Topic: XP-Icons 4 Media Center (Read 6455 times)

fretwalker · « **on:** October 12, 2003, 05:53:22 pm »

For all of those who also like the XP-Icon-Style you maybe want to check out
the modifications I made(for PixOS):

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/PixOS/Custom.zip

Simply extract the files into your MC program folder but be sure to make a backup of the '%prog%\Media Center\Data\Default Art' and the '%prog%\Media Center\MegaSkins\PixOS' folders before!

I hope you like it although it is not completely finished so far...but I guess I'll spent some more time for it in the future...

LisaRCT · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2003, 06:31:22 pm »

How about a screen shot so we can see?

Doof · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2003, 11:48:48 pm »

Here you go:

(I rearranged this one a bit to make it easier to display the whole thing without horizontal scrolling)

These are very nice, BTW... I've been waiting a really long time for the toolbar icons to get an XP facelift.

fretwalker · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2003, 01:52:53 am »

Thanks Doof, I thought about making a screenshot of the app but the way you did is cool too...anyway, here it is:

www.codemand.de/Screenshots/Full1.jpg

www.codemand.de/Screenshots/Full2.jpg

www.codemand.de/Screenshots/Playlists.jpg

And let me know if anyone is interested in the corresponding set for the 'GetPlayingNow'-Plugin:

Sam · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:13:28 am »

Excellent work!

It's beautiful. J River should adopt this set of icons as the default.

Btw, they look good in any other skin. I loaded them into Brushed Metal by copying all the files except for main.xml.

Deivit · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2003, 04:52:29 am »

Fretwalker,

Would it be possible to get your "track info" page too?

Nice work!

dragyn · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2003, 06:58:26 am »

nice work! I'm gonna have to try this out.

Marko · « **Reply #7 on:** October 13, 2003, 01:16:14 pm »

Wow!!! Nice work. Very nice work indeed. Thank you.

Quote from: fretwalker on October 13, 2003, 01:52:53 am

And let me know if anyone is interested in the corresponding set for the 'GetPlayingNow'-Plugin:

I'm interested

-marko

Matt · « **Reply #8 on:** October 13, 2003, 01:33:48 pm »

Looks great!

How much is original and how much is pulled from XP? It'd be great if we could use some of it in MC, but we have to be pretty careful with using anything that isn't original.

Either way, great work and thanks for sharing it with everyone!

Sam · « **Reply #9 on:** October 13, 2003, 06:19:02 pm »

It would be good if MC9 doesn't revert back to the old icons when you install a new version.

Valissystem · « **Reply #10 on:** October 13, 2003, 09:43:34 pm »

OK so someone has to ask.

J River: Couldn't this type of art be part of the skinning API? Given that there is no such thing as an "unskinned" MC now, surely Icons etc. should be adjustable on a per skin basis.

Matt · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2003, 09:54:23 pm »

Art already can be specified on a skin-by-skin basis. You just need to add an entry in the <Art> section of the skin XML.

I'll try to remember to dig up an example tomorrow. Remind me if I forget.

sraymond · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2003, 11:18:45 pm »

Quote from: Matt on October 13, 2003, 09:54:23 pm

Art already can be specified on a skin-by-skin basis. You just need to add an entry in the <Art> section of the skin XML.

I'll try to remember to dig up an example tomorrow. Remind me if I forget.

Matt,

I was looking for the MEGAmorphis SDK documentation. The link in the DevZone (http://www.musicex.com/mediajukebox/DevZone/Megamorphis.html) is for an older version - certainly not MJMS 3.0. Is there documenation for the latest? I searched on INTERACT but came up empty.

Scott-

fretwalker · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2003, 02:05:32 am »

Deivit,
here you can download the 'Track Info Set' (I honestly have to say that this is pretty much a mix from several existing Track Infos plus a few color changes...)

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/TrackInfo.zip

Marko,
here's the 'GetPlayingNow-Set':

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/GPN.zip

And again the 'PixOS Icon-Set' (a little update in the Tag Info Icon):

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/PixOS/Custom.zip

Here you find a modified version for the new Blue Steel Skin (just changed the seperator color, the ActionWindow Navigation Icons and - I hope knickelfarz will forgive me this :-) the M(ain)edia Center Icon):

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/BlueSteel/Custom-BS.zip

Screenshot: www.codemand.de/Screenshots/Full1BS.jpg

Matt,
I'm glad that you like my work - I've done this ealier before but since you introduced transparency option in the Default Art it's much easier to adapt the 32bpp icons :-)
Concerning your question it is quite a mix from all, some originals (extracted from shell32.dll, wmploc.dll, shimgvw.dll, etc because I wanted a true XP-Design) but in the the end nearly every icon was modified in some way (shadows, beauty-changes or whatever) last but not least because the tree-icons are mapping different (less) transparency values then theese in the toolbars - maybe you can help me with that?
I guess that about 50% of the icons are self- or new-created ones - so what exactly is the point? Are you allowed to use only none-modified originals or isn' it possible for you to use the Microsoft stuff at all?
BTW, I adapted yours too, is that ok?

