Serenity

[keeganl]

With the official release of Serenity only days away, it was time for another update. I have to thank DigitalHigh for putting so much of his time into this project. 4 months ago I just threw some concept screens into this post hoping anyone would find it the slightest bit interesting. It's amazing to open XBMC and have those concepts come to life. So thank you again Digital. Thanks also have to go out to all of the testers and translators as well as the XBMC community in general for showing so much interest in our little project. We hope Serenity lives up to all of your expectations.

I have put together screenshots of some of the sections of Serenity. I hope you all have enjoyed keeping up with this skin and the wait is almost over. Check back often because I will be adding screenshots to this post all day long.


http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5401/homescreen.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4648/picture1qnm.png
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4838/picture3qbd.png
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1082/picture4bgd.png
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1165/picture5e.png


Here is a video posted by DigitalHigh of Serenity. (Proof that this thing is working)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6eybBN2jPM

[rwparris2]

I like this, I'm not sure how that second screen is supposed to work, but it looks reeeaaal purdy.

I hope you find an XML guy to help you out with this, I'd love to see it come to fruition (though to be fare I say that about 90% of the concepts I see :rolleyes:).

[keeganl]

I guess for the second picture the songs item that is selected could be left off. I was looking at it as you would select music and then the items listed in the second picture would be the new menu items, but songs should definately not be on that list.

If you select albums it would obviously list the albums then when you select a particular album that would be the list you would see. It shows off the tracks listed on a particular album. I did put these pics together rather quickly when the idea came to me.

It would take a little tweaking and thinking through all the menu changes and structure, but this is basically for a quick showoff of the concept. Details at this point would just be a waste of time since I can't program. I really do hope someone with some coding ability jumps on board with this, but I know what you mean rwparris2, it most likely will not and I'm okay with that. I just want to contribute in any way I can. Since coding isn't it, I figured I would give a few concept ideas and throw a couple pics together and hope it would materialize into a working skin. I guess only time will tell.

[Rookie]

I think it looks great.I believe even if it don't play out,like you said,it is still contributing.I think a lot of mock-ups go no where,is not because the concept isn't used,it's because most mock-ups do not come from coders.I'm guessing a lot of small pieces of peoples ideas have been passed on.I'm also sure you will come across a few skinners who have gotten a few of their Ideas for the skins we love,from suggestions and mock-ups like this.

Please keep doing what your doing.:nod:

[digitalhigh]

I sent you a PM about the coding. Basically, I can code skins, I've just never tried for XBMC before. It'd take some trial and error, but I think I could do this.

[paul]

Go for it digitalhigh, it would be nice to see this skin in action.
I wish i had the skills etc to code but sadly i can't get my head round .xmls

[digitalhigh]

XML's are great...it's just having good references for what the various tags can do. Between the wiki and PM3 as an example, it's really not too difficult to do.

I was just thinking, for various screen coordinants, I have this program I used to use for Winamp skinning that can take the overall dimensions of an image in photoshop and then spit out a file with the coords for various layers in that image. So, if you want a textbox right in the middle of the screen, you put a mask layer to the position and size you want in photoshop, run it through the program, then grab the coords from the resulting xml file.

Obviously XBMC is a whole different beast, but I looked at how PMIII is comprised, and it's pretty straightforward. I'd need to focus on the multi-image tags and the multi-select text. The trickiest part would be linking it all together...the various sections in music dynamically controlling each other...

[paul]

Rather you than me. my limit to skinning is simply changing the existing graphics,
I did try to rewrite a skin a while back but threw in the towel, best left to the pro's i think.
I hope it works out for you assuming you do that is...

[digitalhigh]

I definitely realize how much work is required, but I think that if I get the basic hang of it, it shouldn't be too difficult...

[paul]

Sorry last post came across wrong i meant i hope you do code the skin and not do you know how as i know you do know how to do it

[digitalhigh]

Sorry last post came across wrong i meant i hope you do code the skin and not do you know how as i know you do know how to do it

Oh no, I didn't take it as such. I was just saying...

[timdog82001]

I'm rarely too excited by mockups even when most others seem ecstatic, but I have to admit this does look nice. Would likely be very easy to skin assuming you stick with the simplistic approach you have right now.

[keeganl]

guaranteed, this will remain very simplistic. Myself and digitalhigh are aiming for simplicity in execution. We are both relatively new to the xbmc skinning process. I have never done anything before with skinning xbmc. We are aiming for simple to code and simple design.

We want to showcase fanart. There is so much high quality fanart out there and we want to show that off. We are aiming for small menus that have a level of transparency so that fanart is still visible through the menus. Stay tuned to this thread.

I can't guarantee that this will come to life over night, but hopefully we will see these mockups or at least something similar to these mockups working in xbmc some time in the near future. Stay tuned and hopefully we can get it working soon. We hope to have the main menu working soon. Nothing else but the main menu but we are taking baby steps here. Wish us luck

[timdog82001]

Since you're new to skinning, if you haven't discovered it yet, I'd like to suggest checking this out: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=227893#post227893

It's a grid that displays on screen and allows you to easily figure out exactly what coordinates to input to locate the control where you want it. There's a 4:3 and a 720p version available, but it would be easy enough to extend it to 1080p if desired

Also, the "Empty" skin is a very simple skin that makes it easy to see what's going codewise and compliments pm3 well in that regard. It was designed for this very purpose. http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29743

[digitalhigh]

Since you're new to skinning, if you haven't discovered it yet, I'd like to suggest checking this out: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=227893#post227893

It's a grid that displays on screen and allows you to easily figure out exactly what coordinates to input to locate the control where you want it. There's a 4:3 and a 720p version available, but it would be easy enough to extend it to 1080p if desired

Also, the "Empty" skin is a very simple skin that makes it easy to see what's going codewise and compliments pm3 well in that regard. It was designed for this very purpose. http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29743

Thanks for the info. I had planned on using an old program called PSD2Wal...you mock everything up in photoshop at the size you want, create seperate layers for every screen element, then save as PSD. PSD2Wal extracts the layers and then spits the coords and dimensions out into an XML file, making elements based on the name of the layer in PSD.

Regardless, I will check it out. It's never too late to learn new tricks.

And same for the empty skin. I saw mention of it, but had basically planned on just using PMIII as my example. ;)

[paul]

Take your time no point in rushing it and if you keep it looking like the mockups and keep it simple it's a sure fire winner. just one question would you consider makeing this cmpatible with 16/9 pal thanks

[digitalhigh]

Take your time no point in rushing it and if you keep it looking like the mockups and keep it simple it's a sure fire winner. just one question would you consider makeing this cmpatible with 16/9 pal thanks

I'll def. be taking my time, as 3/7 days this week I'll not even have access to MY computer(s) until late in the evening.

And yes, I intend on keeping it like the mockups. I'm hoping for something as elegant as Aeon (I can dream, right), but also focus on keeping with the "minimal" idea. Less stuff on screen means less memory usage, right?

16:9 is the default resolution I use...dunno about PAL. Let me see if I can make a working skin first, then go from there. ;)

[rwparris2]

Although you might be better off starting from scratch, be sure to take a look at the skin Focus, which uses a similar horizontal bar/submenu system.

[digitalhigh]

Although you might be better off starting from scratch, be sure to take a look at the skin Focus, which uses a similar horizontal bar/submenu system.

I'd planned on using the blank skin to kind of get my bearings.

I also looked at how the menus in Mediastream work...I think I understand the concept of one main focusmenu, which then controls another submenu's visibility based on which one has focus. That submenu in turn controls the visibility of the different windows.

But to be honest, focus is the skin I've been using as of late. :D I love Aeon, but Focus is much faster.

Thanks for the info.

Edit: You skin guys...check this program out, tell me what you think about the possibility for usage in regards to XBMC skinning. Personally, I think it'll be pretty dang sweet. The output is xml based, it automatically converts every layer in a PSD into it's own PNG and names it based on the layer name, then references that layer in the resultant XML file.

Edit 2: It also allows for setting the tag info by just typing the tag into the layer name...wow. Would require a little modification afterwards, but I think makes photoshop into a pretty nice gfx editor for skinning...

[paul]

I'll def. be taking my time, as 3/7 days this week I'll not even have access to MY computer(s) until late in the evening.

And yes, I intend on keeping it like the mockups. I'm hoping for something as elegant as Aeon (I can dream, right), but also focus on keeping with the "minimal" idea. Less stuff on screen means less memory usage, right?

16:9 is the default resolution I use...dunno about PAL. Let me see if I can make a working skin first, then go from there. ;)
yeh no problem

[keeganl]

By now you all know that DigitalHigh has agreed to help out with this project. He will be handlign the xml while i will be heading up the graphics side of things. Please keep in mind that this is my first skin and there is a very simple outlook for this skin. Simple menus, clean sharp graphics, show off fanart with as little interfering objects as possible, and keep the skin fast and fluid. Sticking to these ideas will help us out a lot along the way.

There will never be a promise of a release date. That is not saying this skin will not be finished, but I'm just saying that it will be done at some point. Not sure when, but at some point.

We will try to do our best with keeping you all up to date on the progress of development. Ideally I would like to post some updated screens once a week, but that might not always be a possibility. I will still do my best to make that happen. I hope you all enjoy watching this project develop.

Stay tuned.....

[timdog82001]

wow, that psd2wal thing actually does sound pretty cool. I might have to check that out

[digitalhigh]

wow, that psd2wal thing actually does sound pretty cool. I might have to check that out

I may have been a bit overzealous. Or at least, the XML it outputs is not nearly as friendly with what is required for XBMC. Although the coordinant thing is still useful...

[digitalhigh]

A few real-time screenshots I snapped tonight. The only other window I've even started to code is the movies window, but I think that once I've done one, the others should follow easily. :D

Let me remind you, this is just a proof-of-concept layout for the main. In no way is anything here pictured set in stone, other than really trying to keep the art as unobscured as possible. However, the menus are all working, and the fanart is working in real-time as well.

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscX/tn_screenshot108.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsce/screenshot108.jpg.html)http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscr/tn_screenshot109.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFscc/screenshot109.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscs/tn_screenshot114.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsch/screenshot114.jpg.html)http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFsrF/tn_screenshot117.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsct/screenshot117.jpg.html)

Lemme know what you think at my first attempt.

[paul]

A few real-time screenshots I snapped tonight. The only other window I've even started to code is the movies window, but I think that once I've done one, the others should follow easily. :D

Let me remind you, this is just a proof-of-concept layout for the main. In no way is anything here pictured set in stone, other than really trying to keep the art as unobscured as possible. However, the menus are all working, and the fanart is working in real-time as well.

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscX/tn_screenshot108.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsce/screenshot108.jpg.html)http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscr/tn_screenshot109.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFscc/screenshot109.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFscs/tn_screenshot114.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsch/screenshot114.jpg.html)http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecXFsrF/tn_screenshot117.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecXFsct/screenshot117.jpg.html)

Lemme know what you think at my first attempt.

Ya doing a great job from what i have seen so far, and to say it's your first skin.

[digitalhigh]

Thanks. The trickiest part about all of this is wrapping my brain around how compartmentalized everything is. Trying to find out where a certain behavior comes from can be difficult because of all the interlinking that goes on. But, I'm slowly starting to see the big picture, and the more I understand the more I realize I'd like to see from this skin.

But, it's fun so far. I'm definitely learning a lot, and learning to appreciate exactly how much work goes into making the skins I use and then gripe about. And I'm only on day 3. ;)

[Sranshaft]

I just had to say I love what is driving the idea behind this skin! It seems to me to combine the best of Focus and Mediastream. This inspired me to whip up a quick mockup of what I would love to see this become in the future.

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here and please tell me if I am. I have been smitten with XBMC since stumbling upon it a couple months back and wanted to give back in whatever way possible.

Awesome start so far and I'm sure there'll be even greater stuff to come.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5467/xbmcmockupxh3.th.jpg (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xbmcmockupxh3.jpg)

[paul]

The main thing is your enjoying doing it the minute you stop enjoying for whatever reason then think about stopping. but i am confident you will do well as i said before go at your own pace. I will watch this space with baited breath.

[xbs08]

Sranshaft,
Your mockup is fantastic i love it. Simple yet sexy!

[digitalhigh]

I just had to say I love what is driving the idea behind this skin! It seems to me to combine the best of Focus and Mediastream. This inspired me to whip up a quick mockup of what I would love to see this become in the future.

