[DOWNLOAD] Serenity (Beta) Skin

[digitalhigh]

So, I promised I'd release it on Easter. And here it is.

But, there's a catch...it's not 100% done yet. The Large TV Show info panel is not done. There's no music info panels, and the fullscreen TV stuff is also needing work.

But, because my layoff from work is coming to an abrupt end, I decided it would be best to get this out there for you guys and finish the last bits as I get a chance.


But, this will at least put it in your eager hands.


So, here you go:

http://www.iamkizer.net/xbmc/serenity/dlpage.html# (click where it says "HERE")

Also available via SVN (recommended):

http://code.google.com/p/xbmcserenity/source/browse/

What you need:

Serenity requires that you have XBMC Babylon Alpha installed.

I also highly, highly, highly recommend that you use MIP to sort your TV shows and Movies, as it has features that were custom-made for Serenity. This includes the ability to tag your files with extra media info to further enhance your experience.

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=47071&page=77

Using MIP, you can also download DVD covers and view them in Serenity. Serenity looks for the following XM images and displays them if found (Front_Cover, CD1, CD2, and Insert). These are the ones you want to have.

Emulators: In media/emuart/SYSTEMNAME you can put fanart for whatever system you have, then link it to the homescreen and go right from there. To add an emulator link, enter "Launcher/?EMUNAME" for the path, where EMUNAME is the CASE SENSITIVE name you assigned in launcher. You should name it the name of the system being emulated, and not the actual emulator program.

Other Plugins: For any other section, all you need to do is enter the name of the Plugin FOLDER you want linked. Hulu would be Hulu. Mythbuster = Mythbusters, etc.

I will update this page later with better info and such, but for now, I've gotta go celebrate the holiday. Enjoy. ;)


Edit: If you're getting DNS problems, you can use the alt link:

http://iamkizer.ipower.com/xbmc/serenity/

[digitalhigh]

Oh, and I'll have a section up so you can post requests/bugfixes/etc as soon as I can figure out which mod to ask to make it for me.

[zeltak]

Hi

The Dl link is not responding..(sends back to same page.)

Zeltak

[digitalhigh]

This link doesn't work?

http://www.iamkizer.net/xbmc/serenity/ccounter/click.php?id=8

[aart]

thanks! Been waiting for this..!

[digitalhigh]

thanks! Been waiting for this..!

Like I said, some of the stuff still needs polishing yet. So feel free to post any bugs/problems you find or any requests you have in the forthcoming section...

[zeltak]

awesome works now

thx for all your hard work ive been waiting for this skin for a while now :)

Zeltak

[zeltak]

Holy crap...the Serenity skin is sooo awesome ..it was really worth the wait!

No disrespect to Aeon (which is awesome) but it seems all the hype went there and IMHO Serenity is in a class of its own (especially for SD tv owners like me:)...)

So since you asked here are a few suggestions :)

1)I and many others (as ive noticed lately use unicode text so support for UTF-8 would be awesome..someone suggested the droid font on the Aeon forum section

2)on my 4:3 sony TV the fonts are a bit to small..cab there be an option for a bigger font? that would be cool

3)I noticed the lack of playback OSD and a file manager but i assume its coming later on?

Gotta go to sleep now but will play with it some more tomorrow..

Thx again for all the hard work you put into it..its really awesome


Zeltak

[JRuss2k]

Thank you for releasing this mod. As I work through it I noticed the following:

When in Movies/Fanart mode (with the title at the bottom of the screeen) everything works as expected. However, when I use down arrow to display the movie info and scroll left or right with this info up it does not wrap. I get to the end and have to reverse direction or press up arrow to remove the movie info then wrap.

BTW, is there an option to show the movie info by default instead of pressing down arrow?

Thanks again,

James

[Waffa]

APPLAUSE..!!!:nod:
I'm speechless what a nice views.:grin:
GUI is a little strange at the first time but you have to get the hang of it and it will guide you fast and nice thru your library and also change your view very easy. Like it.!!

Does run very well on the xbox exept did miss an overlay in more info view, but it's to early to make a report didn't test enough.

[theophile]

EEK!

Can someone Mediafire this? The domain is blocked by my filter!

[garyi]

Wow I could code serenity quicker than its downloading and I have never coded in my life.

[digitalhigh]

EEK!

Can someone Mediafire this? The domain is blocked by my filter!


First post updated with a MF link...it's not done upping yet, give it about 10-15 mins.

Thanks to everybody who posted comments...I'll respond to them individually later when I have time. ;)

[digitalhigh]

Thank you for releasing this mod. As I work through it I noticed the following:

When in Movies/Fanart mode (with the title at the bottom of the screeen) everything works as expected. However, when I use down arrow to display the movie info and scroll left or right with this info up it does not wrap. I get to the end and have to reverse direction or press up arrow to remove the movie info then wrap.

BTW, is there an option to show the movie info by default instead of pressing down arrow?

