INTERACT FORUM
Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: Doof on September 11, 2003, 10:06:08 am
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**Edited to make all of the download links easier to find - Original message in its entirety follows**
Keep in mind that none of these items are in any way officially sanctioned by pixtudio.com with the sole exception of the mini-me skin.
Track Info Templates
PixOS Luna (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna.mjp)
PixOS Luna 2 (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna2.mjp)
mini-me skin
PixOS (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS.mjp)
Hairstyle Skin
Coming Soon (I hope)
Playing Now Popup
(Until PlayingNow 1.2 comes out of beta, there are two versions of this skin to pick from. Be sure to download the correct one.)
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOS Popup.jpg)
PixOS Popup for Playing Now 1.1 (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOSPopup11.zip)
PixOS Popup for Playing Now 1.2 (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOSPopup12.zip)
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOS Slimline.jpg)
PixOS Slimline for Playing Now 1.2 (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOS Slimline.zip)
Installation: Just unzip to the Skins folder within the PlayingNow folder. Be sure to preserve folder names. All files should wind up in a PixOS folder within the Skins folder (ie. "C:\Program Files\James Dickson\PlayingNow 1.1\Skins\PixOS").
I've been working on some new things to go along with the PixOS Megaskin.
First of all, I have two Track Info templates. Both are based on the MJ Luna (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/downloads/authors.pl?list=178) template created by theMaxx (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/downloads/authors.pl?list=178). It was always my personal favorite, so I modified it slightly to match the PixOS skin's color scheme.
I also added a script I wrote that prevents large coverart images from hogging the whole screen, while not blowing up smaller images to prevent them from becoming all distorted.
There are actually 2 versions. The first is pretty much identical to the original MJ Luna template, but the second has been rearranged a bit so that lyrics are on the main page (since that's primarily why I use TrackInfo templates).
You can take a look at PixOS Luna here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna.jpg) and PixOS Luna 2 here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna2.jpg)
You can download them here:
PixOS Luna (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna.mjp)
PixOS Luna 2 (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna2.mjp)
The second thing I've been working on is a mini-me skin. I emailed Treetog and he agreed to allow me to port their PixOS WMP skin over to MC. I've still got a lot of work to do on it, but eventually, it should look like this (it has two modes):
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS Big.jpg)
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS Small.jpg)
You can download the skin (in it's most current state) here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS.mjp).
The final thing I have planned is a Hairstyle Skin. I haven't even begun work on it yet, though. The idea just kind of hit me this morning in the bathroom (where all my best ideas happen :P ).
So let me know what you all think...
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Hi Doof
The Track Info templates look great to me. The only thing I would add is a display of the Comment tag. I use King Sparta's Chart Info plugin and I like to see the chart position a song reached when I am playing it.
I wish I had the patience to learn how to do this sort of thing. :-[
David
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The Comment field is available if you click on the Notes link on the left hand side.
I played around with adding it to the Main page, and for something simple like the Chart Position, it works fine, but if you have a lot of information in Comment then it gets to be a big mess. The Notes page seems to be the best compromise. I can make the change for those who still want it, but it won't work the best for people with long comments.
If you want, I can add a modified version of PixOS Luna 2 so that Comment is displayed in place of Lyrics... PixOS Luna 3 or something. ;)
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Don't worry on my account, I managed to add it myself.
;D
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Doof,
I absolutely love all of these! I had never even seen the Luna Track INfos in their old version and the mini me looks great. I will be one of the first on your download list!! ;D
Adam
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Well, if you like, you can download and try out the beta. I've still got a lot of work left to do, but here's a screenshot of where it stands:
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS Big.jpg)
You can download it here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS.mjp).
Here's what I still have left to do:
- Add in the Shuffle, Repeat, & Mute controls[/s]
- Implement the Playlist view & button[/s]
- Implement the Graphic Equalizer & button (minus the Presets button - since MC doesn't support this - I think the Turn Off button is doable, though)[/s]
- Add in the Volume and Balance controls[/s]
- Implement the Vis window and button[/s]
- Implement the "Roll-up\Roll-back" mode switching[/s]
- Fix the Mode, Minimize, Close, and Megaview buttons so they're not so sensitive about where the mouse cursor actually is. Currently, you have to have the mouse right on the exact pixels of the graphic, so it's kind of hard to hit sometimes.[/s]
- Fix the display fonts. I can't for the life of me figure out what font's being used on the original, or what size etc. it is. If anybody here could help, I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise, I was going to contact Treetog again and try and get it directly from the horse's mouth. :P
- There's some weird thing happening (I think) where it jumps to the foreground whenever it changes tracks. I haven't really tested it, so it may just be my imagination. If it is happening, I have a theory about what's causing it.[/s]
I think that's it... If you find any bugs in it that I haven't mentioned (or even if you can confirm the ones I have), be sure to let me know.
I've been updating the skin and the list of things to do above. If you see something new get crossed off the list, then you know there's a new "build" of the skin. :) I'll also try and keep the screenshot up to date.
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Nice skin!
PixOS should be the default skin IMO.
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Nice skin!
Yeah, Pixtudio did a really nice job with it. I wish I could make an original skin as nice. Although I have fun just porting others... I keep thinking I should pair up with a graphics guy, since I can handle the backend. We could probably make a pretty good team.
Any volunteers?
PixOS should be the default skin IMO.
I agree. It's a really nice and easy to use skin. And it doesn't look like other media players out there... ;)
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This sure removed any doubt of which skin I like the best. Thanks for all of your work on these - I'm really going to enjoy using them.
Shelly
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I'm glad you like it. I'm hoping to have it mostly finished by the end of this weekend, but we'll see. I might just sneak away for a dive...
