One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part IV
Putting It Together : Start Menu
Friday, February 3, 2012 by PoSmedley | Discussion: WindowBlinds Tutorials
We're going to take a break from One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part III for just a moment and get into the assembling of the windowblind in SKS. There are a few reasons for this that you may have picked up on if you have been following along.
- We've been making sections of the blind without putting them into SkinStudio as we go along. A majority of skinners will go back and forth between their graphics program (Photoshop, Paint, etc.) and SKS as they go along. That method hasn't worked for me in the past and I wanted to go through the actual design of several areas without the added confusion of SKS.
- There comes a point, once you get past the Start Menu and Window Frames and start getting into the Edit Controls, buttons, etc., that you need to see what they are going to look like and if they will work they way they should. I tried to just keep making the graphics without going into SKS but it's just too much detail and in this particular case, with a lot of the areas we'll be getting into, 'size does matter'.
One of the main reasons that I may have not mentioned for doing the Start Menu and Task Bar areas first is also to assist visually in determining how the overall windowblind will look (per Tim's suggestion). This will actually help a great deal when you get into the buttons, header bars, and other details and you're trying to determine the best colors and other design details.
The way in which I am approaching this is something I came up with some help from 2of3(aka Tim). As I said, not all skinners do it this way and the opinions I offer are just that (my opinions) and by no means written in stone (or sand, Lucite, chalk, crayola, etc.) It if it helps anyone, let me know.
We'll be going back and forth between this thread and Part III. There will also, more than likely, be another thread where we can go over testing the skin and putting on the finishing touches. In this thread we'll be going over the assembling of the Start Menu.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS as to why something is done this way and not that or anything pertaining to the Start Menu ask them here. We will try to explain as we go along and may miss some things that you consider important or problematic.
If you're looking for Part I, II, III you can find them here:
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part I
Design : Start Menu and Taskbar
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part II
Design: Title Bars & Window Frames
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part II
Design: Edit Controls
PLEASE :
- I am open to suggestions but may not use any of them. Please, don't be offended if I don't use yours.
- Keep the image posting to the skin(s)
- If you want to make a skin to go with this, PM me for the files. My PSD's tend to be a mess, but I save everything and will be happy to share. I am uploading the actual files to the Graphics Gallery here on Wincustomize.
- We'll be skinning for Windows7, maybe Vista. If someone wants to do XP, PM me and I will get you what you need.
- Any files you request will come as I complete them. I won't be jumping ahead. Please be patient.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The PSD files for the previous threads are in the Graphics Gallery.
Roan WB Title Bars and Window Frames
Roan WB Taskbar Buttons
ROAN WB Start Panel UPDATED
 |
|
Page 14 of 18 | |
|
|---|
Reply #264 Tuesday, February 14, 2012 10:24 AM
Tim will probably find 50 things wrong with it, but for now it works.
The image and margins for the side stitching is ridiculous and more or less a 'WTF' when you look at it in SKS.
Kinda like the guy in the wallpaper.
Reply #265 Tuesday, February 14, 2012 11:25 AM
I mean, I've seen most of your walls. I'm sure it's real hard to find brushes people have made and source images other people have made and put them together.
Reply #266 Tuesday, February 14, 2012 11:33 AM
It's finding just the right ones and it's really not all that hard. Some folks just make it down right easy.
Reply #271 Wednesday, February 15, 2012 6:36 AM
Some subtle tweaking on the margins for the stitching and I think you are ready to start the new thread section.
Somtimes you actually have to move the graphics inside the canvas if you can't get the margins to work for you......it may take just nudging it up/down a pixel or 2. It may seem "wrong" logically, but it's how it applies that matters.
Make sure to test it with small icons as well before declaring it finished. In some cases yo may have to do a seperate subby for small icons.
Reply #272 Saturday, February 18, 2012 9:41 AM
I can only assume that, because of the lack of updates to this thread, that Po' has fufilled his destiny and quit. (Again.)
I'd tell you I was surprised . . But I'm not. (Again.)
Reply #274 Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:43 PM
I'm working on it .
I spent a good part of Thursday being heavily medicated on an IV drip and Friday still feeling the effects as well as a massive headache from it. Just trying to get the cobwebs out of my head today.
The good news is that as of Thursday all the BS I've had to go through for the past four months is over. I have my first Dr. appt. for Monday and hope to have the surgery scheduled for my back and brachial plexus within the next few weeks.
I haven't given up on anything. Thanks to some of the coolest folks I know, I have gotten further than I ever have before and am to close to completing this to even think of stopping.
Reply #276 Sunday, February 19, 2012 7:46 AM
Yay!
You need to get the pain in your ass (Zubass) removed while you`re at it! 
Reply #278 Sunday, February 19, 2012 9:51 AM
good shit po, glad to hear it...... me and andy thinks thats swell 
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
|
|
Page 14 of 18 | |
|
|---|
Reply #261 Tuesday, February 14, 2012 9:00 AM
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA *gak