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unclerob
Comment #22 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:24 PM
Comment #22 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:24 PM
I'm honored to hear that you think my skin is awesome, I tried my best and my effort has been very well rec'd today, I don't remember getting such an incredible download response in 1 day!
In case you're interested in how I achieved the startpanel effect: it's actually made up of several layers of images... top layer is the glossy/metalic light blue frame with the white interior, under that a few images of captain america (an action pose & one of him saluting with a hint of his shield in the bkgrnd), and behind that is the U.S.flag resized to the same size as the entire startpanel area. Each layer a little transparent/translucent so that enough detail shows through without being too colorful or overpowering. I added the page curl in the start panel's lower right corner as a bit of symbolism: my way of saying that Captain America is a very important page in comic book history. Super-imposed on the top of the startpanel frame is a head shot of Captain America where the user pic would normally be (which is why I disabled showning the user pic pane area) and a picture of cap's shield with a motion trail behind it. I tried to turn what would have been an ok/normal looking startpanel area into something that was more visually appealing to me and I hope to most everyone else as well.
Thanks again nuttygardener for the great feedback and for sharing a little bit about your history in the navy and for letting us know that you're very patriotic, I myself would be lucky & very proud to have that kind of heritage. Thanks again for downloading & trying my wb skin!!! �
�
In case you're interested in how I achieved the startpanel effect: it's actually made up of several layers of images... top layer is the glossy/metalic light blue frame with the white interior, under that a few images of captain america (an action pose & one of him saluting with a hint of his shield in the bkgrnd), and behind that is the U.S.flag resized to the same size as the entire startpanel area. Each layer a little transparent/translucent so that enough detail shows through without being too colorful or overpowering. I added the page curl in the start panel's lower right corner as a bit of symbolism: my way of saying that Captain America is a very important page in comic book history. Super-imposed on the top of the startpanel frame is a head shot of Captain America where the user pic would normally be (which is why I disabled showning the user pic pane area) and a picture of cap's shield with a motion trail behind it. I tried to turn what would have been an ok/normal looking startpanel area into something that was more visually appealing to me and I hope to most everyone else as well.
Thanks again nuttygardener for the great feedback and for sharing a little bit about your history in the navy and for letting us know that you're very patriotic, I myself would be lucky & very proud to have that kind of heritage. Thanks again for downloading & trying my wb skin!!! �
�
nuttygardener
Comment #23 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:38 PM
Comment #23 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:38 PM
You're welcome and the info you provided is very interesting! I love knowing how you guys do what you do. Looking forward to seeing more from you in the future. 
starkers
Comment #24 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:45 PM
Comment #24 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:45 PM
Wasn't into comics much as a kid. Being born and bred in country Devon, England, I was more of an outdoors type, always climbing trees and fishing, etc, but having said that & now residing in Oz, this is a great WB and is very well presented.....love the colours & attention to detail.
BTW, I'm running it on Vista Ultimate and all is working just fine with the start panel & buttons, etc....fantastic job and thanks for sharing.
BTW, I'm running it on Vista Ultimate and all is working just fine with the start panel & buttons, etc....fantastic job and thanks for sharing.
Vampothika
Comment #25 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:13 PM
Comment #25 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:13 PM
Hi Unclerob,
this is a great theme, but i do have some 'minor' suggestions....(just suggestions....nothin more)
I think the help button is a lil too far away from the close button..
I think the push buttons dont do this skin justice, id make them blue, same as the taskbuttons.
the blue is a good shade of blue too, i dont like blue, but this metal blue is very nice on
my eyes.
I think the selections highlight dosent do justice either, id lighten that.
your all programs menu arrow dosent do this skin justice either!! lol...I can help you with
that if you like so you lose the 'mouse over' highlight.
Im more than willing to help you on any trouble you have if you want...
and lastly, I think that some wicked toolbar icons would set the theme off completley and give it the last bit of meat she needs..... and i reckon the personality menu should match the startpanelgroupback.....that would ROCK
other than that......you've done a peachy job! (you do some things in here that I cant do, or havent tried yet, the glowing on your close,min,max, and your shellbackground is very good.
........just remember, only suggestions!!! ........�
�
ps!! i forgot to mention that i love that lil trans button, i switch it on and off, on and off, its so much fun......thats very wicked young man!
this is a great theme, but i do have some 'minor' suggestions....(just suggestions....nothin more)
I think the help button is a lil too far away from the close button..
