Is the windows enhancement community ready for heavy graphic skins?
Thursday, September 9, 2004 by Styl-X Design | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Very often I find myself wondering what the big diffrence is between things like windowblinds and windows media player.
Its not hard to see that a lot of WMP skins use a lot heavier graphics then WB skins.
(note, with heavy graphic I mean 3d style).
I think its the custom shape of WMP that makes it more suitable for heavy graphic skins but wouldn't it be awesome to have a little of that 3d feeling being put in a wb skin?
I know there is some 3d in WB skins, but it never really get past an 'innershadow' filter
Whats the deal with this?
Styl-X Design fingers are starting to tintel as he has this 3d wb skin idea in his head for nearly a week now... Time to dust of skinstudio
Its not hard to see that a lot of WMP skins use a lot heavier graphics then WB skins.
(note, with heavy graphic I mean 3d style).
I think its the custom shape of WMP that makes it more suitable for heavy graphic skins but wouldn't it be awesome to have a little of that 3d feeling being put in a wb skin?
I know there is some 3d in WB skins, but it never really get past an 'innershadow' filter
Whats the deal with this?
Styl-X Design fingers are starting to tintel as he has this 3d wb skin idea in his head for nearly a week now... Time to dust of skinstudio
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Jafo
Reply #22 Thursday, September 9, 2004 12:05 PM
Reply #22 Thursday, September 9, 2004 12:05 PM
Styl.....you need to wake up and smell the roses.....3 dimensional skins have been around since Adam was a pup. This pre-occupation with them being 'too Photoshop' smacks of amateurish prejudice.
The reality is that Windowblind skins are 2 dimensional bitmaps [or vars]. Any and all '3D' effects are planar illusions where their success is directly proportional to the talent/s of the artist/s....and here is an ancient WB skin by a past Master of the craft, predating XP and it's brethren of themeXP msstyles rubbish by YEARS.
Jafo thinks people need to look more closely at their [skinning] history to know where they come from before deciding where we 'should' go to....
Styl-X Design
Reply #23 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:05 PM
Reply #23 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:05 PM
Jafo, I think (or atleast I hope) that you understand what I mean. Very often there is no 3d effect in windowblind skins other than a small bevel. I will try to put up some images to show what I mean asap... however... scroll trough the library and you will see very little skins that have the 3d feeling.
BoXXi
Reply #24 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:39 PM
Reply #24 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:39 PM
Did I "Bash" someone's site? I think not...... I merely asked a question. My site doesn't work? hmmm maybe you looked at the wrong one. My new site works, but is unfinished at present due to "real life" commitments.
http://boxxigraphics.wincustomize.com
Styl-X Design
Reply #25 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:43 PM
This is what I ment with a 3d feeling. I Personaly feel that it has a good feeling of dept... right or what?
BoXXi, Checkout the javabuttons on every page exept the mainpage.
[Message Edited]
Reply #25 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:43 PM
This is what I ment with a 3d feeling. I Personaly feel that it has a good feeling of dept... right or what?
BoXXi, Checkout the javabuttons on every page exept the mainpage.
[Message Edited]
MarkMcQ
Reply #26 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:51 PM
Reply #26 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:51 PM
Sorry, I'm genuinely not meaning to insult, but it smacks of the very things you say other skin display.
For one thing,you have a light sourec that's inconsistent from the blue areas to the buttons.
It has depth, yes, but as do lots of other WB out there. Some moreso.
For one thing,you have a light sourec that's inconsistent from the blue areas to the buttons.
It has depth, yes, but as do lots of other WB out there. Some moreso.
MikeB314
Reply #27 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:51 PM
Reply #27 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:51 PM
Styl, this looks no less "photoshop" than anything else. You used gradients? Genius...
Also, is the light source at the top or the bottom? I don't think your Start menu knows.
Watson
Reply #28 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:54 PM
Reply #28 Thursday, September 9, 2004 1:54 PM
Boxxi, he's right, I couldn't get anywhere except for the homepage on that site, sorry to say, because the graphic layout is good.
Styl, that looks amazing...But then again, I suppose I'm a little biased...
Styl, that looks amazing...But then again, I suppose I'm a little biased...
Styl-X Design
Reply #29 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:02 PM
Reply #29 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:02 PM
Mike, you should know better then to think that are gradients... try create the same effect with gradients... not a chance
And yes Dwatson... think so too
And yes Dwatson... think so too
KarmaGirl
Reply #30 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:10 PM
Reply #30 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:10 PM
| Also, is the light source at the top or the bottom? I don't think your Start menu knows. |
That was the first thing that jumped out at me, too.
MikeB314
Reply #31 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:13 PM
Reply #31 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:13 PM
What effect? Light blue gradually fading to darker blue? That's what a gradient is. If you're telling me you rendered that in a 3D app, I think you wasted your money.
Sylva
Reply #32 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:16 PM
Reply #32 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:16 PM
yeah, that looks mostly like a white layer on top of a blue one, motion blurred and set to dodge with a few shadows and bevels added in to the rest of it.
Overall it is a very good start, but Mike is right about the light source.
It's a simailar style to the WBmania skins from a few years ago (I think that was the name). Anyone remember who did those?
Overall it is a very good start, but Mike is right about the light source.
It's a simailar style to the WBmania skins from a few years ago (I think that was the name). Anyone remember who did those?
