Let this die ;o)

This is gonna be killer!

So far so good 

Hey now you are building WB's faster than I can get the cursors done!!!

Sweet design man!!!

Oh very nice, very nice indeed. 

Well now, y'all folks is just too dayumn kind, ye hear?

What they said!!

*WARNING* *WARNING*

True bluntness may occur in the following text.

The not so good bits:
The wood-look is passé.
The border shadow and the shiney bits in the corners looks cheesy.

The good bits:
The sidebars and the green parts makes me think 'modern art nouveau' and 'metropolis'.
It's, imo, got potential to become a kickass metallic art nouveau theme.
Metallic background with the green on top.
If anyone can pull off a high quality theme in that style it's you, John.

True defenselessness masked with reason may occur in the following text 

Weyull.... I dunno about passe, was trying to do something a bit more striking than lame 2D PS beveled wood...which is..passe.

It is actually lit realistically, using High Dynamic range lighting...(C4D does the mathematical calculations, not me) and I think...really its the only way, to show any kind of 3D look while looking head on \ dead on at something. by having the reflections of the lighting hitting the corners and sides...along the bevel..

What I think u may find.. cheesy? is the thickness of the panel, The main reason for this is, the less surface area there is... the less area u have to reflect light, and the less 3D something will look...thus defeating the purpose of using a 3D app to start with.

For example, If I had made the corners much less rounded, the panel less thick.. it would basically look as if it was made in PS.

looks far better rendered at an angle, (3D) but obviously cant be used that way in a WB..

Now...

Honestly, it started out as a metallic skin, but, one could also say metal is passe, overdone.. so I dunno.

I'll try a stainless look, with the green, I actually think that would look better but was hesitant, mostly because gradients in menus really hinder trying to get a consistent look with menu separators. and it irritates the crap out of me 

Gonna covert it to a stainless metallic look but I can promise u, the shadows, and shiney bits.. wont look much different, just cast over a different surface....unless.. i thin it some.. then.. again.. were getting away from 3D.

How does everyone else feel...?

Like the metallic parts of the theme a good deal... don't really see "Park Ave." in it as it is, but maybe that's just me (I'm a Manhattan boy). "Park Ave." for me is ritzy... The metallic parts? Super. Wood's been overdone, but, if you like it, I'd expect a rich wood, darker and lustrous. As for the green? Maybe more in the Lincoln/forest green direction, and again...richer, not grungy...

Don't bite my head off... you asked.

Hmmm.. no head biting here lol.... but.... honestly.. to me.. Wood is severely.. underdone.

And 3D.. wood.. in a WB... never done.

That said.. I agree, the wood itself, wasn't what I wanted it to be, oddly enough , I had done it in a rich, dark mahogany, (Syd saw it) looked fabulous, then after I had rendered it 1001 times...tweaking it... all of a sudden, on render 1002... the image,\file... was corrupt... go figure..

I have Gigs and gigs of wood textures, but wasn't able to find anything even similar to quite what I had used.

Anyway... going in a metal direction now but.. certainly not finished with the idea of a 3D wood WB.

The feedback is good, I'll never try to shut that down, but always reserve the right to lay out my reasoning.

Thank ya fella's.. new direction.

Your reasoning is 100% sound, John. The rich wood is great, and it could certainly be used.. heck, you're the skinner with the know how. Lousy luck with the corrupt file, though.

Onward, sir!

Sans Wood... personally, I prefer this.... speak up

I wonder if Metropolis has been used as a WB name, I quite like that....

I would settle for what ever you choose to do John. 

Having said that, a substyle for each would also be fine. 

Yeah, certainly wont be doing substyles.. days to weeks of work to do that.. would be two different themes almost.

Hmm.. name hasn't been used, and i'm quite digging it..

Still, wondering how it would look in tealish blue...

I like it. A lot. Would love to see it in a darker/velvety green, no? What do you think, John? (like Hunter/Dartmouth green?). I like the idea of a slightly dark teal also... that sounds really good with metal. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colours

Neat chart...

The hardest thing about skinning WB, should I say the most frustrating thing is... colors... menus.. making everything match...

I like to make the inside of start menu, match my other menus, buttonface, toolbars.. etc...

If i make it dark... and I know.. everyone loves dark...including me, then Im painted into a corner.. so to speak....

Now of course, all of those elements don't need to match the inner start menu, i can just go with light grey... and I probably will....in this case.

Having more control over these elements of skin would be a God send... but it will never happen.

I think I will start a new Metropolis thread.  If not... There will be a stream of people saying.. Oh.. I like the wood one better!!..

See what we go thru as skinners?  lol...

https://kuler.adobe.com

Snowey must be sleepin'

A gray with a touch of blue tint sounds great too... hard to get it together with rich wood tones, though... but you're the guy who can do it.

If you start a new thread, you'll be running back and forth between two...lol. Nothing ever works the way one wants. Murphy was too damned right.

No no.. this thread is officially.. kaput.. removing all the images.

Please post in Metropolis thread.. and thanks !

I don't mind the wood effect...and am happy to disagree with Snow.....I think it looked fine...;)

lol.. I guess I agree.. with both of ya.... but sometimes things happen for a reason.. I guess.

and then... it died..  

and it did look fabulous.... I think I still have the pics....     must look....