Skinshot tools.
Tuesday, July 17, 2001 by zathrus | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
I'm just curious, but what, besides SkinStudio, do you guys use for your skinshots. I tried doing it manually, and it just sucks. I also thought of making a mock form in Delphi, but Delphi seems to have some non-standard drawing, (kind of like the IE scrollbar thing).
Hmm, the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I'm just lazy, but I want to spend time on the skin, not the skinshot.
Hmm, the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I'm just lazy, but I want to spend time on the skin, not the skinshot.
Jafo
Reply #2 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 10:05 AM
Reply #2 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 10:05 AM
So that's how it's done....I just leave the comp running long enough to get burn-in directly onto the screen, then cut out the glass and post it to the site via snail-mail.....
Works, but it gets damn expensive buying all those monitors....
Works, but it gets damn expensive buying all those monitors....
zathrus
Reply #5 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 11:04 AM
Reply #5 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 11:04 AM
What I meant was, a spiff mock form with all the controls in their various states, all nice and together in the right proportion read for alt-prntscn-ing..
Anyways, this sounds as if it could be fun to write, and I'm going to give it a bash. Even if I'm the only person that'll end up using it.
Sorry 'bout the sulky previous post.. bad day..
Anyways, this sounds as if it could be fun to write, and I'm going to give it a bash. Even if I'm the only person that'll end up using it.
Sorry 'bout the sulky previous post.. bad day..
Maxim
Reply #6 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 5:11 PM
Reply #6 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 5:11 PM
I know what you mean, I did the same thing ages ago, circa v0.2 or something like that. WB has some "issues" with Delphi, it doesn't like certain controls being children of others; it definitely hates subclassed components, so you have to use the vanilla versions and add things like tab bitmaps yourself. The stuff you refer to as "non-standard drawing" is probably all those enhanced buttons; they're not based on buttons, that's why WB doesn't even consider them, I don't see any way for it to handle them looking at the source. You need to figure out how to use the TToolbar component to get toolbar buttons, and the TCoolBar component for the rebars...
Xymantix
Reply #7 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 5:18 PM
Reply #7 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 5:18 PM
Yeah, I've noticed that a bunch of the skinshots are not from SkinStudio - at least not 100%. I think that many were pieced together from actual windows or from the SkinStudio bitmap. When someone makes one by hand, they tend to look really nice as they can add drop shadows, more controls, active/inactive in the same window, etc.
Jafo
Reply #8 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 6:15 PM
Reply #8 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 6:15 PM
I just stick mine together from the bits....if you can skin the proggy, you should be able to cut and paste all the parts together for a screenshot...
zathrus
Reply #9 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 3:46 AM
Reply #9 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 3:46 AM
You're always right Jafo. But you're forgetting one important point; I'm lazy. ... Nah not really, It's just that I'd like a consistent look. Besides, I've now got it in my head that I want to write this little program. Even if it doesn't get used.
craeonics
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 6:15 AM
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 6:15 AM
I make (or should I say "made") my skins in PhotoShop, each element on its own layer and such. So to make such a screenshot, I use the "Save a copy" function.
Xymantix
Reply #11 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 10:26 AM
Reply #11 Wednesday, July 18, 2001 10:26 AM
Zathrus - you sound just like me. However, instead of calling it lazyness, I prefer the term efficiency! It doesn't matter that it might take me 10 hours to write a program. If it ends up saving me 5 minutes later on, it was worth it!
zathrus
Reply #12 Thursday, July 19, 2001 4:16 AM
Reply #12 Thursday, July 19, 2001 4:16 AM
I've been playing arround with this and the only element that doesn't draw is the dialog background. This is not a problem except for the fact that I don't seem to be able to determine which skin is currently applied. I've looked in the registry, and though there is a history, it starts a the skin before the current one. Any ideas?
zathrus
Reply #13 Thursday, July 19, 2001 4:26 AM
Reply #13 Thursday, July 19, 2001 4:26 AM
Don't worry, I was being a dumbass.
its:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\WindowBlinds\WB5.ini\WBLiteFX
its:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stardock\WindowBlinds\WB5.ini\WBLiteFX
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Reply #1 Tuesday, July 17, 2001 9:47 AM