Artist For Pmenu Skins Wanted

[SlashEMc2k]

Once I get it running, and if the weird font positioning problem can be solved, the only other thing I would like to see added would be a way of putting a design behind the unselected games. To get something like my original mock-up, or SlashEMc2k's most recent design (nice skin by the way!), you would need to include the outlines of the unselected games built into the background graphic, but it would look weird on the Setting screen with text running over where the games would be.

Yup I just figured out it doesn't work with the other screens..
hmm - Next update please!

 

[Cpasjuste]

Once I get it running, and if the weird font positioning problem can be solved, the only other thing I would like to see added would be a way of putting a design behind the unselected games. To get something like my original mock-up, or SlashEMc2k's most recent design (nice skin by the way!), you would need to include the outlines of the unselected games built into the background graphic, but it would look weird on the Setting screen with text running over where the games would be.

Yup I just figured out it doesn't work with the other screens..
hmm - Next update please!

Ok, i'll add that in next one. So i will leave the same background for emulators, games , misc and favorites sinces they share the same application box, and add one for media and settings since they share another layout.

Dflmestr, i had the same problem, but was solved after installing :

sudo apt-get install libglut3-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libglew-dev -y
sudo apt-get install glew-utils -y

I'm almost sure the problem is on the openGLES emulator(library) side. I'd like to port all my GLES2D function to openGL for desktop (should not be difficult) but i'm not sure to have the time to do it right now. Like i said, i have a very little of time to work on the menu :/

 

[dflemstr]

Dflmestr, i had the same problem, but was solved after installing :

sudo apt-get install libglut3-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libglew-dev -y
sudo apt-get install glew-utils -y

I'm almost sure the problem is on the openGLES emulator(library) side. I'd like to port all my GLES2D function to openGL for desktop (should not be difficult) but i'm not sure to have the time to do it right now. Like i said, i have a very little of time to work on the menu :/

Thanks, I wouldn't have figured this out by myself, since I haven't had time recently to mess around.

Could anyone with Ubuntu tell me some random file that those packages provide, so that I can find the equivalent package for my distro? I have glut devel packages but they are version 2.6...

 

[SlashEMc2k]

Download:: Excile Skin v0.1

Here is my black skin Exile
A few images still missing and button order are incorrect but I'll look at fixing that another time.

Are there any problems with saving all images as jpgs instead of bitmap as I have in the zip example above.
16bt bitmap doesn't look that great for me - here is an example - below you can see the gradient isn't smooth

[saved to bitmap then jpg so you can view in browser ]

 

[dflemstr]

Download:: Excile Skin v0.1

Here is my black skin Exile
A few images still missing and button order are incorrect but I'll look at fixing that another time.

Are there any problems with saving all images as jpgs instead of bitmap as I have in the zip example above.
16bt bitmap doesn't look that great for me - here is an example - below you can see the gradient isn't smooth

Then use PNGs or something; JPEGs can be even worse than 16-bit bitmaps at times.

 

[Cpasjuste]

Download:: Excile Skin v0.1

Here is my black skin Exile
A few images still missing and button order are incorrect but I'll look at fixing that another time.

Are there any problems with saving all images as jpgs instead of bitmap as I have in the zip example above.
16bt bitmap doesn't look that great for me - here is an example - below you can see the gradient isn't smooth

Then use PNGs or something; JPEGs can be even worse than 16-bit bitmaps at times.

dflemstr is true, prefer png then if possible.

 

[monkeyo2]

I played around with Synactic, gussing what packages might fix my problems, but it didn't work, so I tried something called Envy, which I was lead to belive might help, but actually just totally fucked up the whole system.

So I decided to go back to basics, and downloaded 9.10, and installed it from scratch over the old partition, then went through Cpasjuste's instructions again (I'm getting really good at cutting and pasting now!), and now hours after starting, it finally works!!!

(so this is how you Linux guys spend all your time )

The bits I had prepared mostly worked with the new system, but I'll have to go back and sort out the game highlight and spacing. I also found the spacing looked less weird using Vera Bold instead of Free Sans Bold.

I should be able to sort it all out over the weekend, but I've really got to go to bed now, I'm seeing clients in the morning!

Here's a screen shot of the current WIP that I fucked up and am not going to redo right now:

 

[barzoule]

finally got to slice/export/integrate and it works good enough! I lost some time updating to the latest version tho.
Small suggestion for the disk space: having the numbers sized in MB isn't very friendly, it's hard to read quickly. Would it be possible to round it to the nearest unit? something like 500KB 1MB 900MB 1GB
we could also have some decimals when below 10 of te unit: 2.43MB, I think it would give a good quick clue, rather than being precise but hard to read.

 

[Cpasjuste]

I did update pmenu again on first post :

- Removed device TOTAL space info text.
- Partially fixed text charachter spacing (seems better, some work is still needed)
- Added 3 diffirent background ( emus/games/misc/favorites, media, settings )
- Fixed a bug with the text in the applications box, was not respecting application_box_width
- Fixed another bug in the applications box, application_box_w was not correctly handled

Sorry for the work you have to do to update your skin file every times but i try to be responsive !

 

[Cpasjuste]

Download:: Excile Skin v0.1

Here is my black skin Exile
A few images still missing and button order are incorrect but I'll look at fixing that another time.

Are there any problems with saving all images as jpgs instead of bitmap as I have in the zip example above.
16bt bitmap doesn't look that great for me - here is an example - below you can see the gradient isn't smooth

[saved to bitmap then jpg so you can view in browser ][/size]

Just tried your skin SlashEMc2k, it's really good. Far better from mine

 

[SlashEMc2k]

Just tried your skin SlashEMc2k, it's really good. Far better from mine

Without your efforts this interface would never of become a reality
PMenu will be great for quickly navigating through games, vids apps on the pandora far better than using the OS to find what you want.
I just can`t wait for the Pandoras to be shipped!

