Video Library Fanart Transparency

[tieke]

Although I like the Fanart option in the Video Library it's often a bit overwhelming, so I wanted a way to dim it down a bit.

I tried adding a low alpha value to the <Element name="FanArt" location="0,0" size="100,100"> line in the Video Library skin, but that didn't do it - can I change the transparency or should I find a place to put a partially transparent black box on top of the fanart instead?

thanks,
tieke

[sub]

I'm away from home the next few days, but if you bump the thread next week, I'll check it out.

Are you wanting te fanart to be semi-transparent, so you can see the normal background image through it?

[tieke]

That's the one - I either want to make the fanart semi-transparent, or put a semi-transparent colour on top of it to dull it down as the default settings often make the episode names a bit hard to read with some fanart posters.

thanks,
tieke

[sub]

I don't think you really want to make the fanart semi-transparent. That'd just cause it to show through to the normal backgroup, in effect just making the fanart look crappy.

I think what you're really wanting to do is put a semi transparent image below the text you're wanting to read, which would help make it more readable in those areas of the screen. For example, on one screen you might have some fanart as the main background, then some semi-transparent block at the bottom, with text on top of that. To achieve this you need to edit the elements that contain the text, and add your background image (which might be some semi-transparent png)

[tieke]

You're probably right, unfortunately I can't see an obvious place to put such a transparency in the video skin file. Ideally I would like to be able to place a semi-transparent block over the fanart covering the entire screen, but can only see how to cover individual elements in the skin. I tried adding a semitransparent fullsize rectangle in the fanart element name, but that didn't work.

Basically at the moment the default fanart skin looks a bit like this:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

but I would prefer a more subtle background image, as in the Android Archos Video Player app:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Something a bit like this:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

I could individually dim down the actual fanart pictures, but being able to add a semitransparent block over the images would be simpler.

[Jaggy]

This is what I have done for my JustRetro skin (Ok so it doesn't show FanArt as such as sub & I were never able to figure out how it could display a different Background image for Videos or FanArt depending on if there was Fanart or not) but if you ignore the first image you can see it adds full screen darkening masks to the displayed image.

Code:

    <Element name="ListView" location="0,0" size="100,100" alpha="255" alphaFade="true" visibleRows="7">
        <Image source="..\_BackgroundImages\Background(4).jpg" location="-1,-1" size="102,102"/>
        <Rect location="-1,-1" size="102,102" fillColor="PopupBlackMask" borderColor="Transparent" borderWidth="0"/>

<!--        <Image location="0,0" size="100,100" source="..\_BackgroundImages\Background.jpg"/> -->
        <Image location="0,0" size="100,100" source="..\_BackgroundImages\BackgroundBlackMask.png"/>
        <Image location="0,0" size="100,100" source="..\_BackgroundImages\BackgroundMask.png"/>
        <Image location="0,0" size="100,100" source="..\_BackgroundImages\BackgroundBlackMask.png"/>

        <Image location="0,0" size="100,100" source="..\_BackgroundImages\BackgroundFrame.png"/>
        <Text text="Videos" location="10,4.37" size="22,4.46" font="ScreenName" borderColor="ScreenNameText" outlineWidth="1" align="Center" valign="Bottom"/>
        <Text text="Videos" location="68,4.37" size="22,4.46" font="ScreenName" borderColor="ScreenNameText" outlineWidth="1" align="Center" valign="Bottom"/>
    </Element>

[sub]

To be honest, I'm surprised you'd want to have them obscured by something covering the whole screen. I usually think of something like this, where big parts of the image are clearly visible, so you know what it is, but there is dark/faded background under elements you need to be readable:

[tieke]

Thanks for that Jaggy, I couldn't get it to work properly on my first attempt, but I will give it another go.

sub - I agree that your sample fanart looks good, and in fact it's a bit what my end result was going to be: even in your example there isn't just a dark or faded background under the text elements, but a gradual vertical fade to black over the entire image as well. I was going to try a simple transparency before I went with the fade, but my end idea was quite similar. (If they had simply gone for a couple of darker blocks under the text elements, there would have been some jarringly bright feet suddenly visible at the bottom

I might just use a simple photoshop action on all my coverart images to get exactly what I want, but I'm sure that if I make an effort I can figure out how to do it with the skin settings and maybe a mask or two such as Jaggy uses.