MallyMcGinnis

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="RedneckDude" reply="179" id="2961253"] Quoting MallyMcGinnis, reply 159one sees a couple of pixels of wood when a button is pressed than one doesn't see when it's not. Still, even when not pressed, the buttons look organic, like they fit into the wood rather than applied to it's surface. How'd you do that, if you don't mind my asking? Well, the pressed buttons have a stroke 2 pixels, I believe, which uses a wood grain pattern, rather than a colo

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Thanks just the same, Uvah. That's what originally thought also. [e digicons]|-)[/e] Cyndi, when you described the trick, it was in relation to the user name at the top of the Start Menu, but you said it was also useful in some other places, too. Maybe this isn't one of those? [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/PowerButtonText.png[/IMG] peace, Dave

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="Uvah" reply="174" id="2961216"]The spaces between the buttons and the borders top and bottom must be equal. [/quote] In my illustration, the upper row shows in red all the margins between the buttons, as well as the edges of the png. They are all precisely 5px. Any other possibilities? peace, Dave

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="2of3" reply="36" id="2948903"] Skinstudio is VERY daunting at first. We'll be here to help you along the way.[/quote] It has been very daunting. This weekend, it has become a lot less so. My horizontal taskbar is almost finished except for two questions about things I don't like yet. First, in this image [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/ToggleStartButtonIssue.png[/IMG] the upper row shows the button I u

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Hello, all; Is there a quick way to copy a SKS image from SKS directly into my paint program? The "edit image" button which seems by default to open MS Paint would be the perfect place if it's configurable. peace, Dave Meh; found it. It can be set under Tools --> Preferences --> Advanced Tab --> Editing Images --> Custom. Very handy.

Reply to CLose Min Max buttons glow in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="2of3" reply="14" id="2958168"]I am in the process of adding content to the wiki help section for sks. Some parts are already in place. For every section of sks there is a help tab. In there you will find a link to the wiki page for that section (it says check to see if there is any info in the wiki for this section....or something like that) My ultimate goal is to add as much content to those section as possible and I encourage everyone with any knowledge to contribute [/quote]</p

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Thanks, Uvah; kind of thought I could. Seem to remember a tutorial that even explains it from the standpoint of an older version of SKS...just can't lay my hands on it at the moment. Thanks for your compositional comment, too. You may well be right, it may be too busy. The background in that image isn't the one I'll be using. But boy, that opens a whole other can of worms design wise, doesn't it? One of the reasons I wanted to bring these le

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Now that that's done, I wonder how I could have missed it. It didn't occur to me that I the buttons would stretch (at least to a degree) to fit the required spaces. I thought I needed 2 or 3 different sized buttons. This was made using 3 states of the smallest button. [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/FinalPowerBarButtonSetDemo.png[/IMG] Here's what the start menu looks like right now. I'd sure love to hear any constructi

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="LightStar" reply="15" id="2959543"]You can only save SKS skins as .wba Dave.[/quote] Thanks, I kinda thought as much, peace, Dave

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="gmc2" reply="12" id="2958158"]Mally, being able to apply a skin that you're working on doesn't mean that a wba files has been created. you would need to manually make that file. (see reply #6)[/quote] Interesting. Early on, I tried to open other skins, but WB would ask me if I were sure it was really a WB, that it couldn't find the WBA file. On the subject, sort of; can I save a blind I make in SKS with WB as a theme? peace, Dav

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="jazzymjr" reply="11" id="2958133"]Malley, I would suggest you keep the .wba files of your skins in another directory from the one above. I keep all my .wba files on another partition of my hard drive along with all of my images for the blind. This way you can have backups, in case something gets messed up. I generally make .wba files at the end of the day when I am ready to close out SKS. I usually make my .wba file right after I start the blind, then

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="Xiandi" reply="165" id="2959371"] Quoting Uvah, reply 164what size you start out with Whatever size you need. It's always best to make a button the exact size you need, that way it does not need to get stretched or squished. Some buttons are seen in various places and different sizes, like the regular button in SKS. In that case you really need to experiment to see what size works best. The key to making a good button is to take your time, try different things,

