This years GUI Champs was huge, and icon packs definitely took center stage, but there was also an incredible showing in the WindowBlinds category as well.  We saw entries from veteran skinners, and saw plenty of new faces.  Hopefully, these users will stick around and start submitting over to WinCustomize.com as well.

With that being said, lets take a closer look at some of the beautiful WindowBlinds skins submitted to the 2008 GUI Championships.  These skins also are the finalists in the Best Overall category.

These skins are free to download at www.guichamps.com

 

Best Overall WindowBlinds Skins

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Dream Loricae by bingxueling

FLASH – Live System by 1MrPAul1

Freearea by Dreamxis

iSpire Vista/XP by Night Train

Lotus by sladen

Mama’s Boy by Night Train

Metal Stone by mrpeng

O Stage by Night Train

Plastic Fantastic by vStyler

W.V.S. by lypnjtu

I’m seeing and hearing from tons of new users, many of which are completely new to the   world of skinning.  It’s great to see new faces around, but I also see some of these users not knowing where to start, or how exactly to use many of the skins found on WinCustomize.com.

I wanted to compile a quick list of helpful resources that will be helpful to new users in the quest to make their PC as personal as it can get.

• WinCustomize Wiki – The WC Wiki is a huge repository of tutorials, application information, and more.  You can probably find answers to most of your questions here.
• WinCustomize Download Guide – Downloaded something from WinCustomize, and not sure what you need to use it?  Check out the WC Download guide which will tell you what download need what software (if any).
• WinCustomize Upload Guide – Hey, it’s not all about downloading.  Want to contribute works the site as well?  Then check out the upload guide on how to do just that.
• WinCustomize Help Section – The Help tab on WinCustomize.com has links to various tutorials, and essential resources to get you up and skinning.
• Forums – Have a question that you just can’t find an answer to?  Just ask on the community forums where plenty of users can lead you in the right direction.

I don’t know about you, but this week seemed very long.  I thought Friday would never get here.  Well anyways, the end of the week has become part of a regular feature on WinCustomize, which is This Week in Skinning.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Calm Fields by DEVJIT One of my favorite wallpapers is now a BootSkin I can use with Vista.
	XMK-SM by Drill’n Boss This cursor set has a “space” theme going, and it also has some great animations.
	Christmas Wreath by Island Dog It’s Christmas time, put an animated wreath on your desktop.
	Foundation RSS Reader by Tiggz Get the latest headlines with these really nice RSS reader.  Great job!
	Stars by Neil Banfield This Master dream is one of my new favorites.  It’s like you are travelling through space.
	Bluesberry Flash by teddybearcholla This wallpaper has a simple design, and I really love the colors.  Check out the Cherry one as well.
	Aqueous (Vista) by Mirsguy It’s hard to believe this is their first WindowBlinds skin, but all I have to say is keep going!

See you next week!

The beginning of December means it’s time to feature some of the animated wallpapers (.dreams) that were submitted to Dream.WinCustomize.Com during the month of November.

This months video!

To use .dreams (animated wallpaper) you need to have Windows Vista or XP, and Stardock's DeskScapes installed.

The .dreams featured in this months video can be found at the links below.

• Spinning Christmas Decorations by Ausvet
• Nameless by muckyman
• Christmas Tree by Ausvet
• Beach Sunset by CarGuy1
• Warm and Cozy fire dream by AzDude
• Christmas Trees by CarGuy1
• Winter Snow by Neil Banfield

The 2008 GUI Championships is reaching its busiest point as the deadline for icons and skins is Friday, and the final phases of user voting taking place over the next two weeks.  What started as a trickle of submissions has now turned into a torrent, with over two dozen skins coming in over the last few days alone.  Just yesterday we crossed the 100 Entry milestone. 

To mark that, here is a truly epic post: The First 100 Skins of the 2008 GUIC…

The GUI Championships is a contest held every other year in which different aspects of the Windows GUI are customized by contestants.

The contest has over $15,000 in cash and prizes available to those who win.  The way it works is that the entries are judged by a panel of experienced UI designers (including myself). The finalists are then voted on by users.

This year, a new category was added -- animated wallpaper.  Animated wallpaper is a tricky thing to do because you want something that is nice to look at but isn't distracting.