I think the push buttons dont do this skin justice, id make them blue, same as the taskbuttons.
the blue is a good shade of blue too, i dont like blue, but this metal blue is very nice on
my eyes.
I think the selections highlight dosent do justice either, id lighten that.
your all programs menu arrow dosent do this skin justice either!! lol...I can help you with
that if you like so you lose the 'mouse over' highlight.
Im more than willing to help you on any trouble you have if you want...
and lastly, I think that some wicked toolbar icons would set the theme off completley and give it the last bit of meat she needs..... and i reckon the personality menu should match the startpanelgroupback.....that would ROCK
other than that......you've done a peachy job! (you do some things in here that I cant do, or havent tried yet, the glowing on your close,min,max, and your shellbackground is very good.
........just remember, only suggestions!!! ........�
�ps!! i forgot to mention that i love that lil trans button, i switch it on and off, on and off, its so much fun......thats very wicked young man!
elvee
Comment #26 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:20 PM
Comment #26 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:20 PM
First off, I like the flying in effect from the shield on the start menu and the stars and stripes in the title bar and frame are a nice touch also.( i am a patriotic one myself) All in all Thanks for sharing with us
Edit: I do like the Shell background as Kitty said
LittleBearJason
Comment #27 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:31 PM
Comment #27 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:31 PM
This is the best skin I have downloaded from here yet. Everything is so complete in all dimensions yet professionally looking. I like the colors and the graphics on the start menu! It works for everything I use it for on my desktop! Thanks for sharing this fantastic piece of WB Work!
If copyright issues were not a problem (ex the Marvel Character you portrayed in your WB)
You should of sold this as a master skin! It would have sold really well!
If copyright issues were not a problem (ex the Marvel Character you portrayed in your WB)
You should of sold this as a master skin! It would have sold really well!
unclerob
Comment #29 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:46 PM
Comment #29 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:46 PM
Hi Starkers, thanks for the great feedback - I love hearing that that you thought the colors & attention detail were good. It's also nice to hear that someone else is running a Vista Ultimate pc and was able to verify that this wb looks ok, my vista machine has an underpowered onboard video card and as such alot of vista ultimate's new gui features are disabled on my machine. Thanks for the verifying that!!!
Wildharp
Comment #30 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:49 PM
Comment #30 Monday, April 30, 2007 10:49 PM
Brilliant artwork - congratulations - now if only you could do Captain Kangaroo�����
�
����
�
unclerob
Comment #31 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:19 PM
Comment #31 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:19 PM
hi kitty, let me start off by saying I like your work alot (the frankenstein theme is wicked cool!) and that I welcome any & all suggestions. I still consider myself a noob when it comes to skinning wb's and this is my 7th one. There is alot of wb/skinstudio stuff that I don't understand and would love to learn & improve upon (seriously, what's up with per pixel windowframe borders anyways? I still haven't heard what the advantage of using them is). So yes, your suggestions & help would definitely be welcome. I'm never successful at positioning the help button, I keep thinking that if I get it to close to the close windowframe button that it's going to bugger up the min/max buttons so yes, I agree it's that it's too far out from the right. I hear what you say about the push buttons also but I hold myself back, do I go crazy with the light metallic blue and carry it through with the push buttons, scrollbar thumb & arrow buttons or do I hold back so that the skin is still regular enough to be somewhat usable everyday. I have a hard time drawing the line and find myself being more cautionary in that regard but you pretty much read my mind in alot of these areas. I guess wb skinners do think alike ��
The all programs arrow was actually a captain america shield to begin with, then I stood back and said there are too many !@#$% shields in this wb (obviously to myself, no one else is listening). I would love to know the trick about the losing the mouse over hilight as I know exactly what you mean but don't know of a way to achieve this. I've also seen other wb's where the all program menu arrow is skinned so that there is no highlight, it's an actual image but I haven't had luck with the margins to figure out the "magic" behind that. And yes, the toolbar icons (and standard windows xp animations) are thorns in my side - I have no skill at creating those whatsoever, I find it very difficult working with such small graphics (see comment #6 above), maybe in the future I will have acquired the skillset to create a decent set of toolbar icons but I'm just not at that stage in my skinning ability yet (hats off to all skinners who create custom toolbar icons, I can't imagine anything harder when working on these wb's!) And animations... I'd love to learn and do more with them, I'm sure in time my skills will improve in that area as well.
