Mirage 3D *UPDATED 11/2/08* www

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Mirage 3D *UPDATED 11/2/08* www

Postby Marbles_00 on Thu May 10, 2007 2:49 pm

#
http://xlobbystuff.googlepages.com/mirage_display.bmp
##
Mirage 2 (or 3D):
To download:
You can officially download the new version here:

http://www.xlobby.com/files/Marbles_00/ ... _setup.exe -download and install first

http://www.xlobby.com/files/Marbles_00/ ... 2_rev1.exe

Reason for posting this skin:
This will be my eventual HTPC skin. It is still in the works, and this early version will most likely be buggy. The background image is 1920x1080, but I was designing at a resolution of 960x540. So I'm praying that things won't have to be resized and re-organized. Will eventually be for remote (keyboard/mouse optional), and has two PPC screens that should control the whole setup. Also works with my zoning setup in a limited way...so get yourself a musicserver setup and run Zoneskin4...just joking.

###



Well, I'm at it again. I'm slowing trying to buildup for a HTPC...maybe later this year, and decided to start to design my own skin for it. In the past, I've been very influenced by Buddabing's skins (most of us are), more to the point, his Redeux II skin. I've also taken a liking to Qtip's MediaX skin, so I guess this skin started as a cross between the two, but since its inseption...it has gone in a completely different direction altogether.

I'm calling it Mirage 3D.

What new ideas does it bring to the table?...well...check out my most recent posts :wink: . I just wanted to create my own skin for my own HTPC use. This skin will be widescreen (1920x1080). It will also be remote/mouse/keyboard friendly.

Basically all buttons have been (or will be) created using GIMP. Icon graphics and background are freely downloadable at http://www.freeiconsweb.com/ and http://www.iconaholic.com/, as I'm not graphically inclined to do them myself. All menu type buttons are grouped into database/categories, which was the one big thing I've always liked about MediaX.

What I DO hope for is an out-of-the-box skin that requires very little to configure and use, so that others can use it to quickly set a system up for themselves. Also I hope that this is an interesting skin for others to learn off of (like Bud's KISS), with lot's of new concepts to explore.

VIEW this POST for the more CURRENT SCREEN SHOTS!!!!. New version is available to download, see links above.

Please note, this skin is intended for the free xlobby DIY'er, or the pre-release (X3) END USER. This skin is intended for non-profit use only. If you wish to sell a system with the intentions of using this skin, or any parts of it, please contact me first.

Thanks.

Marbles_00

*Updated to Mirage_2_rev1 as of 11/2/08*
What did I update?
- Added visualization via milkdrop support by adding small windows to some screens, and a fullscreen view
- Changed the graphics of the PPC screens to something that looks more useful (thanks Buddabing). This also added to the the navigation.xml file in Xlobby\eventgroups, so this file should be copied over (as indicated in the user manual).
- Added more PPC screens: 1) an CTRL screen for additional commands for the audio player, 2) Zoomplayer control commands, 3) extended commands for controlling Zoomplayer
- Updated the user manual to add the above, I also expanded on the sub-menu screens more, and added a blurb that current Mirage should only be installed under C:\Program Files\Xlobby\Skins, as all paths of Mirage reflect that file storage setup.
Last edited by Marbles_00 on Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:39 pm, edited 27 times in total.
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Postby rika on Thu May 10, 2007 4:12 pm

Great work Marbles!
You surly deserve your writer,engineer tags now...

Rika
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Postby defrag on Thu May 10, 2007 4:20 pm

Looking good Marbles. Nice and simple and a good colour balance - if I was to be in the slightest way picky - the highlight on the bottom of the buttons is a bit bright! But that could just be my aging eyes :D

Looking forward to seeing it in action.
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Postby lar282 on Thu May 10, 2007 6:57 pm

Looking really good. I like it
guess its time to by a 16:9 projector now!

//Lasse
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Postby sharp_1 on Fri May 11, 2007 12:26 pm

Great looking skin Marbles.
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Postby stevenhanna6 on Sat May 12, 2007 1:55 am

Great work Marbles!
You surly deserve your writer,engineer tags now...


