View Full Version : [REQUEST] Are there really no Wide Banner icon Mod for Aeon available for TV Shows?
Because another "stable" release of XBMC came out, I started making the rounds and updating things. I thought I'd check out how Aeon is doing. Its pretty awesome. However, I notice the skin still doesn't support the wide banner style icons. In reading up on it, I saw that basically the Aeon developer is like "I'm not supporting those," and most of the Aeon fanboys are like "They're not supported and they suck and are stupid, STFU!"
But, I also know that Aeon spawned a whole little subculture of dudes making mods of it. Surely, I thought, there's got to be a mod out there to add wide icon support.
So far I can't freaking find one. Am I just not looking hard enough?
And do not waste your time posting "you should just use poster icons" or related comments, as I have a several reasons why that isn't a good idea.
arosequi
2009-05-12, 02:04
Nope, none that I have seen. Can you draw some quick mockups of how you think wide banner icons could be integrated nicely with the rest of the interface?
I saw one mockup that used them in list view -- it looked like it could maybe be decent if it was smoothed over better, but I don't think anything came of it.
I started mucking around in the XML, but its very tight and undocumented code. Kudoz to the developer Duncan (I think thats his name), I haven't looked at the XBMC skin engine in like 2 years so it'll take some time to get back up to speed. Things like the rounded corners and the 3D animation system are new to me.
The other problem is, how to make this view mode accessible without really messing up the rest of the skin. I haven't looked at the code, but I believe he's using onFocus events to select which of the four view modes to go to. This makes it really annoying from a modding point of view because you can't simply insert any arbitrary number of extra views.
I'll need to set up a better space to do dev work if I'm gonna get into this.
The views I'm thinking of are really not too special, basically like the current wall view but with 2 by 3 or 2 by 4 grid of wide icons. I need to install Photoshop again so I can fiddle with the layouts a bit.
And here I was thinking this would be easy... :(
hikaricore
2009-05-12, 02:36
you should just use poster icons ^_^
harryzimm
2009-05-12, 02:39
you should just use poster icons ^_^
I Agree
If you don't have anything useful to contribute then do not post....
And do not waste your time posting "you should just use poster icons" or related comments, as I have a several reasons why that isn't a good idea.
hikaricore
2009-05-12, 03:09
Sorry you set yourself up for that perhaps if you post in a more constructive manner and not rip on the "aeon fanbois".
People might actually give a toss about what you're trying to do and offer some help.
Like they say, you catch more flies with honey coated grenades than vinegar.
p.s. I replied simply because you demanded that I shouldn't.
yYou can find them bitching in random threads around here.That would be me.
Hidd3nFury
2009-05-12, 03:55
I understand that some people prefer the wide banners but I can't really imagine how you would incorporate them into aeon as is it relies on "big" images to make it look as good as it does.
If you were a bit more polite and suggest how it might be done then maybe one of the "aeon fanboys" might have a go at it.
Of course you could always just try to mod it yourself if it bothers you that much.
If you don't have anything useful to contribute then do not post....
Well said mate theres far too much hostilty towards this thread and people who ask for wide banner support. I don't mind either way but i think you should have the choice. and no doubt
someone if not you will make it happen if only to piss off the anti wide banner brigade.:laugh:
Its hard to convey tone very well with text, but I wasn't trying to be Mr Seriouspants in my initial post, which is why I jokingly said "They're not supported and they're stupid, STFU!" :P I pretty much figured I was gonna have to make a mod myself, just didn't really want to deal with it.
I'll see if I can get the site-wide totals from Scott, the dude who runs TheTVDB.com. Just from the "recommended" shows on the front page:
Chuck: 13 banners, 8 posters
Dead Like Me: 6 banners, 2 posters
Deadliest Catch: 7 banners, 2 posters
Dexter: 14 banners, 12 posters
House: 23 banners, 10 posters
Stargate Atlantis: 21 banners, 4 posters
Seems like the fundamental fact is there are a lot more banner graphics on the site than there are poster graphics. Since TheTVDB.com is the default scraper for XBMC and the banner graphics are more numerous, its not like I'm some crackhead for wanting them to work with this skin. In fact I would make the argument that its entirely reasonable to want to do things this way, since this appears to be what lots and lots of people are using for their TV show icons.
