xTransition - Fade/Slide/Wipe between screens,overlays etc..

[m_ski]

xTransition is a plugin for xlobby that enables smooth, professional looking transitions between screens, overlays and any action in xlobby. It enables three types of transitions:

Fade - Blends the screen image from one screen to the next
Slide - Slides the old screen off the monitor in any direction
Wipe - Wipes the old screen in any direction to reveal the new screen beneath it

These transition actions can be carried out on the whole screen or any part of the screen as specified in the plugin command. The transitions can be used for screen changes, overlay open/close, and can surround any xlobby event (so you can smoothly fade a button in or out, etc)

Video of xTransition in action (DivX) - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/skilling/xlobby/release/xTransition/xtransitionVideo_DivX.avi

To install xTransition:

1) Download http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/skilling/xlobby/release/xTransition/xTransition_220507.zip
2) extract xTransition.dll into the ...xlobby\plugins folder
3) Download xTransition demo skin http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/skilling/xlobby/release/xTransition/xTransition_Demo_Skin_12thJan2007.zip
4) extract demo skin to ...xlobby\skins folder (see readme.txt file for details of what has been changed in the skin to demonstrate xTransition)
5) Run xlobby and goto setup (F2)
6) Select xTransitionDemoSkin as the skin and then restart
7) You can then experience the demo skin showing examples of screen and overlay transitions. The Controls button on the music screen shows a good example of what can be achieved with the bar 'almost' sliding in and out of the screen.

See the xTransition_help.txt file for details of the plugin commands available with xTransition in order to incorporate into your own skin.

Known issues:
1) One tester has tested xTransition in Vista and it does not seem to work correctly (I do not have Vista so cannot test or fix it)
2) On transitions you may sometimes notice 'dots' on the screen - this is because to make the xTransition window able to go transparent I have to give it a transparent colour which sometimes will clash with a colour used in xlobby (you are most likely to see this if transitioning between photos)

Finally, thanks very much to those who have tested this plugin for me over the past 12 months or so that it has taken to develop in my spare time.

[Marbles_00]

Hat's off to a great plugin. I like it but...

Currently I'm setting up a widescreen skin, so I'm using a resolution of 960x540 on my 1024x768 monitor. When I run your example skin, and if I have other things open (like word document, explorer etc.), Xlobby seems to loose focus. If everything else is minimized (or not open of course) then it is not a problem. It may not be a big deal on a dedicated HTPC, which Xlobby is the forfront software with really nothing running behind it, but still may pose a problem.

Other than that, I'm going to look at your example skin more and incorporate that into my next skin. I like it. Great job. I can only imagine how someone like Buddabing will use this plugin in his skins. A BIG WOW

[rika]

Thanks, this is great stuff!! Have to try this asap.

Rika

[rika]

Hmm, can´t run it. I get: "Could not find node:customresolution" and "....:location" on splash screen.
(Latest xlobby.exe)

Rika

[m_ski]

If you have 'Auto' size on the setup page (Skin tab) try selecting a screen resolution rather than using auto.
If not can you send me your xlobby.xml file as this is where it is trying to get this info from. (send to m_ski/at/skilling/dot/me/dot/uk).

[rika]

Thanks, fargin butiful!!


Rika

[Marbles_00]

m_ski,

I've started incorporating this plugin into my Mirage skin. I have to say, this is way too

Thanks again for a great plugin.

[jpoveda]

Congratulations. Very nice plugin. Only some focus lost as marbles. Please, make a zoom/unzoom when you have a while.

[jpoveda]

Hello,

Only a thing. I use MyTheatre in video overlay mode, and after using xtransition, some times MyTheatre shows a blue (??. I use a blue background image skin) window instead the real image window.

[m_ski]

All,
Focus issues have been a constant problem in the development of this plugin but I thought I had solved them all. If you are getting focus issues, is it repeatable? and if so can you detail under exactly what series of actions causes it to occur, and what similar things don't cause the issue?

jpoveda,
The video overlay one is a bit tricky, I did have this problem on one of my earlier versions with Zoomplayer but it is now currently OK. When you say it is blue do you mean you are seeing just the xlobby video screen instead of the actual video. I do have one idea to try which I will work on and post when I get chance. If it only does it sometimes can you try and see what series of actions causes the problem to occur?

[Marbles_00]

Damn, I ran into an issue m_ski.

I was trying to set my skin up using the xTransition plugin and everything was working great. I then started to setup my PPC screens and thought about using mimic. This way for a good portion, all I would need on the PPC screens were menu items. Now normally to save on commands, if you name your PPC screens the same as your main screens but add ppc in front, then you can get away with just one goto command. Example: screen called menu, a PPC screen called ppcmenu. One goto event with a command to goto screen menu, will change both main screen and PPC screen.

Using xTransition you loose that ability. Now in order to change both PPC screen and main screen you have to double up on events.

Is there any way around this?

I was thinking of having two sets of goto classes. One for if using a PPC, and the other for if a user does not use a PPC, but then the individual will have to go through and change all the events associated to the different buttons, which is a little bit of a bummer.

[m_ski]

I don't use a PPC so this is all new to me. Let me just see if I understand you correctly.

With mimic turned ON and I am controlling xlobby from the ppc, if I goto the screen ppcmusic then the server will automatically go to the music screen.
With mimic turned ON and I am controlling xlobby from the server, if I goto the screen music then the ppc will automatically go to the ppcmusic screen.
With Mimic turned off then the device I am operating just goes to the screen selected and nothing happens on the other device.
Is that correct?

I do not know why it is not working correctly in xTransition as when you do a 'goto screen' in xTransition this is what it does;
1) Grab screenshot of xlobby
2) create window with screenshot in it over xlobby screen
3) Send 'goto screen' command to xlobby - This should do the same thing as a goto screen executed in any xlobby event
4) Transition out xTransition window so that the new xlobby screen is revealed below

Possibly there is a bug which means that Mimic does not work correctly when the goto screen command is issued from a plugin rather than directly in the event manager.

[Marbles_00]

With mimic turned ON and I am controlling xlobby from the ppc, if I goto the screen ppcmusic then the server will automatically go to the music screen.

Correct

With mimic turned ON and I am controlling xlobby from the server, if I goto the screen music then the ppc will automatically go to the ppcmusic screen.

You know what, I've never tried it that way.

With Mimic turned off then the device I am operating just goes to the screen selected and nothing happens on the other device.
Is that correct?

Correct

[rika]

A workaround could be if you copy all your screens, name them xtr-menu, xtr-music and so on. Add all the xtransition events to the new screens.
Make a button to your orginal menu screen whith a event "goto xtr-menu"
Now when you use the ppc the mimic screens will be the orginal ones. when done just press your "goto xrt-menu" - button and your skin will run with xtransition´s.
Your start screen would offcourse be the xtr-menu

Or something like this I have not tryed this....

Rika

[rika]

Or even better if we could have a xtr-event like "stop xtransition" that you could combine with mimic...

Rika