If Rika says it then I guess it can be arranged :)

I haven't really been keeping up to date giving out tags for a long time, I've just been so busy. Cool looking skin, keeping it simple/clean/consistent looking is the way to go.
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Postby Marbles_00 on Sat May 12, 2007 5:47 am

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far guys. I was wondering how this skin would be received because of its simplicity. I've got a good portion of the screens all completed, now it is just the finer details I'm starting to look at.

Thanks too for the tags Steven...I was able to fix my post so now they display properly in the Skin's download page.
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Postby samgreco on Sat May 12, 2007 5:51 am

Hey Marbles - Very clean and polished look. I like it!
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Postby P3rv3rt B3ar on Sat May 12, 2007 10:59 pm

Great one Marbles. Im fan of dragon but lot has happened here since Rika released it so im defenetely wanting to see what new concepts u can cram in it! Will it have music distribution zoneskin style?

BTW are u into hockey? If u r, u better prepare to be eaten by lions tomorrow!!! 8)
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Postby Marbles_00 on Sun May 13, 2007 3:30 pm

BTW are u into hockey? If u r, u better prepare to be eaten by lions tomorrow!!!


I don't want to say too much about that as they have proven themselves by beating the Russian's. To bad that silver will blend too much into their jersey's (being mostly white), unless their jersey's are their other colours...unlike gold...which looks good on any Canadian colors.

Image

As for the skin...

Sam, thanks for the comments. I like yours too, but been to busy to post.

Will it have music distribution zoneskin style?


Most likely not as envolved as this skin for my usage is purely for a HTPC and nothing more. If I see a reason to add something, I for sure will.
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Postby P3rv3rt B3ar on Sun May 13, 2007 6:39 pm

Congratulations! U guys were stronger... well my canadian quarter slips into red and joins the celebration!! :D
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Postby Marbles_00 on Wed May 16, 2007 5:04 pm

Well, I've been moving along. I've never experienced before with themes, so I decided to take a crack at it and add some to this skin. Nothing elaborate. Wish you could associate themes to the actual buttons, without redrawing the button over again. (if you can, please let me know). Here are some screenshots:
Green Theme
Image

Light Blue Theme
Image

Light Purple Theme
Image

Red Theme
Image

I've also added MAME,SNES,N64,Sega game pages (you would just need to define the emulators and roms). Added also ripping for CD (with CDEX of course), DVD (using the DVD Decryptor plugin...yeah, I'm not using the latest Xlobby yet with DVDFab Decryptor).

Additional plugins required...or will be required to fully use this skin:
XScriptNG (for the intheater script)
XAnt (for movies...unless your a DVD Profiler type of person)
XEvent
XGetPhotos
XMoveWindows
Xoapweather
XLToolkit


Enjoy.
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Postby Marbles_00 on Fri May 18, 2007 5:26 am

P3rv, you asked, and you shall reveive...somewhat.

Added zonemap info from music-server. This is done by having the HTPC setup as a "fat client". Pressing the zone buttons will set control to that particular zone. Highlight the button will give the corresponding zone status and coverart info for that particular zone. See example shot below:

Image

Yes...same cheesey map from my ZoneSkin3.

Now the question...am I capable of controlling kXd on the music-server via fat client?
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Postby P3rv3rt B3ar on Fri May 18, 2007 7:57 pm

Marbles_00 wrote:Now the question...am I capable of controlling kXd on the music-server via fat client?


Very interesting, allthough its gonna take some time before i will have different hosts for HTPC and zone controller, but that could really freeup those valuable PCI-slots, when Creative array has covers of its own...

Now i have to confess my knowledge about Xnet, fat and thin clients is very superficial :oops: but if fatclient can fire a command at the server it should work i suppose. Best thing u can do is experiment with that. Anycase im planning to extend pervhub to work over LAN at somepoint so atleast then it can be done.

BTW are u still experimenting with togglecats? just wanted to say if u r, and run into probs, dont hesitate to ask on xPerT thread, allthough my HTPC is busted, and i might be unable to test (atleast without considerable effort), im still (excluding my exses) best translator for bearish alive.
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Re: A new skin concept called Mirage

Postby bmblank on Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:25 pm

I like it. It kind of has a KISS-esque style to it, but you can definately tell the difference. I'll probably give it a try when it's ready...
Are there PPC screens to go with it?
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