Thanks again,

James

The wrapping problem is because the second downpress highlights a scrollbar, which then makes the infopanel display. I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I think I know how I can make this work properly. However, if I just make it so you can enable an auto-popup on the info panels, then this won't even be needed.

I could definitely devise a method to make the infopanel display automatically after a second or so. I'll take a peek tomorrow and see if I can make it go. This will be flaggable, of course, so people who like the views w/o the info will be happy as well.

[digitalhigh]

Holy crap...the Serenity skin is sooo awesome ..it was really worth the wait!

No disrespect to Aeon (which is awesome) but it seems all the hype went there and IMHO Serenity is in a class of its own (especially for SD tv owners like me:)...)

So since you asked here are a few suggestions :)

1)I and many others (as ive noticed lately) use unicode text so support for UTF-8 would be awesome..someone suggested the droid font on the Aeon forum section

2)on my 4:3 sony TV the fonts are a bit to small..cab there be an option for a bigger font? that would be cool

3)I noticed the lack of playback OSD and a file manager but i assume its coming later on?

Gotta go to sleep now but will play with it some more tomorrow..

Thx again for all the hard work you put into it..its really awesome


Zeltak

1. I don't quite follow what you want done here. Adding the droid font as an alternative to the standard fontset?

2. I think this would require a lot of re-designing to get everything to look good. I'm not saying I object to this, but I obviously want to get everything finished, then move onto big additions like the redux of all the fontsizes.

3. Playback OSD was broken because I forgot to flip the flagging on it. This should be fixed...although I can't find where that damned View: Foo label is hiding. I'll hunt for it tomorrow and pull that, but the OSD version should be fixed. and the download updated.

APPLAUSE..!!!:nod:
I'm speechless what a nice views.:grin:
GUI is a little strange at the first time but you have to get the hang of it and it will guide you fast and nice thru your library and also change your view very easy. Like it.!!

Does run very well on the xbox exept did miss an overlay in more info view, but it's to early to make a report didn't test enough.

Thanks. I know you've been watching for this. ;)

Take me a screenshot, if you could, so I can see what you're talking about.

[XBMCG33K]

Thank you for releasing it's really nice to see so many new skins becoming available. Good job BTW quite inspiring.

[digitalhigh]

Thank you for releasing it's really nice to see so many new skins becoming available. Good job BTW quite inspiring.

Thanks a lot. Although, I can't take all the credit. I just tried to add my good ideas on top of the ones I'd already seen. If it weren't for skins like Focus, Aeon, and PMIII, I wouldn't have even had a clue as to where to start. ;)

[XBMCG33K]

Same goes for me man or Xperience wouldn't be getting built. Keep it up man so far so good :)

[plankton88]

Will there be an Xbox version?

[garyi]

This skin is unusable on anything below a 50 inch screen surely. I have just put it on a 22incher and am sat a few metres away and you cannot read a single thing. The fan art totally destoys any hope of reading the names of films on the left hand side.

Also navigation is really confusing, going left sort of takes you to the top line of menus, but sometimes does not, and I don;t know how but right made one movie play.

It looks really nice though, just a shame you cannot see any of the text.

[Waffa]

Thanks. I know you've been watching for this. ;)

Take me a screenshot, if you could, so I can see what you're talking about.

Don't Have the bug anymore, like I said didn't test enough.

It runs very wel on the Xbox. In music section on the xbox I'll see the cd cover in Windows not. Like to see more view types in music section.

In MediaStream I like the wall view very much.

[digitalhigh]

This skin is unusable on anything below a 50 inch screen surely. I have just put it on a 22incher and am sat a few metres away and you cannot read a single thing. The fan art totally destoys any hope of reading the names of films on the left hand side.

Also navigation is really confusing, going left sort of takes you to the top line of menus, but sometimes does not, and I don;t know how but right made one movie play.

It looks really nice though, just a shame you cannot see any of the text.

Have you tried it in poster view with large info on? Still unreadable?

Regardless...I've been trying to figure out wtf I did with the sd cables for my xbox1. If I find them, I'll hook that beast up to a lil' tv and see if I can't address this visibility problem.

As far as the navigation goes...where does pressing left not take you to the top?

[digitalhigh]

In MediaStream I like the wall view very much.

Mods are welcome. ;)

[kizer]

EEK!

Can someone Mediafire this? The domain is blocked by my filter!

Hmm, shouldn't be blocked but if it is you can try this URL as well.
http://iamkizer.ipower.com/xbmc/serenity/dlpage.html#

For some odd reason at work they blocked iamkizer.net, but not iamkizer.ipower.com ;) That is how I normally get around it.

[digitalhigh]

Hmm, shouldn't be blocked but if it is you can try this URL as well.
http://iamkizer.ipower.com/xbmc/serenity/dlpage.html#

For some odd reason at work they blocked iamkizer.net, but not iamkizer.ipower.com ;) That is how I normally get around it.


