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.
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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
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Reply #166 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 9:17 AM
Yeah. I get hung up on trying to make each part look 'special' or unique so it fits the particular theme I am working on. Not knowing the limitations of SKS makes the experience frustrating for me and I end up defeating myself. I think that plays a part in why I give up sometimes.
***Edit - I hate to say it but I just need someone standing behind me with a rolled up newspaper. I'm trying Tim's idea but filled with different colors. This is when I need a good whack in the back of the head.
Reply #167 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 10:16 AM
I think I just want to lose the arrow in 'All Programs'.
I want to put an image in for the search bar but cannot find where to edit that in SKS.
Also, nothing personal Tim, but the transparency on the Start Menu is too much, IMO. Especially with a light colored wallpaper behind it. IS that adjustable in SKS? If not, could we leave it solid and let the user define the transparency in Windowblinds if they want?
For me, the transparency kills the implied tactile feel of the leather, if that makes sense. Anyone else have thoughts on this?
Reply #168 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 10:24 AM
Decreases it... yes. But doesn't kill it... subtler. But you have to be happy with it.
Reply #170 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 10:53 AM
LMAO!
MY version is totally solid. Looks like you've been screwing with the transparency settings in the WB config. 
Reply #172 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:02 AM
No I haven't. I thought this was because you told me to to put everything at 'semi-tranparent' in the extra settings. I haven't done anything with Transparency in windowblinds at all.
Something is off somewhere. When I open windowblinds the SP is solid and I can adjust it in Transparency so it is not. When I reset it and make it all solid and reapply, it is still transparent as in the SS.
Reply #174 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:08 AM
That setting in sks won't effect your graphics.....it just effects the transparent parts around the SP (where the outer glow and drop shadow is)
Reply #175 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:13 AM
I moved the slider all the way over to the right nd reapplied and it's solid. I reset all the transparency sliders and reapplied and it's still solid. So that's good.
I wonder if this is a bug from when I updated WB from the SD Store and had all those issues. When this is done, I may have to wipe blinds and reinstall clean if this si still happening.
Reply #176 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:15 AM
Hit the reset all button. That should return everything to the default skin defined settings.
*EDIT* I guess that is what you did?
Reply #177 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:17 AM
I did. It's all good. But it took a couple times of hitting that button and applying the skin.
It's okay for now.
Reply #178 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 11:32 AM
Tim- Just emailed you the mouseover, rgt and lft separators, and All Programs file to check before I upload them to the Graphics Gallery.
***Forgot the log off button and arrow. Just sent them. If I screwed something up, it will be these.
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Reply #161 Monday, February 6, 2012 5:43 PM
I use bevel/emboss sparingly. One can often get better results with inner shadow and glow. And as I say: what you can't do in 1 layer....do in 15!