[Nuka1195]

In the following picture, all the square textures are a 1 pixel color FFFFFF, with a <colordiffuse> added to get the color.

Notice how it's not a smooth stretch. I want them to look like the corners. One solid color.

Is there a certain way in photoshop to do this or am I best to make them larger.



Edit: It looks fine on the PC, so maybe I'll do a fresh rebuild and try again on the xbox.

[MikeBeecham]

Hi Nuka,

You wont be able to do this effectively in photoshop, due to it's image rastering capabilities. If you're looking to create 100% smooth corners, then you will be looking to use Illustrator.

There is a work around which would give you a, say, 95% pure round edge...for this you would be looking to use an Alpha Channel, gaussian blur and levels.

If this is something you have not looked at before, then grab me on MSN and I will talk you through it.




Jyra

[Gamester17]

...to boldly go where no man has gone before, hehe

[Nuka1195]

Somebodies working on a full LCARS skin. I hope he get's it done.

Jyra, thanks, I think we misunderstand each other?

The square textures (not the corner textures) are made from a 1x1 pixel .png file. It is white, to get get color I use <colordiffuse>(in case this may be part of the reason).

I stretch that to 130x90(the top left square) and apply <colordiffuse>FFFF9900</colordiffuse><!--orange-->.

See how the color is not solid, it get's darker as it's stretched to the right and down.

I've had this issue before and thought it had something to do with the way I created the texture, but this is only 1x1. So I'm not sure what I did or could do.

It does work in XBMC_PC.


Thanks

[Gamester17]

There were a LCARS skin made for XBMP 'back in the day', I wonder if it is still around to be downloaded from somewhere? I personally do however not think the album mirror-effect seen in the screenshot suits a LCARS skins, I do not think any fade effects will suit it, all textures should have sharp edges.

By the way checkout these for the look and feel of a LCARS interface emulation:
http://www.lcarscom.net
http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com
http://lcars24.sourceforge.net (and http://sourceforge.net/projects/lcars24/)

Yes I confess, I am (or at least I used to be in my youth) a Star Trek fan

[Nuka1195]

I agree, I'm just now moving stuff around and haven't deleted everything.

Thanks for the links.

And to solve my problem I just made a 2x2 pixel and it works good on the xbox.

[Gamester17]

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

The LCARS GUI was designed by scenic art supervisor and technical consultant Michael Okuda. The original design concept was influenced by a request from Gene Roddenberry that the instrument panels not have a great deal of activity on them. This minimalized look was designed to give a sense that the technology was much more advanced than in the original Star Trek. The early display panels were made out of colored Plexiglas with light behind them. This can produce complex looking displays very cheaply.

The distinctive visual theme of LCARS interfaces include:
* Solid colors on a black field.
* Panes, often two arranged vertically with swept corners on the left.
* Narrow ALL CAPS fonts.
* Pill shaped buttons.
* Distinctive color palettes:
** Beige with pastel blue and violet elements in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
** Shades of blue in later movies and series.

As the Star Trek: The Next Generation show progressed there was more use of animations.

[Gamester17]

Narrow ALL CAPS fonts

is this possible to manipulate via the skin? and how would it look if it was used?

[Nuka1195]

I can add a setting in the script to uppercase all letters. For this skin it does look better. An If statement with an upper() shouldn't slowdown the gui too much.

If you have any suggestions on bar color, please edit the picture with the color you think. I just randomly set the colors.

[Nuka1195]

I added a setting to the script, but after doing that.

I think an xml entry <allcaps> or <capitalize> would be nice. I'm not sure how many places in source would need to be changed.

I'm also not sure how it would affect languages other than english.

0 = normal
1 = uppercase
2 = lowercase

[Nuka1195]

How would one go about making this picture look glassy. Maybe just the panels and elbows?



The new font code:

Code:

<font>
            <name>lcars-tiny</name>
            <filename>lcars.ttf</filename>
            <size>24</size>
        </font>
        <font>
            <name>lcars-small</name>
            <filename>lcars.ttf</filename>
            <size>32</size>
        </font>
        <font>
            <name>lcars-medium</name>
            <filename>lcars.ttf</filename>
            <size>36</size>
        </font>
        <font>
            <name>lcars-large</name>
            <filename>lcars.ttf</filename>
            <size>64</size>
        </font>

[MacGyver]

I've always wanted a LCARS theme, I thought I was going to have to make it to get one, who is working on this, and where can I get a beta/alpha?

I've always thought the LCARS stuff looked really sharp. Hope to see this soon.

[Nuka1195]

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=609413