Yeah, if you guys who had DNS problems could confirm that this is a fix, please let me know. At the rate I update stuff, it's kind of a hindrance to me to have to upload to iamkizer and then to mediafire every time I want to update the build. Would be much better if we just fixed the problem. ;)

[kizer]

I know it works well where I work and they are super security bonkers. I would go through all the trouble of trying to fight that domain block, but I wouldn't know where to even begin to be honest. Worst case digitalhigh I'd change that to what I posted to get around it.

[garyi]

Hi digitalhigh, I should point out I am running this on an AppleTV so perhaps there is compatibility issues.

Suffice to say the controls did not behave as expected.

[smcnally75]

This skin is unusable on anything below a 50 inch screen surely. I have just put it on a 22incher and am sat a few metres away and you cannot read a single thing.
This isn't really a fair assessment. First of all, the proper viewing distance for any display is approximately 2x the diagonal measurement of the screen. Once you go to a higher resolution though, this measurement gets even smaller. So the optimum viewing distance for a 22" display would be (at the most) 44" which is less than 1.5 meters. You must have remarkable eye site to read any text on that display at 3 meters.

[digitalhigh]

Hi digitalhigh, I should point out I am running this on an AppleTV so perhaps there is compatibility issues.

Suffice to say the controls did not behave as expected.

I've had a fair amount of testing done on ATV with successful results. It is possible that a section somewhere is missing the left command for the menus.

And I've also been told that the interface can be a tad confusing at first, but quite intuitive once you get the hang of it. What exactly are you having problems with?

This isn't really a fair assessment. First of all, the proper viewing distance for any display is approximately 2x the diagonal measurement of the screen. Once you go to a higher resolution though, this measurement gets even smaller. So the optimum viewing distance for a 22" display would be (at the most) 44" which is less than 1.5 meters. You must have remarkable eye site to read any text on that display at 3 meters.

LOL...I was wondering about this. I do most of my dev work on a PC with 21" monitor (1024x768) running XBMC in windowed mode. I know PC has higher resolution than TV, but even this small, I've never had legibility problems.


@smcnally75 - I am curious as to what you think of the skin considering your involved work in Stark. ;)

[garyi]

Well if we carry through my problem to the logical conclusion, I am using an Apple TV, where did a computer monitor come into this?

Is serenity designed to be used on a computer with the user sat in a computer chair watching a film at 50cm distance?

Its not how I enjoy films. I enjoy films on a lazy bank holiday monday morning in my bed watching a 22inch TV at the end of the bed.

Let me tell you at that distance Media Stream is fine, and so is PHD, Serenity is unusable and unreadable, not so much because of the fonts but because the fan art is behind the fonts and if the fan art is near the colour of the font you are stuffed, I would imagine this to be the case if you are sat 2 inches from the screen.

That being said I did not try the various options mentioned so I will check it out.

[smcnally75]

Well if we carry through my problem to the logical conclusion, I am using an Apple TV, where did a computer monitor come into this?

Is serenity designed to be used on a computer with the user sat in a computer chair watching a film at 50cm distance?

The distance requirements I posted had nothing to do with a PC monitor. DH just said that he did his development with a 21" monitor...Nobody is expected to sit 50cm from a PC monitor, but sitting 3 meters from a 22" monitor is stretching it if you expect to read small text. that's all I was saying. Even the guide on a TiVo or cable box would be very difficult to read in that situation.

[smcnally75]

@smcnally75 - I am curious as to what you think of the skin considering your involved work in Stark. ;)
I haven't had a chance to try it yet but plan to check it out. It's a neat concept.

[theophile]

Yeah, if you guys who had DNS problems could confirm that this is a fix, please let me know. At the rate I update stuff, it's kind of a hindrance to me to have to upload to iamkizer and then to mediafire every time I want to update the build. Would be much better if we just fixed the problem. ;)

Yes, I can get to the ipower domain. Thanks so much!

[digitalhigh]

Well if we carry through my problem to the logical conclusion, I am using an Apple TV, where did a computer monitor come into this?

Is serenity designed to be used on a computer with the user sat in a computer chair watching a film at 50cm distance?

Its not how I enjoy films. I enjoy films on a lazy bank holiday monday morning in my bed watching a 22inch TV at the end of the bed.

Let me tell you at that distance Media Stream is fine, and so is PHD, Serenity is unusable and unreadable, not so much because of the fonts but because the fan art is behind the fonts and if the fan art is near the colour of the font you are stuffed, I would imagine this to be the case if you are sat 2 inches from the screen.

That being said I did not try the various options mentioned so I will check it out.

http://www.usaupload.net/d/m0ks2ojm3k7

This is a modified version of the video library window. Please add it to your serenity/720p folder, then go to the video library and tell me what the label says. It's set to display the screen mode you're running. I've added an extra background to the list mode that will be set to display when your screenmode is active, I just need to know what the exact mode is so I can check for it.

So add the xml file, go into video, and tell me what the label says. I'll then finish my fix and give you that file to try...hopefully it makes things easier to read. ;)

[garyi]

Thanks for that I will give it a go tomorrow when I am able to relax. Have to stick the little one to bed now.