Plus there's that Ghosts of the Abyss IMAX movie I've been meaning to see... ;)
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nice skin!! :)
Couple of points - if the title is say a g or letter where part of it goes down under the level - it gets chopped off.
Also - long albums have their names chopped with no way of seeing the extra info.
A version with the image moved to the visualisations part of the screen would give a lot more space for the text and would allow for less CPU to be used when doing playback (no visualisations)
I LOVE your ports though :)
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Yeah, the font is definitely on my list of things to address. It's too big. You can see in the original that it's smaller and things fit better. Plus it also scrolls. Eventually I'll get around to really trying to figure out what font to use there.
And the image is something that I really want to stay because if I can figure out how to do it, it's going to display cover art. The WMP version does this and I know it's possible for MC as well. I just have to figure out how it's done.
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Doof,
I know it's a hard task to make everyone happy. That being said, if you are considering a PixOS Luna3, I'd love to have both a comments field and a notes field. I use the notes field to store the AMG info about the album. For now, I changed comments to notes, so theres no rush. Thanks, again.
Shelly
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I was actually considering that.. I was thinking of making a page where it displays Comment, Notes, and Bios. Haven't had time to sit down and do it yet, though.
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Doof, man,
I also wanted to say how much I enjoy your ports. Remind me to ask you about a new iPod mini, ;)
I was wondering, with the discussion of Luna1, 2, and maybe 3... would it be possible to package several different "versions" of the track info template, all into one template, and add in the ability to switch "modes" via html code?
Like, the PixOS Luna track info template would have a dropdown or some links on it that would switch it to a different view? Make it remember which you use, even?
I can't wait to try out the mini, sir, thanks!
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I was actually considering that.. I was thinking of making a page where it displays Comment, Notes, and Bios. Haven't had time to sit down and do it yet, though.
That would be great!
Another thing - When I click on the ArtistInfo button in MC it correctly opens AMG in my default browser, Opera. However, when I click on Artist Info in Luna it opens AMG in IE. Can this function be changed to use the default browser?
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I was wondering, with the discussion of Luna1, 2, and maybe 3... would it be possible to package several different "versions" of the track info template, all into one template, and add in the ability to switch "modes" via html code?
I'm not sure I understand. Isn't that kind of what you do when you click the Left\Right arrow buttons in Playing Now and scroll through PixOS Luna 1, PixOS Luna 2, etc?
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Something's not quite right with the inactive transparency in your mini-me/MediaCenter.
1) Some rounded corners are messed up (see upper-left of main section)
2) Time display background is darker than everything else
3) Visualization turns fuschia! Man is that ugly :)
This is under Windows 2000 SP4.
(http://photos.skeeterland.com/albums/mc91b/PIXMini_me.jpg)
-John
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Well, while it's arguably better, my own experiment shows some of the same problems...
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Interact/Screenshots/PixOS Trans.jpg)
Unfortunately, there's really nothing I can do about it. The problem ultimately lies with the way that MC displays transparency in mini-me. It forces all objects into a semi-transparent state, so you get to see all the places where windows and other objects overlap. If you want to see another example of this problem, switch to the SonixMedia skin and close up all of the windows (vis, eq, etc). They all hide behind the main window so when it goes transparent, you can see all of the other windows overlapping underneath.
The fuscia color where the vis window is located is due to the fact that you need a transparent area to display visualizations in, and that fuscia color is a really nice color (from the skinners point of view!) to work with. It's a color you aren't likely to use anywhere else in the skin (one can hope!) and the hex code for it is really easy to remember (FF00FF). Seeing it during transparency is another unfortunate side effect.
Although... I just took a look at the SonixMedia skin and noticed that it doesn't suffer the same problem... Let me look a little deeper into that and see if I can figure out how to fix it.
I'm not sure why you're having the other problems I can see in your screenshot. It looks like the skin is being cut off from one side and being displayed on the other? Or is that just a bad screenshot?
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I was playing with it and was able to just show the background image while transparent rather than the purple trans color. Seems to work alright expcept you can't see the vis window while "hidden"
If you want the image, just let me know.
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Great job doof! I can't wait to see the hairstyle skin (BTW, did you get started on that?)
Is it just me or is the 'rolled-up' mode just not implemented yet?
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Hairstyle : Haven't even started yet.
Roll-up : It's not just you. :) The button's there, but it currently doesn't do anything. That's probably going to be the last thing I do, since it requires manipulating all of the other objects.
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Ok, good news!
I fixed the fuscia vis window problem, and I fixed that other weird problem where the elapsed time showed up darker than everything else while transparent. In the process, I think I managed to optimize it a little bit so that it loads faster. At least it feels a lot faster on my system. Let me know what you think. I've updated the download link so you can try it out if you like.
Still not sure about the rounded corners that skeeterfood mentioned. It looks fine on my system now.
Now I can get back to work on implementing the rest of it. :)
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I fixed the fuscia vis window problem
Great. It looks way better.
I think I managed to optimize it a little bit so that it loads faster. At least it feels a lot faster on my system.
It seems to me to be loading a little faster indeed.
Keep up with the good job (and don't forget to get started on the hairstyle ;) )
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I just posted a new "build" that has the playlist functionality in place. It doesn't remember which mode (playlist or song info) you were in last yet, but it probably will. I haven't actually decided on that one yet. Do you guys think it should remember?
It definitely will remember whether you were in EQ mode or Vis mode, and it will remember if it was rolled up or not. I just haven't decided on the playlist part yet.
I also did a little bit of work on the fonts. And I have the play control buttons disabling themselves when appropriate. Let me know what you think.
At this point, it looks like I really only have the EQ and roll-up modes left... Hopefully I'll be able to knock them off in the next couple of days.
