Graphics for SageMC (Glassy Icons, etc.)

[JUC]

Mike,

in the process of switching some of the graphics around I realized I must have deleted something...when I am in My Music, and am navigating between albums I cannot tell which album I am on. Seems the album doesn't get highlighted. Is this a setting or a graphic I am missing somewhere?
thanks,
Juc

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by JUC

Mike,

in the process of switching some of the graphics around I realized I must have deleted something...when I am in My Music, and am navigating between albums I cannot tell which album I am on. Seems the album doesn't get highlighted. Is this a setting or a graphic I am missing somewhere?
thanks,
Juc

Hi JUC,

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. If you are missing a graphics file, it would be icon_empty_focus.png. If that file is not missing, then it is possible that your cover art could be covering the entire selection icon. You could try changing the view to cover art + title. This should reduce the size of the cover art and make the selection icon visible again. HTH

Aloha,
Mike

[JUC]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Hi JUC,

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. If you are missing a graphics file, it would be icon_empty_focus.png. If that file is not missing, then it is possible that your cover art could be covering the entire selection icon. You could try changing the view to cover art + title. This should reduce the size of the cover art and make the selection icon visible again. HTH

Aloha,
Mike

Thanks-i'll try it out. I have the feeling the coverart is covering the entire icon but I'll check.

[mkanet]

I just tried to add the HP_start.jpg to the ProjectX theme. However, the picture looks stretched out. What's the easiest way to fix that?

Thanks so much!

PS: Is there also a way to shorten the length of the select bar on the main menu? It seems unnecessarily long.

[JUC]

Is there a default icon to display in th My Music section when no album art is present?
Thanks,
Juc

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by JUC

Is there a default icon to display in th My Music section when no album art is present?
Thanks,
Juc

Hi JUC,

I added one to the Liquid theme in the last update. That's the only one I've done.

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mkanet

I just tried to add the HP_start.jpg to the ProjectX theme. However, the picture looks stretched out. What's the easiest way to fix that?

Thanks so much!

PS: Is there also a way to shorten the length of the select bar on the main menu? It seems unnecessarily long.

The hp_start.png icon doesn't stretch for me. I'm not sure what is happening there. One work-around is to edit the graphics file and add blank space to the right of the graphic. I'll let you know if I can think of anything else.

Your selection bar doesn't look like one of mine. You can shorten it by cutting out about 20% of the middle of the bar and adding the same empty space on the left. I always include one like this. It is the default size in the liquid theme/alternate graphics. In my older selection bars it is named hp_selectionbar2.png. Just remove the '2' to use.

Aloha,
Mike

[mkanet]

Thanks Mike, I just renamed selected bar which had the 2 on the end, and now it's shorter.

I have one more question... I am currently using the glassy guide bars in the iTV theme. However, I'm having trouble distinguishing between the highlighted bar and the rest of the guide. How can I made the rest of the guide darker or make the highlighted bar lighter?

Thanks,
Michael

[mkanet]

Mike, could you please tell me how to set more transparency for the glassy guide bars? Is it a setting in studio or do you actually have to edit the graphics? If it involves editing the graphics; is there any chance you could offer different transparency levels like you did for the pool ball icons (or whatever you call them)?

I think that adding more transparency on the bars might make the text a little bit easier to read for the really colorful bars.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Mike, could you please tell me how to set more transparency for the glassy guide bars? Is it a setting in studio or do you actually have to edit the graphics? If it involves editing the graphics; is there any chance you could offer different transparency levels like you did for the pool ball icons (or whatever you call them)?

I think that adding more transparency on the bars might make the text a little bit easier to read for the really colorful bars.

You would have to modify the graphics files. The easiest thing would be to open them in Photoshop or the Gimp (or your favorite image editing tool) and adjust the transparency (It is a layer property in Photoshop, not sure about other programs). Let me know if you are unable to do this and I'll find some time to make the adjustments and post them in this thread. BTW, you might have better luck trying the guide bars from my liquid theme. I think they provide better visibility (especially if you change the black text color to 0xEEEEEE, which is just a shade darker than full white.)

Aloha,
Mike

[mkanet]

Thanks Mike. I "think" I know how to change the transparency layer of the pictures using paint.NET Could you please tell me which files I need to modify? If I know which files, I will also know which ones I can try from the liquid theme.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

You would have to modify the graphics files. The easiest thing would be to open them in Photoshop or the Gimp (or your favorite image editing tool) and adjust the transparency (It is a layer property in Photoshop, not sure about other programs). Let me know if you are unable to do this and I'll find some time to make the adjustments and post them in this thread. BTW, you might have better luck trying the guide bars from my liquid theme. I think they provide better visibility (especially if you change the black text color to 0xEEEEEE, which is just a shade darker than full white.)

