Friday is here, so the next edition of This Week in Skinning is here!  If you have friends or family that might be interested in skinning their PC's, you might want to refer them over to TWiS, just to show them what they are missing.

Now for this weeks picks!

	LED3: Dot Matrix for BootSkin by sydneysiders This bootskin is match to compliment the LED3 WindowBlinds skin.  I'm sure we will see many more matching skins in the coming days.
	Radio Wave DX in DesktopX Themes by PuterDudeJim This DX Theme has a wide assortment of widgets for the desktop, and the theme is resolution independent.  Great job!
	Happy Birthday in DesktopX Widgets by HAPTORK Two for one with this widget.  A game and a desktop animation.  Fantastic work on this one.
	SpyroGyro in Dreams by CarGuy1 The "swirling" colors of this .dream are terrific.  Check this one out for sure.
	deepsea_life_3 in Dreams by muckyman As the title says, this .dream features a unique look at "sea life", that looks really cool on the desktop.
	Resonance in Wallpapers by Rahul29 I really enjoy the colors and design of this wallpaper.  Goes great with many themes too.  Great job!
	Deco XP for WindowBlinds by Goldwing Here is the XP version of the Deco skin.  Great design, easy on the eyes.  If you have Vista, there is a Vista version as well.
	Avanti for XP and Vista for WindowBlinds by vStyler This Master Skin is one of my favorites so far.  A very clean design that is perfect for everyday use.

Another great week of skin submissions, and I thank you all for your work.  See you next week!

 

 

In the last walkthrough I showed you the Spring MyColors theme, and today we have a more seasonal oriented MyColors theme to show…..Sunny Day.  This is a theme designed for MyColors, and to find more information about MyColors, you can read through a walkthrough or view a screencast with more information.

Visual Style and Wallpaper

The Sunny Day MyColors theme has some bright and stunning colors.  Sunny Day is the appropriate name for this theme as the visual style as several elements of the “sun” in it, and the mix of colors in the taskbars and title bars are beautifully designed.  The start menu even has an animated sun that pops up when opened.

The wallpaper is a “sunny” scene of a grassy field in the summertime. 

 

Icons

The icon package included with the Sunny Days MyColors theme is one of my favorites.  In particular, the Recycle Bin is a sand pale which fills up with sand when it’s not empty.  The rest of the icon pack is just as cool with many other summer-inspired icons.

 

Gadgets

The Sunny Day theme includes two gadgets, a clock with the Sunny Day style, and an expandable weather gadget.

The Sunny Day MyColors theme is available for both Windows Vista and XP.  If you are a subscriber to Object Desktop then you are eligible for a discount for MyColors themes.  For more information visit the Sunny Day MyColors page.

Stardock’s Impulse is here, and whether you are purchasing a game, software application, or MyColors theme, the checkout process is basically the same.  I wanted to write a guide showing just how simple purchasing through the Impulse Store is, and what to expect when your sale is completed.

This is the Impulse Store.  You can get here by selecting the Store tab in Impulse.

As you can see in the notes in the screenshot, you can select different tabs to view different product categories.  From there you can also filter and sort by using the drop-down menus.  Once you find something you are interested in, just click it and a more detailed product view will appear.  I’m going to select the Rockstar MyColors Desktop.

You can view more detailed info here, and when ready to buy, just click Add to Cart. From there you can either continue to shop and add more to the cart or just start the checkout process.  We will move on to checkout.

The screenshot above shows your cart, where you can review the products in it and make any adjustments if needed.  If you have a coupon you have the option to enter it here, and then select Checkout or select to pay with Paypal. 

This is where you need to start entering  your billing information such as your name, address, e-mail, etc.  One of the great features about Impulse is that you can purchase an item for someone else and have it sent to them.  Just select the check box and in the next step you will just need to enter their recipient information.  Otherwise, you will now need to enter your payment information as seen below.

After your payment information is entered, it’s time to confirm it all.

If everything looks good, go ahead and click Place Your Order.

Your order is complete.  Since we ordered a MyColors theme, this is a digital download so at the bottom of the page you will see the information about download links and registration numbers.  This information will also be e-mailed to you.  As you can see in the screenshot, you might also be prompted to download and install your item now. 