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here and please tell me if I am. I have been smitten with XBMC since stumbling upon it a couple months back and wanted to give back in whatever way possible.

Awesome start so far and I'm sure there'll be even greater stuff to come.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5467/xbmcmockupxh3.th.jpg (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=xbmcmockupxh3.jpg)

Yes, that's very similar to what we're doing. I don't know exactly what Keegan is whipping up for the menus, but I think we're going to keep the menus a little squarer. Otherwise, that's right on the money. Hopefully, I'll have a rough screen of what the music section is going to look like tomorrow.

[Sranshaft]

Looking forward to seeing what you all have planned!

[quake101]

Great work guys!

Btw, does this skin have an official name yet? ;)

[kizer]

Great concept guys. I like the original concept and I really like the concept Sranshaft came up with.

[keeganl]

no official name, yet. I have put together concept art for new sections of the skin. DigitalHigh has been working hard at making this thing begin to materialize. We are only a few days in to this project and would love suggestions for a name for this project.

Here are the concept mockups for the music section. As mentioned before, this skin will be designed around fanart, but more importantly on simplicity. Less is more, is the idea we are designing everything around. That is not to be confused with less options, because we intend on implementing everything you expect a modern skin to include and maybe even a few things you haven't seen before. I hope you all enjoy the new previews.

Also, if you have name suggestions please leave let us know.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4039/musicds0.th.jpg (http://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=musicds0.jpg)
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/109/musicsettingsdp6.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=musicsettingsdp6.jpg)

[digitalhigh]

I was hoping for a name that tried to convey the fact that we're going for the minimal approach. Thesaurus entries for "minimal" and "open" -

Main Entry: minimal
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: littlest, slightest
Synonyms: basal, basic, essential, fundamental, least, least possible, lowest, minimum, nominal, smallest, token
Notes: nominal means insignificantly small; minimal means the least possible or smallest in amount and degree
Antonyms: maximum, most

Main Entry: open
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: unfastened, unclosed
Synonyms: accessible, agape, airy, ajar, bare, clear, cleared, dehiscent, disclosed, emptied, expanded, expansive, exposed, extended, extensive, free, gaping, made passable, naked, navigable, passable, patent, patulous, peeled, removed, rent, revealed, ringent, rolling, spacious, spread out, stripped, susceptible, unbarred, unblocked, unbolted, unburdened, uncluttered, uncovered, unfolded, unfurled, unimpeded, unlocked, unobstructed, unplugged, unsealed, unshut, unstopped, vacated, wide, yawning
Antonyms: closed, fastened, locked, shut

[paul]

What about Simplicity? that's the first thing i thought of. And the music views are looking good

[kizer]

Yeah what he said. ;)

Kinda reminds me of this skin that another is developing.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=44433

[digitalhigh]

Simplicity, eh? Hmmm...that's got a nice ring to it. Although...isn't there already a skin with that name? I may be thinking of Winamp.

And I see where you see a similarity between this skin and that other one. Only difference is, ours is going to be centered around the menu bar. The majority of the functionality of the skin is going to be all in one place...

[kizer]

Yeah I was just pointing out there is another skin going for the same low impact and large fan art. I hope you both do your things seperately so I have a good choice between two. ;)

[keeganl]

agreed about the two skins. similar ideas and i hope we can live up to the quality of what the other skin will be. Anything done by a member of team razorfish will be great. Mediastream is still one of my favorites. hopefully myself and digitalHigh can make something a few people will come to love. That is my only goal for our first skin.

Simplicity does have certain ring to it. Simple and to the point. Too bad focus is taken, because we will have everyone using this skin focused on one menu bar. It should be interesting to see where this thing goes.

[digitalhigh]

What about Vapor? That didn't sound too bad to me about an hour ago...

[xbs08]

essencial

es·sen·tial (-snshl)
adj.
1. Constituting or being part of the essence of something; inherent.
2. Basic or indispensable; necessary: essential ingredients. See Synonyms at indispensable.
3. Medicine Of, relating to, or being a dysfunctional condition or a disease whose cause is unknown: essential hypertension.
4. Biochemistry Being a substance that is required for normal functioning but cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be included in the diet: essential amino acids.
n.
1. Something fundamental.
2. Something necessary or indispensable.

[digitalhigh]

You know, I actually thought about "essence" last night as well. That's not bad...

[paul]

What about miniscule meaning very small

[digitalhigh]

What about miniscule meaning very small

I know what miniscule means...but it sounds like pasta...

[xbs08]

quark

[rwparris2]

if we're gonna go for quarks, lets take it down even further to preons :nerd:

[NineT9mustang]

how about you just name it 1

[digitalhigh]

After numerous hours of head-scratching, swearing, and pacing on my porch smoking cigarettes, I finally got the Music Library working as shown in the concepts.

Here are a few screenshots of it in-action:


http://i44.tinypic.com/334j9lw.jpg

Music Library, browsing artists.

http://i43.tinypic.com/nqdd3r.jpg

Conditional weather on the home screen at work...also shows the working volumebar. Whooo...volume.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2pqs4fm.jpg

Nukka's Supplemental weather script going off the home page. This is just an example of how you'll be able to add your own buttons to the main menu for whatever script/plugin you choose. I do intend on including the launcher and Supplemental weather addons right off the bat.

http://i42.tinypic.com/72c1om.jpg

Yummy closeup.

Music Library, browsing albums. You have the option of either sorting by genre/album/artist and working your way down to songs, or you can just jump in to "all items" for that category. :D



So, thus far, I've got a working menusystem figured out that's quite simple to re-use in the other windows. The whole idea behind this skin is fanart, and creating the illusion that you're always in the same place. That, and customizibality.

When you first use the skin, there are buttons in each section that will allow you to set the fanart path for that section right away. After that, paths can be accessed in the skin settings section.

Also, there's going to be a section in the skin settings where, like I said, YOU get to pick what links you have, and where they go to. So if you want the Youtube plugin in the main menu, you can add it. If you want hulu, you can add hulu. You'll also be able to decide whether just selecting "movies" will take you to the library or files. Same for TV and Music.

Tighter integration with Launcher.

We've got a lot more tricks planned for this guy as well, but it's too early to say any more. But, if there's some other weird feature you'd like to see, let me know, and we'll try our best to accommodate.

[paul]

I know what miniscule means...but it sounds like pasta...

What kind of pasta you been eating:laugh:

[paul]

This skin is shapeing up very quickley it sounds like you have thought of everything the only thing i personally would ask is for some kind of support for SD 16/9 and i know running any skin in the 720p mode makes the fonts unreadable in most places just found that problem with version4 of horizon. keep it going

[rwparris2]

+1 for SD support.



How does this flow? As in, when I highlight 'artists', do I press down and see a list or do I 'click' to see the list? After I select an artist from the list below, does a list of albums from that artist appear under the 'main' heading of artists still?

I'm not really sure how to word the question... maybe you could post a shot of what it looks like after you select an artist?

[digitalhigh]

Pressing down/clicking from any of the categories will start you out at the root of that list.

Selecting something from that category will jump you to the next section and populate. Here's a progression starting from genres and going to picking a song from the songs section.

The Now playing ss is a different song/album than highlighted...technical difficulties. :D

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/eccFccX/tn_1Genre.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/eccFcce/1Genre.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/eccFccr/tn_2Artists.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/eccFccc/2Artists.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/eccFccs/tn_3Album.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/eccFcch/3Album.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/eccFcrF/tn_3Songs.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/eccFcct/3Songs.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/eccFcrQ/tn_5Playing.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/eccFcrU/5Playing.jpg.html)

[rwparris2]

Selecting something from that category will jump you to the next section and populate. Here's a progression starting from genres and going to picking a song from the songs section.

That's how I was hoping it would work. Looking forward to the release

[digitalhigh]

That's how I was hoping it would work. Looking forward to the release

Thank you. That means a lot. :D

[kizer]

Ok, I have a feature request.

I like the look of Aeon and MediaStream, but I have one big beef with them.

They give you to many options to use while on screen. Meaning if you click in the video area and view your movies. You click down something happens, if you click up another menu pops up or I should say slides out of the pane on the right. The wife got so frustrated with it now I'm back to PM3HD because there is to much opening and closing and depending on what view your in it gets confusing shuting things off or clearing them from the screen.

Use the Info button and/or the Title button thats what they are for. ;)

Maybe there are things in the settings to disable some of it, but well I haven't had the luxury/time to look, but will some time.

[kizer]

Digital,

I'm having issues viewing the images. Is this skin going to work sorta like the start button in windows? Depending on where you are on the Start button it will open up the correct > to the next area? Meaning if you tap left or right it will jump to the next Area like Movies, Weather and so forth? If so thats kinda cool, if not you really got my intrest up. ;)

[skunkm0nkee]

Ok, I have a feature request.

I like the look of Aeon and MediaStream, but I have one big beef with them.

They give you to many options to use while on screen. Meaning if you click in the video area and view your movies. You click down something happens, if you click up another menu pops up or I should say slides out of the pane on the right. The wife got so frustrated with it now I'm back to PM3HD because there is to much opening and closing and depending on what view your in it gets confusing shuting things off or clearing them from the screen.

You do know that the options menu in MediaStream (info doesn't display in MS without pressing the info button) can be turned off in the settings don't you?

[digitalhigh]

Here's a video. The screencap software sucked, so the album pictures and now playing pictures don't show up...as well as the conditional weather backgrounds...

View My Video (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=207ujoi&s=5)

Basically, what you see in the menus is *about* it for what will be there by default. What you can add will be entirely up to you. Some of the plugins are just there for the crap of seeing how it worked too.

[paul]

It looks great thus far it has just about everything i require from a skin nice to see a video of it in action that is something for all skinners to consider when releasing there skins. great work digitalhigh i'm impresed.

[digitalhigh]

Thank you. Now I've only got to create similar sections for movies/tv shows/video files/plugins/programs, as well as figure out something creative for how the settings are to be displayed.

[kizer]

You do know that the options menu in MediaStream (info doesn't display in MS without pressing the info button) can be turned off in the settings don't you?

Now I feel stupid.

Settings > skin > general

Now we are talking. hahahaha

Ok, back on topic since I strayed. ;) I hope that this one has the same level of control if possible to really keep it simple, but enable nice things.

[skunkm0nkee]

If that's all there is left to do then your skin should be complete in a day or two :;):

[digitalhigh]

If that's all there is left to do then your skin should be complete in a day or two :;):

Oh, totally. This would probably be the case if several things weren't true.

1. My nickname isn't just a clever monicker. This sometimes causes me to forget what I was doing and start working on something else, leaving unfinished bits sitting until I see it later and go "Oh, crap...that's what I was doing."

2. I have this habit of obsessing over tiny details, while leaving the large bits I had intended on working on sitting while I spend hours trying to do one thing.

;)

[kizer]

Here's a video. The screencap software sucked, so the album pictures and now playing pictures don't show up...as well as the conditional weather backgrounds...

View My Video (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=207ujoi&s=5)

Basically, what you see in the menus is *about* it for what will be there by default. What you can add will be entirely up to you. Some of the plugins are just there for the crap of seeing how it worked too.

Wow, that was cool. I'm not sure if my connection was lagging a little or your video, but man that still looks pretty cool. I can't wait to see it all polished up and released.

[rwparris2]

FWIW I think "settings" should be closer to other skins, as in a table of icons (see focus, pm3.hd, etc). That particular screen doesn't seem to fit the rest of the screen.

I'm also really interested in how file view is going to work, if you're in the mood for posting more skins :grin:

Unless you can think of something awesome that is still usable, of course.

[digitalhigh]

FWIW I think "settings" should be closer to other skins, as in a table of icons (see focus, pm3.hd, etc). That particular screen doesn't seem to fit the rest of the screen.

I'm also really interested in how file view is going to work, if you're in the mood for posting more skins :grin:

Unless you can think of something awesome that is still usable, of course.

As I've looked into it more, yes, the settings section has to be (for the most part) like the other skins. It appears as if the majority of labels/controls in that setting are determined internally.

File view for...which section?

[rwparris2]

File view for...which section?

music, videos, programs, whatever.

Just because everything is so varied & I may have 15 folders in one source, I'm just curious how that is being handled. Icons like other skins or will you be able to make it fit in the nav bar some how?

[digitalhigh]

The general idea is to fit it into the menus, with the cover/icon image *possibly* displayed elsewhere on the screen. I haven't gotten to the files section yet...been working out the kinks in the music lib. :D

I think it's safe to say that the views are going to def. try to stay away from the looks of other skins.