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I'm not sure why you're having the other problems I can see in your screenshot. It looks like the skin is being cut off from one side and being displayed on the other? Or is that just a bad screenshot?
Yeah, it's a bad screenshot. I had the mini-me transparent over the top of this interact thread showing an image of the mini-me. Sorry for the confusion... ::)
-John
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New "build". EQ is in place and working. It needs a little clean up, though. I'll tidy it up tomorrow, and then all that's left is the rolled-up mode, and get it remembering where it's supposed to be on the screen, and which components were active.
You may notice that it has one less button than the original WMP skin. WMP supports some video controls that are available in skins. MC doesn't support this. I was originally planning on just making that button bring up DSP Studio, but I can't find anyway to make that happen, so I just took it out.
Let me know what you think.
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What about displaying cover art instead of a music note? Or is it something it is already supposed to do and I didn't figure it out yet?
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This is looking really good Doof. Defi initely the best mini me so far. BTW did you get to see Ghosts of the Abyss?? Is that the James Cameron one about Titanic?? If so I saw it at the Bradford Film Museum and it is excellent!!
Adam
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What about displaying cover art instead of a music note? Or is it something it is already supposed to do and I didn't figure it out yet?
Eventually, I'm hoping to be able to do just that. I just haven't sat down to figure out how to do it. I've taken a look at the SDK and I think I've figured it out, so hopefully soon. :) The music note is just kind of a placeholder for when there is no coverart. When you play a video file, it changes to show film and a note.
This is looking really good Doof. Defi initely the best mini me so far. BTW did you get to see Ghosts of the Abyss?? Is that the James Cameron one about Titanic?? If so I saw it at the Bradford Film Museum and it is excellent!!
Adam
It is the James Cameron one and no, I haven't been able to see it, yet. Rather than go last weekend, I was working (trying to save up enough money for another cave diving trip to Florida and buy a bunch of new gear before next summer). We're definitely going to see it this Saturday though, provided nothing freaky happens... :P
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Almost done! I got the roll-up mode working, the EQ's all cleaned up, and I have it mostly remembering the state it was in when you exited. The only thing I still need to do is get it to remember what windows were open when you roll it back down after it's been rolled up. Right now it's just going back to the default (Song Info and Vis).
I just couldn't wrap my head around the if statements anymore tonight. It's time for bed.
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Way to go Doof 8) 8)
Nice work indeed, thankyou for sharing it with us.
-marko
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Is it remember screen position for you? It was all working really well for me right before I uploaded it. Then I deleted my state.xml (the file that stores all of the window positions and which windows are visible when you exit) file to make sure it was all working and then it wouldn't.
I just made a change that appears to have it at leat remembering which windows were open, but it still won't remember where on the screen I last had it.
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Doof - I must be doing something wrong. I've "successfully" installed both your packages yet I don't see PixOS Luna... as a choice in my mini-me skins tab. I've run both the install package and tried browsing-in the .zip, all to no avail. The suspense is killing me.
I'm using MC 9.1.252.
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Doof - I must be doing something wrong. I've "successfully" installed both your packages yet I don't see PixOS Luna... as a choice in my mini-me skins tab. I've run both the install package and tried browsing-in the .zip, all to no avail. The suspense is killing me.
I'm using MC 9.1.252.
On the mini-me tab of the skin chooser, it's just called "pixOS" :)
Is it remember screen position for you? It was all working really well for me right before I uploaded it. Then I deleted my state.xml (the file that stores all of the window positions and which windows are visible when you exit) file to make sure it was all working and then it wouldn't.
I just made a change that appears to have it at leat remembering which windows were open, but it still won't remember where on the screen I last had it.
The build I grabbed this morning would not remember screen position or state (rolled up or not). The current release remembers state now, but only remembers screen position if I return to mega-me from a rolled up state. Going to mega-me from rolled-down state, it remembers it's state, but forgets where it was and appears in the center of the screen.
-marko.
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Doof, I was playing around with this just now, and it's vanished from view!!!
I have MC set to minimise to tray, so, on minmising from the pixOS mini-me button, it drops to tray just fine, but won't come back out again, it's gone all shy on me LOL.
I have to use ctrl + e to bring back mega-me, then change the mini skin. Returning to the pixOS mini-me brings back the shyness!!
Before I go to work on it's self-esteem, here is the current contents of state.xml (which I presume controls this side of things?)...