That should pretty much cover the purchasing process through Impulse.  When using Impulse it’s important that you make sure the e-mail you enter for registration is the same e-mail you used to purchase with.  You can view all your registrations and even add or modify them through the registration section in Impulse.

For more information and download for Impulse, visit the ImpulseDriven website at www.impulsedriven.com.

Last weeks "contest" was a lot of fun.  I really liked what I saw.  I loved the fact that two of the submissions are on their way to production!

This week we'll try to engage folks that like games.  Mock up a skin based on a First Person Shooter.  Break out you Doom assets or your Master Chiefs.  See if you you can get Duke Nukem out before 3D Realms does!

So let's see what the great brain and artistic trust at Wincustomize can come up with.

This week's template is from the Sins of a Solar Empire skin:

Just about to hit the middle of month and even though it's summer, the skin submissions keep coming in.  Lets keep it up!

Now for this weeks picks!

	MB-Assassin for CursorFX by ModBlackmoon This cursor set is highly detailed and worth downloading just for that.
	Turbine Clock V1 in DesktopX Objects by AVMAN This clock for DesktopX is made to match the Turbine WB skin, and the animations on this are just fantastic.
	Simple IP LookUP in DesktopX Widgets by Julynessi This is a simple, but very useful widget that will instantly retrieve your IP address.
	Fire Storm in Dreams by TheMasterBaron This isn't your ordinary fire .dream, this takes it to another level with the "storm" like design.
	Photoshop CS in ObjectDock Icons by Libardo This goes way out of what the Photoshop CS icon looks like, but I love Libardo's take on it.  I hope to see more like this.
	Traces in Wallpapers by Skinhit The color of this wallpaper immediately caught my eye.  I can think of quite a few themes this will work perfect with.
	Subtle in WindowBlinds by Z71 This skin is smooth, clean, and perfect for everyday use.  Be sure to check this one out.

Thanks to everyone who contributed skins this week, and take some time and browse through the galleries and see all the other great works.  See you next week!

Panic Button
The support news letter of Stardock

Feature Article:  Impulse

In our continued efforts to improve support for all our customers we have created Panic Button, the support newsletter. This newsletter is designed to update everyone on the top most (top = reoccurring/popular) troubles that people are experiencing, and the solutions or work arounds that we can provide at this time. Please keep in mind that this is a generalized list and that all the info is subject to change due to updates after the date of posting. As always if you have any questions you can always contact us at support@stardock.com. If these solutions do not work for you please do the same.

---

    This feature issue of Panic Button surrounds support and questions about Impulse. As Impulse evolves and more features are added support for the software does as well. This article should be considered the latest in troubleshooting and previous suggestions should be disregarded at this time.  

Connectivity Issues
    (Including downloading troubles, updating troubles, or even error reading current account information)

    Previously to this writing support would often suggest clearing the XML data to clear the downloading troubles described above. Now under the current file structure that is no longer suggested. To get the same result only a few files need to be deleted and rebuilt by Impulse.

From within Impulse:

-Click the blue Help icon in the upper right.
-Choose 'Open Impulse ProgramData folder'
-When the folder pops up, navigate to \InstalledXML\impulse_main.ini and delete it. Close the window.
-Repeat the first 2 steps, but this time navigate to the \Temporary directory and remove the \DownloadQueue and \ExtractedFiles folders.
-Close impulse and relaunch it. You may notice a long update time, which is normal as it is rebuilding the deleted info.
If after these steps you still have troubles please contact support directly by email.


Known Bug

    There is an intermittent bug that occurs in some installs of Impulse where you will get an error message stating that you do not have enough space to install the software. This occurs because Impulse may not have updated correctly or could be checking the default location for installs by mistake. Not everyone experiences this problem but the instructions above for clearing files from the XML data should correct this for you. This will force Impulse to check updates, update itself, and check all current settings.

If this does occur for you and the XML data refresh does not work please let us know at support@stardock.com.

'How To' for common problems

Problem:
Running WindowBlinds (or any software) calls for activation then crashes.

Solution:
 In Impulse you can right click on an installed application and click on Re-Activate.  This will attempt to activate the installed product.  The product should then not try to activate again when it is run.

-

Problem:
Cannot find backup/archive directories.