[digitalhigh]

I call it the "Ghost Playlist".

Whenever one of the menus to add songs has focus, the playlist will stay visible. Closing the lists hides the playlist (option to keep it on in setting, or disable it).

Then, pressing up from the navbar takes you to it, where you can view and select from the 10 next and 10 previous songs. The same feature will be in music files mode, and I'm going to try to get it to work for the video section too.

View My Video (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2mp0irm&s=5)

Why? Because...I like to see what I'm playing while I'm adding it. And because I like being able to add multiple TV episodes to a playlist and watch them in a row.

Oh, and the jerkiness is due to the video recorder software, and then tinypic downscaling it. This runs smooth as a baby's behind in the wild.

[kizer]

digitalhigh

No problem on the video. I was hoping it wasn't some bizzare feature in the skin. :laugh:

Darn it. You posted another video, but I have to wait until I get home because work seems to pick and choose what hosts it doesn't agree with.

[digitalhigh]

digitalhigh

No problem on the video. I was hoping it wasn't some bizzare feature in the skin. :laugh:

Darn it. You posted another video, but I have to wait until I get home because work seems to pick and choose what hosts it doesn't agree with.

Nada. The only real delay occurs when I try to look at then entire unfiltered song list. Considering as how I've got over 17,000 files in my music library, that's not bad. :D

[digitalhigh]

One of the possible views for TV Shows.

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecrhrXQ/tn_SeasonMockup_Episode+Popped.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecrhrXU/SeasonMockup_Episode+Popped.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ecrhrXX/tn_Season_Nopop.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ecrhrXe/Season_Nopop.jpg.html)

The playlist can be toggled as well...it's not required to be onscreen.

[timdog82001]

It looks very nice but I would suggest fading the fanart a little or doing something to make it feel a little less busy. I, at least, feel a bit overwhelmed with so much stuff going on on screen at once.

EDIT: on a second look, maybe fading out the fanart isn't the best choice, but i do feel like it could use something? Maybe a little empty space would help. But then again, maybe i'm the only one that feels this way :)

[keeganl]

So here is what I am thinking about for the movie library. We're trying to keep you guys in the loop on what is going on with development. Digitalhigh seems to be doing a much better job than myself, so here is what was just sent over to Digital. The first screen is the movie library list and the second is an information panel. We have not come to a decision on whether or not the information panel will pop up automatically like aeon, or if it would be accessed on a button press, so sound off on your opinions. They are always welcomed. Enjoy the screens!


http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/604/movielibraryzh1.th.jpg (http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movielibraryzh1.jpg)


http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2899/movielibraryinfozg9.th.jpg (http://img17.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movielibraryinfozg9.jpg)

[digitalhigh]

It looks very nice but I would suggest fading the fanart a little or doing something to make it feel a little less busy. I, at least, feel a bit overwhelmed with so much stuff going on on screen at once.

EDIT: on a second look, maybe fading out the fanart isn't the best choice, but i do feel like it could use something? Maybe a little empty space would help. But then again, maybe i'm the only one that feels this way :)

Or maybe just have one row of episode images?

The playlist and now playing info are both optional. And the panel with the episode information slides out when you hover on the episode. Here's a picture while just scrolling through eps:

http://i43.tinypic.com/a5l3bb.jpg





Edit: Also, which of these do you guys prefer?

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2899/movielibraryinfozg9.th.jpg (http://img17.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movielibraryinfozg9.jpg)[/QUOTE]
http://i43.tinypic.com/mrbsph.jpg

[quake101]

I like the 2nd image better (the one with the list on the left and selected item info in the middle).

[rwparris2]

I like the 2nd image better (the one with the list on the left and selected item info in the middle).

I like the 2nd one too. The first one seems really busy and goes against the rest of the skin.

I have a request which you may or may not be interested in doing... When I'm looking for a movie all I'm really interested in seeing is the title, the fanart, and the cover. So if you take the second screenshot (the one of tdk), remove everything in the middle and put the dvd cover under the list. Kind of like how the artists view is.
Fanart view in PM3.HD does this really well, except that it covers a lot of the fanart.

[digitalhigh]

So you want a poster view and an info view? The thought behind the 2nd pic was something like "you're scrolling down the list of names, when you stop, this display comes from off screen." What I could try doing is putting the poster at the bottom-left under the list like you suggested, then have the animation to slide the poster and info from the side after a delay. I'd then add a flag to the "settings" menu that would toggle this animation.

How does that sound?

How large would you like to see the poster? About the size it is in the concept?

[keeganl]

I like both of the screens, but I was curious as to how the first one seemed to busy, when it actually has less on the screen than the second one?

This is how it would work. You would scroll down a regular list on the left, then you could either have a button press assigned to slide the list out and bring the movie information into the screen and then press it again and the information slide off the screen and the list would return. The other option being, that the information would slide into view on hover. You would stop on a title in the list and then the animation would begin by removing the list and then bringing the movie information into view just like aeon does.

As I said I like both screens, so maybe they could both make the final skin, so everyone can have a little choice.

[timdog82001]

I like both of the screens, but I was curious as to how the first one seemed to busy, when it actually has less on the screen than the second one?

I kind of agree with it having a busy feeling even though you're right, there is less on screen. I think it's all about layout. Something about the way its set up in the first one just gives a it a little of a chaotic feel to me. The second one is just more settling on the eyes. It could also have to do with how everything is interacting with the fanart, though, so it may just be rather situational

[mfwilli]

I like the 2nd one too. The first one seems really busy and goes against the rest of the skin.

I have a request which you may or may not be interested in doing... When I'm looking for a movie all I'm really interested in seeing is the title, the fanart, and the cover. So if you take the second screenshot (the one of tdk), remove everything in the middle and put the dvd cover under the list. Kind of like how the artists view is.
Fanart view in PM3.HD does this really well, except that it covers a lot of the fanart.

I'll second this. I don't think alot of plot info is necessary unless a button is pushed. I'd like to just see a list of several titles on the left, with the poster of the selected movie under the list...or even in the bottom right corner (tilted?). That way the fan art is the main focus.

As for TV Shows...I think having more than one episode image on screen jumbles it up...I'd like to see it the way I described the movie library.

Just some thoughts...the skin looks great so far.

[digitalhigh]

I'll second this. I don't think alot of plot info is necessary unless a button is pushed. I'd like to just see a list of several titles on the left, with the poster of the selected movie under the list...or even in the bottom right corner (tilted?). That way the fan art is the main focus.

As for TV Shows...I think having more than one episode image on screen jumbles it up...I'd like to see it the way I described the movie library.

Just some thoughts...the skin looks great so far.

The rough version I made this afternoon works precisely like that...list above poster image, fanart switches FAST as you scroll. The animation/plot should be quite easy to add so that when you press right from the list, it will pop up the middle-ized display shown. I'll probably throw in a skin setting to make it so you can choose to have the automatic animation if you want.

For the TV seasons, I see your point. While I don't know about totally scrapping the episode image layout, I'll def. incorporate something that's more in-line with the theme of the skin.

Thanks to everybody for the input...keep watching for new info. I should have some more screenies up by the end of the weekend...if the GF lets me work. :D

[digitalhigh]

New screens of the video library at work. The first two pictures are browsing genres and then browsing the movies list.

The second two (four) are examples of a the left and middle movie info sections. Currently, you can select between these two.

However, I wasn't happy with the way it looked onscreen, so I came up with the third view, which really strikes me as cool.

But, this isn't just my skin...so I wanted all your opinions. Which of these views do you prefer??

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrers/tn_genre.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrerh/genre.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehF/tn_list.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrert/list.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehQ/tn_left1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehU/left1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehX/tn_mid1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehe/mid1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehr/tn_left2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehc/left2.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehs/tn_mid2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehh/mid2.jpg.html)

[digitalhigh]

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectresF/tn_right.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectreht/right.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectresQ/tn_right2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectresU/right2.jpg.html)

[kizer]

Looking good man. I can't wait to give it a spin. ;)

[aart]

That last viewtype is very good. Calm and clear.

[digitalhigh]

That last viewtype is very good. Calm and clear.

Thanks. I'd been toying around with different screen locations, trying to find a way to incorporate Keegan's designs while still keeping the screen as clear as possible. What I ended up with was removing the poster entirely from the list and leaving it in the corner. This gives you a lot more movie titles to see, and it removes the unsightly animation I was using to go between the two poster locations.

Plus, yes, with a fanart image that's darker, this looks really nice. :D

[rwparris2]

have you tested on a solid white background to see if your text is still readable? (i.e. it's always sunny in Philadelphia fanart)

[paul]

New screens of the video library at work. The first two pictures are browsing genres and then browsing the movies list.

The second two (four) are examples of a the left and middle movie info sections. Currently, you can select between these two.

However, I wasn't happy with the way it looked onscreen, so I came up with the third view, which really strikes me as cool.

But, this isn't just my skin...so I wanted all your opinions. Which of these views do you prefer??

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrers/tn_genre.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrerh/genre.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehF/tn_list.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrert/list.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehQ/tn_left1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehU/left1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehX/tn_mid1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehe/mid1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehr/tn_left2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehc/left2.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectrehs/tn_mid2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrehh/mid2.jpg.html)

Out of those views i prefer Genre.jpg instead of list.jpg
and Left1.jpg instead of Mid1.jpg
and Mid2 as oposed to Left2.jpg
And right2.jpg as oposed to Right.jpg

These luck the simplest and cleanest in my oppinion, hope i picked your favourites if not sorry but i like what i like, keep up the great work so far

[digitalhigh]

I run my test version in windowed mode so the poster looks a little squisy, but this is a screencap. (You'll notice that it doesn't look that bad in windowed mode either...means that I shouldn't have to make significant changes in order for it to be SD friendly as well)

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectretQ/tn_whitetest1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectretU/whitetest1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectretX/tn_whitetest2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrete/whitetest2.jpg.html)

Out of those views i prefer Genre.jpg instead of list.jpg
and Left1.jpg instead of Mid1.jpg
and Mid2 as oposed to Left2.jpg
And right2.jpg as oposed to Right.jpg

These luck the simplest and cleanest in my oppinion, hope i picked your favourites if not sorry but i like what i like, keep up the great work so far

I've actually already changed list.jpg to look like genre.jpg...I found it to be more appealing as well.

The left/mid settings are interesting to me, because it really depends on what movie you're looking at as to which view works better. I'm thinking about trying to come up with a way where you can set the view for each movie? Not sure if it's possible, but it would be a cool feature.

Otherwise, right now, you can pick between left and mid modes.

[paul]

Nice to know your will consider makeing it SD compatible at some point as a lot of the newer skins(no names Mentiond):sniffle: comeing out say they will not put in any sd support which is a real shame as there are still a lot of xbox users. And to be quite honest it makes me feel as though my views and that of others does not count. still it is them doing the work i suppose.

[digitalhigh]

Nice to know your will consider makeing it SD compatible at some point as a lot of the newer skins(no names Mentiond):sniffle: comeing out say they will not put in any sd support which is a real shame as there are still a lot of xbox users. And to be quite honest it makes me feel as though my views and that of others does not count. still it is them doing the work i suppose.

Not even "at some point". I'll make the 720 version available first for general bugfixing, then once I'm happy with the overall functionality, recode the few things that require fixing for SD views.

I don't see a point in refusing to do anything unless I just plain can't. The more people that want to use this skin, the happier I am. :D

[althekiller]

The more people that want to use this skin, the happier I am. :D

Who wants to put money on how long it will take him to regret that one? :p

[digitalhigh]

Who wants to put money on how long it will take him to regret that one? :p

Could be. Hell...most likely. :D

I just did the video OSD. Incorporated McGuyver's Carousel menu animation with the control buttons. I think it may actually look allright...

[paul]

Could be. Hell...most likely. :D

I just did the video OSD. Incorporated McGuyver's Carousel menu animation with the control buttons. I think it may actually look allright...

Why are some people so against people using xbox's still. it really pisses me off when somebody like you or anyone try's to help out us poor xbox users, only to be ticked off by the devs. But digitalhigh if it is too difficult don't worry about it iwill just get a Mac Pc And Run
PLEX on it when the time comes to replace my xbox..
Thanks any way whatever you decide
Ps McGuyver's Carousel sound's pretty good look forward to seeing what that's like in real life

[aart]

Mcguyver's carousel, thats oldskool! But I've always liked his stuff..Nice progress you're making btw.