<MJSState Version="1.0">
<Top Visible="Hide" Position="876,42">
<Item Type="0" Name="TogglePlaylist" State="1" Rect="231,23,265,57"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="ToggleEQ" State="1" Rect="311,23,344,57"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="ToggleVis" State="1" Rect="344,23,376,57"/>
</Top>
<Middle Visible="Hide" Position="876,112"/>
<Playlist Visible="Hide" Position="882,106">
<Item Type="0" Name="TrackListScrollUp" State="1" Rect="200,0,216,22"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="TrackListScrollDown" State="1" Rect="200,105,216,127"/>
<Item Type="1" Name="Tracklist" State="1" Rect="0,19,199,126"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="TracklistPosition" State="1" Rect="200,24,216,103"/>
</Playlist>
<Visualization Visible="Hide" Position="1106,106">
<Item Type="1" Name="Visualization" State="1" Rect="0,0,143,127"/>
</Visualization>
<Main Visible="Show" Position="876,42"/>
<Bottom Visible="Hide" Position="876,240">
<Item Type="0" Name="Mode" State="1" Rect="304,28,321,42"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Minimize" State="1" Rect="321,28,340,42"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Close" State="1" Rect="340,28,359,42"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Megaview" State="1" Rect="359,28,376,42"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="Position" State="1" Rect="217,8,360,17"/>
</Bottom>
<EQ Visible="Hide" Position="1106,106">
<Item Type="0" Name="EQToggle" State="1" Rect="7,17,60,37"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="Volume" State="1" Rect="18,105,53,115"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="Balance" State="1" Rect="94,105,129,115"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider01" State="1" Rect="9,46,19,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider02" State="1" Rect="22,46,32,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider03" State="1" Rect="35,46,45,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider04" State="1" Rect="48,46,58,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider05" State="1" Rect="61,46,71,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider06" State="1" Rect="74,46,84,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider07" State="1" Rect="87,46,97,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider08" State="1" Rect="100,46,110,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider09" State="1" Rect="113,46,123,88"/>
<Item Type="2" Name="EqSlider10" State="1" Rect="126,46,136,88"/>
</EQ>
<Vid Visible="Hide" Position="882,106">
<Item Type="0" Name="Shuffle" State="1" Rect="0,106,67,121"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Repeat" State="1" Rect="67,106,113,121"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="ToggleMute" State="1" Rect="161,106,199,121"/>
<Item Type="1" Name="AV" State="1" Rect="7,26,81,100"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="State" State="1" Rect="6,2,81,23"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="Elapsed" State="1" Rect="87,1,197,1"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="ArtistLabel" State="1" Rect="88,22,214,32"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="Artist" State="1" Rect="88,34,214,46"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="AlbumLabel" State="1" Rect="88,50,214,60"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="Album" State="1" Rect="88,62,214,74"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="TitleLabel" State="1" Rect="88,78,214,88"/>
<Item Type="3" Name="Name" State="1" Rect="88,90,214,102"/>
</Vid>
<PixOS Visible="Hide" Position="436,-282"/>
<ControlsDn Visible="Hide" Position="887,52">
<Item Type="0" Name="Previous" State="4" Rect="1,3,39,45"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Play" State="1" Rect="39,1,79,50"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Next" State="4" Rect="79,4,116,46"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Stop" State="4" Rect="119,4,159,46"/>
</ControlsDn>
<Address Visible="Hide" Position="876,245">
<Item Type="0" Name="WWW" State="1" Rect="6,0,93,5"/>
</Address>
<ControlsUp Visible="Hide" Position="887,52">
<Item Type="0" Name="Previous" State="4" Rect="1,3,39,45"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Play" State="1" Rect="39,1,79,50"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Next" State="4" Rect="79,4,116,46"/>
<Item Type="0" Name="Stop" State="4" Rect="119,4,159,46"/>
</ControlsUp>
<Values/>
</MJSState>
Update:- It's only doing this if minimised from a rolled down state, rolled up works fine.
-marko
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Doof,
the build I grabbed earlier today DOES remember the position, and stay on top transparent perfectly. This is simply just great. Only thing is, in transparency and rolled-up mode it shows up buttons (playlist, EQ, Vis) behind the progress bar. No big deal: once the mouse is over it the buttons disappear. By the way, that was the first time I tried the roll-up mode, and I just love it.
As far as I'm concerned, I would like to be able to access a volume bar without having to use the EQ. That's all the more needed in rolled-up mode. Any chance to get that? Once we got that volume bar (cause I know you're the man and can do that in no time ::) ) I think you should move on to have that cover art display thing settle and... on to the Hairstyle skin!
Just roll it up baby. ;)
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Doof,
When I use the skin manager from a mini-me skin I seethe PixOS Luna and PixOS Luna 2 skins . HOWEVER, when I select either of those, I get this:
"Loading the current mini-skin failed. Media Jukebox will automatically revert to the default mini-skin."
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When I use the skin manager from a mini-me skin I seethe PixOS Luna and PixOS Luna 2 skins . HOWEVER, when I select either of those, I get this:
"Loading the current mini-skin failed. Media Jukebox will automatically revert to the default mini-skin."
This is because these are not mini-me skins, they are Track Info templates. In order to use them, go to Playing now, use the arrows in the lower left corner of the visualization space to cycle through the different modes (Visualization, Image, none, etc.) The one you want is 'Track info". Then use the arrows in the middle bottom of that same area to cycle through the different Track info templates. At some point you should hit PixOs Luna and PixOs Luna 2.
If it is the mini-me PixOs skin you want this is the link:http://home.ne.rr.com/doof/PixOS/mini-me/PixOS.mjp
Just click it and the skin will install on its own. (BTW, I don't think it's normal that you can see the 2 track info templates in the skin manager, I guess you've browsed for them)
Hope this will help.
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Wow, a whole flurry of discussion today, and I wasn't around for it. :P
Ah, well...
Marko> Delete the state.xml file and the skin will resort back to it's defaults. It's possible something got screwed up in there that's causing this. I just tried minimizing from the rolled up mode and it comes back fine for me. Try that and let me know how it works.
mrsnarky> 10th pretty much summed up what's going on there. If the two Track Infos are showing up in Skin Manager, I'm assuming that you manually unzipped them there or something? You should be able to hit the Delete button in Skin Manager to get them to go away. Then just follow 10th's directions to see the Track Infos in Playing Now, or download the mini-me skin from the link he posted.
I think I'm going to edit the first post in this thread to make everything easier to find. I was actually thinking about this last night.
10th> I'll see what I can do about making those buttons disappear in rolled-up mode. Ever since skeeterfood first pointed out to me out ugly it looked when transparent, I've been on a kind of vendetta about this. You should see the hoops I had to jump through to show the player controls correctly in the different modes. :P
As far as the volume control in rolled up mode... yes, it's possible. The only problem is that I had to attain permission from Pixtudio to port this skin to MC. I'm not sure how many liberties I'm allowed to take with the functionality of it, though. I'm going to be sending them an email asking about a couple of things anyway, so I'll ask about that, too. I just wouldn't want to piss them off in anyway since they were nice enough to let me do this.