Like I posted earlier, I have to take the time to set up my dev environment and then I'll try and put something together myself. I am mostly chilling out today and watching some TV (in XBMC of course :P) but I did determine what I earlier suspected: the list item borders are done via alpha channel transparencies in PNGs that get overlayed on the icons. This means a new "wide" set of overlay graphics will need to be made from the original DVD ones. With the new resizing tools in Photoshop it should be easy. :)
So Sho, since you are interested in this, do you have any ideas for how the wide icons can be laid out on the screen and not look retarded?
davegregoire
2009-05-12, 05:24
I would love to see a mockup of how it would look if you want to make a go at it.
rwparris2
2009-05-12, 05:43
its not like I'm some crackhead http://xbmc.org/forum/image.php?u=17344&dateline=1165392160
would this guy smoke crack?
anyways, here is how it should look:
http://imgur.com/21IF.png
Don't get your hopes up guys that is just a mock up. Oh I forgot to photoshop it in, but you can replace the items/page info with media flagging.
Enjoy.
(because it is apparently hard to convey, let me be clear: the tone of this message is sarcasm, if anyone is offended get over yourself)
Seems like the fundamental fact is there are a lot more banner graphics on the site than there are poster graphics. Since TheTVDB.com is the default scraper for XBMC and the banner graphics are more numerous, its not like I'm some crackhead for wanting them to work with this skin. In fact I would make the argument that its entirely reasonable to want to do things this way, since this appears to be what lots and lots of people are using for their TV show icons.
That may be the case today and it is certainly subject to change over time. Just take a look a this thread (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49761) and the number of images that have been created and uploaded to thetbdb.com specifically for this skin.
Also note that thetvdb is making changes to their site and api in order to accomodate proper scraping of the 16x9 format just for Aeon and any future skins that want to support them. (see here (http://forums.thetvdb.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=890&p=4289&hilit=aeon#p4289)). Several people have summed it up before, just because it was always done one way doesn't mean it has to continue that way. djh_ decided to break the trend and try something new and quite a few people seem to enjoy the new look.
All the power to you in trying to create a mod for the banners - I hacked around in the Viewtype_Multiplex.xml for a few hours and it really just doesn't work well there - too much is linked between Series and Episode views. At leat for my piss poor skinning skills. :nerd:
Just my 2 cents...
-stoli-
The only practical way to incorporate them that was discussed was to use the List view's Full mode.
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5079/screenshot008vfz.png
I have figured out some of the issues I will need to solve, and made some progress on this overall project. This is relatively crappy looking but its not a mockup, its actually XBMC running the skin:
http://appliedcuriosity.cc/Wide%20TV%20Icons%201.png
This was done by directly modifying 720\Viewtype_WideShowcase.xml.
I had to make 5 "new" modified texture files, which slowed things down a lot because it meant having to reinstall Photoshop and then remember how to do things like alpha channel masking, plus I had to figure out how to use the new resizer tool. Then I spent the last couple hours feeling my way around the code and beginning to understand how it works. The code is beautiful, with almost everything inside of includes. Of course, that makes it way less easy to read.
I believe I have figured out a relatively painless way to cycle to new ViewTypes once they're added.
I changed 720\Includes_ViewSelect.xml, specifically line 68, and added a new line @ line 69.
Line 68: <onclick>Container.NextViewMode</onclick>
Line 69: <onclick>SetFocus(900)</onclick>
This corresponds to the little "select view" panel that pops up when you go to change the view type. If you simply click on it rather than pressing a direction, it usually would just cancel and go back to the media list. This alters that behavior to cycle the viewmode and then return to the media list. Not very sexy but its the easiest way I could think of to add arbitrary view modes without altering any onscreen graphics or text.