[theophile]

Still having DNS problems. The ipower.com domain works for the page, but the download link redirects to iamkizer.net which is blocked. :-(

[garyi]

OK I have inserted the file and the screen says 1280 by 720 @ 60hz (full screen)

There is a back ground now which some text spills over on, but its a lot better so thanks for that.

One last thing, is there a way to switch off all the random changing pictures. As discussed I do have a small screen and just want black, thats why I like your theme, without all the pics it will be dead clean and simple.

[garyi]

One last thing in TVshows I cannot navigate very far, it opens with focus on settings although you would not know until you press down and the menu appears, but I cannot go left or right therefore cannot select title to get to the tv shows. All I can do is press menu to go back to the main menus.

Movies screen works ok.

[digitalhigh]

OK I have inserted the file and the screen says 1280 by 720 @ 60hz (full screen)

There is a back ground now which some text spills over on, but its a lot better so thanks for that.

One last thing, is there a way to switch off all the random changing pictures. As discussed I do have a small screen and just want black, thats why I like your theme, without all the pics it will be dead clean and simple.

Okay, I'll set up the extra backdrop so that it only displays when the screen resolution < 720p or something like that. Might not be today, but I'll get to it.

You can't switch off the backdrops per se, but you could just take a black image, put it in a folder, then set the fanart path to point at that folder for the sections you want nothing to display on. It's not as easy as checking a box, but it should create the effect you want.

One last thing in TVshows I cannot navigate very far, it opens with focus on settings although you would not know until you press down and the menu appears, but I cannot go left or right therefore cannot select title to get to the tv shows. All I can do is press menu to go back to the main menus.

Movies screen works ok.

Not sure why it's starting with the focus on settings...it should start on genres. If you press down on settings and scroll past the end of the list, what happens? It should set the focus to the main container.

[kizer]

Still having DNS problems. The ipower.com domain works for the page, but the download link redirects to iamkizer.net which is blocked. :-(

Sent you a PM with the direct download until I can resolve this DNS mixup with OpenDNS

[digitalhigh]

Okay, gang, I've updated the download with the newest version...

I've included the new Swedish and Greek translations, as well as fixed the duplicate entry for the string that Blittan pointed out.

Other notable changes are the inclusion of the extra bg for tv/movies lists for better visibility on SD screens, and an update to the MPAA flagging to make it more universal (i.e., allow the addition of other countries' rating images).


Sorry I haven't been more active lately...I'm back to work now, and have literally about an hour every night avail for me to do stuff I wanna do. Fun. So, hopefully, I'll have a chance this weekend to address anything else you find for me. ;)

[byakkun]

You have uploaded a bad .rar. Unexpected end of archive

[digitalhigh]

You have uploaded a bad .rar. Unexpected end of archive

Wow dude...sorry about that. Connection must've dropped after I left this morning. I'm uploading again right now...I'll make sure this one works. ;)

[zeltak]

Hi digitalhigh

Thx for the update..any word on the OSD in playback..its really missed :)

thx

Zeltak

[digitalhigh]

Hi digitalhigh

Thx for the update..any word on the OSD in playback..its really missed :)

thx

Zeltak

It's the strangest thing...I distinctly recall sitting down and fixing it once...IDK wtf happened where it got broken again.

Regardless, I've fixed the missing buttons again, removed that damned View:Poster label, and prettied up the fast forwarding and rewinding labels so that it looks good when seeking now. Tidied up animations between states, and added a time label so you can actually see what time you're seeking to.

It's a minor set of changes, but it def helps to add polish to the OSD. Sorry I spaced that out...still don't know how the changes failed to save.

Enjoy. The updated download should be available in about 5 minutes.

[deano72]

Hi digital thanks for this new update. However odd buttons do not appear still but the view poster has now gone on osd.
Any chance the osd buttons can be checked?

[digitalhigh]

*kicks self*

Sorry...the buttons had a flag set from when I was still considering the rotating OSD, which was on in my skin settings, but not enable-able anymore via settings. I have really removed this this time, so it should work for all across the board now.

Duh...uploading now, should be done in about 7 mins...

[fekker]

Love the skin, it looks awesome, flows nice and even works great on xbox too.

Great work digitalhigh!!

[fasteddy]

Question: Is the default behaviour to have all black backgrounds? Because that's what I'm seeing (on a 720p screen). Wouldn't mind giving this skin a spin, but I don't feel like spending hours setting it up just to see if I like it.

[digitalhigh]

Question: Is the default behaviour to have all black backgrounds? Because that's what I'm seeing (on a 720p screen). Wouldn't mind giving this skin a spin, but I don't feel like spending hours setting it up just to see if I like it.

What build of xbmc are you using? And what OS?

Either way, that shouldn't be the case. I just did a total reset of the skin settings (wipe all fanart paths), and the global fanart works out-of-the box. By global fanart, I mean a set of 50 general images that should be displayed if nothing else is set up.