Styl-X Design
Reply #33 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:21 PM
Reply #33 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:21 PM
What about the light is from the front? A large part of the skin is rendered and after effected in photoshop. I think the light gives it more depth of view as it seems that you are looking at the front of it... anyway, as long as I like it right
Sylva
Reply #34 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:26 PM
Reply #34 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:26 PM
true, the most important thing is that you like it.
The thing about the light source coming from the front though, is that the highlights would be closer to the middle/front and fade as it went towards the top and bottom.
did I explain that right... not to good describing stuff like that.
The thing about the light source coming from the front though, is that the highlights would be closer to the middle/front and fade as it went towards the top and bottom.
did I explain that right... not to good describing stuff like that.
Styl-X Design
Reply #35 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:35 PM
Reply #35 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:35 PM
yes sylva, thats true, but what if the side where the blue area is is thicker... for example:
Like this the parts would catch more light because they are further to the front... (3d)
Like this the parts would catch more light because they are further to the front... (3d)
SelfExiled
Reply #36 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:44 PM
It needs a texture Styl. Texture gives depth. It could be technology
texture with wires and whatnot, like Jafo's example.
Or it could be a metallic texture, glass texture. But as it is, its not even a plastic,
just a bevelled color that's poorly lighted and layered a couple of times. If you mean that
you would like to see a skin rendered by a 3D engine like
Quakes, sure, I would too.
I don't think that Silver Surfer is flat.
Reply #36 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:44 PM
| This is what I ment with a 3d feeling. I Personaly feel that it has a good feeling of dept... right or what? |
It needs a texture Styl. Texture gives depth. It could be technology
texture with wires and whatnot, like Jafo's example.
Or it could be a metallic texture, glass texture. But as it is, its not even a plastic,
just a bevelled color that's poorly lighted and layered a couple of times. If you mean that
you would like to see a skin rendered by a 3D engine like
Quakes, sure, I would too.
I don't think that Silver Surfer is flat.
MarkMcQ
Reply #37 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:48 PM
Reply #37 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:48 PM
"try create the same effect with gradients... not a chance "
You can do anything when you try. This is 100% gradient, I promise you:
You can do anything when you try. This is 100% gradient, I promise you:
NightTrainthedark
Reply #38 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:49 PM
Reply #38 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:49 PM
Maybe I am getting too old and losing my eye for detail but just what exactly is so different from what styl is displaying and what alot of other people have done?
Still looks like shadows to me. Fact of the matter is , when your done struggling turning that current design into a start panel (which will cause some drastic changes in the design trying to fit in the log offs and program buttons), the shadow of the start panel on the desktop will still be a thin shadow line erasing any serious attempts at 3d. Many , many, many designs I have had to scrap becasue I just couldnt put them together to work with WB and its constrictions.
No offence. and yes, I have been continuing the same run on sentence for 2 years running.
[Message Edited]
Still looks like shadows to me. Fact of the matter is , when your done struggling turning that current design into a start panel (which will cause some drastic changes in the design trying to fit in the log offs and program buttons), the shadow of the start panel on the desktop will still be a thin shadow line erasing any serious attempts at 3d. Many , many, many designs I have had to scrap becasue I just couldnt put them together to work with WB and its constrictions.
No offence. and yes, I have been continuing the same run on sentence for 2 years running. 
[Message Edited]
SelfExiled
Reply #39 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:59 PM
Reply #39 Thursday, September 9, 2004 2:59 PM
Yep, Hippy, that's what I'm talking about. Texture!! You're the MAN! 
grayhaze
Reply #40 Thursday, September 9, 2004 3:07 PM
Reply #40 Thursday, September 9, 2004 3:07 PM
It's not the tools you use, but what you do with them that counts. Take a look at my two most recent skins Styl and tell me you can't get a 3D look with gradients. I don't even use Photoshop...
Regarding your '3D' skin, I agree with Hippy & co. What you've produced could easily be replicated in Photoshop using simple gradients, bevels and drop shadows. The bottom part of the Start menu is just a vertically-flipped copy of the top. If you want it to look like your light source is in front of the skin, the highlights and lowlights should be consistent over all curved or rasied surfaces. At a stretch, you could say that your Start menu is lit by two light sources, both positioned at the very top and bottom edges, with the curved sections being raised enough that they cast the opposite ends of the menu in shadow.
I hate to say it, but Hippy's quick attempt with gradients actually looks a lot more '3D' than yours anyway. I think you just need to look a little harder at the skin library here to see that 3D-effect skins are what WindowBlinds does best. Compare the skins here with the multitude of flat 'minimalist' styles available for that 'other' skinning engine ( ) and you'll start to realise we're actually pretty well off already.
Regarding your '3D' skin, I agree with Hippy & co. What you've produced could easily be replicated in Photoshop using simple gradients, bevels and drop shadows. The bottom part of the Start menu is just a vertically-flipped copy of the top. If you want it to look like your light source is in front of the skin, the highlights and lowlights should be consistent over all curved or rasied surfaces. At a stretch, you could say that your Start menu is lit by two light sources, both positioned at the very top and bottom edges, with the curved sections being raised enough that they cast the opposite ends of the menu in shadow.
I hate to say it, but Hippy's quick attempt with gradients actually looks a lot more '3D' than yours anyway. I think you just need to look a little harder at the skin library here to see that 3D-effect skins are what WindowBlinds does best. Compare the skins here with the multitude of flat 'minimalist' styles available for that 'other' skinning engine (
) and you'll start to realise we're actually pretty well off already.Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
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Reply #21 Thursday, September 9, 2004 12:01 PM