This leads me to the problem I haven't at all figured out yet: adding new ViewModes to the skin. I need to do a little more research on how the skin engine has evolved, since I haven't really done any skinning since like 2006, back when the Xbox version was all I could use. Its soooo much faster / easier to dev with XBMC on the same machine where you do code and graphics! Anyways, I'll try to post my results / ideas.
RWParris, thats kinda what I was thinking for the wide "wall". Not super crazy or anything, just a way to browse at the show level with wide icons. Obviously I'd want to use the same sort of nice shiny / rounded edges style seen on the other icons, but now I have the graphics made to do that, so no problem :)
I'd lose the reflections except maybe for the focused banner though.
Looks great but a vertical set would be better.
Nice first attempt keep at it, i'm sure you will figure it out:)
pletopia
2009-05-12, 16:41
Looks great but a vertical set would be better.
x2biris tried "vertical-izing" the banners to get them to fit his poster only view .. looked like crap imho
Looking at that screenshot there has to come a time when you just have to let it go and seriously think about moving to posters. You can make out what the middle banner is but the rest might as well not be there.
Banners just dont work in a horizonal navigating skin.
Sorry you set yourself up for that perhaps if you post in a more constructive manner and not rip on the "aeon fanbois".
People might actually give a toss about what you're trying to do and offer some help.
Like they say, you catch more flies with honey coated grenades than vinegar.
p.s. I replied simply because you demanded that I shouldn't.
Good stuff, hikaricore, I always like your posts!
El Massman
2009-05-12, 22:02
how about putting them in the multiplex view? obviously you'd only be able to see the edges of 2 on either side of the one in focus so for seeing your entire collection together its not really that great. but it would actually kinda work since the width of the thumb in multiplex is basically irrelevant unless it's wider than the whole screen.
Honestly, I know Aeon is 'moddable' etc etc, but most of these mods don't try to change the core design of Aeon itself, they merely improve functionality in some areas. Aeon is built from the ground up with posters in mind, nothing else. So any attempt to change this core style might work, but its not gonna look 'right'.
I know its probably been said a thousand times before, but if you want to be able to use Aeon to its full potential, you're gonna have to switch to posters.
If you still insist on banners, then realistically, Aeon just isn't the skin for you.
Just my 2 cents...
But the there talking about the tv views right that and that uses landscape thumbs which i might add i like but i used to prefer the wide banners and i have to disagree i think it can be done and not spoil the look of Auriga. besides if you don't like it you don't have to use it.
But for those who do like banners there forced to change all there banners for wide thumbs which is basically small fanart. i just don't understand why people are so against it. just my 2 pounds english sterlings worth:)
matt_cyr
2009-05-12, 23:45
I love banners and can't wait for this mod. Only thing holding me back from using Aeon right now.
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 00:25
I love how the aeon culters can’t see any other options other than the ones they are presented with in this skin (in this case limited options and proprietary landscape art) aeon is going to be a moving force in progressing XBMC as a platform, no one can debate that but to complain when someone is working hard to add functionality where there was none so that the skin can appeal to a larger audience is simply ridicules. To say support for banner art will ruin the skins visual appeal is not only incorrect but irrational. Thank you for all your hard work SleepyP, I think your early mockups look good and I look forward to a finished product, even if the devs won’t merge the view into the codebase because of pride. Your experimentation is greatly appreciated and I look forward to a final product. Additionally I think it would be worthwhile to try moding the current multi-plex view to simply accommodate the wide banners, sure you would only se the currently focused banner and ½ of each banner on either side but I think that solution would also be visually pleasing and a easy navigational option for those who already have established XBMC deployments where changing from banner art is simply not an option.