Best regards,

Eric

Marko · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2003, 02:15:57 am »

Nice one. Thank you very much fretwalker.

I think the point Matt's getting at is that JRiver cannot really be held accountable for what you do, but if they adopted your icons as default, microsoft might take the hump and let the dogs loose

[aside]While I do see the need, am I the only one who's getting a tad sick of the word "copyright"[/aside]

Deivit · « **Reply #15 on:** October 14, 2003, 07:35:40 am »

Quote from: fretwalker on October 14, 2003, 02:05:32 am

Deivit,
here you can download the 'Track Info Set' (I honestly have to say that this is pretty much a mix from several existing Track Infos plus a few color changes...)

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/TrackInfo.zip

Best regards,

Eric

Hey, thank you! I will download it this evening at home. I think your track info template is very neat

jleerigby · « **Reply #16 on:** October 14, 2003, 01:30:42 pm »

fretwalker -Thank you so much for this work. These icons have transformed my MC GUI so much. They look great with Tomy00's WMP10 skin and Blue Steel, especially when colors inactive blend in the main.xml is set to ffffff so we always see them in full color.

Am I right in thinking that they'll only be usable until JRiver give us more toolbar buttons - at which point we'll need updated smallicons.png file? If so I really hope you stick around and update them. I can see why JRiver can't use them but that's a real shame.

Thank you so much for sharing them with us.

sraymond · « **Reply #17 on:** October 14, 2003, 04:15:44 pm »

These great icons got me to thinking... it would be slick to match the new Office 2003 design. The one thing I can't figure out is how to backshade the toolbar icons and menu names when they're selected.

The <Menu>'s <Color> has an attribute SelectedBack (which I set to a nice orange of "FFDBA3"). But the <Toolbar>'s <Color> or <Entry Name="TopBar">'s <Color> doesn't seem to take a SelectedBack attribute.

Am I missing something?

Scott-

mrsnarky · « **Reply #18 on:** October 14, 2003, 06:52:02 pm »

OK, I give up. How come I can't get these new icons to show up in either PixOS or Blue Steel. Per fretwalker's instructions I made a copy of the Default Art, Megaskins\Blue Steel, and Megaskins\PixOS folders. Using WinZip I extracted the contents of the .zip files into the appropriate directories under JRiver\Media Center. I restarted Media Center (9.1.277) but no new icons. The default stuff is still there.

I'm running on Windows Server 2003. Does anyone think that might make a difference?

Sam · « **Reply #19 on:** October 14, 2003, 09:46:58 pm »

Quote from: Marko on October 14, 2003, 02:15:57 am

Nice one. Thank you very much fretwalker.

I think the point Matt's getting at is that JRiver cannot really be held accountable for what you do, but if they adopted your icons as default, microsoft might take the hump and let the dogs loose

[aside]While I do see the need, am I the only one who's getting a tad sick of the word "copyright"[/aside]

I'll venture my guess as to the key issue, with hopes that it'll help the process along.

When members of this community post their custom work online (icons, skins, plugins...), there's usually an understanding that it's free to use by all. (I think a couple plug-ins do ask for $.) But J River can't incorporate the work as a default into their paid-for software without the creator's permission. And he cannot give permission unless the work is his own. It sounds like it is.

Note Jim's post on Knickelfarz's permission to use his skin:

Quote

On his own, without anyone begging, Knickelfarz made a new brushed metal skin and offered to let us use it. It's called BlueSteel.

We liked it so much, it's now the default skin in build 271 and will be the default for 9.1.

MGD_King · « **Reply #20 on:** October 14, 2003, 10:52:13 pm »

fretwalker.

How do I get the 'GetPlayingNow-Set' to work? Where do I unzip it to?

fretwalker · « **Reply #21 on:** October 15, 2003, 03:06:22 am »

JLee,
thanks for being so enthusiastic, you'll find an updated version here, if it's becoming necessary; as long as I find the time and as it is technically possible for me I will always keep them updated - at least for myself and if there's also interest by others more than ever (unless JRiver will bring up some art that let me stop with it because of it's beauty :-)

If you use the ffffff(no)-blend parameter then you may need some other skin files...I've done them for PixOS and Blue Steel:

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/NoBlend/NoBlend.zip

Scott,
actually I don't know, what I know is that not every section accepts every parameter that may work somewhere else (would be cool - I really like to have images for the separators or make them transparent or better: transparent placeholders...)

mrsnarky,
extract the files to a temporary folder and replace the corresponding files by hand - maybe there's an incompatibility regarding the stored path inside the zip-file...
Try to create an archive (maybe a self-extracting?) with your WinZip - then you can run it after each MC-Update (my files will always be overwritten by an MC-install as long as there are in the original locations). You can also copy your modified skins under a different name to prevent them from being overwritten everytime MC is being updated...