I am using the same build I have hosted on the Serenity site, so it *should* be working. If this isn't the case, please enable debug logging, restart xbmc, and send me a copy of the log.

Also, each menu has a button in it that lets you set the fanart path for that section. If you wanted, you could create one folder of fanart images and just point all the links at it...

[fasteddy]

Yeah, based on the screenshots from the Serenity website, I figured something was off. Here's a log (http://pastebin.ca/1396987). I'm using Ubuntu 8.04 and running SVN 19534.

[digitalhigh]

Ubuntu. Knew it. Go into serenity/media/ and rename the folder "default" to "Default". I'll fix that on my end in the download as well. Thanks for pointing that out.


Edit: Okay, uploaded. This should fix the broken global fanart for linux users. I've also included the Portugese (BR) language file. Also, I believe I fixed a problem where the visualization was not showing up properly when music was playing...

Think I'm gonna have a rain day tomorrow, hopefully I can complete the other info sections and touch up some other stuff...like the real power menu and a more detailed forecast that fades in/out with the regular day one.

[digitalhigh]

New version uploaded to the website. Changes are as follows:

Fixed - Video OSD buttons missing
Added - Proper animations for Video OSD stuff
Fixed - folder "default" renamed to "Default" (broken global art for linux users)
Fixed - dupe strings in the language file
Added - Portuges (BR) translation

Changed - Overlapping label/title in music file view, tiles.
Changed - Page letter shows up when scrolling individual mp3's. Now shows artist name.
Fixed - Page letter/artist name doesn't show up when now playing info is on.
Added - "No rating" logo for movies
Added - full flagset for small info views/TV shows.
Added - Fullscreen video when *not* in video window.
Fixed - Tile/Poster label wasn't hiding on transition to fanart mode.
Changed - TV "now playing" label shows more show info.
Fixed - Episode thumbnail was missing in list view/small ep info.
Fixed - Volume, Video Scan, & Music Scan dialogues were overlapping settings menus.
Changed - Flip-flopped scanning labels.
Fixed - Fading on flag visibility
Fixed - default studio flag not scaled properly
Changed - Date/runtime stay visible in fanart view now
Fixed - accidentally broke mpaa rating flag include
Fixed - spacing between audio channel/studio flag
Fixed - long titles in fanart view overlap year/runtime




So who's actually still using this skin? ;)

[fekker]

i use it ... thanks for the fixes and features

[2-7offsuit]

So who's actually still using this skin? ;)

I really want to, but I'm still just not getting enough free ram on my Xbox. I keep meaning to play around with the settings some more. Is there anything that will make a big difference in memory useage? Can I stop the home screen from rotating through the different backgrounds?

[digitalhigh]

I really want to, but I'm still just not getting enough free ram on my Xbox. I keep meaning to play around with the settings some more. Is there anything that will make a big difference in memory useage? Can I stop the home screen from rotating through the different backgrounds?

http://www.iamkizer.net/xbmc/serenity/downloads/Default.rar

Try extracting this to your serenity/media folder. They're rescaled versions of the backdrops, should be more Xbox friendly.

I'll also compress my textures once and upload them, but I think that takes a while. I'll post a link when they're available if you wanna be my guinea pig. ;)

[2-7offsuit]

I'm more than happy to test anything out. I'll give those new backdrops a try when I get home tonight.

[digitalhigh]

I'm more than happy to test anything out. I'll give those new backdrops a try when I get home tonight.

I am compressing my textures as we speak. I'll add the link to the first post when it's done. This includes the downscaled default art.


And in the future, I'd hope that you and anybody else who encounter problems just say something. If there's a problem, I'm more than happy to do my best to remedy it.

[2-7offsuit]

I hadn't said anything yet because, like I said, I haven't had much time to mess around with it yet. There's always a good chance it's just user error with me.

Is the DejaVuSans font heavily used? Replacing it with something smaller would probably free up a little memory too.

[digitalhigh]

I hadn't said anything yet because, like I said, I haven't had much time to mess around with it yet. There's always a good chance it's just user error with me.

Is the DejaVuSans font heavily used? Replacing it with something smaller would probably free up a little memory too.

DejaVuSans is only used in the keyboard dialogue and large screen info. Everything else is Bebas and Bank Gothic.



Here are the compressed textures. This should replace the contents of serenity/media/ but NOT the subfolders. I left them out for customization purposes, so you still need to have the emuart, Default, and studio folders.

I can already see a few aesthetic problems that are going to need addressing, but from here, everything looks very functional. This is just for testing purposes, really. My goal is just to see if this helps your performance at all...

http://www.iamkizer.net/xbmc/serenity/downloads/Textures.xpr

[theophile]

I've got a question. I downloaded the original beta release and just updated yesterday. In the original beta, there was a "screen" behind the list of (for example) TV Shows which made the background darker behind the list so the font could be read. This seems to have been lost in yesterday's version. Now, the text is invisible if there is white fanart showing.