I'm glad you liked the min/max/close glow buttons & the transparent action button, I learned that trick about 3 or 4 "skins" ago (I'm starting to measure time in skins now ��) I have noticed that alot of skins don't add these action buttons anymore, but a few years ago (before my time on this site) I noticed that some wb authors (greyhaze to mention one off the top of my head) included a whack of action buttons on his windowframes including winamp controls, date & time displays, etc. He was apparently way ahead of his time, I haven't seen many if any recent skins that include those kinds of features anymore.
And yes, no worries, I appreciate the suggestions - it's all good. I'm not easily offended (usually).
I'm working on mauve boost v2 right now, it will hopefully look 100% better when I'm done with it. I seem to be getting a little better with each new skin (it was the same thing with my bootskins when I first started out on this site). My only gripe (ok, that's a lie, I have alot of "gripes" as it were) is that wb's take a long time and I ain't springtime no more (I found your comment about me being a "young man" very amusing, I used to be a young man........ a long time ago �
�)
thanks again for the great feedback, it's always welcome!!! ��
�The all programs arrow was actually a captain america shield to begin with, then I stood back and said there are too many !@#$% shields in this wb (obviously to myself, no one else is listening). I would love to know the trick about the losing the mouse over hilight as I know exactly what you mean but don't know of a way to achieve this. I've also seen other wb's where the all program menu arrow is skinned so that there is no highlight, it's an actual image but I haven't had luck with the margins to figure out the "magic" behind that. And yes, the toolbar icons (and standard windows xp animations) are thorns in my side - I have no skill at creating those whatsoever, I find it very difficult working with such small graphics (see comment #6 above), maybe in the future I will have acquired the skillset to create a decent set of toolbar icons but I'm just not at that stage in my skinning ability yet (hats off to all skinners who create custom toolbar icons, I can't imagine anything harder when working on these wb's!) And animations... I'd love to learn and do more with them, I'm sure in time my skills will improve in that area as well.
I'm glad you liked the min/max/close glow buttons & the transparent action button, I learned that trick about 3 or 4 "skins" ago (I'm starting to measure time in skins now �
�) I have noticed that alot of skins don't add these action buttons anymore, but a few years ago (before my time on this site) I noticed that some wb authors (greyhaze to mention one off the top of my head) included a whack of action buttons on his windowframes including winamp controls, date & time displays, etc. He was apparently way ahead of his time, I haven't seen many if any recent skins that include those kinds of features anymore.And yes, no worries, I appreciate the suggestions - it's all good. I'm not easily offended (usually).
I'm working on mauve boost v2 right now, it will hopefully look 100% better when I'm done with it. I seem to be getting a little better with each new skin (it was the same thing with my bootskins when I first started out on this site). My only gripe (ok, that's a lie, I have alot of "gripes" as it were) is that wb's take a long time and I ain't springtime no more (I found your comment about me being a "young man" very amusing, I used to be a young man........ a long time ago �
�)thanks again for the great feedback, it's always welcome!!! �
�
Vampothika
Comment #32 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:27 PM
Comment #32 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:27 PM
unclerob,,
I'll volunteer to do you some toolbaricons if you like.....i dont mind....��
im a bit of a pixelpusher and dont mind facing those smarmy tiny pixels armed with
my painbrush and crazy mind.......
my email is boopcola@hotmail.com if you wanna chat.... i explain the mouse over on the startmenu programs arrow here for you now... now sit up straight and I'll tell you how to carry out the perfect murder.....err, i mean arrow......
Your startpanelMoreProgBack is normally very little. Make a new image with the image size of Width:190
Height:35
This image is now your startpanelmoreprogback, and name it such, replacing the old image.
now make a new image and times those two measurements by 3, so we have 3 of them instead of one.
Width:570
Height105
this image is now your startpanelmoreprogramsarrow, and name it such, replacing the old small arrow file.
all you need to do now, is make 3 states for your new progarrow, the first state is normal, no mouse over, the last 2 states are mouse over (no pushed state image unfortunatley)
import the startpanelmoreprogback and startpanelmoreprogramsarrow to skinstudio like you normally do.
now we come to margins.......
because the moreprogarrow now has 3 states and is much bigger than before, we have to adjust the CONTENT MARGINS on our startpanelmoreprogback.
this is the current setting for my content margins on latest skin.