[mfwilli]

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/ectretX/tn_whitetest2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/ectrete/whitetest2.jpg.html)



Liking this view. My only suggestions would be to maybe add some kind of border or tilt to the poster. A busy poster + a busy fanart could look a bit messy and the poster might look "lost". Just some way to separate the 2 and let the poster standout.

[digitalhigh]

Liking this view. My only suggestions would be to maybe add some kind of border or tilt to the poster. A busy poster + a busy fanart could look a bit messy and the poster might look "lost". Just some way to separate the 2 and let the poster standout.

Duly noted, and thanks for the input. :D

Here's my shameless ripoff of the hulu website for the plugin. It's ugly right now, but this is a working model:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/hulurough.jpg

And this is hulu with fanart:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/hulurough2.jpg

These images are based off of the pic I found here:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/hulu_menu1.jpg

Mind you, the buttons/borders/fx are all just placeholders right now. Everything will be prettied up significantly, fonts resized, etc. Right now I'm just getting the visibilities set up so this stuff only displays when you're under the hulu plugin, and so that the fanart strings only show for the proper show...

[kizer]

As well is it possible to put a border around the active menu item. For example when you are moving the selector around the menu to high light it because when you drop down it changes color, but if your on a screne that is a litte bright or dark its hard to tell what you selected. For sure in the settings when your picking the fanart location. Its hard to know what the active area is before you click on it.

[digitalhigh]

As well is it possible to put a border around the active menu item. For example when you are moving the selector around the menu to high light it because when you drop down it changes color, but if your on a screne that is a litte bright or dark its hard to tell what you selected. For sure in the settings when your picking the fanart location. Its hard to know what the active area is before you click on it.

I know what you're saying. Especially when the menus only have a few items. And a lot of the dialogues I haven't even touched yet...I just copied them from PMIIIHD and changed the fonts so I could do basic functions until I got round to skinning them properly...

But yes, I'll definitely do something to ensure that you always know what you've got selected...I hate having to guess where I am, or counting items to make sure you're in the right spot...

[kizer]

With regards to Hulu and Fan art.

I like the reflection, but personally it just adds more glam to something that your building to look so simple. Like that family guy one it doesn't really doesn't make it look any nicer. However in the black one it looks really nice for Prison Break.

For me simple is fast, efficent and clean. All the pretties are well nice, but when do you start and when do you stop. ;) However by all means if it is to stay I'd still use it, but just throwing out the opinion while its welcome. Hahahahaha

[digitalhigh]

Okay...new screenshots. Redid the whole workings of the TV section to make it more like the movie area. Poster locations, thumbnails, etc. The menubar is still obviously not finished, but the general functionality of the TV and video libraries are.

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFQhcr/tn_RoughTV1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFQhcc/RoughTV1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFQhcs/tn_RoughTV2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFQhch/RoughTV2.jpg.html)


Another shot of the movie section:

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFQhrF/tn_Movie1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFQhct/Movie1.jpg.html)


This the re-do of the hulu area. I agree with Kizer that the fanart made it too busy...this is my new attempt at making it less irritating but keeping the fanart. Opinions?



http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFQhrQ/tn_Hulu1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFQhrU/Hulu1.jpg.html)

And this is the implementation of the carousel osd. I want to make it smaller, and have the part that sits under it not take up the whole screen. You get the gist of what it'll look like tho.
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFQhrX/tn_OSD.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFQhre/OSD.jpg.html)

So, tell me what you think. Keep something, lose something, add something...tell me.

[devilrejects]

looks good :)

[quake101]

digitalhigh,

You have made great progress with this skin and I find it very impressive that this is your first skin!

The only thing right now I don't really like is the osd, it's way too big and I don't think it follows the skin. Take a look at the osd of focus, it's very basic but get the job done. I think something like that would work for this skin as well. Just my $0.02 :)

I would also like to say the new hulu layout is very nice looking.

You guys are doing an awesome job, keep up the good work!

[digitalhigh]

digitalhigh,

You have made great progress with this skin and I find it very impressive that this is your first skin!

The only thing right now I don't really like is the osd, it's way too big and I don't think it follows the skin. Take a look at the osd of focus, it's very basic but get the job done. I think something like that would work for this skin as well. Just my $0.02 :)

I would also like to say the new hulu layout is very nice looking.

You guys are doing an awesome job, keep up the good work!


Thanks. I have done skins for other programs in the past, and those were similar in nature to XBMC, so I it wasn't too difficult to grasp the concept after taking a peek under the hood of some other skins.

As far as the OSD goes...it's more of a proof-of-concept shot at this point. I made rough graphics so I could test the functionality...those will be modified after all the stuff required is in place. I know it's rather bulky right now, but like I said, I hope to have it maybe only 1/3 of the size it is now, and in one of the corners. And that black backdrop will only be directly beneath the buttons, not across the whole screen.

IDK, if it doesn't pan out, I can always scrap it. I was just trying to do something different. :D

i think.... i don't see pictures.

? They should be there.

[paul]

I like the carousel view could that be used for the settings screen as to my knowledge no one has done it that way before it could look good then again it may not just a suggestion.

[quake101]

Now that would be cool. A setting for what OSD you want to use.

[kizer]

I think with this skin I'm totally not liking the thumb images. To me it just takes away the slickness. Like the picture for Halloween. Man Micheal looks evil and to have that little thumb kinda takes it away for me.

I also on the Tv shows with the season images. Kinda redundant if you ask me. I think the episode picture should be over there when your browsing the episodes. Like the Heroes one.

Can the text be set to either left or right on the Tv shows? I'm not really hip on the centered text on the drop down myself.

[digitalhigh]

I think with this skin I'm totally not liking the thumb images. To me it just takes away the slickness. Like the picture for Halloween. Man Micheal looks evil and to have that little thumb kinda takes it away for me.

I also on the Tv shows with the season images. Kinda redundant if you ask me. I think the episode picture should be over there when your browsing the episodes. Like the Heroes one.

Can the text be set to either left or right on the Tv shows? I'm not really hip on the centered text on the drop down myself.

Edit: Actually, I see what you mean. Right now, the info pops up automatically. I think I'm gonna redo it so that you have to press right for the info to display. I'll put a flag in for whether or not to show the poster on the info display.

Same with the season thumb. I like the episode info view, but I'll make it the same height as the episode pic so it's more balanced.


Now that would be cool. A setting for what OSD you want to use.

This isn't that difficult. Remind me if you don't see anything about it in a little bit...

[rwparris2]

A few quick questions:

the most glaring is why the different view for plugins? the skin is pretty kick ass as is, and I think the hulu view while kind-of nice isn't necessary (couldn't test youtube because I don't have one right now). the top-down list you have for library stuff so much more awesome and clean.

I understand there is probably a limitation that won't let you do the horizontal & verticle lists simultaneously, but IMO that is OK.

Also, IMO I think settings shouldn't get an item in the main list. an icon at the most. since everything is supposed to be simple and media/fanart focused, settings doesn't fit & just distracts me.

'Focus' pretty much does the horizontal homescreen menu thing perfectly, if it were me I'd rip that off mercifully :grin: Yours is prettier and more functional, I just like how the items are laid out in Focus. Keep TV and Movie as top level items, then throw pictures, scripts, settings, other crap under accessories.

Other than those things & some bugs everything looks awesome. I really like the flow of everything, this skin is all about the flow. animations are subtle and smooth... all in all everything is looking really clean & i've got great hope for the final version :nod:

ps - Like the osd too... don't think I've seen any other skins like that. But I think more items should be upfront... right now you only see 3 before they start curling around, i think you should up that to 5 (that is, if you can still make the arc look right with 5)

[digitalhigh]

A few quick questions:

the most glaring is why the different view for plugins? the skin is pretty kick ass as is, and I think the hulu view while kind-of nice isn't necessary (couldn't test youtube because I don't have one right now). the top-down list you have for library stuff so much more awesome and clean.

I understand there is probably a limitation that won't let you do the horizontal & verticle lists simultaneously, but IMO that is OK.



Yeah, the change in view for Hulu was based on that original screen I found of the Hulu player. I look at it, and I like the way it looks, but you're right, it does stick out like a sore thumb. The only thing preventing me from making it work like the other sections is that the hulu plugin doesn't report any container.content(). If this could be set by Hulu, then I could make it a lot prettier, and work just like the rest of the skin. That's about the only limitation...

Returns true if the current container you are in contains the following: files, songs, artists...(Note: these currently only work in the Video and Music Library or unless a Plugin has set the value)

Also, IMO I think settings shouldn't get an item in the main list. an icon at the most. since everything is supposed to be simple and media/fanart focused, settings doesn't fit & just distracts me.

'Focus' pretty much does the horizontal homescreen menu thing perfectly, if it were me I'd rip that off mercifully :grin: Yours is prettier and more functional, I just like how the items are laid out in Focus. Keep TV and Movie as top level items, then throw pictures, scripts, settings, other crap under accessories.

So totally pull settings out, or change it to more of an "accessories" menu or something?

The reason I had the settings menu was to avoid having to have one big settings window with the little submenus. The settings windows are still somewhat restricted (AFAIK) as to how much you can change them...to counteract this, I was going to only have the various submenus.

I could, however, leave accessories as the main bar, have a settings submenu, then have another submenu with the links to the various panels?

But your idea would also solve my problem of where/how to add the basic power/scripts/pics stuff. I was thinking of having another dialogue show up somewhere, but if I could keep it all in one of the dropdowns, that would be more ideal.



Other than those things & some bugs everything looks awesome. I really like the flow of everything, this skin is all about the flow. animations are subtle and smooth... all in all everything is looking really clean & i've got great hope for the final version :nod:

ps - Like the osd too... don't think I've seen any other skins like that. But I think more items should be upfront... right now you only see 3 before they start curling around, i think you should up that to 5 (that is, if you can still make the arc look right with 5)

The OSD animations will be tricky. As you can see, there's one anim missing from some of the icons, making a gap all around. Eventually, I'll have to rework all of the animations, which will be pretty time-intensive. Also, I still don't understand what all four coords mean in a zoom anim. I think it's (endx, endy, %width, %height), but I haven't tried changing any values yet to be sure. So, basically, I'll be several days playing with MacGuyver's code before I'm comfortable redesigning the whole thing.

Thanks for the input. Can't make something better if I don't get feedback. :D

[kizer]

I agree with what was said above. On my screen I'd like to see the following if I had my way

*Video
-Library
-Plugins
*Tv
-Library
-Plugins
*Music
-Library or whatever it uses
*Extra
-Photos
-Weather
-Settings

Put all the settings stuff in well the settings menu off the Home page. Keep it clean and simple so anybody who walks up can figure it out without any instruction.

Video Screen should be
Title / Genre

Tv Screen should be
Title / Genre

Now my question is. Is this skin going to be setup to cater to File view as well as Library or is it going to be an eye candy skin that relies heavily on Fan Art and thumbs? If its going to be eye candy I'd remove the Library drop down and just make the word Video or Tv the one that opens up the Library be default. Of course you could leave the plugin ones below or go from there.

[kizer]

Or heck have it

Movies / Tv / Plugins / Music / Extra

I'm just making things up of course because Plugins can be in both or one depending on what you use. To bad you couldn't have a Hulu plugin Under Movies that automatically opened up the Hulu movie section when clicked and have it automatically open up the Tv section of Hulu if clicked under Tv.

[digitalhigh]

I agree with what was said above. On my screen I'd like to see the following if I had my way

*Video
-Library
-Plugins
*Tv
-Library
-Plugins
*Music
-Library or whatever it uses
*Extra
-Photos
-Weather
-Settings

Put all the settings stuff in well the settings menu off the Home page. Keep it clean and simple so anybody who walks up can figure it out without any instruction.

Video Screen should be
Title / Genre

Tv Screen should be
Title / Genre



Let's see...

In the incarnation I'm testing against now, I've changed the default actions for the Movies and TVshow buttons so that clicking them takes you straight to the library for that section. Same for Music. I also wanted mine to be as girlfriend-proof as possible.

The video section also behaves in the way you specified. I've still got some refining to do, but I'll hopefully have a new version up on FTP tonight to see if it's more like what you mean.

The settings stuff...I've fixed the problem I was having with the movies section and can now move forward (brain fart), so maybe I'll take a run at making a more official settings area. I'm sure you guys know how ugly it is right now.