Was this intentional or is it a problem with my system?

[digitalhigh]

I've got a question. I downloaded the original beta release and just updated yesterday. In the original beta, there was a "screen" behind the list of (for example) TV Shows which made the background darker behind the list so the font could be read. This seems to have been lost in yesterday's version. Now, the text is invisible if there is white fanart showing.

Was this intentional or is it a problem with my system?

Not intentional, or a problem with your system. I'll take a look when I get a chance later tonight and fix it.

[fekker]

here's a really compressed version of Serenity media images.. not very pretty at 1080p (little blocky) but it's way smaller
http://www.mediafire.com/file/kzwmmn2k53y/serenity_media_folder_compressed.7z

[digitalhigh]

A few minor fixes, a few additions

Fixed - "Add Content" menu fonts not showing up properly
Fixed - Context Menu animation left text hanging
Fixed - Video/TV libraries now start out in show/movies right away.
Fixed - Episode thumbnail in listmode wasn't showing up yet.
Updated - Added most recent list of studios from Fernferret's site
Fixed - "Pixar" studio always shows up as "Disney" because...meh.

Updated - Extra Media Images now use skin flags...no more need to guess whether or not they're there. The images also auto-configure themselves based on what pix are available...meaning no more weird hanging images.

If they're not present, then the director info will display. This hasn't been done for TV shows *yet*. I'm working on it.

Updated - Added EPISODE-LEVEL fanart support for TV shows. This means that when browsing eps in library, the skin will display a season-specific fanart image if one is set. All you need to do is save that fanart image to the season folder you want it to show up for under the filename "fanart.jpg". Serenity will do the rest.

[digitalhigh]

Fixed: Background for TV lists was missing

Fixed: Track time/number overlaps year/date in movie view

Added: Search button for movie/tv library

Changed: Keyboard Dialogue position for search

[digitalhigh]

Okay...a nice little addition.

Episode-level fanart, using screenshots from that TV episode for the backdrop. Makes for one cool fanart view. For now, it has to be done episode-by-episode, but I think that once we get things fine-tuned, there should be an automated method available.

Using MIP, select an episode, then go to tools -> create thumbnail for episode. This allows for higher-rez generation of thumbnail images, as well as grabbing of fullscreen thumbs.

Personally, I think it's a very cool feature. ;)

[fekker]

And here's what the updated gui to pick those (using MIP) will look like tomorrow, i tweaked it abit and gave more options for picking the image.
http://www.picamatic.com/show/2009/04/29/09/02/3451683_960x796.JPG

http://www.picamatic.com/show/2009/04/29/09/06/3451700_1076x656.JPG

[fekker]

just tried the episode level stuff in Serenity.. killer!!!!

it does work better with better source media, 720p has better images, but even without that, it's freakin cool stuff. (and freaky too with the show Bones)

[digitalhigh]

You know, in the 80's, they used to say that the day a black man took office, pigs would fly. Well, it may be 100 days late, but we can now officially say..."Swine Flu".

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!


Okay, with that bit of ridiculousness aside...

I have some treats for you. One...subversion. It sounds like a better and better idea, and, after playing with it, I think it's a lot friendlier than making you re-download the skin every day for one or two changes.

So, here's the repository link:

http://code.google.com/p/xbmcserenity/source/browse/

I *think* I've got it going properly. At least it's working from my end of things.

Two, fresh screenshots to show you exactly how effing cool the episode fanart looks.



http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot203.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot204.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot205.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot206.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot207.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e56/digitalhigh/screenshot208.jpg


So, check it out. Literally.

[Radikaltimes]

DH ..
in case you need some TV network logos .. i found this site
http://blog.guifx.com/category/downloads/network-logos/

[digitalhigh]

DH ..
in case you need some TV network logos .. i found this site
http://blog.guifx.com/category/downloads/network-logos/

Thanks for that. However, all of my images are from high-rez vector logos. I've only got 48 ATM, but I also haven't had any requests for any other networks. If there are, I'm happy to oblige...

:D

www.vectorlogos.com
www.brandsoftheworld.com

Incredibly useful. ;)

[Radikaltimes]

you skin looks great .. too bad my wife ...gets lost trying to use it .. so is back to mediastream for this household..

keep up the good work.

[digitalhigh]

you skin looks great .. too bad my wife ...gets lost trying to use it .. so is back to mediastream for this household..

keep up the good work.

What confuses her? Anything I can do to help wife-ify it? I've got a slightly technophobic gf myself, so I'm always open to any suggestions you might have...

[Radikaltimes]

will have her create the 10 pages list and get back to you ..LOL j/k
i will ask her tonight .... have in mind she gets frustrated doing copy and paste ... so very well be .. nothing to do with the skin .. but .. i have to keep her happy :)

thank you

[digitalhigh]

will have her create the 10 pages list and get back to you ..LOL j/k
i will ask her tonight .... have in mind she gets frustrated doing copy and paste ... so very well be .. nothing to do with the skin .. but .. i have to keep her happy :)

thank you

Please do...I'm always interested in feedback.

