[WheresWaldo]

OK, so I have really got this rolling and would like to see what you guys think. In order to do this right nearly every single image must be changed. That all takes a ton of time and effort, especially since I am not a PS expert.

So far I have the Home List Icons done as well as the Weather Icons and Settings items. All were created in Photoshop and mostly use shapes to scale well in any size I need to reproduce .png files

There are a few problems with redoing all the .png files. One of the first is that you simply don't know how they are scaled and scaling up in xbmc causes too many artifacts. That means every image is very large. All even though they have an enormous amount of transparent space I still do not have any of the default.png's done and the texture file is already over 11 mb! A second issue is that you create a graphic then have to pack them in an .xbt file then run xbmc to see how it looks. It takes time and I found out that small changes seem to make for horrible presentation on screen. The process then has to start all over again. I have only just started to play with the colors, right now most of them are black, although I want to change them all to various shades of slate. I have decided to wait until all the graphics have been converted.

I would love to enlist the help of people, who are much better artists than me. I would love to change the actual home icons to something that fits better with the rest of the theme, but I do not have the ability or time to create any. If there are any out there with suggestions or can help please PM me. If anyone is interested after I get further along I will make the .psd files I used available to anyone that wants to use them.

Here are a couple of screen shots to tease you all:











Current Alpha versions of textures and color file:

Caelatum.xml
Caelatum.xbt

PSD files used in development:

background.psd
Default_icons.psd
Home.psd
moviegenres.psd
Sq_buttons.psd
switch.psd
toggle.psd


You should really check out @Dropbox. It's hot. http://db.tt/pU38Va0

[WheresWaldo]

New versions of .xbt file and .xml file in the first link:

Update 17-Mar:

• Added links to .psd files to first post
  

Update 01-Feb:

Done:

• Movie Genre Icons NOW INCLUDED!

Still to do:

[INDENT]Final testing before submitting to Hitcher

No longer in scope:

Music genre images will now remain as is.
Home Icons, you can always use your own in Alaska.Revisited settings.

[/INDENT]

Update 30-Jan:

Done:

• Fixed spacing on a few frames
  
• Replaced a few Default Icons with better versions
  
• Darkend up the screen controls to show up better when playing CD's or movies in a window
  
• Darkened up a few of the frames
  
• Changed background.png to remove radial noise
  
• Changes to OSD colors so that showing it does not significantly impact viewing
  
• The few home icons were removed from the .xbt file

Still to do:

[INDENT]Final testing before submitting to Hitcher

No longer in scope:

Genre images will now remain as is.
Home Icons, you can always use your own in Alaska.Revisited settings.

[/INDENT]

Update 28-Jan:

Done:

• Rescaled the Default Icons to display better at 1080
  
• Change round corner reflections to square corners
  
• Fixed spacing on Landscape and File frames
  
• Replaced a few Default Icons with better versions
  
• Moved angle gradient overlay on a few of the Default Icons
  

Still to do:

[INDENT]Color changes

No longer in scope:

Genre images will now remain as is.
Home Icons, some new ones are there but will be removed.

[/INDENT]
Update 27-Jan:

• Added all the Default Icons to .xbt
  
• Changes to round corner mattes and frames to square corners
  
• Changes to some of the reflection masks
  
• Small changes to colors (mostly just changing them to shades of black or white)
  

Still to do:

[INDENT]Genre icons and more frame fixes

[/INDENT]


You should really check out @Dropbox. It's hot. http://db.tt/pU38Va0

[mortstar]

This may be a little forward. But do you mind if I have sex with your theme?

[nvaia]

newb question: if I wanted to use this theme would I just copy the above xml and xbt file and place them in the alaska folder?

[deadwolfbones]

love it.

[Hitcher]

newb question: if I wanted to use this theme would I just copy the above xml and xbt file and place them in the alaska folder?

caelatum.xml > colors folder
caelatum.xbt > media folder

[nvaia]

caelatum.xml > colors folder
caelatum.xbt > media folder

Thanks man... one last question. if i dowmloaded alaska through xbmc add ons how do i get to that folder, seeing as how there is no skin.alaska in my add on folder?

[Hidd3nFury]

Thanks man... one last question. if i dowmloaded alaska through xbmc add ons how do i get to that folder, seeing as how there is no skin.alaska in my add on folder?

My guess would be that you're looking in the wrong place for skin.alaska.

"Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\" is where it will be on Windows Vista/7. Make sure you have show hidden files/folders turned on (google is your friend if you are unsure how to do this.)

For more info or if you're running a different OS check the wiki.

[Juanflaco]

Damn Waldo, looking good! The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the gradient pinpoint in the middle of the icon. I find it sorta distracting. Would it be possible to initiate the gradient somewhere outside the icon and still get the desired effect?

[BobbyOne]

Will you replace the icons in the icon view too? I Like what you have done so far!

[DurhamDev]

Looking amazing, and kicking myself for not putting my Dropbox link in my sig!

[WheresWaldo]

Damn Waldo, looking good! The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the gradient pinpoint in the middle of the icon. I find it sorta distracting. Would it be possible to initiate the gradient somewhere outside the icon and still get the desired effect?

That's why I have tried to build everything in photoshop. and I have even gone to the trouble of making all the icon symbols shapes so that I am not dealing with any rasterized images until I am ready to save them as a .png file. I will experiment with it a bit later, right now I am focused on the mattes and frames, just too many rounded corners and some views have square corners (lovefilm, files, info lists) I am going to try to make them look more industrial, so probably changing them all to square. You wouldn't happen to know where the Fanart view frame is located?

Will you replace the icons in the icon view too? I Like what you have done so far!

I am not that creative, hence my asking in the first post about icons. If you find a set you like I can see if I can get permission from the author to use them in the icon view.

@Hitcher - Right now all the images are 1024x1024 px., except the actual background, which is too big but scales well with the animation, can you tell me the actual dimensions of the largest Home List and Settings icons, I figure it will save an enormous amount of space in the .xbt file.



You should really check out @Dropbox. It's hot. http://db.tt/pU38Va0

[Hitcher]

If you check the height and width of the image controls and multiple them by 1.5 you'll have the dimensions they're displayed at when running in 1080p. So if you don't want them scaled at that resolution simply make them those sizes.

ie

<width>280<width> = 420
<height>300</height> = 450

so the size you want is 420x450

[WheresWaldo]

Thanks a bunch that will help a lot. BTW, I can't seem to find the Fanart Views frames? I am sure I just missed them in the googlecode page.

[Hitcher]

They re-use the thumb_border.png with some clever border sizing.