I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to work on the state stuff tonight... I'll do my best, though.
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10th - thanks for the link. That did the trick :D
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I just wouldn't want to piss them off in anyway since they were nice enough to let me do this.
Come on, your working for them. I'm sure that with a nice mini-me/mega-me/hairstyle PixOs set you're making pretty good advertisement for the pixtudio suite (who wouldn't want to get the Windowblinds skin to match MC?)
They should pay you, that's what I say.
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I just posted an update. Should fix the screen position problem (thanks to DJ_Hazelwood). Let me know if it doesn't (so I can start tearing out what little hair I have left).
Tonight I plan to get the rolled up mode playing a little more nicely. That includes getting it to remember what components are supposed to be showing, and making it a little more pretty in transparent mode.
If I have time, I'll try tackling that coverart thing.
And if I really have time, I'll try to get PixOS Luna 3 done, and start work on the Hairstyle skin.
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Hey, Doof. Very cool work. I just got the latest. Nice job. Thanks!
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Just wanted to let you all know why there's been such a delay since the last release.
The power supply in my home PC started flaking out on me last week. I've got a new one on order, but it'll be a few days before it arrives.
So now updates on the skin, etc. for a while. Thankfully, it's mostly done anyway, with only a few minor tweaks left to do.
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Well, it's finally finished. Everything seems to be working great on my system, now. Thanks to a little creative use of some single pixel windows, I got everything remembering their last positions etc.
I didn't add in the cover art thing, yet. I'm seriously in need of a break from this thing, so for now, it's not there. I'll come back to it someday, though and see what I can do.
So download it if you like and let me know if you find anything not working. The download link is in the very first post of this thread. You may want to delete any old versions of the skin, just in case.
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Doof, have yerself a long cold beer and be very pleased with yourself.
This skin will get a vote from me once the skin d'load areas are sorted out.
The minimse etc. stuff I mentioned above are fixed here. Nice work.
Thank you for bringing us this port, those hours spent headbanging on this were well worth it.
-marko
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When I roll-up the mini-me skin, if I move it around on the screen I can see the 'shadow' of the un-rolled mini-me moving and vibrating. Dunno if this is a bug.
Nice work :)
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This mini-me is very cool. I was wondering whether it was possible to get the album art to be displayed instead of a musical note. That would make it perfect.
(maybe it's supposed to do that, but it doesn't do that on my system.)
kiwi
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Doof - Great job dude.
U did some really nice work on this :)
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This mini-me is very cool. I was wondering whether it was possible to get the album art to be displayed instead of a musical note. That would make it perfect.
(maybe it's supposed to do that, but it doesn't do that on my system.)
kiwi
That was (and still is) part of the original plan. I do intend to get that to work, but I'm not positive I'll be able to. In some testing I've done, I've been able to display a cover art image (not of the actually playing song, but just one of the images on my hard drive), but it was too big to fit, and so only a portion of it was displayed. I'm going to scour the SDK some more to see if there's a way to resize the image for display within the mini-me skin. I know that other plugins are doing it (like Rhino's Album View plugin), but I'm not sure if it'll be possible in mini-me. If not, I'm not sure it's really worth it.
Retrieving the currently playing song's coverart shouldn't be too difficult. Resizing it to fit in the space alotted is another matter entirely. I'll see what I can come up with, but if somebody else figures it out before me, let me know? :)
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Well, I've got some good news and some bad news.
First, the good news: I've figured out how to retrieve the currently playing file's cover art file, and figured out that I can tell MC to retrieve the small thumbnail image to go along with it. It's a little bit smaller than it needs to be in order to fit, but the next size up is too big. I now know that I can at least retrieve the filename to the imagefile I need and in a useable size.
Now, the bad news. The function that puts a picture into a window apparently only works if that image file is in the same folder as the skin. Since that's not where thumbnails are stored, there doesn't appear to be a way to actually display the image file. I can manually copy and paste the pathname into the function and it won't work, so I know it's not a problem with retrieving the pathname. If I put the image file into the skin's folder and adjust the pathname in the skin's function, it works. So it must be that metamorphis can only set pictures that reside in the same folder as the skin. It won't even work if it's as simple as "C:\image.jpg".
I'd request a fix for this (and JRiver can consider this post to be such a request), but since I've gotten NO response of any kind to any of the questions I've asked in here regarding this skin's development (from JRiver), I'm not too hopeful that it will happen. If they did fix this, then I could probably have this done and out within an hour.
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Doof,
I dont think they check these forums that much.
Try posting it in the main forum and see if you get much more luck.
It's a shame when plugin development doesn't work because of bugs/lack of features in MC because the plugin's usually add a LOT to it.
Ask enough and I'm sure they'll add it :)
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Nila,
What makes you think we don't read the posts? Do you have inside information?
Jim
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Doof,
We're at the point where we're done making changes in 9.1 and just purely debugging. Changes will now occur after 9.1 is released. They may make it into a 9.1 maintenance build.
Sorry if this slows you down. We just have to have a version we can ship.
Jim
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I completely understand where you're coming from. Just understand that I consider this issue (and the Set/GetStateValue problem) to be bugs. Wouldn't they therefore fall into the debugging category?
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After re-reading my post I realize it may have not come across as clearly as I would have liked.
I'm willing to wait for a maintenence release, if that's what it takes. You guys really have your hands full as it is. I'd really hate to have to wait until 10 for these fixes, though.
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Nope :)
and u proved me wrong.
Just seen posts in the past from various people saying that some of their posts in the developement forum hadn't been answered for a while.