Thanks for all the hard work,
Slice
P.S. if I was not clear with my recommendation of how banner view could be implemented in the currently established multi-plex view see the attached picture. Please forgive my poor mockup; I don’t have Photoshop on this computer so I did it in paint
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=9714759451f32a0caaca48175a79d1c3e04e75f6 e8ebb871
hikaricore
2009-05-13, 00:33
I love how the aeon culters can’t see any other options other than the ones they are presented with in this skin.
Again if you want anyone to take you seriously stop bitching about what everyone else thinks..
Ranting is not helping you here.
I love how the aeon culters can’t see any other options other than the ones they are presented with in this skin
I love my new car I bought. It drives really well, but if only it could go on water. Sure I might as well add a protected hull to it, and rudders, and a mast, and a sail. And then I can go in the water with it, and I'll have a nice boat.
Or I could just get a boat.
What I'm saying is that instead of trying to twist and bend Aeon to make it into something its not, why not just use a skin which supports what you need out of the box? Wouldnt this be a much better solution for you all who want banners?
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 01:24
Again if you want anyone to take you seriously stop bitching about what everyone else thinks..
Ranting is not helping you here.
i wasn't ranting, and i certainly don't care what a select few here in this section of the forums think. i was simply pointing out the obvious, just like other aeon fanboys like yourself do (Ex. just change you entire media art library and then it will work with aeon perfectly....that is obvious don't offer that up as a solution). other people pointing out the obvious gets a little annoying doesn't it, so if you don't have anything positive to contribute to this thread just stay out of it. you don't want banner art support so what does it matter to you?
Slice
P.S. So i guess what all this mean is if stating the facts is ranting then i guess i must be ranting then...just like the fan boys are ranting that nothing else will be officially supported (this is a factual statement based on the Dev's views)...the irony is so thick i can taste it...
harryzimm
2009-05-13, 01:44
i wasn't ranting, and i certainly don't care what a select few here in this section of the forums think. i was simply pointing out the obvious, just like other aeon fanboys like yourself do (Ex. just change you entire media art library and then it will work with aeon perfectly....that is obvious don't offer that up as a solution). other people pointing out the obvious gets a little annoying doesn't it, so if you don't have anything positive to contribute to this thread just stay out of it. you don't want banner art support so what does it matter to you?
Slice
P.S. So i guess what all this mean is if stating the facts is ranting then i guess i must be ranting then...just like the fan boys are ranting that nothing else will be officially supported (this is a factual statement based on the Dev's views)...the irony is so thick i can taste it...
Man there's nothing worse than a wide banner fanboy.:)
hikaricore
2009-05-13, 01:51
i wasn't ranting, and i certainly don't care what a select few here in this section of the forums think. i was simply pointing out the obvious, just like other aeon fanboys like yourself do (Ex. just change you entire media art library and then it will work with aeon perfectly....that is obvious don't offer that up as a solution). other people pointing out the obvious gets a little annoying doesn't it, so if you don't have anything positive to contribute to this thread just stay out of it. you don't want banner art support so what does it matter to you?
Slice
P.S. So i guess what all this mean is if stating the facts is ranting then i guess i must be ranting then...just like the fan boys are ranting that nothing else will be officially supported (this is a factual statement based on the Dev's views)...the irony is so thick i can taste it...
As I told the OP I only posted because he made a big deal out of people who aren't interested not posting.
I thought it was silly and a bit out of line for the standpoint of someone looking for assistance.
My humorous intention was obviously overlooked and blown out of proportion.
Slice....per the reason I replied to you, well I like pissing off 12 year olds.
That being said I'll put you on ignore now so I'm no longer compelled to reply to your drivel.
Best of luck with the wide banner thing and future ranting/whining.
--Aaron
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 02:03
As I told the OP I only posted because he made a big deal out of people who aren't interested not posting.
I thought it was silly and a bit out of line for the standpoint of someone looking for assistance.
My humorous intention was obviously overlooked and blown out of proportion.