Solution:
Click on the Stardock Orb in the top left corner of Impulse > Preferences.  Click Folders on the left hand side.  Archive File Location lists where the backup/archive directories can be found.

-

Problem:
Impulse Help and FAQ gives the error: Page Cannot Be Found.

Solution:
Use either of these links:
http://www.impulsedriven.com/help/default.htm for Help and http://www.impulsedriven.com/help/faq.htm for FAQ.

-

Problem:
How to change the installation path of games.

Solution:
Click on the Stardock Logo in the top left corner > Preferences > Folders.  At the top select My Games from the dropdown under Install Location.  Click Change and navigate to the folder you would like them installed to.  Click ok when you are finished.  You can also have Impulse prompt for the install directory on every install by checking "Prompt for install directory" on Preferences -> Folders. Once this option is set Impulse will ask you every time what directory you want to install to.

Side note to problems:
If you have repeat troubles with Impulse or you wish to install to an offline computer it is advised to get the full version instead of the web version of Impulse. Simply uninstall the software, restart your machine and download the current version from here:
http://www.impulsedriven.com/impulse_setup_full.exe


News

BITS
-For people interested in the BITS system used by Impulse a new download code is in testing to get around BITS downloading if needed. Once the update is in place BITS will still be the default downloader. A option will be available under the Stardock Logo > Preferences > Connection and mechanism to change the option should you be having any trouble with BITS. Until this update is in place please be certain that BITS is running on your computer should you be having downloading troubles.

EDIT: This feature has now been implemented in the latest update.

To enable BITS:
-Click on Start and Select Run (or in Vista, Use the Start Search field)
-Type 'services.msc' and hit enter (No Quotes)
-In the window that appears, locate the Background Intelligent Transfer Service
-Right click on the entry and choose 'Start'
-Right click again and choose 'Properties'
-From the Startup type drop down, select 'Automatic'
-Click 'Apply'
-Click 'OK'
-Reboot your machine and try Impulse again.

Multiple Icons
-Some people have reported seeing two versions of SkinStudio in their Impulse My Desktop page. This is normal if you have purchased multiple versions of SkinStudio over the years. For instance if you have Skin Studio 5 Professional and Skin Studio 6 Professional on your account you will see one labeled as SkinStudio Pro and another SkinStudio 6 Pro. To add to that if you ever purchased Skin Studio Standard this will also have its own icon in Impulse.

I hope this has helped everyone!
Should you need any further help please contact us at support@stardock.com.

Seabass

Support: Shirley, Milksama, Highlander, Seabass

The 2008 GUI Championships, the latest iteration of the world’s largest GUI customization competition, is quickly approaching.  This fall skinners from all over the globe will compete in one of three main events for their shot at hardware, software and cash prizes totaling near $10,000!

For the last few months we’ve been letting out little teasers here and there about what we’re going to be doing with this year’s event.  Today, I’m happy to reveal some of the contest details to everyone, so skinners can begin to prepare their masterpieces early.  In 2006, there were complaints that there wasn’t enough warning on the contest, so this year we’re giving you all months to prepare!

Events

In 2006, there were three main categories; WindowBlinds skins, Icon Packages, and Wallpapers.  This year, we have dropped the Wallpaper event and will instead be replaced by Animated Wallpapers (Dreams).  Here is the official event list for the 2008 GUIC:

1. WindowBlinds Skins
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall
2. IconPackager Sets
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall
3. Animated Wallpapers (.Dreams)
   1. Most Original
   2. Most Usable
   3. Best Overall

We’re still debating a “User’s Choice” event, but haven’t decided how we’d handle it yet.  But the above covers the major categories and what the base events are.  Should be more than enough to get people started.

Timeline

The 2008 GUI Champs will officially kick off on October 12th.  Starting on that date, we will launch the new contest site and begin accepting submissions. The contest will run up to the end of December.  This gives everyone a 3 month lead before we even start accepting skins, to just over 5 months total before the competition closes.

A specific event schedule will be posted closer to the start of the competition.