[digitalhigh]

Uploaded rev 21 to the Serenity website.

Changes can be found here:

http://code.google.com/p/xbmcserenity/source/list

[2-7offsuit]

Nice. Are those reduced background images for the Xbox in there or should I just keep them and overwrite them each time?

[digitalhigh]

Nice. Are those reduced background images for the Xbox in there or should I just keep them and overwrite them each time?

Keep them for now. I will try to make a separate xbox folder path, that way you don't have them getting overwritten every time. ;)



This is cool - found it on google's toys for developers:

Project Cost

This calculator estimates how much it would cost to hire a team to write this project from scratch.


Codebase: 156,327 LOC
Effort (est.): 40 Person Years
Avg. Salary 40,000$/year
$1,594,995

[theophile]

$1,594,995

Not to in any way detract from the awesome work you've done, but give me a break. :eek:

[theophile]

you skin looks great .. too bad my wife ...gets lost trying to use it .. so is back to mediastream for this household..

keep up the good work.

I will second this. The navigation is not intuitive, especially for TV shows. A couple of observations:

Once the user selects "Movies" or "TV Shows," the first option should be the movie/show list by title, not the genre menu. That's easily the most-used function.
When in a drop-down menu, the left and right buttons should move to the left or right dropdown menu. Pressing right to get a breakout menu is confusing, especially when pressing left is essentially "go back a level."
When in episode view, pressing left seems to go all the way back to the root menu. While you can scroll back to the top of the menu and use the ".." option, I don't think there should be multiple ways of going back up a level. The directional buttons should be limited to "physical" navigation (rather than conceptual) and force the user to use the ".." option or escape, like other skins.
In the main menu, I wonder whether the "Library" option in the submenu is necessary. It seems to have the same result as simply selecting the menu root.

[digitalhigh]

I will second this. The navigation is not intuitive, especially for TV shows. A couple of observations:

[1]Once the user selects "Movies" or "TV Shows," the first option should be the movie/show list by title, not the genre menu. That's easily the most-used function.
[2]When in a drop-down menu, the left and right buttons should move to the left or right dropdown menu. Pressing right to get a breakout menu is confusing, especially when pressing left is essentially "go back a level."
[3]When in episode view, pressing left seems to go all the way back to the root menu. While you can scroll back to the top of the menu and use the ".." option, I don't think there should be multiple ways of going back up a level. The directional buttons should be limited to "physical" navigation (rather than conceptual) and force the user to use the ".." option or escape, like other skins.
[4]In the main menu, I wonder whether the "Library" option in the submenu is necessary. It seems to have the same result as simply selecting the menu root.


Well, let's see if I can address these without seeming like I'm just arguing with you. I'll explain why this stuff is as it is, and if you have a better suggestion, I'll gladly use it.

1. I *thought* that I addressed that problem already. Yes, on checking, you should start out directly in shows or movies.

2. Okay...I see how this could be confusing...but I found that it was the most efficient way of navigation. If you look at it like "right gives more info, left goes back to the menu"...IDK, I didn't think it was that bad.

The reasoning behind this is because...well, I wanted a fast way to get to the main menu if you want to do something else. Instead of scrolling all the way to the top of a list (which can be irritating if you have an IR remote and 1000 movies), you press left once, and boom, you're there.

3. This has also been fixed in the most recent update. Pressing left will always take you to the menu, and pressing down from that button will always take you back to the list. Backspace is for going up a directory. Again, the reason I have the arrows like they are is actually because it strikes me as easier. A tad confusing at first, but once you understand it, I think it makes navigation a lot faster.

4. Haha...in the original stages, I didn't have these in there. I then recieved comments that it didn't seem right that you had the names of all the stuff in the menus, but could be able to click on the button and have it do "x". Like, "you have a button to the library, but you don't say that that's what it is." sorta thing.


Sooooo...yeah. I'm not opposed to changing something if it'll help make things more user-friendly. I just need to know how. ;)

[digitalhigh]

Not to in any way detract from the awesome work you've done, but give me a break. :eek:

I know, I know. If only. I was more amazed by the "lines of code" bit. ;)

[theophile]

Okay...I see how this could be confusing...but I found that it was the most efficient way of navigation. If you look at it like "right gives more info, left goes back to the menu"...IDK, I didn't think it was that bad.

The reasoning behind this is because...well, I wanted a fast way to get to the main menu if you want to do something else. Instead of scrolling all the way to the top of a list (which can be irritating if you have an IR remote and 1000 movies), you press left once, and boom, you're there.

I totally understand the rationale. My comments are more directed to the "wife-friendly" issue. Personally, it only took me a minute or two of monkeying around and I had it figured out. But like I said, it is more of a "comceptual" form of navigation. In my experience, my wife is more of a concrete thinker, so if she wants to move to the drop-down menu to the right of the one she's currently in, it's frustrating when pressing "right" doesn't go there. It's not a huge usability hurdle, but I've seen my wife sit down to watch something, then give up when she can't figure out how to get where she wants to go.