One of the big things I want to add is an area for mundo customization. I was thinking of adding something like four custom buttons per menu, which you guys can then use to add w/e plugins wherever you want them, with the only plugs required being launcher and hulu.

As far as having hulu jump to a specific section...I haven't tried it, but I don't think it's there yet. That would be something to ask rwParris for, along with having the plugin report content. Actually, it would probably be the same thing. ;)


Now my question is. Is this skin going to be setup to cater to File view as well as Library or is it going to be an eye candy skin that relies heavily on Fan Art and thumbs? If its going to be eye candy I'd remove the Library drop down and just make the word Video or Tv the one that opens up the Library be default. Of course you could leave the plugin ones below or go from there.

No, file view is something I actually use a lot. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to add a movie to lib right away. And for music, I actually hated the library because of how messy my tags made it come out. Building this skin has actually forced me to clean up my files.

So yes...eye candy. And yes, caters to files section. And...yes? :D

[kizer]

Haha, just asking my friend. Worst case have an option in settings that enables file view for one or all or whatever. My wife just clicks on library and I better have the newest and greatest loaded or she gives me that "burn-a-hole-through-lead-stare".

Now that I think about it. I was planning on loading up some kiddy flicks and well didn't want them in the library, but would access via file view just becaue I don't want to see a ton of Thomas the Tank and Seseame Street videos. ;)

Man I could give you options all day, but I'm guessing implementing half of them would get tiresome as all heck. I'll still try and push you for them thou.

[rwparris2]

I'd like to see this:

-TV (default to library)
--Library
--Files (unlike mediastream, i think this should default to videos sources)
--Plugins (takes you to a list of all video plugins i.e. mediastream)

-Movies (default to library)
--Library
--Files (unlike mediastream, i think this should default to videos sources)
--Plugins (list of all video plugins i.e. mediastream)
--Apple Movie Trailers II (assuming user has set a valid path in skin settings)

-Music (default to library)
--Library
--Files (unlike mediastream, i think this should default to music sources)
--Party Mode
--Last.FM
--Plugins

(you could easily add programs or pictures here. With the launcher plugin and all the work being done on the 'games library' my vote goes to programs... however, I don't use either one but adding one or the other (probably not both, but maybe, you'd have to play around and see how well it fit) would look fitting in this spot.

-Accessories
--Favorites
--Weather (Enable & set path to TWC Supplemental Script in skin settings)
--Scripts
--Programs/Pictures (which ever you didn't put above)
--Addons Manager (Enable & set path in skin settings)
--File Manager
--System Info

-An icon representing DVD, only present if a DVD is actually in the drive
--Play
--Browse
--Rip (if audio CD)
(I don't know if any of these are really possible, but I'd like to see it like this if it is possible)
-An icon representing settings
--video
--music
--appearance
--etc.
--skin (which is also where you should define fanart, btw)

Let's see...

One of the big things I want to add is an area for mundo customization. I was thinking of adding something like four custom buttons per menu, which you guys can then use to add w/e plugins wherever you want them, with the only plugs required being launcher and hulu.
if you can do through the gui via that would be frickin-AWESOME!
why in the world would you require hulu or launcher? people outside of the US can't even use hulu & a lot of xbmcers don't use launcher...


As far as having hulu jump to a specific section...I haven't tried it, but I don't think it's there yet. That would be something to ask rwParris for, along with having the plugin report content. Actually, it would probably be the same thing. ;)let me state for the record I'm against this, as it means I can't break the way it works later if I wanted... plus there are RSS feeds & other stuff people may want that is only available from the home screen. plus it wont work for people who aren't using my version of hulu

anyways, if you must, use plugin://videos/hulu/?mode=[TV/Movie]

Hulu also already sets content, seems to work OK in PM3.HD, some things may be a little quirky though (especially episodes, because of the folder actually being a video thing we talked about earlier)

[kizer]

On the Hulu Idea it wasn't meant IMHO as a bypass for the entire script just as a quick jump from the particular menu it happens to be a part of. Meaning when I'm thinking of watching a Movie I'd be in the movie section in particular and well my Library just isn't cutting it so I could pop over onto Hulu and see what they have as well as TV.

I really think Hulu should have its own place like it normally does, but figured since I'm tossing quarters into the wishing well why not ask since I have the Hulu guy here and the Skin guy here as well.

It sorta seems like rwparris2 and I both have the same idea in a way on the menu, but he would like to see a bit more in settings and I'd personally don't, but hey no biggie. Worst case a switch in settings to turn it on or off.

[digitalhigh]

Damn both of you and your equally valid thoughts on the home menu! ;)

I'll play around. We'll say that. Seeing as how you've both become my beta testers, I'll do one thing at a time, and we can go from there. I definitely like the ideas you guys have, and I think that 95% of what you're asking for can be accomplished while still letting me have my way as to what does what. I'm almost done updating the TV section...I'll PM you guys when the new version is on FTP.

Thanks again for all the input.

Parris...what are the content fields that the hulu plug reports back? I was not aware that Hulu was a US-restricted feature...that definitely makes me think again about how to do what.

[paul]

I totally agree with rwparris2 with regards to the menu layout.
Other than that it looks good as it is.

[digitalhigh]

New screens:

Posters are going to be optional throughout...

http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFrrXF/tn_SS1.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFrret/SS1.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFrrXQ/tn_ss2.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFrrXU/ss2.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFrrXX/tn_ss3.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFrrXe/ss3.jpg.html)
http://s2.largeimagehost.com/TN/erFrrXr/tn_ss4.jpg (http://s2.largeimagehost.com/img/untilted/erFrrXc/ss4.jpg.html)

[tcman47]

good stuff, thanks

[digitalhigh]

Edit:

There...second idea.


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/revision1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/lilmovieinfo.jpg

Outside of that, I've now got custom plugins added to all the sections, as well as making all the sections there to use...if not in a basic form for now. Fleshed out the movie icons set more. Re-did the home menu a bit to reflect rwparris2 and Kizer's ideas, including adding a button that shows up when a disc is inserted...

Baby steps...baby steps.

[sinarquia]

It's coming along nicely! Take your time, but not too long ;)

[digitalhigh]

It's coming along nicely! Take your time, but not too long ;)

Thanks. :D

I'm trying to be as productive as I can without pissing off my girlfriend. ;)

[keeganl]

You definately can't piss off the girl. It's a tough balancing act. I know how you feel. If m girl sees me on the computer she instantly says something. I do overkill it a bit sometimes, so she isn't nagging. Its usually true!

[digitalhigh]

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/lifted.jpg

[paul]

Looking good mate as for the girlfriend buy her some flowers that will keep her off your back for a few hours:laugh:

[keeganl]

Here is another concept screen for the movie information screen. It incorporated the list and then either have settings set to bring information up on hover or on button press. If on button press, it would work as follows. You open the movie list and stop on the movie you are interested in then press right and the movie information would slide out from behind the movie list. Let us know which view you all prefer out of all the screens that have been presented.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5476/movielibraryinfoiq9.th.jpg (http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movielibraryinfoiq9.jpg)

[digitalhigh]

Here is another concept screen for the movie information screen. It incorporated the list and then either have settings set to bring information up on hover or on button press. If on button press, it would work as follows. You open the movie list and stop on the movie you are interested in then press right and the movie information would slide out from behind the movie list. Let us know which view you all prefer out of all the screens that have been presented.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5476/movielibraryinfoiq9.th.jpg (http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=movielibraryinfoiq9.jpg)

Like I said in email, I think we got our lines crossed. The concept I posted was *actually* supposed to be for the big movie info window...the one that pops up from the context menu.

But I look at this view, and I like it, so I'm gonna make it, then keep an option to either use this big view on buttonpress/autopopup, or use the little view with just the info in the corner.

[kizer]

That is nice. I like how the Font is HUGE and really stands out making you look at it. Also I like how its in the middle of the screen like that so its very visible.

[digitalhigh]

Anybody know what font that is? I've got everything done in this view except for setting the right fonts!

[keeganl]

bank gothic is the name of the font used for the name, the movie list, and the plot summary

[digitalhigh]

bank gothic is the name of the font used for the name, the movie list, and the plot summary

Allright. Thanks.

[keeganl]

check here! 2 pics of the bank gothic font in the menu lists.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ec8128832e00e48d9bf8d6369220dcabe04e75f6 e8ebb871

[digitalhigh]

Yeah, that looks a lot better in the menus. I've already replaced it for everything in movies, will do the same for music and home in a second. :D

[digitalhigh]

Here's a ss of the big info view. I have to double-check, but I don't think that the thumb/fanart stuff can be set from outside the movie info dialogue. :(

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot003.jpg

I've also got the new font in all the other menus.

Has anybody who's got a test copy tried to see if the movie library section is still messed up?

[keeganl]

All is working fine for me now!

[timdog82001]

Looks nice. My only personal complaint would be that for long texts, such as the movie description, I'd rather see regular casing than all caps. All caps gets tiring on the eyes eventually.

EDIT: Just something I noticed, you don't seem to have the option to toggle between cast and plot description in your screenshot there. Perhaps you're not planning on including this, but thought I should point that out just in case you forgot about it.

[rwparris2]

but I don't think that the thumb/fanart stuff can be set from outside the movie info dialogue. :(

It is 1000x times better to keep settings like that out of your normal views. IMO they don't even belong in the info dialog, but that is for an entirely different discussion.

Will test when I get home tonight if I don't immediately fall asleep :;):

[kizer]

What he said. I personally like to leave things like that in the settings area so its not easily clicked on. Of course it means you have to look, but I'd rather look and keep it clean.

[digitalhigh]

Here's the view when you're in file browsing mode...the one with posters/backdrop/cast will be in the full movie info view. Then there's still also the minimal one where it's just the info or info and poster in the lower corners.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2m7vvi8.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/29c9f2h.jpg

[sinarquia]

Great job , looks like a good balance between function and beauty. Can't wait to try it here.

[paul]

Yeh it's still looking clean simple and dam easy to read the on scree text,
Though not to keen on the font used (sorry) but the rest is great i look forward to trying this on xbox

[mfwilli]

Looks good! But I'll throw my name in the "not crazy about the font"' hat.

[digitalhigh]

So, I think we're going to call the skin "Serenity". It sounds nice, it fits, and I really liked the series Firefly and the movie, so that helps too. Here's a video showing the custom plugins, custom fanart, and video views in action. I should wait until there's more completed, but I felt compelled to show off something other than me scrolling between icons in the home menu. ;)

Serenity for XBMC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6eybBN2jPM)

Features:

Minimalistic Approach - Instead of trying to have super-detailed textures, fancy glass overlays, and boner-inducing icons designed to make you drool, we opted to instead try and pack as much functionality into as little space as possible, allowing you to admire all of your hard-collected fanart. This "less-is-more" theory also means that the number of button presses required to do something are kept to a bare minimum.

Custom fanart - Configurable from the home menu(first time) and also from the "customize" menu.

Custom Plugins - Allows you to set up to 4 custom links each for the TV/Video/Music/Programs sections, accessible directly from the home menu.

Pick an Info View - Do you want posters and movie information? Maybe just the information in the corner? Or maybe you want it to take up the whole screen. Maybe you want something that shows you the minimal information. Maybe you want it to pop up automatically? You decide.

Mini Playlist - Accessible from anywhere in the skin, allows you to view/select 100 items from the playlist at any time. Can be configured to be always on or visible only when selected.

Music Fanart support - Displays fanart images based on the currently selected artist in music files/library/playlist areas.

Rotating video/audio OSD - Uses a variation of MacGuyver's carousel design to present the video/audio OSD in a pretty slick manner.

Conditional Weather Fanart support - If it's sunny, the pictures will show sunny. If it's rainy, the pictures will show that it's rainy. If it's dark, there won't be any pictures. Okay, the last part was a joke. It'll just show you pictures at night. ;)

Radar...right on the home screen - This isn't implemented yet, but with the final version, you will have the option to have your current radar map display directly on the home screen when you select the weather button.

MPAA Logos - You know, the little box that shows up before a preview. Those things.

Studio Logos - Shows you pretty pictures that tell you what studio made your movie. There are currently 24 supported studios, with about an additional 15 to be added. I'm also willing to take requests.

HD flag support - Shows you whether the video is HD, SD, blu-ray, etc. This will be added as soon as development is finished.