Each judge has their own criteria for what makes a good animated wallpaper.

My criteria are:

• How good does it look
• How usable is it (is it distracting)
• How much CPU does it use

With that said, here are the finalists:

Above the Stream

Original:  5

It's reasonably original but water flowing down the stream is something we've seen a lot of.

Usable: 8

Very good. It's a video dream but i don't see any looping while running it, the quality is good and it uses little in terms of CPU for me. I could definitely run this all day.

Overall: 7

A good animated wallpaper.

 

ALF

Original: 4

It's a ball of energy. Not a bad effort.

Usable: 4

It uses quite a bit of CPU on my system and the animation is a bit distracting. No noticeable looping.

Overall: 5

A nice effort, just not my style.

 

Alien Queen (v2)

Original: 8. Very original creation.

Usable: 5. Not too distracting but it uses quite a bit of CPU. Great looping. Seamless.

Overall: 7. Better than the sum of its parts really. It's a good work.

 

Alternate Reality

Original: 5.

Usable: 4. Central ball rotates with dots moving around. It's quite distracting, uses a lot of CPU.

Overall: 3. Woudl actually have been better off without the ball in the center. The background has a subtle flow effect that is pretty decent.

 

Autumn Leaves

Original: 9. While leaves aren't that origianl, the quality of this is really outstanding. This is better than most of the video-based dreams included with Windows DreamScenes.

Usable: 8. Averages about 5% of my CPU. Very low CPU requirement. It's also extremely pretty.

Overall: 8. Oustanding work.

 

Brahmand

Original: 10. Fantastically original. Wow.

Usable: 7. It's actually quite usable. At 138 megs, it's not surprising that it has a very long loop. Uses very little CPU.

Overall: 8. This is one of my favorites in the contest.

 

Calm Seas

Original: 3. There's actually quite a few dreams like this one. I like it but it's not terribly original.

Usable: 7. Extremely usable in my opinion. Low CPU, smooth flowing. Some may find it quite distracting.

Overall: 4. I like this one quite a bit but it reminds me much of others I've seen. I also think that other people may not like it because the motion could be seen as quite distracting for some people (it doesn't bother me).

Original: 5. It's a lot like other water-based dreams except the designer made the decision to have it be very dark which was a clever choice because it makes it much more usable and original.

Usable: 10. This is about as usable as it gets. It's more usable than any of the Stardock Design dreams that came with Windows DreamScenes (except for maybe Aurora).

Overall: 9. I would say that this dream represents what animated wallpaper can be. It's very usable but simple. Some may feel it's too simple. I suspect it wasn't terribly difficult to make but effort to create isn't one of my criteria. Those reading this later may want to keep that in mind.

 

 

Color Array

Original: 5. A cool rotating image

Usable: 2. It is not smooth on my machine at all. Low CPU but the looping is not seamless and is very distracting.

Overall: 4. A decent effort.

 

ColorClouds

Original: 8. This is one where a screenshot doesn't do it justice. It's really quite a neat Dream.

Usable: 3. Low CPU but it's just way too distracting for daily use.

Overall: 3. I like it but it's not something I would keep on my desktop.

 

cubic

Original: 6. Cool objects dancing

Usable: 5. Somewhat distracting, fairly high CPU use.

Overall: 5. Nice work ovearll.

 

Dead Planet

Original: 3. Not a bad concept but the execution needs work. Feels rushed. It's mostly static other than the rotating planet. That's fine except that the static part isn't strong enough on its own. I'm all on board with animated wallpapers that are extremely subtle but it also means that the overall quality of the wallpaper has to be higher. I.e. looking at the above screenshot, how good is it on its own compared to other static wallpapers? Then imagine the planet in the background orbiting fairly quickly.

Usable: 6. It's quite usable except that the planet can actually be distracting because it moves relatively fast. It's also 120MB in size which isn't uncommon but there's not enough going on to justify that size.

Overall: 4. I would personally use this on occasion but it doesn't really stand out.

 

 

Distant Moon

Original: 10. This is outstanding.

Usable: 10. Subtle, uses virtually no CPU (3% here).  Only downside is that it is big. It trades size for CPU use.

Overall: 10. One of the best animated wallpapers I've ever seen.

 

Fluttering Nature

Original: 8. This is a really good animated wallpaper.