Slice....per the reason I replied to you, well I like pissing off 12 year olds.
That being said I'll put you on ignore now so I'm no longer compelled to reply to your drivel.
Best of luck with the wide banner thing and future ranting/whining.
--Aaron
Cry me a river. bla bla bla ranting...bla bla bla whining...bla bla bla 12 year old...bla bla bla... do you have any intelligent thoughts coming out of that head of your or is it always the same old recycled bull crap?
either way, thanks for checking out of this thread, your recycled jargon won't be missed.
Best of luck to you though bro,
Slice
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 02:05
Man there's nothing worse than a wide banner fanboy.:)
Now that is funny...:laugh:
i can appreciate the humor:nod:
1.2. and this is about to get locked.
Sranshaft
2009-05-13, 02:15
To end this silly debate over whether wide banners are better and end the bickering, I'll step in and whip you up something Slicemaster. I have made the switch to the 'proprietary' 16x9 banner icons myself but there was a mockup of the listview with the wide banner icons that I really did like. I'll see about shoe-horning them into it and making it a reality. :smile:
1.2. and this is about to get locked.
I share your oppinion on this as it's getting out of hand it's a shame we can't all just get along nicely......But sleepy don't let the anti this and anti that brigade put you off doing your wide banner mod as i would like to see how it turns out to me the more options the better.:)
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 03:41
I share your oppinion on this as it's getting out of hand it's a shame we can't all just get along nicely......But sleepy don't let the anti this and anti that brigade put you off doing your wide banner mod as i would like to see how it turns out to me the more options the better.:)
I tend to agree with you. I think the mod is right, this thread has gotten a little hot because it sees that there are passionate people on both sides of the fence. I certainly know my remarks weren’t of the most passive nature so I have said my peace and I hope you are able to finish that work-up, you’ve got my support.
Peace,
Slice
WOW. 4 pages? Really???? And like 4 posts are actually about making this mod? This is part of why I said not to post if all you have to say is "Don't use wide banner icons". Your thoughts on the subject are already known so don't waste space and crowd up this thread posting them again. "Should this be done?" is not a relevant question to this thread. XBMC and the skins for it are open source, and this is part of what makes them fundamentally better than crap like Windows Media Center. If you don't like the way something is, you are able to change it. That (to me) is probably the coolest thing about XBMC.
Anyways, since there seem to be a few other people who actually give a crap about getting some stuff done, I'll post the work I have done later. Probably the most useful thing for folks interested in doing this would be my graphics, since once you have those its just a matter of messing around with XML. I didn't get any work done on this project today but if I don't go to sleep soon then I'll probably start messing around with it again :P
-EDIT-
I zipped the 5 wide graphics I made and stuck them here:
http://appliedcuriosity.cc/wide.zip
They're all set up assuming the banner icon is 758 pixels wide by 140 pixels tall. The "shadow" one has a 20 pixel border on all sides.
I don't usually wade in when the air gets so thick, but I just had to say that wide banners - the TV side of things in XBMC using PM3 - is still my favourite part of the software. Call me odd (I don't care), but sometimes I just switch to the TV side so I can browse the banners and marvel how great they look. This is one reason I've stuck with PM3 (apart from all the personal mods I've made). But alas, this is a Aeon thread. Roll on the banners.
PS - and also, I have too big a collection to keep creating artwork for everytime a new skin comes out.
I'll see if I can get the site-wide totals from Scott, the dude who runs TheTVDB.com. Just from the "recommended" shows on the front page:
Chuck: 13 banners, 8 posters
Dead Like Me: 6 banners, 2 posters
Deadliest Catch: 7 banners, 2 posters
Dexter: 14 banners, 12 posters
House: 23 banners, 10 posters
Stargate Atlantis: 21 banners, 4 posters
13118 wide format
3337 posters
7638 fan art (of which around 500 are suitable for the 16x9 icons)
Obviously these numbers will change over time, but posters have been in there a LONG time and there's still not that many. I think the 16x9 format will catch on more since it's easy to convert any fanart into a suitable 16x9 icon.