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="Xiandi" reply="163" id="2958244"]It looks like you put the glyph images on your buttons. They should be separate images.[/quote] Cool. Knowing that trick made that step easier. [quote]In the 'Button Icons' section, there is an image already in the Image tab, leave it there. It's a blank png and should only be changed if you want a separate background for your glyphs on top of the button.[/quote] Glad you mentioned this. It was

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Have to leave for a wee bit, maybe clear my head and grab some coffee with a friend. I feel like this should be easy, but I'm struggling. Here's the image I uploaded to SKS on the Edit Start Menu Logoff Images page. It's on the base and only layer. [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/BottomBarPowerButonsHorizontal.png[/IMG] The mess I ended up with looks like this. [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/InstalledBu

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

I did find a file called ProfMcGinnisSteamLab.wba in the path C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Stardock\WindowBlinds\Skinstudio7\WBA already there, so I didn't do anything new. Vampothika's path led me to where I could add the personal details I wanted to add. Thanks again to you both! peace, Mally

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="Xiandi" reply="6" id="2958009"]File/Make WBA package. I usually copy it after it's made and put it in My Documents, but anywhere is good. Glad you got it sorted out![/quote] Ohhh, well then, I don't have one...I never did that. Thanks for bailing me out yet again, Xenia! Will go do that immediately. peace, Mally

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="jazzymjr" reply="3" id="2957856"]Malley, I know that can be such a pain in the butt! Do you have a .wba file of your skin? If you do, I would be willing to take a look-see at it, as long as it is a Windows 7 skin. I just got rid of my XP system a few weeks ago, so I wouldn't be able to check the bind if it is an XP skin. Sometimes it is just a small goof that messes things up. You can email me at mjr45rn at gmail dot com. MJ <

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="neone6" reply="2" id="2957845"] Quoting LightStar, reply 1I save a .wba file as backup after each session in SkinStudio of making changes, that way if a problem occurs I can go back to it. May be too late for now I know, but a good practice to start. So true [/quote] Thanks, neone6; I gotta learn how to do that. As it turns out, it wasn't too late; next time, I could have been much deeper in my building process, and this sort of thing would

Reply to Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="LightStar" reply="1" id="2957836"]Make sure you check all the settings on all the images in the area you were working on before the problem started Mally. Image sizes, margins, etc. Here was the problem, and I knew what it was as soon as you mentioned this as a possible place to look. My start menu is, with Xenia's help, a two layer plan. Before I made this change, there was nothing in the top bar, so I didn't upload one, neither did I have

Reply to CLose Min Max buttons glow in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Hi, Mario; I found this tutorial to be helpful in the beginning, and does talk about glow in buttons about half way down this page. I hope it's information that can help clear things up for you. peace, Mally

Did I corrupt something in the Blind I was skinning in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Hello all, I have a different sort of issue from what I've been writing about elsewhere. I had made some simple changes to my blind in SKS. I'm still fairly early in the process of working on the start menu, and have not ventured far from there. After importing my start menu sections having made some changes to them, I found I couldn't open my start menu to view the changes "live". In fact, doing so left an image of the software that was behind it w

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Questions about button creation. I've been studying your buttons trying to figure out what makes them look the way they do, including the way they change states sometimes. Xiandi, I'll start with you. [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/PowerButtons-Xiandi-DarkandDirty.png[/IMG] and [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/AppSizeButtons-Xiand-DarkandDirtyi.png[/IMG] How did you make the areas immediately surrounding the buttons look

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

Absolutely. I was thinking along those lines, but hadn't sorted it out so clearly as you just wrote it, though. Thanks! peace, Mally

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

What a great response, Vampothica; thank you! I need to figure out via the software what glyphs vs. buttons mean yet, but I hope that won't be too difficult. I'll check out Wulfin to learn what I can from that. I also started sculpting the buttons and borders I'll be using in my per pixel titlebar and frames. I'm not switching over to that mode entirely, it's just where your tutorial led, I had some ideas, and I was anxious to begin working them out

Reply to New skin creator here. in SkinStudio Stardock Forums

[quote who="Uvah" reply="153" id="2956620"]This thread is a tutorial all by itself. I've got it book marked for future reference. A step by step guide to plumbing a WB. Amazing![/quote] I agree. And framing, and wiring...thanks to everyone who has participated. [IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn314/Pwy/Animated%20gifs/Bravo.gif[/IMG]