suggestion? On my skins where I have press and hold options, like Chuck, I put subtext on the buttons that are almost like watermarks cause the colors are so close, but this is a subtle reminder of the buttons other function. Just a thought for those of us getting senile in our old age.

JohnWPB · 11-30-2006, 03:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by GizmoQ

O.K. that didn't help. Oh well, I'll just have to use the "Other" and move it manually for every skin.

What version of WInamp are you using? When I was chatting with Liquid Smoke the other night, we both noticed that the latest version of winamp and Road Runner do not play nicely together. Thinking about it, it was an embedding problem! Do a search for Winamp 5.13 and give that a try. It is a couple versions back, and you really do not lose any functionality whatsoever. That versions works perfectly for me, as it also did with Liquid Smoke. It HAS to be a version problem, or setting somewhere, as this is happening with all of your skins. I doubt it, but anything is worth a shot, so try update your VBRuntime files and give that a try. One last note, are you using a stripped down version like a N-Lite build of XP by any chance?

Oh, thats a good suggestion for the buttons with multiple commands (tap -vs- press and hold). I will try to get that incorporated into the next version.

GizmoQ · 11-30-2006, 03:44 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnWPB

So let me know what you guys think... is this a good or bad idea? Should the buttons end up being darker than the background color? (I can do this by adding a "gray mask" in the button area's) I could also make the buttons lighter than the background by adding a "white mask", but it doesn't work for all colors, for instance the red background makes the buttons look like a deep shade of pink when lightened!.

I am open to any and all suggestions and welcome them!.

Looking at these pics and having just played with KPJUK's minimal skin, I thought, wouldn't it be great to combine/mix the two together. You could keep the Blue Devil style and create backgrounds for your users to select their background colors or even set the timer to switch between them. This would also allow end-users to edit backgrounds easily for custom colors - its real easy to grab a jpg and adjust its brightness, hue and contrast - all of a sudden users have millions of colors available and you don't have to go in and edit PSDs anymore. We'll keep you busy creating multiple button patterns like KPJUK is doing (the walnut is sweet!)

turbocad6 · 11-30-2006, 09:51 AM

I think that's an awsome idea... I've toyed with the idea myself.... I'm making a new skin for myself, & I am using blue devil as the backbone to start with, but adding my own graphics & moving stuff around & changing alot of stuff... I have asked kpjuk about his transparency methods, & I think I kinda get it, but there is an issue with it not scaling, that, & it looks like it's pretty different from a standard skin... AND the skin editor doesn't even know what to do with a skin like that from my tests...... it appears to me that everything would need to be done by hand, & it's different enough that I'm not 100% confident that I can do this transparency thing really myself....

I am building my skin at 768x1024... I love the look of an abstract or muted background image in my skins & have been doing this for personal use for a while now, but my method has always been to just set up my psd's with all the screens, & then I can build different skins with different backgrounds by just showing the background I want & saving all the jpgs 1 by 1 until all the images are done.... it works for me so far, but to be able to do just 1 skin & then be able to change the backgrounds would be sweeeeet indeed

john, from what you know, how would scaling the skin with transparency be handled, would you be able to do it & still have it work at different resolutions?

man, I wish I had the time to spend many hours a day working on this stuff, but that's not always possible.... this is my latest in progress....

SteveC · 11-30-2006, 12:44 PM

We need a (complete) set of PSDs that we can add our own texture layers to - that would work for a lot of people. That's how I created this example from the days of Frodo (RIP) by taking an existing skin PSD and simply layering with a new background - it makes for unlimited possibilities.

SteveC · 11-30-2006, 12:59 PM

Or you could even do something like this

http://www.carpcs.net/hue

LOL

Lucky13ESP · 11-30-2006, 01:39 PM

John WPB:
Would it be possible to host the RR beta release temporarily on your site since the site you linked to is currenlty down?

turbocad6 · 11-30-2006, 01:59 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by SteveC

Or you could even do something like this

http://www.carpcs.net/hue

LOL

that would drive me nutz....

SteveC · 11-30-2006, 02:24 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

that would drive me nutz....

I know - but if you touched the screen to change the color then it might work - so like on some of the headunits you could cycle through the colors.

There are two points of view regarding front end interfaces - are we going for ease of use (sort of the Bose approach) or are we going for 'bling bling' - sort of the RCA/Jensen approach.

The first one is the one that we want to live with on a day to day basis and the second is when we get someone we want to impress in the car. (bit like those huge mufflers - looks great around town but you sure as heck don't want to drive coast to coast with it!)

I find John's Blue Devil is a good mix of the two.

JohnWPB · 11-30-2006, 04:23 PM

A LOT of good idea's here! The one with the changing Hue is really kewl, but I see no way of incorporating a java script, or any other script to rotate the colors like that. Plus, I don't necessarily like the logo's and icons also changing hue, the Mitsubishi doesn't look so good in puke green

Seems we all agree about the background being "alterable". The way I am planning on going about it is I will make the PSD's available, as well as a few variations preset and ready to download. Changing JUST the BG image, does not change the Buttons colors ect. That HAS to be done with transparancy. On all the above example's, the buttons ect are static colors. I am leaning more towards BOTH the BG and the buttons colors changing by altering the Background.

Again, this skin has been altered, adjusted, layouts such as the audio screen changed, functions added and so much to make it as easy to use and functional as possible. I am not about to throw that all away, and start completely over. This new skin will use ALL of that, and will basically just be a "face lift" using all the existing .skin files, and just altering the graphics portion.

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