I'll have to grab the latest version for the other stuff. Thanks!

[digitalhigh]

Uploaded rev26. Noteworthy changes include:

r26
Added Album-level fanart to music in library view, playlist.
Added artist/album level fanart to music files.
Added View Askew logo and code to Studios.

r25
Fixed episode fanart where a stray character was screwing the image up.
Removed actor tag as it was always blank.
Fixed "files" button was offset wrong, and movie title in small info view was a tad off...

For a full changelog, see my sig.


The album/level art stuff is because of the glaring hole in the Music fanart system right now. You'd only see the fanart when showing the artist-level entry. So, I added support for images stored in the ALBUM folder. Drop a fanart.jpg in any album folder, and it will display when browsing any song from that folder.

I also added support so that artist and album-level images will display in files mode.

Check it out. ;)

[joebrady]

Would this work around allow you to also show that fanart image for awhile on the music visualization screen when a new song starts? Still hoping for that function someday....:nod:

[digitalhigh]

Would this work around allow you to also show that fanart image for awhile on the music visualization screen when a new song starts? Still hoping for that function someday....:nod:

Lemme give it a try...

Edit: Nope, sorry. Can't grab the path or folder of the currently playing file = can't tell it where to look for a fanart image. I'd recommend a feature request, either to have the regular fanart available via the vis window, or to have listitem.path available in the vis window...

[joebrady]

:sad: Darn, I was excited. Yea, I need to make a formal Feature Request after 9.04 gets finalized. I'd really like to have that for my music dedicated xbox in my truck.

[digitalhigh]

:sad: Darn, I was excited. Yea, I need to make a formal Feature Request after 9.04 gets finalized. I'd really like to have that for my music dedicated xbox in my truck.

You have an xbox as your stereo in your truck? Niiiiiice...

What skin you using? ;)

[joebrady]

Clearity ATM, just because it's got a nice large display of the music info on the visulization screen. Once I get the rest of my music tagged perfectly and with fanart (I've made it to the M's), I may finally get around to updating it:;):

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48716

[digitalhigh]

So what do I gotta do to get you running Serenity on that badboy?

[joebrady]

Put 25 hours in the day so that I'll have some extra time. Or you can babysit my three little boys next weekend and I'll get it done then:laugh:

It's on my to-do list...

[digitalhigh]

Uploaded rev28 to the website. Changes are:

Updated all studio icons to match the set available at fernferret's site.

Fixed a problem in the code where PG13 and R ratings would both display if both ratings were found in the MPAA tag.

Most noteworthy, I added a bunch of <texture background="true"> tags to the various posters and fanart images, this *should* provide a significant improvement when scrolling large lists of movies.

[pmootrey]

Haven't seen an update on this for a bit. Is it dead in reagards to V2 being created?

[digitalhigh]

Haven't seen an update on this for a bit. Is it dead in reagards to V2 being created?

Not dead. More like in hibernation. I get laid off in the winter, which affords me the kind of time and energy I need to dedicate to really skinning this badboy.

Plus, with all the changes being made (CapnBry's media flagging), the potential for a redux of the artwork system, the recent overhaul of the way background images work...well, let's just say that I want to do things right this time around.

So no, the skin isn't dead. Arcanthur is working on Xperience currently, and the plan is that when that skin reaches completion, the focus will shift to Serenity V2.

But thanks for asking. It made my day to see that somebody is still interested in this skin. I had kind of assumed that Aeon had displaced any interest I had garnered...

[pmootrey]

This is an excellent skin. I love the layout, just slightly quircky (prob due to all the changes). But right on, good to know I may see a future release. Keep up the good work!

[AnalogKid]

Not dead. More like in hibernation. I get laid off in the winter, which affords me the kind of time and energy I need to dedicate to really skinning this badboy.

Plus, with all the changes being made (CapnBry's media flagging), the potential for a redux of the artwork system, the recent overhaul of the way background images work...well, let's just say that I want to do things right this time around.

So no, the skin isn't dead. Arcanthur is working on Xperience currently, and the plan is that when that skin reaches completion, the focus will shift to Serenity V2.

But thanks for asking. It made my day to see that somebody is still interested in this skin. I had kind of assumed that Aeon had displaced any interest I had garnered...

No way.
There's a line of eagerly interested followers.

[digitalhigh]

This is an excellent skin. I love the layout, just slightly quircky (prob due to all the changes). But right on, good to know I may see a future release. Keep up the good work!

No way.
There's a line of eagerly interested followers.


Thanks guys. It definitely helps boost motivation knowing that you're actually making something people want to use, as opposed to feeling like the only skin people really care about is Aeon.

This week is still quite hectic, especially with the holiday, but maybe I'll see if I can't sit down next week and dust off some files...

;)

[pmootrey]

excellent...Thanks!

[joebrady]

I've even got some requests for ya:grin:

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53242&page=10