Helps you make friends - Imagine all the people that will want to come over and watch you look at movie/tv show/album descriptions after you get this. They will be so amazed, they'll probably give you money. At least...that's how I see it in my mind.

And of course...there's still a lot more work to be done yet. A lot. But you get the idea.

[digitalhigh]

Looks good! But I'll throw my name in the "not crazy about the font"' hat.

If you know something better, I know that I personally am open to suggestions. And that's not to sound rude...I'm just saying, I like it better than using Bebas in the menus simply because it's cleaner and smaller.

[keeganl]

great video. I'll keep searching for fonts. It will all come together.

[joebrady]

Looking good, I can't wait to try this one out.

"Music Fanart support - Displays fanart images based on the currently selected artist in music files/library/playlist areas."

In file mode? Will movie fanart work in filemode also?

[digitalhigh]

Looking good, I can't wait to try this one out.

"Music Fanart support - Displays fanart images based on the currently selected artist in music files/library/playlist areas."

In file mode? Will movie fanart work in filemode also?

Yep.

[sinarquia]

Impressive video. I know nothing about coding, but could lend a hand with translating to spanish, if needed.

[digitalhigh]

Impressive video. I know nothing about coding, but could lend a hand with translating to spanish, if needed.

That's one of the Phase II sort of things...right now I'm working on putting everything where it's gonna go and calling it what it's gonna be called, then comes the task of localizing everything.

But when that time comes, I will def. keep you in mind. :D

[kizer]

Hey watched the video today. Thats looking nicer and nicer every day man. Just don't get to wild and burn out before its all finished. ;)

[NineT9mustang]

Helps you make friends - Imagine all the people that will want to come over and watch you look at movie/tv show/album descriptions after you get this. They will be so amazed, they'll probably give you money. At least...that's how I see it in my mind.

Thank you, been waiting for a skin to add this feature for a while!

[keeganl]

Here are the shots of the tv show library.

We have kept in mind that some people will use banners for their library and others will use posters.

Poster info view
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8162/tvshowlibraryinfoposter.jpg

Banner info view
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5522/tvshowlibraryinfobanner.jpg

Tweaking will be done to minimize info listed and keep only the essentials. Ex. Series information will not display for every single episode as that would get a bit redundant. These are to give you an idea of the style you cn expect form this skin. Hope you guys like it. Suggestions are always welcome.

[kizer]

I like the date and time displayed on your screen shots opposed to the scrolling ones. With the news scrolling across the bottom and the time date scrolling it to me gets a little busy.

[digitalhigh]

I like the date and time displayed on your screen shots opposed to the scrolling ones. With the news scrolling across the bottom and the time date scrolling it to me gets a little busy.

Well then, you should check out the new version on FTP. I added a flag to the "custom plugins" section for now to choose between a one or two line date/weather. ;)

[digitalhigh]

More concepts for the big views for TV show info. Note the studio logos. This means I need a list of suggest networks to have icons for. The ones I'm already gonna have for are as follow:

Fox
NBC
Comedy Central
BBC
Discovery
ABC
[adult swim]/cartoon network


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/EpisodeInfo.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/ShowInfo.jpg

[paul]

Nice work. how about adding Paramount

[digitalhigh]

Nice work. how about adding Paramount

Paramount is a network?

I basically created a list based on all the Movie Studios that MIP supports auto-tagging for.

[paul]

It's a film studio aswell

[digitalhigh]

Aha...CBS paramount. I've always just heard it called CBS.

Gotcha.

[jalesm]

I thought about posting a giant list of every US network, but that would be ridiculous. I just stuck with the more common stations that actually have original programming:
AMC
FX
USA
TBS
TNT
HBO
Showtime
A&E
Bravo
The History Channel
PBS
CW
Nickelodeon
Disney
Sci Fi
MTV
BET
VH1
ESPN
Food Network
WGN, UPN (for older shows I guess?)

I'm sure I missed something.

[kizer]

Abc
nbc
fox

[digitalhigh]

I thought about posting a giant list of every US network, but that would be ridiculous. I just stuck with the more common stations that actually have original programming:
AMC
FX
USA
TBS
TNT
HBO
Showtime
A&E
Bravo
The History Channel
PBS
CW
Nickelodeon
Disney
Sci Fi
MTV
BET
VH1
ESPN
Food Network
WGN, UPN (for older shows I guess?)

I'm sure I missed something.

That's about what I was looking for. I've actually got a "sheet" with the majority of those on it, I'm just not at home ATM to look at it.

Thanks guys. :D

So for TV shows, each episode will (can) have a logo for the network, one for resolution, one for audio channel/type, and one to indicate if the episode has been watched.

I'm also thinking about incorporating the fact that I can also pull info for the language stuff, but that might be a bit redundant. Thoughts?

Edit: Music view incoroporting back artwork...dunno how I like it.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/musicLibraryInforedux.jpg

[keeganl]

Would it be possible to have any admin change the name of this thread to Serenity since we have officially named the skin. Also it is no longer possibly a skin, it is working, albeit in a simple form. So if you could change the name of the thread it would be greatly appreciated.

[rwparris2]

Would it be possible to have any admin change the name of this thread to Serenity since we have officially named the skin. Also it is no longer possibly a skin, it is working, albeit in a simple form. So if you could change the name of the thread it would be greatly appreciated.
what exactly do you want it changed to?
Changed it to 'Serenity' for now, let me know if you want something different.

[digitalhigh]

what exactly do you want it changed to?
Changed it to 'Serenity' for now, let me know if you want something different.

Serenity works. ;)

Say, have you tried the video stuff lately, see if that problem you were having is still there? Either way, I'd check the FTP...

[theophile]

Dang!

I was hoping the thread title change meant an initial release. You've got us all on the edges of our seats!

Oh, and I'm willing to beta test. :grin:

[kizer]

Well I know from experience it seems to work pretty good on the PC, but seems to act kinda funky on my Xbox. However its still in development. ;)

I need to test it more and actually provide some more bug tests so digitalhigh can look at them.

[theophile]

I can test on Linux. :;):

[keeganl]

Dang!

I was hoping the thread title change meant an initial release. You've got us all on the edges of our seats!



That truly means a lot. This is the first work DigitalHigh and myself have done as far as XBMC skins go. It's a good feeling to know that we are doing something that someone is interested in other than ourselves. Even if it is one person, that actually makes me feel pretty good. So thanks to all who show an interest in this skin. Also we are always taking any kind of suggestions anyone may have as refers to this skin. So suggest away.

Also thanks for changing the name of the thread. Serenity is perfect.

[digitalhigh]

That truly means a lot. This is the first work DigitalHigh and myself have done as far as XBMC skins go. It's a good feeling to know that we are doing something that someone is interested in other than ourselves. Even if it is one person, that actually makes me feel pretty good. So thanks to all who show an interest in this skin. Also we are always taking any kind of suggestions anyone may have as refers to this skin. So suggest away.

Also thanks for changing the name of the thread. Serenity is perfect.

I second that. It's definitely a major motivator, especially now that this skin has grown from a few rough screens to a beast with all the moving parts. Every day I sit here coding, amazed with myself that I can remember that I put this here, that there, and that this in location #3 controls both of them. Couple that with the fact that I've been taking care of a sick kid for the past week and the other fact that I just downloaded the Afro-Samurai game for my 360...

Yeah...you guys are definitely a big motivator. So, hang in there. Hopefully, we can have a working release for you within...say...a month?

I'm not gonna lie tho...as soon as this game is done burning, I'm puttin' myself in a digital high and going to play for a while. Afro-Samurai rulez.

[paul]

You do right mate have a rest.
looking after sick children is not easy, How is your son/daughter well i hope?

[quake101]

You guys both have been doing a great job! Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to the final product as well.

btw, Afro-Samurai is an awesome game. ;)

[digitalhigh]

You do right mate have a rest.
looking after sick children is not easy, How is your son/daughter well i hope?

He's good. Had an ear infection. But even when sick he's incredibly well-behaved. I'm very fortunate.



btw, Afro-Samurai is an awesome game.

I tried playing it, but the stupid sun is shining right on the screen, making it very difficult to see anything. I got frustrated and shut it off, right after I realized I could do flips and stuff too. It does look like a very cool game. Prince of Persia, but Afro Samurai.

[paul]

Glad he's ok. now go chill out. and forget the skin for at least a while,
No point in rushing it.

[digitalhigh]

Two new working screens I've got going. They're both definitely not final...just what I've been playing with.


1. Re-design of the video OSD. I haven't scrapped the rotating one yet, but I definitely think that this is more in tune with the rest of the skin. Right now, you have the option to choose between the two. What I like is that when you pause it, everything slides offscreen so that you're free to take screenshots. ;)


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/OSD.jpg


And this is the "Extra" cover information. MIP is going to support auto-downloading of the outer/inner DVD images, as well as pics of the discs themselves. If the user wants, they can store this info an a folder called "Extras" under the filenames of Front.jpg, Inner.jpg, CD1.jpg, and CD2.jpg, and the skin will find them and display them.

There are limitations to this, however. First, the movies have to be locally stored, not over a network share. Windows users can get around this by mapping a network drive, I'm not familiar enough with the other OS's to know if this is doable for the rest of you or not. Also, rendering these large of images without having them cached is a bit memory-intensive. But, the end result is pretty. And, as always, you can turn it on or off at your whim. If it's not enabled, then the writer/director information will be displayed there instead.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/extraart.jpg

[kizer]

Yeah you guys are doing great. I promise to put forth a bit more testing in the Xbox relm. I've been just well a little occupied with a few things myself.

I think what I might do is toy around with another Xbox I have in the house with a smaller library. Mine seems to be acting up with 100+ movies and not that its the skins fault, but I'd rather see whats going on before I blame it on one thing or another.

On my PC it seems to run pretty good, but keeping up with digitalhighs screen shots is impossible because hes a machine. ;)

[fekker]

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/extraart.jpg

sweet!
- MIP will also generate <extraname>_preview.jpg .. loading those would be much faster. Size is on par with standard covers. and there's <extraname>_thumb.jpg (which is what is generated for MIP's display, height on thumbs is set to 122px, width varies to maintain the aspect ratio of the original item.)

Here's a pic of the bar I use to display them in MIP, fixed height thumbs are shown here.
http://www.picamatic.com/show/2009/02/26/11/44/2473235_737x334.jpg

[digitalhigh]

sweet!
- MIP will also generate <extraname>_preview.jpg .. loading those would be much faster. Size is on par with standard covers. and there's <extraname>_thumb.jpg (which is what is generated for MIP's display, height on thumbs is set to 122px, width varies to maintain the aspect ratio of the original item.)

Here's a pic of the bar I use to display them in MIP, fixed height thumbs are shown here.
http://www.picamatic.com/show/2009/02/26/11/44/2473235_737x334.jpg

That's awesome. That will make things run a lot smoother if it doesn't have to find, load, and then downscale every 1000+ pixel image. I think I've got the height at just over 150 in the working model. Maybe you can upscale the thumbs just a bit to compensate?

[digitalhigh]

Well I know from experience it seems to work pretty good on the PC, but seems to act kinda funky on my Xbox. However its still in development. ;)

I need to test it more and actually provide some more bug tests so digitalhigh can look at them.

Yeah, you definitely need to let me know how it's acting funky so I can determine where the problems are coming from. ;)




Here are the TV logos. Can you think of any I'm missing?

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/TVlogos.jpg

[timdog82001]

how about cbs and mtv? maybe E! too. history channel might be good to have. not sure if you want news networks or not but i'm not seeing a cnn or msnbc up there either. also there are a bunch of branches of the discovery channel like the science channel and stuff, but discovery channel logo would probably be fine for all of them

now that i think about it, won't this just be based of info scraped from thetvdb? Seems like there should be a way to see all the different companies on their website. If not, I imagine they'd be willing to provide skinners with a list for things like this

[keeganl]

MyNetwork (For the wrestling fans)
Versus(MMA)

[digitalhigh]

how about cbs and mtv? maybe E! too. history channel might be good to have. not sure if you want news networks or not but i'm not seeing a cnn or msnbc up there either. also there are a bunch of branches of the discovery channel like the science channel and stuff, but discovery channel logo would probably be fine for all of them

now that i think about it, won't this just be based of info scraped from thetvdb? Seems like there should be a way to see all the different companies on their website. If not, I imagine they'd be willing to provide skinners with a list for things like this

MTV is on there already. ;)

Added MSNBC, History Channel, CBS, and TV Tokyo for you Naruto Shippuden fans.

