Skin: Clarity (2 Viewers)

[knutinh]

I dunno the stuff behind the scenes - and my visually creative skills are zero =) I do play the piano, however.

What does making a skin really consist of? I envision some stages:

1. Sketch up mockup pages in photoshop or something, placing visual elements, working with colors etc.

2. Make all the artwork in adobe illustrator and/or processing photographic elements

3. Design the logic where every button press leads to some menu etc (dunno if skins are allowed this deep into MP?)

4. Code the actual skin (in xml), using elements from 1-3 and connecting to function names, state machines etc in MP. Enter pixel-values for sizes and positions etc.


Is there any way that this process could be more of an art-production work, and leaving xml production to an application? It isnt very different from designing complex webpages is it?

-k

 

[smnnekho]

for no3:

every window (or screen) in MP has a specific windowID

every function/Action has a specific ActionID

within a skins XML you can call those with e.g. a button, so yes, the skin is allowed that deep in MP (-;

 

[knutinh]

Is there a "statemachine" describing the state of all logic? I did some simple gui application progging once, and I found that I had to separate GUI from application and keep a structure somewhere between those where everythings state was kept so that both GUI and application could read and write its values...

For instance, can a skinmaker define an entirely new popup window that contains buttons that noone ever heard of, trigging methods/functions anywhere in MP? Is it possible for a skin maker to make a popup in My TV controlling the playback of My Music?

-k

 

[smnnekho]

well the abilities of the skinning engine surely has it's limitations. for example, you can't add buttons to the context menu since it's hardcoded. nevertheless, you surely can make a new popup with your own buttons and - like mentioned above - you can make it show every information any other screen could possible provide. for example it coul be labeled with

#currentplaytime or buttons labeld with functions like action 77 (FastForward music) or whatever you can think of... sometimes it's tricky but theres always a way. this popup could e.g. be started by an additional button in the TV-OSD or mapped on a key on your remote

but still: remember that music and Tv can't play at the same time (-;

 

[knutinh]

So, do the average skinner use most of the time for points 1,2,3 or 4? =)

(stupid question, I know)

-k

 

[Raven]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been around for a LOOONG while. My life has been crazy since christmas really. As things are slowly going back to normal I have picked up work on Clarity. I will also work on getting Razor fully compatible with the latest release of MP. Clarity is not far from finished so you can expect a public beta within a couple of weeks.

 

[knutinh]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been around for a LOOONG while. My life has been crazy since christmas really. As things are slowly going back to normal I have picked up work on Clarity. I will also work on getting Razor fully compatible with the latest release of MP. Clarity is not far from finished so you can expect a public beta within a couple of weeks.

Wohoo!

Do you need any help? Would you be willing to share your current files so people can participate? I think that your exciting screenshots has really caused a stirr in this forum =)

-k

 

[hoppy]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been around for a LOOONG while. My life has been crazy since christmas really. As things are slowly going back to normal I have picked up work on Clarity. I will also work on getting Razor fully compatible with the latest release of MP. Clarity is not far from finished so you can expect a public beta within a couple of weeks.

Can't wait! bet it will be worth it thought (the wait I mean!). Thanks Raven.

 

[mzemina]

Raven - All the screenshots are gone from your first post!

 

[Raven]

Raven - All the screenshots are gone from your first post!

Thanks, I will have a look at it when I get home. Think I might have changed permissions on the server.