Usable: 9. Extremely usable. Very low CPU usage (my CPU spiked in the screenshot because of Incredibuild). Higher quality than what comes with Windows DreamScenes in terms of video.

Overall: 9. If you like realistic wallpaper, this is about as good as it gets.

 

Galaxius (v2)

Original: 8. Very original. The art quality could be better but it's still first rate.

Usable: 6 Quite usable though oriincally if it didn't have the planets that slowly come into view and move around it would be more usable. Also, the star bursts from the light sources are somewhat distracting.

Overall: 6. It's a good effort.

Gargoyle

Original: 10. A scene of a scale from day to night. It's very clever. The gargoyle statue turns into a demonic thing during night and during the day it's just a statue. It's really quite cool.

Usable: 2. The changing in color, sometimes rapid, can be very distracting.

Overall: 6. High quality work. I probably wouldn't run it very often because the concept requires the wallpaper rapidly changing from darkness to lightness which is too distracting.

Hypnotic Flower

Original: 7. It's a good animated pattern.

Usability: 8. Very usable. Low CPU.  There's a couple moments where light colored ribbons twirl quickly across the screen which is distracting.

Overall: 8. This is an animated wallpaper I will likely use.

Life on Europa

Original: 8. I love the concept here. It's a near-perfect blend of something that looks good even when paused with something that really shines when animated.

Usable: 8. Low CPU,  easy on the eyes. Looks good when paused.

Overall: 8. One of the best submissions.

Metal Milk.

Original: 10. This is my favorite entry. It's one of the few that looks incredible just from its screenshot and it looks even more incredible in action.

Usable: 10. Low CPU, looks great paused, consistent motion makes it low distraction.

Overall: 10. This is the best entry this year in my opinion.

 

MiG 17

Original: 8. Very original but it's not clear how this isn't just a rendered scene as opposed to something made to be an animated wallpaper.

Usable: 3. Very distracting because of the jerky camera.

Overall: 4. Very high quality work but I'm not sure if it's been made to be an animated wallpaper or not.

 

Motion

Original: 8. While energy/light effects aren't generally original. It's the execution that really makes this special.

Usable: 10. This is something that shows off what animated wallpapers are all about.

Overall: 9. One of the best entries this year.

Ocean Clouds

Original: 4. Water and clouds with clouds passing over.

Usable: 5. The clouds moving is pretty cool and I think it's a great scene but I find it a bit distracting.

Overall: 6. A case where it is greater than the sum of its parts.

OGA Processor

Original: 7 It's pretty original

Usable: 3 Low CPU use but I just don't like this one.

Overall: 3. It could be a matter of taste but this one isn't my style.

Plaktonic

Original: 10. This is a scene that was clearly designed to be an animated wallpaper.

Usable: 9. Some may find the movement distracting but I don't think most would. It's really oustanding. Uses virtually no CPU.

Overall: 10. One of the best animated wallpapers in the contest. If this won, I wouldn't be surprised.

Rainy Flower

Original: 8. Similar to some of the other ones I've seen but it's really good.

Usable: 8. It's a tough call on this one because on the one hand,it's very pretty but on the other hand, would someone use this if it weren't animated? The colors are a little muted (since it was taken when it was overcast) and the camera is so tight that it's a little jerky.  Low CPU use.

Overall: 8. A very good entry.

Springtime in the Alps

Original: 8. This is a good scene for an animated wallpaper because the execution is so good that one could imagine taking a moment to just look at it and relax.

Usable: 7. It's a little distracting but it's a nice distraction.

Overall: 8. This is one that people need to download and try for themselves as the screenshot shows you very little about it. This one will be very hard for people to judge because it is so dependent on the person viewing it.

The Abyss

Original: 4. Energy pattern that looks somewhat low resolution.

Usable: 5 Somewhat high CPU use (WMV base?). Somewhat distracting.

Overall: 5. If you like energy patterns, and many do, this is one to check out.

The Depths

Original: 7. I'm not sure how to describe it. The energy ribbons move around on a watery/motlen background.

Usabilty: 5 High CPU, the ribbons are a bit distracting.

Overall: 5. A nice entry though I'm not sure if the energy ribbons add or distract from it.

Dream Machine

Original: 10. Good gravy this thing is cool. Whatever the designer is having, I want some of that!