By the way, this page shows the totals for each format:
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=reports
Also note that thetvdb is making changes to their site and api in order to accomodate proper scraping of the 16x9 format just for Aeon and any future skins that want to support them.
Indeed, they will be in the API. I'm working on standardizing the formats a bit and I'll be speaking with some of the skinners from various projects to do so. Most likely there will be 3 formats for everything: wide banner, poster, and 16x9. That's on top of the fan art, transparent logos, etc.
My $0.02 on this... I'd much rather have djh implement a standard view using each of the three formats instead of needing a mod to do it. However, a mod is a suitable replacement for that. I understand that djh is pretty set against using the wide format for various graphical reasons, but I also think there have been plenty of good mockups to show that it can be done right.
Many Aeon fans (which I count myself as) tend to take Duncan's word as gospel. While I think he's an excellent artist and skinner, I think there's still room for improvement. It's one of those things I'm just sitting back crossing my fingers about. If he doesn't implement it, then hopefully a talented modder will decide to do it instead.
Sranshaft
2009-05-13, 14:30
This is where I'm at the moment in regards to wide banners in list view. Still hammering out the details but let me know what you think so far.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/7218/screenshot000m.jpg
The banners look a little big, maybe they could be made smaller?
pletopia
2009-05-13, 16:55
my suggestion would be to also maybe include a little bit of a gray border on the sides .. so its framed better
Pr.Sinister
2009-05-13, 19:13
Anyways, since there seem to be a few other people who actually give a crap about getting some stuff done, I'll post the work I have done later. Probably the most useful thing for folks interested in doing this would be my graphics, since once you have those its just a matter of messing around with XML. I didn't get any work done on this project today but if I don't go to sleep soon then I'll probably start messing around with it again :P
Yesterday night, i started messing around with some of djh's XML as i have a
clear idea of how it should look and although i am a total noob, i think i may be
able to pull it off. I am not sure if it has been mocked up by someone before
(i can't keep up with the hundreds of posts per day) but i think it's a great
idea :D
Unfortunately, my girlfriend will be back from her business trip tomorrow and
then we have a road trip planned for the long weekend so i won't be able to
work on it much until next week.
The stages of the mod i would like to do are :
1) Have a working view that will overwrite an existing one
2) Have settings to choose said view for TV Shows
3) Have a toggle to use poster, banner, or 16x9 for said view
It is very ambitious because as i said, i am very green when it comes to
XML/Skinning but i am willing to try...
-Pr.
my suggestion would be to also maybe include a little bit of a gray border on the sides .. so its framed better
Just what i was thinking. but it looks pretty good all the same
I'm still using Aeon because of the wide icon support.
all my categories is using wide icons.
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8643/screenshot000zj2.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8643/screenshot000zj2.jpg)
the rest im using poster.
there most sample screenshot posted here
http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=236060&postcount=19
also SleepyP mods is using for me. hope to see this mod soon so i can move to Aeon Auriga.
Sranshaft
2009-05-13, 20:18
my suggestion would be to also maybe include a little bit of a gray border on the sides .. so its framed better
You know, I tried it originally with the border but it didn't look very good. I'll take another stab at it tomorrow. :nod:
slicemaster
2009-05-13, 20:20
It's wonderful to see what progress has been made. i really like some of the mock-ups some of the talented modders have made to support banner art. one recommendation i would have is that you guys perhaps fork the Aeon code and develop the additions as a team (in my experience collaboration is always best) then perhaps one day these additions might be taken back up stream. either way if that isn't interesting then perhaps simply making redistributable packages of the aeon with banner support available. that would be an easy way for more people to get their hands on the mods with out having to mess with XML.
peace
P.S. +1 for what pletopia said above, perhaps rounding the corners would also help with the framing
supernoman
2009-05-13, 20:35
Since I have no art talent and little to no coding talent...is it possible to make an upside down U shaped scroll pattern for banners?
