Theater Backdrop for home screen (1080, 720, 4/3)

**ronie** · 2009-10-22 15:49

remo Wrote:And here comes the question :
For the CD coverart wall, did you copy the coverarts in a directory once and for all or is it something that the recentlyadded script does each time XBMC is launched ?

i just manually copied all the images to a folder. there's no scripts involved ;-)

maocul · 2009-10-22 16:12

ronie Wrote:i know what you mean and i feel the same way.
if there was any other method, i'd certainly use it.

problem is, all the cd covers need to be in the same folder,
the skin can't just recursively scan all subfolders for cd covers.

what i did is copy over a bunch of images from xbmc's cache folders:
userdata\Thumbnails\Music\0
.
.
.
userdata\Thumbnails\Music\f

to a new folder and that's it. it only takes a minute or two to set up.

now i could use the cache folders directly, but for some reason a lot of artist thumbs ended up in there as well.
i'm not sure why, as it seems artist thumbs are supposed to be cached to userdata\Thumbnails\Music\Artists ?

When I actually took half a minute to think about it I could work out that it was not like cdart and clearart since its pulling images not linked to the current item. I should lear to think THEN type!!!!!

adsoto · 2009-10-22 16:19

If the wall concept is implemented in this way (manually copying all the folder.jpg files to a folder) , would that mean that anytime we add a new album we'll have to copy the cover too?

remo · 2009-10-22 16:43

Hello again,

I just tried your method (copying files in a new directory) and using multiimage and it works certainly better than what I was doing previously.
I was a bit worried that the time needed to copy the files would be visible but it's done in a snap, which is good.

Here is a sample of the python script tvshowscreencap.py (it is more than loosely based on yours !) :

Code:

def _copy_all_tvshow_thumb( self ):

        dest_path = xbmc.translatePath( "special://profile/Thumbnails/Video/TVShow_Thumb")

        if ( not os.path.isdir( dest_path ) ):

            os.mkdir( dest_path )

        # set the request that grabs all and every episodes. No jealous here

        sql_episodes = "select * from episodeview"

        # query the database

        episodes_xml = xbmc.executehttpapi( "QueryVideoDatabase(%s)" % quote_plus( sql_episodes ), )

        # separate the records

        episodes = re.findall( "<record>(.+?)</record>", episodes_xml, re.DOTALL )

        # enumerate thru our records and set our properties

        for count, episode in enumerate( episodes ):

            # separate individual fields

            fields = re.findall( "<field>(.*?)</field>", episode, re.DOTALL )

            # get cache names of path to use for thumbnail

            thumb_cache = self._get_media( fields[ 24 ], fields[ 23 ] ) [0]

            # initial thumb path

            thumb = "special://profile/Thumbnails/Video/%s/%s" % ( thumb_cache[ 0 ], thumb_cache, )

            # if thumb exists, copy it in a temporary directory

            complete_path = xbmc.translatePath( thumb )

            if ( os.path.isfile( complete_path ) ):

                shutil.copy(complete_path, dest_path)

It runs independently of recentlyadded.py, as I wanted it to run without conditions.

A last question : How did you managed to have the coverarts change in no particular order and not all at once ?

Here is the xml I added in my home.xml

Code:

<control type="group">

    <posx>300</posx>

    <posy>120</posy>

    <control type="multiimage">

        <posx>0</posx>

        <posy>0</posy>

        <width>300</width>

        <height>200</height>

        <imagepath background="true">C:\datas\Programs\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\TVShow_Thumb</imagepath>

        <aspectratio>scale</aspectratio>

        <timeperimage>4000</timeperimage>

        <randomize>true</randomize>

        <fadetime>500</fadetime>

        <include>backgroundfade</include>

    </control>

    <control type="multiimage">

        <posx>310</posx>

        <posy>0</posy>

        <width>300</width>

        <height>200</height>

        <imagepath background="true">C:\datas\Programs\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\TVShow_Thumb</imagepath>

        <aspectratio>scale</aspectratio>

        <timeperimage>4000</timeperimage>

        <randomize>true</randomize>

        <fadetime>500</fadetime>

        <include>backgroundfade</include>

    </control>

    <control type="multiimage">

        <posx>0</posx>

        <posy>210</posy>

        <width>300</width>

        <height>200</height>

        <imagepath background="true">C:\datas\Programs\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\TVShow_Thumb</imagepath>

        <aspectratio>scale</aspectratio>

        <timeperimage>4000</timeperimage>

        <randomize>true</randomize>

        <fadetime>500</fadetime>

        <include>backgroundfade</include>

    </control>

    <control type="multiimage">

        <posx>310</posx>

        <posy>210</posy>

        <width>300</width>

        <height>200</height>

        <imagepath background="true">C:\datas\Programs\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\TVShow_Thumb</imagepath>

        <aspectratio>scale</aspectratio>

        <timeperimage>4000</timeperimage>

        <randomize>true</randomize>

        <fadetime>500</fadetime>

        <include>backgroundfade</include>

    </control>

    <animation effect="rotatey" center="700" start="6" end="6" time="0" condition="true">Conditional</animation>

    <visible>[Container(5040).HasFocus(3) | Container(5041).HasFocus(3)] + !Player.HasVideo</visible>

</control>

**ronie** · 2009-10-22 19:01

remo Wrote:Hello again,

I just tried your method (copying files in a new directory) and using multiimage and it works certainly better than what I was doing previously.
I was a bit worried that the time needed to copy the files would be visible but it's done in a snap, which is good.