Usable: 10. Low CPU, easy on the eyes, makes a good still wallpaper. Just insanely good.

Overall: 10. One of the best entries of the contest. A definite contender for best overall.

Tidal Forces

Original: 9. Very clever concept.

Usable: 8. Low CPU usage, easy on the eyes, makes a good wallpaper on its own. Clearly designed as an animated wallpaper.

Overall: 8. One of the better entries to the contest. I like it a lot.

Venus

Original: 6. Not a bad effort here. It's a water scene with a cool sky effect.

Usable: 8. Quite usable. Avoids any distracting effects. The animation is a bit too fast overall and it uses quite a bit of CPU.

Overall: 7. It's a good effort but its animation is a bit too fast and its CPU use a bit too high. (15% on my monster rig).

Warp

Original: 9. If aliens had an acid trip, this is what it would look like I bet. Very well done.

Usable: 9. Near perfect pacing, low CPU, great work.

Overall: 8. An excellent entry, if I had to say anything about it negative it would be that it overall is missing "something" to make it to the very top artistically. But it's still outstanding.

BootSkin Pro was part of the Object Desktop 2009 release.  It finally allows users of Windows Vista to create and change the boot screen image with a high-resolution image.  Whether you either want to change your boot screen, or create your own to share with others, the process is simple.

BootSkin Pro allows you to both create and change bootskins, while BootSkin allows you only to change the boot screen.

To change the boot screen simply open BootSkin, and scroll through the installed skins.  Once you find one you want to use, just click “Apply This BootSkin”.  That’s it, pretty simple indeed.  You can get more BootSkin downloads at the BootSkin gallery on WinCustomize.com.  Click “Add New BootSkin”, browse to the downloaded file, and it will install.

If you ever need to get back to the default skin, just apply the Windows Default BootSkin.

Creating a BootSkin for your own use, or to share with others, is just as simple.  Start off by selecting the “Create a BootSkin” tab at the top of the BootSkin window. 

The requirements are:

• Maximum files size of 10mb
• .PNG or .JPG format
• Image scaled to 1024x768
• 24-bit color
• Internet connection

When ready, type in the title of the boot skin, enter the other information such as your e-mail, and then browse for the image you want to convert for use.  BootSkin Pro will upload the image, convert it into the BootSkin format, and place it into your bootskins folder.  You can now apply the bootskin or upload to sites such as WinCustomize.com. 

 

Right now, BootSkin Pro is available to Object Desktop subscribers.  A stand-alone download will be available soon.  You can get more information at www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/.

These are some of the most popular WindowBlinds skins downloaded from WinCustomize for this month so far.  Some are new skins, and some are older but still are very popular.

View the entire WindowBlinds gallery at WinCustomzie.com.

Well it’s Friday, and after a short break This Week in Skinning is back!  There has been so much going on lately its really been hard to keep up with it all.  The two biggest things in regarding to skinning are definitely the release of Object Desktop 2009 and the 2008 GUI Championships.  If you haven’t checked either of them out, now is the time to do so.

With the OD 2009 release, we also have a new gallery here on WinCustomize….BootSkins for Vista! 

Now for this weeks picks!

	Santa at North Pole by Mark Snyder Good to see some Christmas wallpapers getting an update to Vista Bootskins.
	DWB2 by Drill’n Boss This is a fun, animated cursor for CursorFX.  Check this one out.
	Birthday Suit(e) Countdown by RomanDA The latest addition to the Birthday suite is a countdown from RomanDA.  Great work.
	Communication by Ausvet This is an awesome .dream!  Just download it and see for yourself.  Fantastic work on this.
	Logon 18 – XP version by adni18 A slick logon for Windows XP by adni18.  A Vista version is available as well in his gallery.
	Check Mail Docklet by fedroponce If you have the need to keep an eye on your mail accounts in ObjectDock, then here is a new docklet to help you do just that.
	Aero Midnight by vStyler Here is a matching wallpaper to go with the Object Desktop 2009 suite, Aero Midnight.
	Vista Grass by madcat21 This is a nice, darker WindowBlinds skin with a good touch of colors to it.
	DeepBlue 2.0 by jester382 This WB skin caught my eye because of the clean and minimal design to it.  Very nice work.

See you next week!