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I just added a GetPlayingNow Popup skin to the suite. The link is available either in this post or in the top post of the thread.
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOS%20Popup.jpg)
You can download it here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Popup/PixOSPopup.zip).
Installation: First you need RhinoBanga's GetPlayingNow plugin in order to have the popup capability. Then unzip the PixOS Background.jpg file goes into the Graphics folder, and the ini file goes into C:\Windows.
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you need RhinoBanga's GetPlayingNow 2.0 plugin
I could only find v. 1.0. Your skin works fine with it but I was just wondering if you just mistyped or if there was indeed a 2.0 I couldn't find.
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Oh... you're right. It is 1.0. I could have sworn it said 2.0 somewhere... I'll go back and fix it. :P
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Great news, guys and gals! Nikolay was kind enough to make some of the changes I'd asked for so now I'm able to put the coverart stuff in.
Basically the way it works is this : Audio files without coverart should display the musical note. Video files will display the note with the film, and audio files with coverart will display the coverart. It's working perfectly for me here, both with internal and external coverart. The picture is a little smaller than it needs to be, but until we're given a way to actually manipulate the size of the images from within Metamorphis, (or until somebody shows me something that I missed), it'll have to do.
The download link is in the first post of this thread.
So, enjoy! And thanks again, Nikolay!
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What Version of MC do you need? 9.1.262? I have a really slow connection + metered bandwidth, so I try to only download MC updates periodically.
Extremely please to hear about the image being available. I figured that it was on the road map, just didn't think that it was going to happen this soon.
Do you know whether or not it works with internal images? Or do I have to store my images out of the files? I'm downloading 9.1.262 now, so I guess that I'll find out soon enough.
Great mini-me skin.
kiwi
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audio files with coverart will display the coverart
Not working here. Just downloaded and installed the latest version of the skin and using MC 9.1.256
Edit:
Updated to MC 9.1.262, it now works great :D
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Ditto
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Yeah, sorry, I should have specified that. You'll need 9.1.262 for this to work. The changes I needed weren't included until then.
And yes, it works with internal coverart as well as external.
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It's a masterpiece. Even with the PopUp thing.
:D :D :D :D
Thank You, Doof.
Mats
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Hairstyle! Hairstyle! Hairstyle! ;D
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Hairstyle! Hairstyle! Hairstyle! ;D
I've emailed a couple of people seeking permission to use their wallpaper in my hairstyle skin. I haven't heard back from them yet. I'm not really sure how to handle all this, since the wallpapers I'm interested in are availalbe for free.
Part of me thinks it then becomes ok for me to use them in my skin since I won't be seeking any kind of payment for it, and since I would somehow credit the original author.
The other part of me would really like to have their explicit permission to use it. I really don't want to step on any toes here.
But then I'm thinking that I could probably just create the buttons and all that, distribute it with the default JRiver wallpaper, and provide you all with a link to some really nice PixOS style wallpapers...
So what do you think? Anybody have any experience with this?
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Part of me thinks it then becomes ok for me to use them in my skin since I won't be seeking any kind of payment for it, and since I would somehow credit the original author.
I'm with that part of you ;)
So what do you think? Anybody have any experience with this?
My experience is that I did just that, use backgrounds available for free, and made a couple HS skins available for free. Follow the link below and you'll see that for the first one I shamelessly plundered JC's work. For the second one, the background is from a wallpaper I downloaded for free I don't even remember where (wincustomize.com?) and the buttons are adapted from JRiver's default HS. I had no problem with either of those. But I understand you want to make sure about that.
http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1058407203;start=0#1
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Well, let me show you what I have so far. It's the same layout as the default skin, but with a new wallpaper and some different buttons.
The really sticky part here is that I edited the wallpaper to make it more HS friendly. The original had some logos on it that looked kind of cluttered once the track list was displayed. So that makes me want the original author's permission even more.
http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs2.jpg (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs2.jpg)
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Without the track list:
http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs3.jpg (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs3.jpg)
Eventually I'll change these screenshots to just links...
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Doof,
it looks like a great start. I think I would try to go towards something that gives more of a PixOs feel to it. Maybe you could try to do some of the things I did with the Brushed Metal inspired from JC's work, viz. make a border around the visualization window and put a special (bordered) background for the 'location' information and the clock. These borders and background could be made on the model of the mega/mini-me.
As for the general background, why not use something more simple like the same blue gradient of the mega/mini-Me skin? That might solve one issue that I see (and that I ran into with the Brushed Metal), namely that the white font of the track listing is difficult to read on a light background such as the one you've choosen. You could also play with the font color since it's now configurable.
As for the buttons the color is great, but I would have seen, again, something that feels more like the overall theme, that is buttons that look like the play control buttons of the mega/mini-Me (viz. same bevel, border, colors).
I hope this won't sound too critical, for I think you already have a great basis, something that looks far better than what I could have done myself...
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it looks like a great start. I think I would try to go towards something that gives more of a PixOs feel to it.
The reason I picked this particular wallpaper was because it's offered up on the official pixtudio website. It's not part of the official skin suite, but it is definitely recognized as "PixOS". The original wallpaper had the PixOS logo etc. on it, but I removed it to avoid clutter. The rest of the wallpapers on their site had a little too much going on.
Maybe you could try to do some of the things I did with the Brushed Metal inspired from JC's work, viz. make a border around the visualization window and put a special (bordered) background for the 'location' information and the clock. These borders and background could be made on the model of the mega/mini-me.
I'll take a look at that. I definitely wanted to do something with those things, but I'd really only just begun working on it.
As for the general background, why not use something more simple like the same blue gradient of the mega/mini-Me skin? That might solve one issue that I see (and that I ran into with the Brushed Metal), namely that the white font of the track listing is difficult to read on a light background such as the one you've choosen. You could also play with the font color since it's now configurable.