The underlines are just to keep spacing in html.
______________current_banner_________________
previous_banner_____________next_banner
previous_banner2____________next_banner2
This way you can see three at a time. The banner2s would lay underneath banners with a little of the bottom showing. The next and previous banners would be scaled down and lightened for that out of focus effect.
Sranshaft
2009-05-13, 20:50
It's wonderful to see what progress has been made. i really like some of the mock-ups some of the talented modders have made to support banner art. one recommendation i would have is that you guys perhaps fork the Aeon code and develop the additions as a team (in my experience collaboration is always best) then perhaps one day these additions might be taken back up stream. either way if that isn't interesting then perhaps simply making redistributable packages of the aeon with banner support available. that would be an easy way for more people to get their hands on the mods with out having to mess with XML.
peace
P.S. +1 for what pletopia said above, perhaps rounding the corners would also help with the framing
I'll be uploading the version of Aeon Auriga that I have on the computer as soon as this is done. It's heavily modded with the Showcase view already and I simply don't have the willpower to pull out everything I've changed / added. So uploading everything is the easiest way share what I've modded. Should be up by the end of the week. :nod:
pletopia
2009-05-13, 21:01
to make it smaller download .. maybe just zip up the 720p folder ?? unless files in other folders also get edited obviously
since i to am not a graphics guy or a coder (just a plain old end user ;)) i can't really help however i had an idea .. don't know how it will work and whatnot but my suggestion would be maybe something like a helix presentation of the banners so that more banners can be showed without them overlapping each other
the first thing i thought of was a vertical bar down the middle .. with the banners rotating around the axis however the only thing with this model is that it will obscure a bunch of the fanart and is doesn't go with the overall theme of aeon with menu's and such being horizontal
second sketch i made on paper was a horizontal bar towards teh bottom of the screen the problem with this one it wouldn't make the rotating the banners about the axis look a little strange
i'll look around .. if i have photoshop lying around somewhere i'll install it in a bit and see if i can generate a digital mockup instead of pencil sketches on paper (ohh .. soo analog ;))
ps.. the kewlest aspect of this would be the rotation of the banners around the helical axis .. however i don't know if this possible with the skinning engine
pletopia
2009-05-13, 23:34
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/7117/img0049u.jpg
a quick analog mockup of what i was thinking
basically in the middle you have the way the enduser would be seeing the "rotation" around the axis .. the focused item would be the one with the arrow pointing to it so it would have that angle .. each step forward/back would be going "around" the hexagon
also .. to accomodate the size of so many banners .. the further away the banner is from the center the smaller it would get .. starts at 758 .. and successivly gets smaller the further away from the center "focused" banner .. unfortuanately after i uplaoded the pic and took a look at the math the banners are getting smaller to slow and the middle level would go beyond the scope of the screen with the numbers i have jotted down on the pic
at the top i just made reference of the angles the banners should make perspecitvly to the viewer of the "hexagon"
the stars inside the banners indicate that this is one of the banners that should be "upside down" .. to simulate the illusion of the banners rotating around a helical axis
pletopia
2009-05-14, 00:08
i made another sketch ... this time the helix has a slightly different shape and i'm using an octagon instead of a hexagon to conceptualize the angles the viewer would be seeing
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/852/img0050i.jpg
once again .. i'm seeing the banners shrinking the further they are away from the center but as with the previous post the actualy widths of the banners are not properly set in the sketch as they will cause overlap in certain levels and i'd like to find a mathematical model that will prevent this
i forgot to put in stars of banners which would be upside down in this view .. but from my calculations the first banner from the left and the last 3 on the right would be upside down
Pr.Sinister
2009-05-14, 06:22
Hi Guys,
I have my 1st working solution for banners in Multiplex View for TV Shows.