I`m working on a clean white design later today..
Obviously a few bugs with my exile skin but I will fix them on the next PMenu release.

Things I`d like to see on the next update if they are possible..
Text Leading (spacing between characters)
Text Aliasing
Text Weight Bold Regular Italic Normal - I guess I can just specify a new font for this?
Application Box Height
Application un highlighted
Application highlight Width/height

 

[dflemstr]

Things I`d like to see on the next update if they are possible..
Text Leading (spacing between characters)
Text Aliasing
Text Weight Bold Regular Italic Normal - I guess I can just specify a new font for this?

For this you need a typesetting system, or a widget system like Qt or GTK+. AKA, this won't happen in the near future for GLES2D or pmenu I imagine.

BTW, it would be very easy to support CSS-style themes for this system; setting up a parser is trivial (provided that you use a library for it of course; you don't have to reinvent EVERY wheel ). Might be an idea for a future version?

 

[Cpasjuste]

1 - Text Leading (spacing between characters) : not possible for now sorry, it's a part of my GLES2D library and would require too much work i think.

2 - Text Aliasing : No problem

3 - Text Weight Bold Regular Italic Normal : No problem

4 - Application Box Height : It can already be done in a way with the "max_app_per_page" option.

5 - Application un highlighted : not sure to understand what you mean

6 - Application highlight Width/height : No problem

Edit : did you saw that i updated the menu today ?

 

[SlashEMc2k]

Just in time for my next skin::
http://www.bluestudios.co.uk/pmenu_console_slick.jpg

This without the Xbox logos and possibly in some blue (maybe try to make the pandora text glow blue in some animated style? how about some sort of pre-rendered 3D animation until pmenu supports 3D?) in there.. awesome!

I thought along those lines for the blue, excuse my poor skills:

I really like the blue!!
I`ll create a few different colours blue, pink, red, orange for the buttons.
3D logo - hmm I`m no good at 3D and not sure if animated gifs will work with pMenu..
As for glowing buttons I`m sure this can be achieve but it will mean more development of pMenu - I don`t think this is an urgent request yet to pass through until after the first official release of pMenu for the pandora..

1 - Text Leading (spacing between characters) : not possible for now sorry, it's a part of my GLES2D library and would require too much work i think.

2 - Text Aliasing : No problem

3 - Text Weight Bold Regular Italic Normal : No problem

4 - Application Box Height : It can already be done in a way with the "max_app_per_page" option.

5 - Application un highlighted : not sure to understand what you mean

6 - Application highlight Width/height : No problem

Edit : did you saw that i updated the menu today ?

lol.. No I missed the update will go download now
5. - When an application is not active is it possible to set a background image like highlight when the app is selected? - (I see this can be resolved with - "Added 3 diffirent background ( emus/games/misc/favorites, media, settings )")

 

[Cpasjuste]

New release again

- Added Text Aliasing option to the skin configuration file (gui.cfg)
- Added Text Bold Italic Normal option to the skin configuration file (gui.cfg)

Ok for now i think i will stop adding skins features, so people can work without updating them every days, and so i can work on the pmenu base functions. I may only fix current bug you may spot, but not add new feature. If you still have some skins improvement idea you should send me a PM, so i can put them somewhere in my head.


SlashEMc2k :

5 - your right, i added 3 different backgrounds, hope this can be enough.
6 - you would just have to make a bigger or smaller image no ? this does not work ?

 

[bzar]

New release again

- Added Text Aliasing option to the skin configuration file (gui.cfg)
- Added Text Bold Italic Normal option to the skin configuration file (gui.cfg)

Ok for now i think i will stop adding skins features, so people can work without updating them every days, and so i can work on the pmenu base functions. I may only fix current bug you may spot, but not add new feature. If you still have some skins improvement idea you should send me a PM, so i can put them somewhere in my head.


SlashEMc2k :

5 - your right, i added 3 different backgrounds, hope this can be enough.
6 - you would just have to make a bigger or smaller image no ? this does not work ?

Nice new features. Thanks for the feature freeze, it is appreciated

 

[monkeyo2]

New release again

Thanks for the update (and feature freeze!), I look forward to playing with the new version when I get home tonight.

I do have a couple of questions though:

1. Is there a way we can add a game to the menu without graphics, so that we can see the no_preview.bmp and no_icon.bmp graphics in action?

2. What is font.bmp used for? It seems to be a set of characters, but I can't see them used anywhere.

 

[Cpasjuste]

New release again

Thanks for the update (and feature freeze!), I look forward to playing with the new version when I get home tonight.

I do have a couple of questions though:

1. Is there a way we can add a game to the menu without graphics, so that we can see the no_preview.bmp and no_icon.bmp graphics in action?

2. What is font.bmp used for? It seems to be a set of characters, but I can't see them used anywhere.

1. Yes, if you remove pics from "sd*/pandora/apps/*" applications, they should come up.
2. font.bmp is for bitmap fonts, but i did remove that from my GLES2D library when removed SDL 1.3. I will try to add it again in the future but not nearly. You can (should) remove it from your skin.

PS : When you you will upload final skins, please remove all unnecessary stuff, because if we want to put a lot of skin on the NAND it could be a problem !

 

[Cpasjuste]

I did setup an anonymous ftp server for you to upload skins. This will be easier for me to get them, and to not miss some.

ftp://mydedibox.fr:222/

You should upload your skins with this "layout" :

NICKNAME_SKINNAME_VERSION, for exemple : Cpasjuste_MySuperSkin_v001.zip

if not, i may remove the skin from the ftp archive.

Thanks in advance !

 

[bzar]

Fixed, uploaded.