Rules

The rules from 2006 are undergoing review and will likely see significant changes.  However, there are a few rules that will remain the same and that you should know before the contest starts:

1. All submitted work must be 100% original
   You must be the sole author of the art used in the submission.  No working with other skinners, no reusing elements from other skins (either your own, or others) or art.
2. Work submitted to the 2008 GUIC must be new.
   The GUIC must be the first place you submit a skin to.  Skins that are posted on other sites prior to being submitted to the GUIC will be disqualified.  Note that this does not mean you can’t post some preview shots of your work in progress, just that you may not make available for download a working skin (in any stage of development)
3. Entries must not use logos, characters, or other imagery that is copyrighted/trademarked
   No Windows logos, no Apple logos.  No modifications or interpretations of cartoon characters, mascots, movies, games, television shows etc.  We expect all designs and work to be completely original.  So no making your ideal Windows Vista skin, or a Dragon Ball Z icon set.

Prizes

We’re still in talks with potential sponsors, but we’ve lined up at least one hardware vendor and have several software makers interested in being a part of the event.  We are currently working toward the goal of having at least $10,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs. 

Once the sponsors are finalized, expect a big post listing them all out, and what the prizes will be.  I’m really excited so far based on the initial response I received from the companies I’ve contacted.

(Note: If your company would like to be a sponsor for the 2008 GUI Champs, please email me at mikec AT stardock DOT com).

---

Hopefully now you have a much better idea of what we have planned for this year’s event.  A lot of details are still to be worked out, and as we have major news (i.e. sponsors, the new site) you better believe I’ll be posting about it.

If you have any questions about the 2008 GUIC, post them below and I’ll answer what I can.

Get those skins started!

This week I did some playing around with Misty Mint by Jazzymjr  , and inverted the colors in windowblinds configuration panel to get this skin just the colors I wanted. The look was great and when this blind is not recolored it is still very pretty. The only bad note to recoloring this blind in the manner I chose , is some of the text became too light on the green background to view easily. I was still able to see it , it was just a strain on my eyes.

Hunter by Pixel Z  , mirrored to show off the design to it's  best advantage with the start menu open , is the wall I picked out for this skin. I love dragonflies and the simple three dimensional design of these beauties made a great "look" for my desktop.

SE Interface (green) by mrSkope  is the icon package I thought worked best in this instance. I tried to make it colorize to match the green in the blind and wall, but this is one that doesn't like recolor. I'm not sure if it's because of it's age ,or if Iconpackager has a hard time with it, but either way  it stayed a kelly green that didn't quite match the yellowed green of the theme.

For a good CursorFX set , I chose Neon Lights by squirrelman21 . I recolored again, to match the scheme I set up. This cursor looked almost like the wing of the dragonflies in the wall, and in fact when positioned in the right way, looked almost as if it was part of the wall. The cursor is sharp, and cleanly made with ease of use and good recolorization ability.

SoftMetal Media `bOx by HAPTORK  id a treat to view and works nicely when played. I learned with this player how to make it work without having the program associated pop up. I am glad it was so easy to configure , as some of the media players I've used aren't as easy to understand. I found out all I have to do is click on the play list and drop and drag any music I chose to listen to into the player. I get the feeling this is how most all of these players work, but it was only on this one that the manner in which to use it came so easily for me.

Slick Weather by Mormegil is a clean little weather widget that takes little room on my desktop but can be expanded to include more information. I love Mormegil's work it always looks like something three dimensional.

 

Bamboo calender by latin4567  matched nicely with the bamboo theme of the wall, I just had to use it for my calendar widget.

on of my favorite artists for desktopx items is pjpowell . His works are clean fast and do exaxtly what they say they will. for this reason, I chose White Clock/Net Meter by pjpowell  as my clock widget. This tiny little device works like a charm, and seems to fit like a charm within the whole scheme of things here. I love the netmeter feature hiding within the clock itself.

Lastly, I GoodLuck rc pack  by Fairyy~~, the one without the shamrock. This right click package has two designs. with and without a shamrock. I chose without because shamrocks just don't belong in bamboo forests!

All in all this setup is probably one I will use again , despite the difficulty viewing the text when recolored. I am planning on figuring out how to alter that to my liking. Once I figure it out, I'll be sure to let ya'll know how.

 

 

I tried out a red blind this week, I'm not normally a red kind of person, but I thought what the hey, gotta test everything I can, and I bet there are those out there who like a red blind. The blind I chose for this was Running by bushman . This blind was easy to use, and not hard on the eye, as you might expect a red blind to be.