LEFT -75 (the dash stands for minus)
TOP -1
RIGHT 0
BOTTOM -4
the reason why the left is minus so much is because it has to compensate for all three
stages of the new arrow and so it fits when you mouse over and lose the mouseovercolour...(which we all hate, blah!!!)
as for the sizing margins.. that is something you will have to play with yourself, until you get the image right.(its not that scary, its just a tiny bit of tweaking )...
ihope this helps and i HOPE i havent left anything out, if anyone else reads this and thinks of something i forgot......please add to it.!!
thanks, and i hope this helps your Unclerob dear........��
I'll volunteer to do you some toolbaricons if you like.....i dont mind....�
�im a bit of a pixelpusher and dont mind facing those smarmy tiny pixels armed with
my painbrush and crazy mind.......
my email is boopcola@hotmail.com if you wanna chat.... i explain the mouse over on the startmenu programs arrow here for you now... now sit up straight and I'll tell you how to carry out the perfect murder.....err, i mean arrow......
Your startpanelMoreProgBack is normally very little. Make a new image with the image size of Width:190
Height:35
This image is now your startpanelmoreprogback, and name it such, replacing the old image.
now make a new image and times those two measurements by 3, so we have 3 of them instead of one.
Width:570
Height105
this image is now your startpanelmoreprogramsarrow, and name it such, replacing the old small arrow file.
all you need to do now, is make 3 states for your new progarrow, the first state is normal, no mouse over, the last 2 states are mouse over (no pushed state image unfortunatley)
import the startpanelmoreprogback and startpanelmoreprogramsarrow to skinstudio like you normally do.
now we come to margins.......
because the moreprogarrow now has 3 states and is much bigger than before, we have to adjust the CONTENT MARGINS on our startpanelmoreprogback.
this is the current setting for my content margins on latest skin.
LEFT -75 (the dash stands for minus)
TOP -1
RIGHT 0
BOTTOM -4
the reason why the left is minus so much is because it has to compensate for all three
stages of the new arrow and so it fits when you mouse over and lose the mouseovercolour...(which we all hate, blah!!!)
as for the sizing margins.. that is something you will have to play with yourself, until you get the image right.(its not that scary, its just a tiny bit of tweaking )...
ihope this helps and i HOPE i havent left anything out, if anyone else reads this and thinks of something i forgot......please add to it.!!
thanks, and i hope this helps your Unclerob dear........�
�
unclerob
Comment #33 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:50 PM
Comment #33 Monday, April 30, 2007 11:50 PM
elvee, thanks for the great comments, I think the shield with the motion trail on the start panel is one of my favorite parts of this theme as well, it's just fits - I'm glad that windowblinds/skinstudio supports transparent/translucent skin elements that make this kind of effect possible. If I had some skill in doing animations, I would love to have included a spinning shield to really add to the effect of the flying shield. I'm glad you liked the us flag bkgrnd in the titlebar/windowframe area, I went through several sets (literally) of frames until I found the right combination of shape, color & gloss that looked the best (in my opinion) with the us flag bkgrnd. The shell bkgrnd in the control panel area was a last minute addition, I wanted to try it and I'm glad I did, it worked out pretty good and fits well with the rest of the theme. I'm also glad to hear that this theme promotes a patriotic spirit within you & a few of the others who have commented thus far (I hope that feeling doesn't change if I tell you that the author who created this is from Canada eh?! - it shouldn't, we're practically next door neighbors) ��
Jason, your comments are awesome. This is definitely not the best skin out there (and technically since I didn't work on custom toolbar icons and custom animations isn't all that complete either) but I'm glad you like it alot because I do to and in the end that's what really matters! To tell the truth I was actually a bit hesistant to upload it, didn't know what the overall reaction would be - Not everyone will be a comic book fan and was afraid that someone would say it was juvenile or something similar. If ("if" being the operative word) I'm still doing this in a few years, maybe someone will think I'm good enough to create skins for sale and I'll have a go at it, obviously I couldn't sell this one since this is strictly a fan art type of project and as you said copyrights in place would never allow for that (and that's how it should be, I would only want to profit off my own original idea, not someone else's). I'm glad you enjoyed, it's nice to see another leafs fan hanging around the site. ��
Messiah thank you for the kind words, I think it rocks too! ��
Wildharp, I appreciate the feedback, the sad thing is... I remember watching Captain Kangaroo when I was a kid... when I was young... a very long time ago. (I'm technically not an old fart yet but I'm working on it) �� Sorry - no Captain Kangaroo wb's in my future.