I'd thought of that as well. I did actually find one wallpaper I liked that was a darker blue, but then I started wondering if there was just too much blue around, and opted for the more white\silverish look. I'll play around and see if I can find something that works better in both regards.
As for the buttons the color is great, but I would have seen, again, something that feels more like the overall theme, that is buttons that look like the play control buttons of the mega/mini-Me (viz. same bevel, border, colors).
I hope this won't sound too critical, for I think you already have a great basis, something that looks far better than what I could have done myself...
Can you even do that with Hairstyle? What I've seen so far seems to suggest that you get only one style of button to use, and that button is used everywhere (except for the mouse navigation buttons - which I haven't come up with anything for yet). If that's not the case, I'll definitely try something fancier. :)
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Here's another one I had played around with for a little bit. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, though...
http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs1.jpg (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs1.jpg)
I think it would work really well if the big PixOS logo wasn't there, so maybe I'll try and find something similar.
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I'm looking forward to a new hairstyle skin. Whats available now is not convincing and something like what you've done PixOS mini would be great.
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Okay, better than words, 2 screenshots of something I did quickly:
without track listing:
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/gr37/capture1.jpg
with track listing:
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/gr37/capture2.jpg
Doof (and others?), feel free to take whatever inspiration you might find in there.
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I just collapsed all of the Hairstyle screenshots into url's to help those on dialup.
But I will post this one.
This is something I came up with while playing around in Photoshop for an hour tonight. What do you think? Right track? Or stop now and get back to the drawing board?
There's a fullsize screenshot here (http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs4f.jpg). It's big... 1280x1024.
(http://www.dooftoo.com/MC/Downloads/PixOS/Hairstyle/hs4.jpg)
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Doof,
I would say that what you did in the upper part (the location part) is definitely on the right track. Then I guess it's a matter of making something more uniform, viz. apply that style in the upper part to the lower part (same colors, beavel, etc.). The buttons would certainly gain from getting a more PixOs inspired look, like what I tried to do rather awkwardly as you can see on the screenshots I posted above. Here is a link to the buttons I made, if you want to have a very rough idea of how it might feel like:
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/gr37/Button.gif
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I was trying to mimic both sets of colors in the PixOS skin suite. With the blue background, the text shows through, better than with the silver. And I really don't like the black text in the buttons.
The buttons I used are nearly identical to the taskbar buttons in the official PixOS skin suite. I'm not sure you can get any more PixOS inspired than that.
I'll play with it a bit more tomorrow. Right now I need to get to bed.
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I took a look at your buttons... I understand what you're saying now. I'll play around a bit and see if I can come up with something that works.
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Hey Doof,
I think I found a bug in your JScript. If playing now is empty and you switch to your mini-me, you get the following error:
JScript Error.
Code = 800a138f
Code meaning = Unknown error 0x800A138F
Source = Microsoft JScript runtime error
Description = 'null' is null or not an object
The first time I did it all the transport controls were enabled, but now only Play is. If I hit the play button I get the same error dialog, then one that says:
Please select file(s) to play.
Otherwise, I love this mini-me! :)
-John
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D'oh! My programming professors always told me to test for 0. Guess I forgot to do that...
What are you doing switching to mini-me with nothing in Playing Now anyway?!? ;)
I'll get right on it. :)
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Ok, that should be fixed. The new version is available at the same link.
Let me know if you find anything else. :)
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Ok, I just put up a new version which requires at least 9.1.264 to work right.
Hmm... guess that kind of leaves MJ8 and MC9 out, doesn't it... darn.
I can probably whip up a version that works for MJ8 and MC9. It won't have the coverart stuff, though.
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D'oh! My programming What are you doing switching to mini-me with nothing in Playing Now anyway?!? ;)
Actually, I had an empty playing now and I downloaded the new PixOS mini-me, which of course automatically switches to the new mini-me and voila error window :)
Then, I just started pushing buttons to see what other troubles I could cause :)
Thanks for the great work!
-John
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The PlayingNow (formerly GetPlayingNow) popup skin has been updated for use with v. 1.1. Download link and screenshot is available in the first post in this thread.
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Hi Doof,
I really like the mini pixOS- I am new to media center - I have a few questions that may be dumb -
1. I would like to utilize pixOS Luna 2 but I would like to display the comments (I am also using the Chart lister from King Sparta) and also maybe the lyrics - I am not sure what I would have to alter to get this to display on this page - did you ever make a PixOS Luna 3 - or is there somthing I can change in the ini file?
2. I am also using the pop up from Rhino - I had previously installed it and it comes up fine - I am not sure what the one mentioned in the first post does - and I really am not clear on where to put the files that are unzipped - I don't have a playing now folder in my jriver folder.
3. lastly - when I display the pixOS Luna or Luna 2 the boxes on the left overlap - the file information and other boxes. thanks for your help.
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1. I would like to utilize pixOS Luna 2 but I would like to display the comments (I am also using the Chart lister from King Sparta) and also maybe the lyrics - I am not sure what I would have to alter to get this to display on this page - did you ever make a PixOS Luna 3 - or is there somthing I can change in the ini file?
I actually haven't even started on PixOS Luna 3... I kind of stalled on the whole project. But just so I know... where would you (and everybody else) like Comments to be displayed? There are 3 pages that can be displayed (via the links in the upper left corner). Comments are already displayed on the "Notes" page. For PixOS 3, I was considering adding Notes, and Bios to that page as well. But I could also put Comment on the main page. I was just afraid that if people had long comments, it could screw things up.