And yes, this is based on the TVDB scrapings. I've looked at the .nfo files for several of my shows to see how the names are formatted...figured I'd just make w/e people request and call it macaroni.

[rwparris2]

FWIW I like the NBC beside spike better than the other one.

Sorry I haven't been testing lately, I'm really falling behind on my xbmc responsibilities....

[digitalhigh]

FWIW I like the NBC beside spike better than the other one.

Sorry I haven't been testing lately, I'm really falling behind on my xbmc responsibilities....

So do I. I just threw it in there because I had it made up already.

And don't worry about the testing. I haven't made any staggering changes lately, just tweaking stuff here and there. I've been procrastinating on doing the TV/music info stuff yet, and puttering with all these icons is the last thing I needed to do before I take a run at that stuff. So I'll PM you when there's something big I want you guys to check out. :D

MyNetwork (For the wrestling fans)
Versus(MMA)

Added both.

Edit: Also added Channel 4 UK, Space Channel, Animal Planet, "Syndicated", and BBC2. ;)

[XBMCG33K]

Very cool man. :)

[fekker]

That's awesome. That will make things run a lot smoother if it doesn't have to find, load, and then downscale every 1000+ pixel image. I think I've got the height at just over 150 in the working model. Maybe you can upscale the thumbs just a bit to compensate?

Thumb images are now set to 150, I wasn't sure if it would be too much in MIP, but it looks good, and at high resolutions 122 was pretty tiny.

There's alot more images available now, since tv shows needed a bunch more discs and front's. cd1 - cd15 .. front, back, inside, inlay, are set to 10.
front.jpg .. front2.jpg.. front3.jpg .. etc .. cd1.jpg, cd2.jpg, cd3.jpg, etc..
I don't think folks will use as many for Movies, but for tv shows they will..
music inlays, if split over multiple images, would be inlay.jpg, inlay2.jpg, inlay3.jpg, etc..

The .nfo's will have the same HD flagging will have full multiple stream support that CptBry has been working on as well.

[digitalhigh]

Thumb images are now set to 150, I wasn't sure if it would be too much in MIP, but it looks good, and at high resolutions 122 was pretty tiny.

There's alot more images available now, since tv shows needed a bunch more discs and front's. cd1 - cd15 .. front, back, inside, inlay, are set to 10.
front.jpg .. front2.jpg.. front3.jpg .. etc .. cd1.jpg, cd2.jpg, cd3.jpg, etc..
I don't think folks will use as many for Movies, but for tv shows they will..
music inlays, if split over multiple images, would be inlay.jpg, inlay2.jpg, inlay3.jpg, etc..

The .nfo's will have the same HD flagging will have full multiple stream support that CptBry has been working on as well.

Can't wait to try it out. :D

[theophile]

Surely someone can fix that ??

[digitalhigh]

Surely someone can fix that ??

I think so. My initial reaction was just one of those "Fu** me running!" kind of moments. Jmarshall's looking at it now.

[digitalhigh]

This is kind of what the TV view has evolved into for me for the poster view. I'm wondering what everybody thinks about it.

The few variations of this I've been thinking about were to keep the TV shows list down on the left side as in the movie section. Otherwise, I could make the info part stretch all the way across the screen, maybe put fekker's DVD extra gfx over there.

Also, whenever they're available from the DB, I'll have the network/mpaa icons in the bottom portion of the info bar, as well as the flags for HD/Audio stuff.

I dunno. Maybe make the info as tall as the poster and keep the show list visible?

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/TvShowLibraryInfoPoster-1.jpg

Edit: Second Idea...display either season posters at the bottom, or fekker's extra media stuff...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/TvShowLibraryInfoPoster2.jpg

[paul]

I think the first looks better in my opinion. looks very good

[theophile]

I agree. Whatever leaves the most fanart visible gets my vote.

[Livin]

I'd say do the larger poster + the smaller info window together.

[rwparris2]

I'd say do the larger poster + the smaller info window together.
How about zero posters? F*** 'em, fanart is better.

[paul]

I agree i would prefer to just see fanart myself it's cleaner that way:)

[digitalhigh]

I've definitely not forgotten the fact that a lot of you prefer to have minimal screen real-estate taken up whenever possible. My intentions with the views presented were to have one view that does take up some room, but displays a lot of cool stuff. Studio Logos, TV-MPAA rating, and cover/CD images as provided by MIP.

So, what I think will be the end option is to have like I do in the movies section, where you can pick between having a tiny little box that just shows a synopsis; a tiny box w. synopsis and poster; or the large view with all the trimmings. This is pretty well implemented in movies already. What I wound up doing was just taking the large view for movies and duplicating that view.

So for those of you who want description + fanart only...you can have it. For myself and anybody else who prefers a bit more eye candy...we can have that too.

Oh, and if if you haven't caught it already, this skin is also wide-icon friendly as well. ;)

[paul]

I've definitely not forgotten the fact that a lot of you prefer to have minimal screen real-estate taken up whenever possible. My intentions with the views presented were to have one view that does take up some room, but displays a lot of cool stuff. Studio Logos, TV-MPAA rating, and cover/CD images as provided by MIP.

So, what I think will be the end option is to have like I do in the movies section, where you can pick between having a tiny little box that just shows a synopsis; a tiny box w. synopsis and poster; or the large view with all the trimmings. This is pretty well implemented in movies already. What I wound up doing was just taking the large view for movies and duplicating that view.

So for those of you who want description + fanart only...you can have it. For myself and anybody else who prefers a bit more eye candy...we can have that too.

Oh, and if if you haven't caught it already, this skin is also wide-icon friendly as well. ;)
sounds good to me i do like all that eye candy stuff but i soon get bored with it. thats why i would prefer just a plot/info box and the fanart behind that but if your going to let us have a choice then thats perfik keep up the good work mate

[TerranQ]

Not to be a pain, but is there an ETA for Serenity? This and Stark are going to be my skins of choice, and the screenshots are making me salivate ;)

[digitalhigh]

Not to be a pain, but is there an ETA for Serenity? This and Stark are going to be my skins of choice, and the screenshots are making me salivate ;)


You know, I'm really not that far off from having a basic version that does all the necessary stuff, plus some of the extra features I've mentioned. I'd say that a safe wager would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2-4 weeks?

In the meanwhile, here's a few pics of the photos section, for those of you who use XBMC for viewing pics. The movie ones are actually cool enough that I may consider using something like that as an extra view for the movies section...eventually. I know I like it a lot. :D

The cool thing is that when you press down, the thumbnails go ofscreen, and the image just displays directly in the background...but you can still scroll between pictures. Press up, and you see the thumbnails. Press up again, and the options menu is displayed.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot020.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot019.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot017.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot016.jpg

[paul]

2 to 4 weeks blimey thats dam quick..
I can't wait to test it out on my xbox and pc

[digitalhigh]

2 to 4 weeks blimey thats dam quick..
I can't wait to test it out on my xbox and pc

Thanks. One of the benefits of being a construction worker during the summer is that you're afforded a lot of time in the winter to work on whatever your little heart desires. Seeing as how I'm most likely going to re-enroll in school next year to get a degree doing what I like, this is prolly the last winter where I'll have the time to do stuff like this.

So...I'm hitting it as hard as I can. Most days I spend at least 5-6 hours working. I'm up at 7AM, clacking away...

[paul]

If your not carefull you will end up with square eyes. hope you take regular breaks from the monitor as they do screw with your eyes / posture / and ya head:laugh:

[digitalhigh]

If your not carefull you will end up with square eyes. hope you take regular breaks from the monitor as they do screw with your eyes / posture / and ya head:laugh:

Don't worry about me. My workstation has three monitors for me to stare at, plus a bigscreen to test on, so my eyes get quite the variety of things to look at. Plus, I've still gotta get up and take bathroom breaks, so I get my exercise in as well. ;)

Edit:

Here are a few screenshots of the secondary tile view in Music FILES. Same thing is in video files.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot021.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot023.jpg

[quake101]

I really like this view, but I have one question. Looking at the screenshots I can't really tell what title is currently selected. As in, bigger image or border around the currently selected item. Is it just my eyes? Maybe this is the way you planned it, I'm just asking... ;)

Anyways, keep up the awesome work man!

[digitalhigh]

I really like this view, but I have one question. Looking at the screenshots I can't really tell what title is currently selected. As in, bigger image or border around the currently selected item. Is it just my eyes? Maybe this is the way you planned it, I'm just asking... ;)

Anyways, keep up the awesome work man!

No, you're right. I just haven't made a separate overlay image for the selected item. It works good in pictures view because the image is displayed in the background, but I already noted that this isn't the case in other screens.

[quake101]

I had a feeling you where already aware of this. You "da man". ;)

[keeganl]

Glad to see we are getting a lot of attention on this skin. DigitalHigh is in fact a beast of a coder. I am having a nearly impossible time creating screens for the new sections fast enough. As soon as i have one together, DigitalHigh has coded it, and has a working example of my artwork.

This is my public thank you to DigitalHigh for your incredible dedication to this project that spawned from 2 concept screenshots.

I hope everyone is excited about Serenity. It's shaping up very quickly and as Ben said, we are looking at an early alpha test version to be put out in the near future for you all to tell us what you think about the functionality so far. So stay with us. We'll have a test version coming to you sooner than later.

[digitalhigh]

Glad to see we are getting a lot of attention on this skin. DigitalHigh is in fact a beast of a coder. I am having a nearly impossible time creating screens for the new sections fast enough. As soon as i have one together, DigitalHigh has coded it, and has a working example of my artwork.

This is my public thank you to DigitalHigh for your incredible dedication to this project that spawned from 2 concept screenshots.

I hope everyone is excited about Serenity. It's shaping up very quickly and as Ben said, we are looking at an early alpha test version to be put out in the near future for you all to tell us what you think about the functionality so far. So stay with us. We'll have a test version coming to you sooner than later.

Thanks man. I appreciate that. Although to be fair, I wouldn't have had much to do without your designs. All I'm really doing is taking your ideas and converting them from PSD's to XML, then animating it in ways that amuse me.

Same thing with the feedback from everybody else. This skin wouldn't have happened if none of you had said anything, so thanks to all. Keep chiming in, because it really helps with my creative process. ;)

[webmosher]

Hello,

Very nice work.

I saw digitalhigh post in reply to someone's request to a music oriented skin, so I thought I would check this out. I have flipped between MediaStream and Horizons myself, but I would definitely try out Serenity once its released. Regarding music - Is there a screenshot of the music player/visualization overlay yet? The overlay options in MediaStream are my favorite so far.

Personally, I am not a fan of the squarish default font. If it would be at all possible to provide at least one alternate that is more "reader friendly", that would be very nice. I know that getting the flow/layout right with different fonts can be troublesome, so if this isn't possible, I understand.

With this and the new Aeon releasing soon, I can see I will probably be back to flipping between skins. However, I really really like the layout of Serenity the most between the two.

Cheers,
Fred

[digitalhigh]

Hello,

Very nice work.

I saw digitalhigh post in reply to someone's request to a music oriented skin, so I thought I would check this out. I have flipped between MediaStream and Horizons myself, but I would definitely try out Serenity once its released. Regarding music - Is there a screenshot of the music player/visualization overlay yet? The overlay options in MediaStream are my favorite so far.

Personally, I am not a fan of the squarish default font. If it would be at all possible to provide at least one alternate that is more "reader friendly", that would be very nice. I know that getting the flow/layout right with different fonts can be troublesome, so if this isn't possible, I understand.

With this and the new Aeon releasing soon, I can see I will probably be back to flipping between skins. However, I really really like the layout of Serenity the most between the two.

Cheers,
Fred

To be honest, I haven't finished the music OSD yet. My intentions are to have the now playing information look as seen in the rest of the skin, where the titles are in the RSS area, time in the upper right, and play buttons in the upper left (like the Video OSD). After looking at the Video OSD for some time, I think I'm going to try using the play/ffwd/etc symbols instead of text, so it's still a bit up in the air.

The basic idea is, as always, to use as little screen as possible while still displaying all the info you'd want to see.

As far as the font goes, yes, that's another one that's a bit further down on my list of things I'd like to do with this skin. As soon as I started using it, I realized that there would still be people that preferred everything being the same.

As far as readable goes, however, the screenshots may be a bit decieving...I really don't have a problem reading anything I've used thus far. Regardless, yes, I hope to have an option down the road for those who prefer the main font.

