[bridgman]

I am about to redesign a skin I have been working on, and have some questions that may seem a little stupid.

1) I started a design on a 1280 x 720 monitor it quit and I had to continue on an old monitor which was 1024 x 768, now I am using a monitor capable of up to 1440 x 900.
I believe the obvious option is to set the screen resolution to 1280x720 to match the skin which is default 720p.

2) I find my self setting the aspect ratio tag in the XML's to "stretch" quite a bit to ensure a uniform look. Is this a bad habit to get into no one else seems to do it that often . I see "keep" more often.

3) In windowed mode does XBMC default to the skins chosen/default resolution?

[jmarshall]

1. 1440x900 is a 16x10 resolution - not ideal. Best to run XBMC in a window at 720p (see advancedsettings.xml for setting window width and height).

2. Yes, it's a bad habit to get into. Use keep if you can - you can't rely on thumbs being the size you think they are. The usual trick is to align one of the edges to an element in your skin and to use keep. Scale is also useful if you don't mind a bit of cropping on the thumbs.

3. It scales the resolution, yes, just like it does in fullscreen. See 1.

Looking forward to what you come up with

Cheers,
Jonathan

[filigran]

2. Yes, it's a bad habit to get into. Use keep if you can - you can't rely on thumbs being the size you think they are. The usual trick is to align one of the edges to an element in your skin and to use keep. Scale is also useful if you don't mind a bit of cropping on the thumbs.

I've been wondering about this too (so, OP, no you're not stupid. ). Why is it a bad habit? I use it for my poster view to get all posters the same size, or I get this effect:

Notice that the poster to the right isn't filling up the frame completely at the top. Some posters do, however, since they are the "correct" ratio. I suppose I could scale it, but that, like you said, crops some parts off which I don't like.

[Jezz_X]

filigan because what happens when people don't have posters and have auto created 16x9 thumbs

[bridgman]

Thank you for the help. Much appreciated . You have given me something to consider. I set the monitor to 720p . Should be good setting for the design. Still have a problem hardware related not XBMC. Can't seem to get the colors to look right . White look grey ,and grey and silvers seem dirty. Tried to tweak this with no luck. Maybe the old monitor was too bright don't know. I seem to remember a way to check colors with adobe to make sure they are the actual tint you are trying to get.It it has been a while since I have done any web design so forgot how to do it. Maybe it was done with KULER.

[Hitcher]

No need to change the monitor resolution just do as JM said and run it windowed at 1280x720 using the advancedsettings.xml.

PHP Code:

<advancedsettings>

    <window>
        <width>1280</width>
        <height>720</height>
    </window>

</advancedsettings> 


[filigran]

filigan because what happens when people don't have posters and have auto created 16x9 thumbs

When would that happen? I must be stupid for real, but I can't think of a scenario.

[blacklist]

When would that happen? I must be stupid for real, but I can't think of a scenario.

They get stretched to your poster size rather than being displayed at the correct aspect ratio.

[>>X<<]

If you want to use the full width of your 1440x900 monitor put xbmc in a window with 1440x810 using advancedsettings that will give you a 16.9 ratio

Using stretch for thumbs looks ok if your poster dimensions give the correct aspect ratio to start with not that there is such a thing as poster aren't a uniform size I just use the aspect 1500x1000 gives

[filigran]

They get stretched to your poster size rather than being displayed at the correct aspect ratio.

Yeah, I get that, but when is that an issue? I can think of one scenario when stretch would be bad: a fanart view, and the fanart displayed isn't 16x9, thus it's nicer to scale it and get parts cut off (most of the time). Also, if the image isn't >=720p, but then scale looks crap too.

But for poster views, a bit of stretching has never hurt anyone (as far as I've seen), and who uses a 16x9 image where a poster is intended?

Most (all?) skins look bad in tv shows poster view when using banners, but using keep/scale.. sure, they look better, but most of it won't be shown, or they're so small they are hard to view, so pretty useless. Better to create a banner view and a poster view (like most skins), or do what Hitcher does and let people put a banner.jpg in the folder and display that as a banner, and set posters to be scraped in the settings (I think that's how he does it).

Again, can't see when my stretching will be a bad thing, but I guess I will find out the hard way as usual.

[>>X<<]

But for poster views, a bit of stretching has never hurt anyone (as far as I've seen), and who uses a 16x9 image where a poster is intended?

He means if your poster dimensions are nowhere near the original aspect ratio of the original posters it looks bad nothing to do with 16.9 ratio

Most posters aren't far off having an aspect of 2:3 some maybe a little wider

[filigran]

He means if your poster dimensions are nowhere near the original aspect ratio of the original posters it looks bad nothing to do with 16.9 ratio

Most posters aren't far off having an aspect of 2:3 some maybe a little wider

I was referring to this:

filigan because what happens when people don't have posters and have auto created 16x9 thumbs

But people with poster dimensions so far off really need to find another scraper.

[bridgman]

suffering for the moment with a 1024x768 monitor designing a 720p skin I have been using this setting

PHP Code:

<window> 
         <width>1024</width> 
        <height>587</height> 
    </window> 


small but aspect looks correect

[>>X<<]

That's wrong for a 720p resolution the correct size is 1024x576

I use photoshop to get this but the calc below is accurate you just put the target resolution in the left so 1280x720 or 1920x1080 then put the width on the right and it will give you the height

http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/aspect_ratio/

[jmarshall]

Or you could just remember that you want width/height = 16/9, so height = width/(16/9) = width/16*9. A little bit of basic math goes a long way.