This is not a mockup. It is working. It however not done because i need to
make it so it can only be enabled for the root of TV Shows instead of what i
did now which is overwrite the 16x9 multiplex view.
Anyway, here is a screenshot so you guys can flame away at how awful it looks
and how i should just stick to posters
http://www.jpgv.info/xbmcosd/bannermod.jpg
Basically, the bottom is a 3x2 "Wall" view instead of a strip. That way you can
always see 6 shows and the highlighted one is a bit bigger.
I have a 50" Plasma in the Living Room and a 42" Plasma in the Bedroom so to
me, the banners are big enough. If they are too small for your tiny TV, then
stop asking for a banner view and code it yourself ;)
Obviously this is a very rough start so i will round out the corners better and
make a more obvious highlight but that will be for next week cause i will be
very busy the rest of the week and during the long weekend.
Waddayaguysthink?
-Pr.
Hi Guys,
I have my 1st working solution for banners in Multiplex View for TV Shows.
This is not a mockup. It is working. It however not done because i need to
make it so it can only be enabled for the root of TV Shows instead of what i
did now which is overwrite the 16x9 multiplex view.
Anyway, here is a screenshot so you guys can flame away at how awful it looks
and how i should just stick to posters
http://www.jpgv.info/xbmcosd/bannermod.jpg
Basically, the bottom is a 3x2 "Wall" view instead of a strip. That way you can
always see 6 shows and the highlighted one is a bit bigger.
I have a 50" Plasma in the Living Room and a 42" Plasma in the Bedroom so to
me, the banners are big enough. If they are too small for your tiny TV, then
stop asking for a banner view and code it yourself ;)
Obviously this is a very rough start so i will round out the corners better and
make a more obvious highlight but that will be for next week cause i will be
very busy the rest of the week and during the long weekend.
Waddayaguysthink?
-Pr.
Very nice that's the kind of thing i had in mind but way beyond my skills it would be interesting to see it working, it looks like i mini wall view for wider icons if you know what i mean? either way looks good:)
slicemaster
2009-05-15, 00:24
Hi Guys,
I have my 1st working solution for banners in Multiplex View for TV Shows.
This is not a mockup. It is working. It however not done because i need to
make it so it can only be enabled for the root of TV Shows instead of what i
did now which is overwrite the 16x9 multiplex view.
Anyway, here is a screenshot so you guys can flame away at how awful it looks
and how i should just stick to posters
http://www.jpgv.info/xbmcosd/bannermod.jpg
Basically, the bottom is a 3x2 "Wall" view instead of a strip. That way you can
always see 6 shows and the highlighted one is a bit bigger.
I have a 50" Plasma in the Living Room and a 42" Plasma in the Bedroom so to
me, the banners are big enough. If they are too small for your tiny TV, then
stop asking for a banner view and code it yourself ;)
Obviously this is a very rough start so i will round out the corners better and
make a more obvious highlight but that will be for next week cause i will be
very busy the rest of the week and during the long weekend.
Waddayaguysthink?
-Pr.
Simply beautiful! Great work. I look forward to the finished product. This is very similar to what I recommended but I actually think your implementation is better because it has double stacked banners. Thank you so much for coding this making is fit so well with the basic design elements already in aeon. It looks great! Be sure to publish your final product.
Slice
Nice work and a fine effort.
Sranshaft
2009-05-15, 02:02
Nicely done Pr.Sinister. Glad I can stop work on my mod now. Not a huge fan of wide banners anyway. :laugh:
slicemaster
2009-05-23, 09:51
any progress? no rush but when might we expect a downloadable package?
pletopia
2009-05-24, 16:59
i was wondering if any with experience with the xbmc skinning engine took a look at my mockup drawings and can comment on whether it is even feasible to do a view like that
Someone is working on it?
rflores2323
2009-06-03, 21:55
is this being developed?
Pr.Sinister
2009-07-17, 08:26
In people subscribed to this thread to get notified when banners are available, look at :
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=370474#post370474