MGD_King,
since meanwhile there's an updated version of GetPlayingNow (new name: 'PlayingNow') the included config.ini doesn't work anymore but anyway: you can use the other files - extract them to your 'PlayingNow_installation_folder\Skins\Create_A_Folder_Of_Your_Choice' then copy an actual config.ini into it and adapt it with the parameters found in my config.ini...you have more parameters with the new one and the layout has changed.
You can also wait until I find the time and upload an actual set...

And now something in general:
In nearly every second app on the market (even freeware) I can see those 'XP-Style' icons, even the Office-Design is often found - do they all pay for it's use?
Should I alienate every icon so that it's not 'original' or is the point where the source comes from?

Thanks, Eric

fretwalker · « **Reply #22 on:** October 15, 2003, 11:08:58 am »

Just an actual screenshot of the Blue Steel version with the icons not blended...
Modified the Quick Play-Icon...
Created a Track Info Template that fits the skin...

www.codemand.de/Screenshots/BlueSteelNB.jpg

What do you think about?

MGD_King · « **Reply #23 on:** October 15, 2003, 11:51:01 am »

Quote from: fretwalker on October 15, 2003, 03:06:22 am

MGD_King,
since meanwhile there's an updated version of GetPlayingNow (new name: 'PlayingNow') the included config.ini doesn't work anymore but anyway: you can use the other files - extract them to your 'PlayingNow_installation_folder\Skins\Create_A_Folder_Of_Your_Choice' then copy an actual config.ini into it and adapt it with the parameters found in my config.ini...you have more parameters with the new one and the layout has changed.
You can also wait until I find the time and upload an actual set...

Thanks, Eric

I'm not sure what I'm doing, so I'll wait for you to upload an actual set.

Sam · « **Reply #24 on:** October 15, 2003, 12:31:09 pm »

Eric,
I just noticed from your last screen shot that several of the icons are the same as on WMP. I still love your work, but I think having a distinct look for M9 is probably a bigger issue than copyright.

Note that MC already uses at least a dozen XP icons under My Computer. And Microsoft actually encourages designers to develop XP-style icons:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/winxpicons.asp

Sam

Sam · « **Reply #25 on:** October 15, 2003, 12:33:14 pm »

I'll say it again,
I love these icons.

jleerigby · « **Reply #26 on:** October 15, 2003, 12:40:40 pm »

Quote

If you use the ffffff(no)-blend parameter then you may need some other skin files...I've done them for PixOS and Blue Steel:

www.codemand.de/Files/Customizations/MC/NoBlend/NoBlend.zip

Thanks fretwalker, you read my mind. Those were the only files from your original set that I didn't use. Now my life is complete!

Sam · « **Reply #27 on:** October 15, 2003, 01:31:34 pm »

Perhaps I'm missing the point.
Maybe looking like XP and WMP was the objective.

Ce.D · « **Reply #28 on:** October 15, 2003, 01:41:20 pm »

Simply just beautiful. Nice work !

fretwalker · « **Reply #29 on:** October 15, 2003, 02:01:34 pm »

Quote from: Sam on October 15, 2003, 01:31:34 pm

Perhaps I'm missing the point.
Maybe looking like XP and WMP was the objective.

You're right, the XP-Look was the goal - but all of these icons are customized in some way although they're caught among others from WMP. Some things are perfect as they are and MS must have some really good designers there...
But for all that I adapted most of them (and some are self-created), it's like I'm addicted to customize all and everything

Creating a totally new origin set is another consideration (and a lot of work...)

Sam · « **Reply #30 on:** October 15, 2003, 02:52:17 pm »

When I was thinking about this, I was asking myself what it would take for this to become the default - and of course I was making the assumption that J River likes this as much as I do and that you would actually want that.

Without asking Jim (again) or you (again), I'd say that you only need to change some colors on a few icons to make the set look original - artist, audio, video, and start. I think it's okay for minor ones to have a "standard" look.

I also like to customize, but I lack the talent, so I depend on people like you.

jleerigby · « **Reply #31 on:** October 15, 2003, 03:16:13 pm »

Is there any point in asking MS if they are free to use?

Mads_H · « **Reply #32 on:** October 15, 2003, 03:33:03 pm »

This is to nice, thanks
and the track info is just as beautiful!

Ce.D · « **Reply #33 on:** October 15, 2003, 04:25:59 pm »

Quote from: JLee on October 15, 2003, 03:16:13 pm

Is there any point in asking MS if they are free to use?

I'd love to hear the answer to this question !... especially when asked for their WMP's most serious concurrent (well, to MY personal opinion)

fretwalker · « **Reply #34 on:** October 19, 2003, 02:09:04 am »

I think the right place for my thread is in the 'Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins' Forum - so if there are any updates or changes you can get them here...

The download and screenshot links in this thread have changed and aren't working anymore so have a look at the new post at the new place!

Eric

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Author Topic: XP-Icons 4 Media Center (Read 6455 times)

LisaRCT

dragyn

Marko

sraymond

Marko

jleerigby

sraymond

jleerigby

jleerigby