On another note, here's a ss of the panel view as implemented in the TV section. In the process of doing this, I wound up simplifying the way everything works together as well...meaning that I fixed the reason for the problems some of you guys were having with the movie/tv lib views. Awesome.

The title displays for about two seconds after the item is selected, then fades/slides behind the list, leaving just the tiles. Pressing down drops the list out of sight and brings up w/e info view you've got enabled...but still allows for scrolling between episodes or shows. ;)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot024.jpg

[kizer]

Yep its a colaborated effort. Some of us just do a lot less than others. Bahahahahaha

Hey look at me.... look at me...

Get back to coding ;)

[digitalhigh]

Yep its a colaborated effort. Some of us just do a lot less than others. Bahahahahaha

Hey look at me.... look at me...

Get back to coding ;)

You shut your trap and go test out the new version I uploaded to the FTP already! ;)

[paul]

That's telling him Ha ha

[ptipton]

This looks really nice. As Digitalhigh is looking for input my 10 cents would be:

1.IMHO in music views a weakness of all skins ( and software) seems to be ease of music management with a remote control especially if you have a large number of cd's. Seems even in coverflow or wallview views ( my favorites at present) you can spend ages scrolling through either albums or artists to find what you want and playlist management never seems that simple. A skin that really makes music selection and management easy would be a big step forward.

2. XBMC now has basic mythtv support and work is being done on unified pvr front end. To date no skin really caters for this. A good start would be simply the option to have a TV button in the main menu which points to the mythtv share and later would be good to make sure that the epg and other support being worked on works well with the skin.

Sorry for my ignorance but where can I download this skin to give it a try?

[paul]

This looks really nice. As Digitalhigh is looking for input my 10 cents would be:

1.IMHO in music views a weakness of all skins ( and software) seems to be ease of music management with a remote control especially if you have a large number of cd's. Seems even in coverflow or wallview views ( my favorites at present) you can spend ages scrolling through either albums or artists to find what you want and playlist management never seems that simple. A skin that really makes music selection and management easy would be a big step forward.

2. XBMC now has basic mythtv support and work is being done on unified pvr front end. To date no skin really caters for this. A good start would be simply the option to have a TV button in the main menu which points to the mythtv share and later would be good to make sure that the epg and other support being worked on works well with the skin.

Sorry for my ignorance but where can I download this skin to give it a try?
It's still being developed my friend if you read the whole thread you would know that Digital is hopeing for a beta release in 2 to 4 weeks
:D

[digitalhigh]

This looks really nice. As Digitalhigh is looking for input my 10 cents would be:

1.IMHO in music views a weakness of all skins ( and software) seems to be ease of music management with a remote control especially if you have a large number of cd's. Seems even in coverflow or wallview views ( my favorites at present) you can spend ages scrolling through either albums or artists to find what you want and playlist management never seems that simple. A skin that really makes mu1sic selection and management easy would be a big step forward.

2. XBMC now has basic mythtv support and work is being done on unified pvr front end. To date no skin really caters for this. A good start would be simply the option to have a TV button in the main menu which points to the mythtv share and later would be good to make sure that the epg and other support being worked on works well with the skin.

Sorry for my ignorance but where can I download this skin to give it a try?

1. Unfortunately, playlist management is still somewhat limited by what XBMC is capable of. With the skinning engine, I'm basically limited to click/left/right/up/down functions for most elements. The context menu handles all the stuff involving the editing of the playlists, so there my hands are somewhat tied. I have been able to bring the playlist out of the playlist window to other sections to allow for selecting of songs, but further than this, I can't do a lot. I'd love to, but I can't.

As far as just picking songs, I understand what you're saying. Up until now, I never even bothered using the library, as the organization I had in my files was better than that scanned by the library. So I am being conscious of the easiest way to pick songs in library mode...

2. I'm glad you mentioned that, because I am VERY interested in the functionality of MythTV (and it's bretheren). I see myself getting a TV capture card sometime in the near future, and I'd love nothing more than to have a slick interface to use it with when I get to that point.

So, while I can't promise it being MythTV friendly off the bat, I can definitely tell you that I know it's there, and that I have definitely considered making sure that it works as well with Serenity as everything else I have in mind. I just need to get undistracted and do my homework on how it actually works. ;)



Thanks a lot for the input. To anybody else who reads this...this is what I'm looking for. Speak up and tell me what you want to see.

[joebrady]

Well, since we're talking about music, DH, I think we've talked about this, but I have my xbox set-up to start in the music section and then auto play a playlist after booting. Shortly there after, the visualization kicks in with info for the Album cover, the Artist, the Album the Track # and Title, a status bar for the time of the track and Playing Next. Since I've collected a lot of Artist fanart now, I'd like to see the fanart pop-up for the Artist 10-20 seconds each time a new song starts and then fade back to the visulization.

Now I think it is not possible at the moment to associate the fanart with an individual track. Only possible when going thru the Artist node of the library.
And I think it will show in filemode in Serenity. But maybe JM or someone will see this that can make it happen.

And I like the overlay from the Focus skin.

[digitalhigh]

Well, since we're talking about music, DH, I think we've talked about this, but I have my xbox set-up to start in the music section and then auto play a playlist after booting. Shortly there after, the visualization kicks in with info for the Album cover, the Artist, the Album the Track # and Title, a status bar for the time of the track and Playing Next. Since I've collected a lot of Artist fanart now, I'd like to see the fanart pop-up for the Artist 10-20 seconds each time a new song starts and then fade back to the visulization.

Now I think it is not possible at the moment to associate the fanart with an individual track. Only possible when going thru the Artist node of the library.
And I think it will show in filemode in Serenity. But maybe JM or someone will see this that can make it happen.

And I like the overlay from the Focus skin.

I tried throwing the fanart into the mix for the visualization...no luck. As I suspected, it's just not there for playing items. I think it would require the creation of a musicplayer.fanartimage infolabel.

Here are shots of the music OSD/visualizations windows. Checked out XTV and Vision after the fact...this is pretty similar to their displays.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot029.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot030.jpg

[Waffa]

Wauw, just looked to the youtube video. This is going to be a great skin.

[digitalhigh]

Wauw, just looked to the youtube video. This is going to be a great skin.

LOL...and that youtube video is outdated and has a lot of broken stuff. The version I've got going now is a lot cleaner, smoother, and faster. ;)

Maybe I'll update that video today. Show off the new boner-inspiring features...

[xbs08]

Will this skin work on the old XBOX or is it too much for 64MB?

[Waffa]

If you need a tester I'm in for it.

[digitalhigh]

Will this skin work on the old XBOX or is it too much for 64MB?

To be honest, I have not tried it on an Xbox yet.

The textures themselves are pretty damned small...other than a few backdrops for the info boxes. The entire gfx folder, uncompressed, is only 2mb, if that tells you anything.

The biggest problem I could forsee would be if you're using really high-rez fanart images, as a lot of the skin is fanart-driven. That aside, I would imagine it should go pretty well. When doing the sections, I positioned as many screen elements as possible relative to the closest border...meaning that rescaling for SD shouldn't be a problem.

Tell you what...I'll go fire up the ol' Xbox now, see how it looks. ;)

[joebrady]

I'd like to test on xbox since that's all I use.

[digitalhigh]

I'd like to test on xbox since that's all I use.

Subtle. ;)

I'm updating my Xbox now with the newest build, I'll do a little runthrough, then maybe consider allowing one or two people to give a thorough examination...

[Waffa]

Small textures mean a lot for the xbox, and fanart isn't a problem ýou can always resize it.
Mine xbox runs great with mediastream and a lot off fanart (1280x720).
But still I'm curious to.

[digitalhigh]

Small textures mean a lot for the xbox, and fanart isn't a problem ýou can always resize it.
Mine xbox runs great with mediastream and a lot off fanart (1280x720).
But still I'm curious to.

Consider this...about 75% of the graphics used in the skin come from two files...dropback.png and dropback-f.png, both of which are 10x10 semi-transparent white/black squares.

Okay...off to do some preliminary tests. ;)

[keeganl]

Digital, I do have an xbox setup as well, so I can test this thing out on Mac and on Xbox. Taht pretty much covers the bases since you run windows. That would only leave us needing a linux tester.

[digitalhigh]

Digital, I do have an xbox setup as well, so I can test this thing out on Mac and on Xbox. Taht pretty much covers the bases since you run windows. That would only leave us needing a linux tester.

Haha...but I don't think that's what these guys wanna hear. ;)

I took a run with it on my Xbox, both in SD and HD, and everything seems to work pretty well. There were a few places where I see I'll have to increase some text sizes a bit, but that was all stuff I had planned on doing anyway.

So yes, you Xbox people are in the clear.

[Waffa]

Nice, and the great old xbox is still in the game.

[digitalhigh]

Nice, and the great old xbox is still in the game.

Absolutely. I wouldn't feel right NOT having this work for it, considering that I used to be a big advocate for the continuation of XB1 support for XBMC.

[paul]

Good to know it works on xbox from the off others should take note on that.
As i use my xbox as my main media centre let me know if you need any intensive testing on it hooked up to a 32" 16/9 Sd tv

[digitalhigh]

Whoops.

Wow...So who actually saw that? For some reason, I thought I was sending a PM...

Happy birthday to anybody quick enough to get that. I honestly wasn't trying for an advanced release, so if you know what I'm talking about, keep it under your hat, please.

ANYWAY...here are some shots as taken from the Xbox. I honestly think it works just as good as it does on my HTPC...although my HTPC isn't that great...


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot003-1.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot004.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot005.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot006.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot007.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot009.jpg

[kizer]

Hmmm, thats it. Since you told me to grab the newest version I'll have to give it a try on my xbox. Since well I was supposed to be the xbox guy. hahahaha and ended up being the file host, but non the less. ;)

Man those screens look awesome. I personally want to say digitalhigh and keeganl have built something that is freaking off the hook per say. I'm glad you are staying with the minimal approach and making multiple views to keep things low use.

[Waffa]

I get the present and will keep it for my self.
But WAUW again, did set as much backgrounds and fanart that I could and I have a lot of them, the xbox didn't had memory problems and not 1 time I had to reboot the xbox.
Man, REALLY like your work and how you created the menu.
If you need some feedback or suggestions let me know.

[digitalhigh]

Hmmm, thats it. Since you told me to grab the newest version I'll have to give it a try on my xbox. Since well I was supposed to be the xbox guy. hahahaha and ended up being the file host, but non the less. ;)

Man those screens look awesome. I personally want to say digitalhigh and keeganl have built something that is freaking off the hook per say. I'm glad you are staying with the minimal approach and making multiple views to keep things low use.

Now that you're getting around to it...I *JUST* added the version where I fixed the problems I encountered on the Xbox. Should be nice and crispy now.

I also implemented that global fanart thing that somebody suggested. You set one fanart path for a global fanart...that fanart is displayed anywhere where a section doesn't have a specific one set up.

I'll also be be trying to implement a custom setting for how long the fanart takes to fade between images tonight...hopefully it's as simple as I think it should be. ;)

[xbs08]

I took a run with it on my Xbox, both in SD and HD, and everything seems to work pretty well. So yes, you Xbox people are in the clear.

Great news! :grin:

I wish i got that present too :o

[kizer]

Thanks I"ll try and beat it up some tonight at least on my PC and if the wife gives me some screen time on the xbox. ;)

[xbs08]

Could you please post some screenshots with RAM usage?

[joebrady]

I guess today is my Un-birthday :sad:

[digitalhigh]

On second thought...it would appear that I cannot, in fact, create a custom value and then apply it to the fade times for multi images. I would have to create a group of images for every time interval I'd want, then pick which one to show based on a user-selection.

So...I guess the question is...how many time values do you guys want to be able to pick from? I was thinking something like 3/5/7/10 seconds?

[Waffa]

That's the right thought in mine opinion.

[joebrady]

Could you please post some screenshots with RAM usage?

I'll get some up for you by tomorrow.:grin:

[midgetspy]

Is it just me or are those movie poster cropped in a square? Why?

[digitalhigh]

Is it just me or are those movie poster cropped in a square? Why?

Because I thought it would be something different. Everybody's got a scrolling poster view...

[kizer]

Hmmm, I'm not really sure I dig the cropped view, but thats just me..

[xbs08]

Why not keep the aspect ratio of posters, square looks odd. Maybe few posters.