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Thanks Mike. I "think" I know how to change the transparency layer of the pictures using paint.NET Could you please tell me which files I need to modify? If I know which files, I will also know which ones I can try from the liquid theme.

Thanks!

Look for the .png files in your Images folder that start with tvguide_button_... These files are used for the currently showing programs.
The files that start with tvguide_button_light... are for everything not currently showing.

Aloha,
Mike

[mkanet]

Thanks! The glossy guide bars for your liquid theme are perfect. I have two quick questions:

1) I can't seem to figure out how to change the guide bar "selected" color. I tried replacing the tvguide_button_selected_middle.png file with one of the files I got from the Alternate Graphics Liquid theme, but the color to the selected bar is still light/aqua blue. Are there more files to be replaced? Am I replacing the wrong one?

2) I like the graphics to the large show icons better than the small show icons; however, the larger show icons look a little too big in non-TV Guide locations. Is the best way to get the best of both worlds to change the size of the large ones from 60x60 to 30x30? Would it work if I change it to 45x45 or do they have to be in multiples of 30?

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Look for the .png files in your Images folder that start with tvguide_button_... These files are used for the currently showing programs.
The files that start with tvguide_button_light... are for everything not currently showing.

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Thanks! The glossy guide bars for your liquid theme are perfect. I have two quick questions:

1) I can't seem to figure out how to change the guide bar "selected" color. I tried replacing the tvguide_button_selected_middle.png file with one of the files I got from the Alternate Graphics Liquid theme, but the color to the selected bar is still light/aqua blue. Are there more files to be replaced? Am I replacing the wrong one?

2) I like the graphics to the large show icons better than the small show icons; however, the larger show icons look a little too big in non-TV Guide locations. Is the best way to get the best of both worlds to change the size of the large ones from 60x60 to 30x30? Would it work if I change it to 45x45 or do they have to be in multiples of 30?

1) You got the correct file. I'm not sure why it wouldn't change for you. Did you restart sage after copying over the original file? Sage caches image files so a restart is necessary to load the new file.

2) You can make the icons any size you want. 60x60 is optimized for 1920x1080 displays and 30x30 is optimized for 640x480 displays. I think 45x45 would be about right for 1280x720 or so. The other option would be to make a request in the SageMC thread that all icons be scaled to fit the UI in a future release.

Aloha,
Mike

[mkanet]

BTW, I just changed the progress bar color/alpha for recorded movies to be transparent blue... looks sooo nice with a black background + glassy deep blue selection bars.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mkanet

BTW, I just changed the progress bar color/alpha for recorded movies to be transparent blue... looks sooo nice with a black background + glassy deep blue selection bars.

Very nice! I always love to see how different people mix and match graphic elements to come up with a totally original look.

Aloha,
Mike

[MeInMaui]

Hey Guys,

Here are a couple new hover icons for the main menu. The first is a replacement for the original My TV icon. The second is for the news ticker in the latest SageMC v6.3.3. I'll add them to the liquid theme soon. For now you can grab them here and drop them into:

...SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\SageMCE\Images

Aloha,
Mike

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Hey Guys,

Here are a couple new hover icons for the main menu. The first is a replacement for the original My TV icon. The second is for the news ticker in the latest SageMC v6.3.3. I'll add them to the liquid theme soon. For now you can grab them here and drop them into:

...SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\SageMCE\Images

Aloha,
Mike

Nice, I like the TV one...now I have to go track down what this hover icon for the news ticker is all about...

[MeInMaui]

FYI,

The liquid theme is now compatible with SageMC v6.3.4+

From the Download page:

This is a reworking of the original Liquid Theme. It now requires SageMC v6.3.4+

Installation

Unzip the file to your ...\SageTV folder, being sure to preserve the file structure. This will place 6 new themes in your ...\SageMCE\Themes folder:

Liquid - Black 1920
Liquid - Black SD
Liquid - Blue 1920
Liquid - Blue SD
Liquid - Grey 1920
Liquid - Grey SD

Go to Settings > Select Theme
Choose the theme you want to use and press Apply.
That's it!

The themes labeled 1920 are optimized for 1920x1080 resolution displays. For SD and 720p displays, use the SD version.

v2.0
Update theme to be compatible with new SageMC v6.3.4+ theme implementation.

...and a few screenshots


the blue version


the black verson


and my new favorite, the grey version

Enjoy!

Aloha,
Mike

[geogecko]

Ooo...like the new grey version. What is the process for changing the color of the selection bars...I still like orange!