Thanks again to everyone who has left feedback on this skin, I've never rec'd such a great & positive response: download or comment wise on the first day of any of my wb skins! It means alot to me! ��
�Jason, your comments are awesome. This is definitely not the best skin out there (and technically since I didn't work on custom toolbar icons and custom animations isn't all that complete either) but I'm glad you like it alot because I do to and in the end that's what really matters! To tell the truth I was actually a bit hesistant to upload it, didn't know what the overall reaction would be - Not everyone will be a comic book fan and was afraid that someone would say it was juvenile or something similar. If ("if" being the operative word) I'm still doing this in a few years, maybe someone will think I'm good enough to create skins for sale and I'll have a go at it, obviously I couldn't sell this one since this is strictly a fan art type of project and as you said copyrights in place would never allow for that (and that's how it should be, I would only want to profit off my own original idea, not someone else's). I'm glad you enjoyed, it's nice to see another leafs fan hanging around the site. �
�Messiah thank you for the kind words, I think it rocks too! �
�Wildharp, I appreciate the feedback, the sad thing is... I remember watching Captain Kangaroo when I was a kid... when I was young... a very long time ago. (I'm technically not an old fart yet but I'm working on it) �
� Sorry - no Captain Kangaroo wb's in my future.Thanks again to everyone who has left feedback on this skin, I've never rec'd such a great & positive response: download or comment wise on the first day of any of my wb skins! It means alot to me! �
�
unclerob
Comment #34 Tuesday, May 1, 2007 12:15 AM
Comment #34 Tuesday, May 1, 2007 12:15 AM
kitty that tutorial of yours is awesome, I will definitely make good use of it, probably work on a revision to this theme very soon to test out instructions.
As far as the toolbar icons go, please go ahead and work on a set (but don't blame me for any optic nerve damage that happens as a result of working on those tiny toolbar icons), I'd love to see what someone would come up with to make this wb more complete. ���
As far as the toolbar icons go, please go ahead and work on a set (but don't blame me for any optic nerve damage that happens as a result of working on those tiny toolbar icons), I'd love to see what someone would come up with to make this wb more complete. ��
�
unclerob
Comment #38 Tuesday, May 1, 2007 1:28 AM
Comment #38 Tuesday, May 1, 2007 1:28 AM
Kinger, good to hear from you again & I'm glad you like it,
thanks for the comment about the skins getting better,
I'm learning new stuff with each new one I release. ��
thanks for the comment about the skins getting better,
I'm learning new stuff with each new one I release. �
�
BoXXi
Comment #39 Wednesday, May 2, 2007 9:04 AM
Comment #39 Wednesday, May 2, 2007 9:04 AM
Cool!!! I like this! nice color too. I'm gonna run this for a while I think.
Another thing you could try with the taskbar is something I occasionally did,: try making a taskbar image that is 1280 pixels wide, and overlay your stars onto it, or anything else you want to put on there. Then, it doesn't get messed up by tiling or stretching if you set the margins correctly. I used this method for some of my animated taskbars. I'm not sure what it looks like at other resolutions, but I don't care, I use 1280x1024 and skin for myself.....hehe.
Well done my friend....... nice skin.
I rate it 5 BoXXi's
Another thing you could try with the taskbar is something I occasionally did,: try making a taskbar image that is 1280 pixels wide, and overlay your stars onto it, or anything else you want to put on there. Then, it doesn't get messed up by tiling or stretching if you set the margins correctly. I used this method for some of my animated taskbars. I'm not sure what it looks like at other resolutions, but I don't care, I use 1280x1024 and skin for myself.....hehe.
Well done my friend....... nice skin.
I rate it 5 BoXXi's
unclerob
Comment #40 Wednesday, May 2, 2007 9:16 AM
Comment #40 Wednesday, May 2, 2007 9:16 AM
wow!!! positive feedback from a wincustomize veteran & skin master!!!
- I must have done something right with this skin. Thanks for the great comments & the taskbar tutorial/advice, I will definitely put it to good use on my next skin.
I'll take a 5 BoXXi's rating anyday!!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment on my skin, I consider it an honor to get feedback from a top 10 "all skin libraries" hall of famer!!! ��
- I must have done something right with this skin. Thanks for the great comments & the taskbar tutorial/advice, I will definitely put it to good use on my next skin.
I'll take a 5 BoXXi's rating anyday!!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment on my skin, I consider it an honor to get feedback from a top 10 "all skin libraries" hall of famer!!! �
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Comment #21 Monday, April 30, 2007 8:57 PM
Having said all that, this theme is awesome. As Z71 mentioned, the flag in the menus is brilliant and you've obviously put a lot of thought and effort into this skin.
I've put your skin on since I found it this afternoon and I don't think I'll be changing it anytime soon.
Great job!