The blind didn't have the usual grey scale or black contrasts ,instead it had a greenish hue'd contrast which gave the look a sense of style. The stylised runner within the start menu is difficult to recognise without the title, so it made it easy to find complimentary skins to go with it.

for the wall , I used Gossamer Red by Frankief . I like Frankief's fractals they have depth and  the color combinations are very pretty. This wall had a slight touch of the greenish color used in the blind and it really flowed with the running man theme in the start panel.

I chose Dark Shine by sunx for my icon package. I recolored it slightly to catch the brightness of the blind and wall. This pakage has a full set of icons , and recolors nicely.

 

Zippo Weather by neop is a great desktopx widget to use here. Though it has a flame in the upper left corner, the color and the swirling design also made a good match for the rest of the theme I used.

I found a neat taskbar style widget in the form of Simplex QB by Grimnir M . There are quite a few features in this little widget, though the links provided in the dropdown weren't to my liking. It was easy to remove them and place the icon links I wanted there by just dragging and dropping. Once you drag the item from the dropdown, its gone. And its that easy to add them , drag them and drop them right in.

 

I used the Blacklight rc by Buzzh58 for my right click menu. I've used this skin before and it has  a simple structure that goes with many of the themes I put together.

 

 Red Flame 1.5 by TYCUS  is the CursorFX theme I used here. Didn't even have to recolor it. The animations in this cursor are cool, in their "hotness" and make for a pleasant viewing experience.

 

Finally today, I wanted to show you a fun theme I made for my grandbaby. Note here, Tatobug picked everything out,I merely reported it here for you and captured a screenie of it to show it off... virtual refrigerator!

To start off, I found GREENFIELD by DEZIN  and used it for my wall. This wall has a kids television show look to it and made a cute background for all the fun things tatobug wanted on her "computer".

I recolored Mirage by Night Train into a bright barbie pink. The balloony look of this skin worked perfectly with the cartoon theme we created.

When I opened up my IconPackager program, she immediately honed in on Candy Vivian  by yangge  again the barbie pink is really a theme with this one!

I found some really cute Object Dock icon sets , one of which made tatobug squeal with delight. animals set 1 by ethylmorphin  is just adorable, and there are enough animals in this set to create some great looks.

The animals had to have somewhere to sit down, and while we were hunting, tatobug picked out Pink Plastic Sofa by bk12GarbageMan . Under any other circumstances I would have probably found this background to be garish and slightly incomplete, but with this look it made perfect sense. I am willing to bet this type of theme is the look for which this design was made. Over all, it turned out cute.

I insisted on having a clock and so while hunting through the Desktopx library we found this one, which had a wagon just like the one tatobug has here at nana's house. Toy Clock by Tombalaci is just adorable and works just right for this theme. I'll probably use it again somewhere just because it's so cute.

Tweety Bird with sounds by [brazen weep] is flying in the right corner of my screen. He thought he saw a puddytat... I think he did!!

Bouncing Tigger with Tigger sounds by [brazen weep] also, just HAD to be placed on the desktop. "Tigger Pooh" is tatobug's favorite show (my friends tigger and pooh). She totally flipped out when she saw Tigger, and had to have him. She spent the rest of the afternoon mouseover'ing to hear tigger laugh hoohoohooooo and bounce in place on my screen.

Lastly, She chose Evee by Jimvideogamer1000 for my cursorfx theme. I think the cursor is adorable and so didn't mind much, but I have to warn all who might download, Evee is kind of hard to point at things.. she morphs into something else when in wait mode and when trying to click on text , she doesn't quite line up right and sometimes you click the wrong thing. As long as you are aware of this and can double check before clicking, you're in good shape here.

 

This is Tatobug's first theme , I'm hoping there will be more cute setups she will help me make when she stays at "nana's house" on monday nites. I'll keep you posted!!

Thanks for reading!

Wulfie

I made this personage recently in photoshop, the truth I enjoy much learning and proving things new, here i want show you a little how was the process, I want become it an icon.

---

This is a screencast to accompany the article showing you how to change the Explorer Backgrounds in WindowBlinds 6.  If you have trouble viewing the video you can view it at the direct link here.