2. I am also using the pop up from Rhino - I had previously installed it and it comes up fine - I am not sure what the one mentioned in the first post does - and I really am not clear on where to put the files that are unzipped - I don't have a playing now folder in my jriver folder.
The PlayingNow folder is probably located in either "C:\Program Files\James Dickson\GetPlayingNow 1.0" or "C:\Program Files\James Dickson\PlayingNow 1.1" depending on which version your using. The zip file should be unzipped into the Skins folder that's in there. So if you're using PlayingNow 1.1.01 (the latest version), you'd unzip it to "C:\Program Files\James Dickson\PlayingNow 1.1\Skins"
3. lastly - when I display the pixOS Luna or Luna 2 the boxes on the left overlap - the file information and other boxes. thanks for your help.
I'm not quite sure I understand. Can you post or mail me a screenshot? I've tried resizing the display to all sorts of different sizes, and I can't reproduce this. The only overlap I can get to happen is the text can overlap the album art if the display size is too small. But other than that, I can't get any of the text to be overlapped by anything else. Is anybody else seeing this?
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Thanks for the help!
I would prefer to have the comments on the main page - under the year on both Luna and Luna 2.
Thanks for the pop up help.
I pm'd you about the screen shot.
Thanks.
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Did you ever get the overlapping problem figured out?
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No - I never did get it to work - I did d/l MJ Luna and it has the same overlapping problem - it must be my video card or something since it seems like I am the only one with the problem. I will be getting a new video card soon and I will keep you posted. Thanks again for your help....
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I'm getting this overlap issue as well with Luna 1 and 2. I can see the "File information" window on the left, then there is some overlapping blue and black text that is partially cut off by the "Other" window below it. The text appears to be the blue "File Information" repeated, with black text saying "Rating"in the same spot.
Larry
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I think I may have figured the overlap issue out. I'm using an LCD monitor with 1600 x 1200 native resolution. In order to make the text a more confortable size at this resolution, I have to use the "large" font size. When I drop the font back to the normal "small" setting, the windows on the left of the Luna "playing now" screen display normally.
milehigh -- do you happen to be using the "large" or a custom font size?
Larry
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LaLittle - Bingo - you solved the mystery. Yes I do have the "Large" font size displayed. Thanks,
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So I guess the real question now is... does anybody know of any good ways to address this from the web developers point of view? If it's something relatively easily addressable, I'd be willing take a stab at it...
Although I think some people are probably ready to lynch me if I don't get Luna 3 and the Hairstyle skin done... :P
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I just added a new PlayingNow skin. It's based on the Slimline skin, has a color scheme closer to the PixOS skin, and is really basic. I'm using it in my signature (hence it's very basic design). The download link is available in the first post in this thread.
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I think some people are probably ready to lynch me if I don't get Luna 3 and the Hairstyle skin done...
Hell yeah! :D
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I just added a new PlayingNow skin. It's based on the Slimline skin, has a color scheme closer to the PixOS skin, and is really basic. I'm using it in my signature (hence it's very basic design).
I like that tiny version, especially for signatures... some of those PlayingNow screenshots seem to get bigger every day... it's already hard to discover the text between all of them in some threads... ;D ;D ;D
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I agree. It was the reason I suggested to Rhino the ability to display one skin locally and a different one for FTP\File Saving; so I can have a nice "big" skin popup here, and have a simplified, dial-up friendly version for my signature.
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some of those PlayingNow screenshots seem to get bigger every day... it's already hard to discover the text between all of them in some threads...
uho... was that for me? :-[
Look, I'm being a good boy now ::):
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I just made a tiny change to the PixOS mini-me skin so that it automatically switches to the vis display when a video is played. I'm not sure if that will prove to be annoying or not, since if you've got the EQ open and a video starts playing, it'll automatically switch on you. It just seemed to make sense to me that if you're playing a video, you might want to actually see it.
Let me know if it's too bothersome and I can very easily put it back.
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I just updated the larger popup skin for use with Playing Now 1.2. A version compatible with PlayingNow 1.1.0.7 is still available.
The slimline version is currently only available for 1.2.
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Hey Doof,
I thought you might like to know that in the first post of this thread the link to the screenshot of your PixOS Luna Track Info template is broken. It is still pointing here: http://home.ne.rr.com/doof/PixOS/TrackInfo/PixOSLuna.jpg
Great work on all the skins!
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Thanks! I just fixed it. :)
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I'm just curious why these playing now plug-ins aren't on the official MC site in the plug-in area. They are as good as if not better than the other "official" playing now screens. There are other 3rd party plug-ins on the MC site -- why not these?
Thanks,
Larry
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They are as good as if not better than the other "official" playing now screens. There are other 3rd party plug-ins on the MC site -- why not these?
Thanks,
Larry
Are you saying my graphics skills sux? :D :D :D
Only joking ... I agree with you but I suppose the problem is that they are not a plugin, just a set of files which must be placed in a particular directory.
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Are you saying my graphics skills sux? :D :D :D
Not at all -- that probably did come out wrong. I just meant to say that I really liked the Luna ones.
Only joking ... I agree with you but I suppose the problem is that they are not a plugin, just a set of files which must be placed in a particular directory.
But I still have the same question -- why aren't there any links to these on the MC download pages? If you didn't specifically know about these, you'd never know they existed.
Thanks again,
Larry
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Probably because the skin makers don't want to go thru the hassle of trying to package them up, etc.
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I originally didn't upload any of them because the plugins page wasn't working right. Jim had told everybody to just post a download link in this forum. So I did.
I just uploaded the mini-me skin and the two track info templates. The skin shows up there, but the templates aren't, so I'm not sure if the plugins page is working correctly.
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I just fixed a bug in the mini-me skin where if you had it rolled up, and a video began playing, it would display the video window without rolling the skin back down.