[REQ] Assistance and help on a couple skins plz

from WinCustomize Forums

I want to start by apologizing if I post this in the wrong area. If I did, please feel free to move it to a better area on the forum.

With the year getting closer and closer to the holidays, my two top hands-down favorite Windowblinds are My Halloween by Xav73 and ChristmasTime by Mormegil

Neither skin have been updated in a very long time. Neither seem to respond to messages or emails. I know Windowblinds can somewhat attempt to use old XP skins on 7, but a lot of graphical errors, bugs, and problems occur.

Could/Would any master skinner either go through them both and update them in every area necessary to but completely 100% polished and functional Windows 7 skins, or would someone work with me kind of step by step to show me what would need to be updated, and using simple English, explain to me and show me what to update and fix in each skin to make them both functional and Windows 7 skins? I don't want to get on any specific author's turf, but they both seem abandoned to me, and even if they kind of sort of work on Windows 7, they have a number of graphical problems. I would really like to get both of them working well by the holidays.

However, I have never even used Skinstudio, so I have no idea how to "dissect" a skin, figure out what is causing the graphical errors on Windows 7, and how to fix them.

As a year-round Windowblind skin (and given how I group up on an NES is Skintendo by Hippy that I would also love to get updated and fixed. If any master skinner would either take the time to update them for Windows 7 X64 for me, or work with me and walk me through the process of fixing and updating them, it would mean the world to me.

Thanks for your time everyone.

windowblinds
7,565 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

ill update them both for windows 7 if your willing to pay me 60 dollars for each blind. 120 total.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Vampothika, reply 1
ill update them both for windows 7 if your willing to pay me 60 dollars for each blind. 120 total.
End of Vampothika's quote

:annoyed:

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Snowman, reply 2



Quoting Vampothika,
reply 1
ill update them both for windows 7 if your willing to pay me 60 dollars for each blind. 120 total.



End of Snowman's quote

what? cant someone with no income try to make some money?

jesus...sorry for fucking breathing.

your bitterness towards life is really starting to fucking show morten... stop taking it out on people here.

fuck this shit. you always bitched to me how you hate this place...if you really do then why stay and

make everyone miserable along the way.

ill probably get a pm for venting here, but so be it. ill pay the price for finally voicing my truth on how i feel about you recently.

im sick of it.

why cant people just leave other people alone?

if you dont like what i said, then maybe you should have just moved on instead of making me feel like crap.

thanks for making me feel like crap morten...

you really rock. #:(

vi är inte kompis nu. :hugme:

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Your desire to learn skinning is laudable, Mat7h3w. I would strongly suggest you not "use" skins by other authors to do this. I suggest you use a generic StarDock skin, "Crystal" by Stardock Design and not try to upload it anywhere after learning how to skin.

There are many tutorials addressing skinning WindowBlinds in the WinWiki (link at bottom of this page) and perhaps the best was a thread created by Vampothika herself and another by Po'Smedley. You could also start a thread in the same Forum you chose for this one using a set of graphics you create, and call it "Skinning School W.I.P."

Vampothika, (who is a Master Skinner) is most likely kidding you (I hope). She knows these rules very well and would not react very nicely to someone doing that with her work.

I'm sure many skinners will step forward to help you.

I also suggest you read the "Terms of Service" well. Its link is at the bottom of the page.

 

*edited to include portion I previously posted and subsequently edited.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 4
Vampothika, (who is a Master Skinner) is most likely kidding you (I hope). She knows these rules very well and would not react very nicely to someone doing that with her work.
End of DrJBHL's quote

yeah it was a joke....but still there isnt any point in making jokes anymore......*sigh*

and i wonder why i try to stay away from the forums..... its obvious.

sorry for whatever .........

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'll just reply to the OP...

Could/Would any master skinner either go through them both and update them
End of quote

No one apart from the original artist(s) is allowed to do this - unless they give a written permit to anyone wishing to do it for them.

explain to me and show me what to update and fix in each skin to make them both functional and Windows 7 skins
End of quote

Would be the correct way to do it as the original artists appear to be out of reach.