Here is a sample of the python script tvshowscreencap.py (it is more than loosely based on yours !)

It runs independently of recentlyadded.py, as I wanted it to run without conditions.

i'm very interested in this code. i hope you're willing to share it once you've finished it.
i have a few questions myself:
- what would be a sane way of invoking the script? i guess you'll only have to run it once to copy all the episode thumbs to a new folder...and probably run it again after you've added some new episodes to the library?
- could a similar thing be done for cd cover thumbs? it would save users a lot of trouble if it can be done by a script instead of manually having to copying everything to a new folder.

remo Wrote:A last question : How did you managed to have the coverarts change in no particular order and not all at once ?

you'll have to use a different <timeperimage></timeperimage> value for each multiimage control. in my cd wall i'm using values varying from 4000 to 5000.

let me know if you need any other info, you certainly got me interested. ;-)

**ronie** · 2009-10-22 19:04

adsoto Wrote:If the wall concept is implemented in this way (manually copying all the folder.jpg files to a folder) , would that mean that anytime we add a new album we'll have to copy the cover too?

well, you don't have to, but if you want the new cover to show up in the wall, yes.
it may be difficult to find a certain cover between all the others in the xbmc cache folders though...

kizer · 2009-10-22 20:24

ronie Wrote:i know what you mean and i feel the same way.
if there was any other method, i'd certainly use it.

problem is, all the cd covers need to be in the same folder,
the skin can't just recursively scan all subfolders for cd covers.

what i did is copy over a bunch of images from xbmc's cache folders:
userdata\Thumbnails\Music\0
.
.
.
userdata\Thumbnails\Music\f

to a new folder and that's it. it only takes a minute or two to set up.

now i could use the cache folders directly, but for some reason a lot of artist thumbs ended up in there as well.
i'm not sure why, as it seems artist thumbs are supposed to be cached to userdata\Thumbnails\Music\Artists ?

I wonder if that script I pointed you to earlier that pulls Movies and Tv shows out of the database into seperate folders could be tweaked to do music as well or on its own?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=56153

I Pm'd the author to see what he says. Of course its a shot in the dark or its the solution depending on what he says or if hes willing to aid us.

**ronie** · 2009-10-22 22:11

kizer Wrote:I wonder if that script I pointed you to earlier that pulls Movies and Tv shows out of the database into seperate folders could be tweaked to do music as well or on its own?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=56153

I Pm'd the author to see what he says. Of course its a shot in the dark or its the solution depending on what he says or if hes willing to aid us.

cool thanx.
i hope either remo or skaymakca would be willing to code something up for us. :-)

remo · 2009-10-23 08:39

ronie Wrote:cool thanx.
i hope either remo or skaymakca would be willing to code something up for us. :-)

In the albumview table of the music db, there's a field with the album thumb.
I'm gonna look into that today if I can.
Also I have to tweak it into something smarter to avoid copying everything everytime. It would be definitly better, especially with big libraries.

Cheers

**ronie** · 2009-10-23 09:02

remo Wrote:In the albumview table of the music db, there's a field with the album thumb.
I'm gonna look into that today if I can.

that would be great! whenever you have the time of course, no hurry.

remo Wrote:Also I have to tweak it into something smarter to avoid copying everything everytime. It would be definitly better, especially with big libraries.

hence my question of when to run the script.
i'm thinking of a similar way i'm doing with the recently added script,
in Transparency! it only runs at startup and will only ever run again if you've updated your library. it's far better than having it run each time you enter the home screen as other skins are doing.

for instance, the cd wall MOD will have to be enabled in skin settings.
i can make the script run when you enable this cd wall MOD.
and i can also invoke it again after a library update.

i think i can do the same thing with your tvshowscreencap script.

adsoto Senior Member Posts: 133 Joined: Sep 2009 Reputation: 0 Location: Spain	2009-10-22 16:19 Post: #113 If the wall concept is implemented in this way (manually copying all the folder.jpg files to a folder) , would that mean that anytime we add a new album we'll have to copy the cover too? XBMC on Win 7 Professional (32 bit) Intel E7300 Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H board Nvidia 9400 chipset 4GB RAM Pioneer 436 XDE Plasma TV Yamaha YSP-1000 Digital Sound Projector
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