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Welcome Into The World Of Xion

PostPosted: October 15th, 2007, 2:38 am
by ForceField
Hello guys!!

'Welcome Into The World Of Xion'

is the message that this skin displays when it loads for the first time(and each time also :wink: )

Image

It still doesn't have any name 'yet' and I am thinking of Ahem! Ahem! 'Anti Xion One'(if this is fine for Cliff :roll: of course).

Why? Well because it is called Marketing :twisted: ..... Anyway! The name 'Convention' comes from a 'Half Life 2' Level that I liked very much : "Anti Citizen One" where our courageous Dr Gordon was 'Marked' at the Number one enemy of the citizens to be eliminated at all cost!

Okey,'Anti Xion One' was actually my Skinning.net contest skin.But I couldn't finish it in time.Well sometimes we win and sometimes we loose.But life still goes on and we must accept our failures and learn from them.

So,let's talk a little about this skin:
First of all it has three modes:big ,small and small + transparency or big mode + transparency.There is a button in the screen that shows and hide a black layer behind the UI.Et voila!!!.

It has also a LOT of animation:
-The blue line above the screen has an animated 'light' that goes all the way.
-The Graph in the screen has all the 'vumeters' included into Xion
-A welcome message appears each time Xion is started
-And of course the big visual screen in the above section.

This skin with all the animations(especially when the visual window above is activated) can be a little heavy on the CPU. :twisted:
I am on a P4 3.4Ghz with 2 GB of Ram and a GeForce 7600 with 512 MB + Vista 32 and it was eating all the time 40% of my CPU resources.So,be advised.
But you know, each system is different.I also like to add that it will only work on the Beta 84!

Don't Worry :wink: I will submit it very very soon.

Bad comments are refused and good comments are accepted(JUST Kidding!!!)
Of course any type of comments are accepted :wink:

PostPosted: October 15th, 2007, 11:38 am
by Halonut1
SICK.

this makes me reconsider downloading the beta..


I think this just won that argument.

so..um, coulda ya email me a beta of it? XD lol kidding.

PostPosted: October 15th, 2007, 5:36 pm
by zeolyte
nice work... i like the extended LCD ;)

PostPosted: October 15th, 2007, 7:39 pm
by Halonut1
i got a question, and its kinda out of left feild but whatever, you use photoshop i take it(lol) well i've wondered, is there a tutorial you use for that "Black carbon fiber' effect or something? i've been trying to do that myself and i never get it right XD.

PostPosted: October 15th, 2007, 8:59 pm
by SLoB
looking good ForceField :)

i have a couple of suggestions which may make it look more realistic/improved

* raise the side buttons above the white glass/gloss layer, this way the buttons will look better/usable against the glass face
* the top slider would look better with a being black/silver inner shadow with perhaps a nicer bigger thumb slider image, make it more defined
* white glass/gloss(halfway) layer to be 1 pixel smaller all round (well top and sides), this would create a small raised look that you would get if it were real

PostPosted: October 16th, 2007, 2:54 am
by skryingbreath
Wow that is a lot of text.

PostPosted: October 16th, 2007, 4:50 am
by ForceField
Thanks a LOT guys!

@Halonut1

Hey Halonut1
The carbon-glass effect that you see is actually a combination of more than 5 layers.I always overlap layers to get to the final result.This also tends to smooth a little the borders and make them very nice.The final result that you see on 'Anti Xion One' is made from one full black and simple layer with 100% opacity(the black background),overlapped with one carbon like layer at 4% opacity (the grid effect), a green layer on wich I added some satin effects for the borders at 30% opacity(the middle green screen) and a final black/glass layer that I downloaded from the internet at also 30% opacity.
I collected several photoshop styles from the internet and put them on a psd file that I use to restore all my styles after formatting or cleaning the computer.

Halonut1 this psd contains 'sqares' of more than 180 unrasterized layers(metalic, glass and complex ) that you can use to make your skins.If you are interested,PM me your email so I can send it to you.All you have to do is to click on the 'squared' layer and add it to your style.

@SLoB
I think that I understand what you are telling.It will be easy for the side buttons but for the blue layer above it is already merged.However I can still try some 'tricks' :wink: .

PostPosted: October 16th, 2007, 5:52 am
by ALAS
good work, i like the idea of a welcome text...

I´d work on the overall modelling of the surface especially the bright blur border of the display. It´s completely symmetric and fading almost the same way at each position, which is very unrealistic. Some basic critics on lots of skins seen here: the 3D effect is oftenly made for one of both sides and the skin is just mirrored in the middle, BUT light comes from one or a couple of directions and doesn´t change its direction when passing the symmetry line of a thing (normally) ...said the teacher within ALAS´s split personality...

PostPosted: October 17th, 2007, 1:15 am
by SLoB
yea no real refraction of light going on with this skin so your virtually right ALAS ;)

you can always take a bit of the top of the player and copy,paste it then stretch it over the slider, blend it in, or just create a bigger slider to go over the top which should cover it

PostPosted: October 17th, 2007, 2:35 am
by ForceField
Hey Guys! :D

Hmmm! I think that I understand what you are both telling.I have two things to do:

-Add a white layer in the above section of the screen and two black or darker layers on both side till the end of the glass area(especially for the above section).
-Then I must add some reflect on the middle of the screen.

It's like playing a little with the bevels.Please tell me if I didn't understand well.

I still have every unrasterized layer of this skin and this should be easy to modify. :wink:

PostPosted: October 20th, 2007, 6:09 am
by ForceField
Hello Guys,

Here is a screenshot of this skin after the modifications

Image

A Made the following modifications:

-Played with the borders so they appears more real
-Added a light reflect on the screen
-Added a Glass Effect on the below buttons

Should I release it?

PostPosted: October 20th, 2007, 7:02 am
by Digimike
Fine looking skin!

I'd suggest make the glare on the glass blend a bit more. Other than that its looking great.

PostPosted: October 21st, 2007, 2:47 am
by ForceField
Thanks Digimike!

Cliff,I am about to release this skin and 'Anti Xion One' I think is a good name.
Is this name Okey for you? :roll: Your silence till now tells me that you don't mind.
This skin will be specific to Xion and I will NEVER adapt it to any other player. :wink:

Besides this is my best one and I don't now if I will be able to design a better one.
PS:I still have a backup name in case.

PostPosted: October 21st, 2007, 4:47 am
by SLoB
i would still bring those top 2 side buttons on top of the glass, it looks kinda odd and makes them look not pressable

PostPosted: October 21st, 2007, 6:03 am
by ForceField
Hey SLoB!

All the side buttons are already on top of the glass.
Are you meaning that I must play with their transparency?