You might even learn enough to start making your own skins. Win-win situation. ;)

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Vampothika, reply 1
ill update them both for windows 7 if your willing to pay me 60 dollars for each blind. 120 total.
End of Vampothika's quote

Sounds all well and good until you remember there's issues re copyright and owners' consent to deal with, which in many [if not most] cases will be a hurdle Sally Pearson might stumble at.

Consent will [naturally] be required ....;)

[just a note for the new]...;)

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm not actually suggesting this, just wondering. oops, guess I did X|

What if I update a skin to work with Windows 7 for myself. For my own use, without distributing it.

What if I then extend that to helping someone else update a skin to work with Windows 7 for them.

I suppose I am somehow banned from modifying a skin - even if it's to 'fix' it - ie the graphical art is not adjusted and only the technical framework is modified.

But then people might say something like 'I never agreed/intended/permitted it to work on this operating system - I was going to tweak the fixes myself and then charge money for it as a Master Skin for Windows 7...'

Then you've actually circumvented someones right to profit in any way they like, however they like, from something that's 'theirs' (e.g. Microsoft charging double for software in Australia for a digital download)

*sigh* matthew, you'll just have to go through the 'hoops' of learning how to make a skin (thereby learning how the elements of skinstudio work) and then you can probably change whatever you like, on any skin you like, as long as it never becomes public. Well you *can*, but you aren't allowed to.

shhhh, keep it secret, keep it safe.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Skarny, reply 8
What if I update a skin to work with Windows 7 for myself. For my own use, without distributing it.
What if I then extend that to helping someone else update a skin to work with Windows 7 for them.
End of Skarny's quote

Not a problem...in either case.

Copyright as an issue is exactly those words 'copy' and 'right'.  In the case of person A altering/updating a skin and passing it on to person B it is the act of 'passing it on' [distribution] that is the issue.

An artist can only control the distribution of his artwork when he is notified of it happening through the process of [whomever] seeking consent to do so.

An example ... I'm currently altering/revising adding to and skinning one particular aircraft [for FSX] which was originaly the work of the model maker, and subsequently was reskinned by another.

I sought [and obtained] consent from BOTH people as my works are derivative..... AND I wished to distribute them publicly.

I have oodles of others which reside permanently on my own system...not for distribution UNLESS I first sort out the permissions....;)

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Your models are probably not easily cloned though. A digital skin could be copied (in it's original form) and everyone gets it. Then, everyone applies the same modification 'for personal use'. It's effectively distributed, altered. If I explain how I made my own personal modification, and other people follow the steps, for their own personal use of a skin, am I responsible for 'distributing' it?

Just wondering these things out loud - not looking for an argument :-) just curious about where that kind of thinking goes awry of the ultimate desire to protect IP and keep within the law.

 

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Skarny, reply 10
If I explain how I made my own personal modification, and other people follow the steps, for their own personal use of a skin, am I responsible for 'distributing' it?
End of Skarny's quote

No, you're not (imo). You're responsible for disseminating knowledge, but that could be obtained and collated from other sources.

Although certainly old enough, Jafo did not invent the wheel. ;)

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Skarny, reply 10
Your models are probably not easily cloned though. A digital skin could be copied (in it's original form) and everyone gets it. Then, everyone applies the same modification 'for personal use'. It's effectively distributed, altered. If I explain how I made my own personal modification, and other people follow the steps, for their own personal use of a skin, am I responsible for 'distributing' it?
Just wondering these things out loud - not looking for an argument just curious about where that kind of thinking goes awry of the ultimate desire to protect IP and keep within the law.
End of Skarny's quote

The models are a 'closed' item that cannot be easily altered....but it is their skins I'm talking about...exactly the same sort of thing as a Windowblinds skin....usually has far fewer images...but each image is for more complex.  They are equally easy to alter/copy.

You aren't responsible for 'distributing it' unless you actually go through the process of getting it....and re-uploading it...or passing it on to a third person.

Explaining how something can be altered is 'education' not 'distribution' ...;)

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Skarny, reply 8
even if it's to 'fix' it
End of Skarny's quote

It ain't really broken, so one couldn't really fix it but one could modify it as long as they didn't redistribute as their own creation.

Instructional information can be posted within the wiki, therefore providing this information to anyone that cared.